WO2022031849A1 - Mechanisms for non-terrestrial networks in new radio - Google Patents

Abstract

The present inventions provide techniques using a combination of a common time offset and a user equipment (UE) specific time offset to transmit a physical random access channel (PRACH) message and to determine a random access response window. And the techniques are also provided to determine, based on a UE location, a triggering condition for a measurement report.

Description

MECHANISMS FOR NON-TERRESTRIAL NETWORKS IN NEW RADIO

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/062,260, which was filed August 6, 2020.

FIELD

Various embodiments generally may relate to the field of wireless communications. BACKGROUND

A non-terrestrial network (NTN) Work Item (WI) in Rell7 was approved. The objectives for this work item are:

• A normative activity based on the outcomes of the Technical Report (TR) 38.811 and TR 38.821, to define a set of necessary features/adaptations enabling the operation of New Radio (NR) in NTNs for 3GPP Release 17 covering in priority transparent payload based satellite access (low Earth orbit (LEO) & geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO)) and assuming a fixed tracking area. No additional functionality is required to realize high altitude platform systems (HAPS) based access. However, depending on the HAPS type, some functionalities defined for LEO can be used. Flexibility and scalability of the introduction on enhancements should be considered to support more scenarios, e.g., air-to- ground (ATG), in which similarity on the required enhancements are shared. The following is assumed o Frequency division duplexing (FDD) mode with discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)- spread (S)-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) access scheme on the uplink for both LEO and GEO. o Time division duplexing (TDD) mode only for LEO. o For LEO, tracking area is fixed on Earth, Earth fixed or moving cell, UE with/without GNSS capabilities.

• A study activity leveraging the Rel-16 NR-NTN Study Item (SI) and focusing on the following features and scenarios o support of HAPS coexisting with cellular system in same spectrum, loT based NTN scenarios, network based UE location.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Figure 1 illustrates an active time window for a user equipment (UE) required to monitor a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) after the UE sends a scheduling request (SR) and is waiting for an uplink (UL) grant, in accordance with various embodiments. Figure 2 illustrates an example non-terrestrial network (NTN) environment in accordance with various embodiments.

Figure 3 illustrates a network in accordance with various embodiments.

Figure 4 schematically illustrates a wireless network in accordance with various embodiments.

Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

Figure 6 illustrates an example procedure for practicing the various embodiments discussed herein.

Figure 7 illustrates another example procedure for practicing the various embodiments discussed herein.

Figure 8 illustrates another example procedure for practicing the various embodiments discussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the various aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrases “A or B” and “A/B” mean (A), (B), or (A and B).

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide aspects for NTNs in wireless cellular networks (e.g., NR). For example, embodiments provide techniques for timing advance, random access, discontinuous reception (DRX), hybrid automatic feedback request (HARQ) feedback, measurement window, and/or measurement report triggering in NTNs. Timing Advance

One of the primary differences in NTNs compared to terrestrial cellular networks is the significantly longer propagation delay between the user equipment (UE) (on the ground) and the satellite. Propagation delays can result in the uplink signal from different UEs being received at the next generation Node B (gNB) at very different times. In order to be able to receive multiple uplink signals, the gNB assigns timing advances to UEs to ensure that the receive times of signals from UEs are the same. The timing advance (TA) value is communicated to the UE in the random access procedure, e.g., in the random access response.

In order to ensure alignment and frame boundaries for downlink and uplink at the gNB, the time alignment value used is equal to twice the propagation delay between the satellite and the UE. For terrestrial networks, the propagation delay and the timing advance are well within the duration of one OFDM symbol.

In a non-terrestrial network, due to the large propagation delay, the timing advance value required is much larger than in terrestrial networks. This implies that the frame alignment before and after applying the timing advance are very different.

During the study item, two options are proposed:

• Option 1 : Autonomous acquisition of the TA at UE with UE known location and satellite ephemeris.

• Option 2: Timing advance adjustment based on network indication.

For option 1, the UE will calculate the TA based on the location of the UE and satellite ephemeris. One concern of this method is accuracy or reference point of which beam should be used to calculate. In addition, the vertical of the satellite ephemeris is not as accurate as the horizontal, therefore, overall it is not preferable solution. If used, some assistance information may still be needed from the network side.

Embodiment 1: Introduce network broadcast of a common TA per cell/beam in NTN.

For option 2, common TA (where all UE share the same value within the same satellite) can be broadcasted by the network. Network will estimate the propagation delay by some reference point. This may be per beam and/or per cell.

Embodiment 2: Introduce a UE specific TA (e.g., based on altitude or distance).

In addition to common TA, a UE specific TA may further allow UE to adjust the TA after the network broadcast common TA. In some embodiments, the network may provide the UE with configuration information to enable the UE to determine the UE-specific TA. For example, the configuration information may be based on elevation of the UE, or distance of the UE from the satellite. In some embodiments, the network may configure a set of TA values and associated values or ranges of one or more parameters (e.g., elevation and/or distance of the UE from the satellite). The UE may select a TA value based on the configuration. Such information may allow the UE to easily to select the corresponding UE-specific TA. The UE may determine the final TA as the Common TA + UE specific TA. The UE may apply the final TA to the physical random access channel (PRACH).

Random Access

It has been identified that RACH reception window may be overlapped at the network side when the interval between RACH occasions is smaller than the maximum delay difference multiplied by 2 (*2). See 3GPP Technical Standard 38.821, V16.0.0, “Solutions for NR to support non-terrestrial networks (NTN)” (“TS 38.821”) for more information. Option 1 is that the network is to make sure that the interval between RACH occasions is larger than the maximum delay difference *2. Option 2 is to divide the preamble into groups which map to different RO. Based on TS 38.821, Table 1 summarizes the maximum delay difference *2 for different cell sizes.

Table 1: Maximum delay r typical GEO and LEO cell

Embodiment 3: Rely on network implementation to make sure that the RACH interval between RACH occasions is larger than the maximum delay difference (based on cell size) *2 such that there is no overlapping.

In embodiments, the network configuration may be relied on to make sure that for different cell sizes, the RACH interval will be configured correctly such that there is no overlapping.

Embodiment 4: Introduce a common offset for random access (RA) Response window. Network will estimate this offset based on the height of the satellite.

In terrestrial communication, UE usually receives random access response (RAR) within few milliseconds after UE sends RACH. Unlike terrestrial communication, it will take much longer for the UE to receive RAR due to the long propagation delay in NTN. It is suggested to introduce an offset for ra-ResponseWindow . This offset may be estimated by the network based on the height of the satellite and can be the minimum one-way communication *2. This common offset can be broadcasted by network.

Embodiment 5: UE specific offset based on distance between the UE and satellite.

Similar to TA, network may pre-configure a mapping of a set of UE specific offset based on distance. Then UE can apply the UE specific offset based on the calculated distance between the network and UE. The final offset for the RA Response window will be common offset + UE specific offset.

Embodiment 6: ra-ResponseWindow does not need to be extended.

If both common offset and UE specific offset are introduced for ra-ResponseWindow, then the RAR window size may not need to be extended for a UE with location capability.

Embodiment 7 : Introduce an offset for the UE to start the contention resolution timer.

The contention resolution timer is large enough for the roundtrip delay for NTN. In embodiments, an offset for the UE to start the contention resolution timer may be introduced. Such a timer may save UE power.

In some embodiments, a UE specific offset based on the calculated distance between the network and UE may be used. The final offset for the RA Response window will be common offset + UE specific offset.

Discontinuous Reception (DRX)

Embodiment 8: Introduce an offset after the UE sends a scheduling request (SR) and/or replies to the RAR to start monitoring PDCCH to save UE power consumption.

DRX may be enhanced to save UE power consumption so that UE does not have to continuously monitor for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) during long propagation delay timing (during this time, the UE expects no downlink traffic). One solution that has been proposed suggested that the network can configure an offset after UE sends scheduling request (SR) or replies to the RAR in contention free random access (CFRA). Figure 1 shows the active time window for legacy UE required to monitor PDCCH after the SR is sent and waiting for an uplink (UL) grant.

However, in NTN scenario, this active time may be long due to the long propagation delay and hence can consume more UE power. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the UE may use an offset of time before the UE starts monitoring for a PDCCH. In some embodiments, the offset may be a portion of the expected active time, for example 2/3 of the expected active time or another suitable portion, allowing the UE in DRX to only monitor the remaining portion (e.g., 1/3 of the expected active time). In an NTN, the UL grant will not arrive before that time due to propagation delay. Accordingly, the time offset may save UE power consumption.

Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ)

Embodiment 9: Introduce HARQ feedback disabling by per UE or per HARQ process in RRC configuration HARQ is supported in NR release 15 to provide error repetition transmission in the physical layer. Due to long propagation delay in NTN, it will be too long for the UE to send HARQ feedback. Therefore, there was some discussion regarding support of HARQ for NTN during the study item. One of the proposals was to disable HARQ feedback on uplink while maintaining the HARQ processes. That way, network can maintain the HARQ repetition during NTN communication. Network should be able to disable the HARQ feedback via RRC message per UE or per HARQ process. One may argue that if there is a problem due to propagation delay, it applies to all HARQ processes within the UE, therefore, per HARQ process disabling may not be needed. On the other hand, some service is not so time sensitive and some other does, therefore, be able to disable HARQ process is also useful in that sense.

In some embodiments, DRB and HARQ process mapping may be used, e.g., to support per HARQ process feedback disabling.

Embodiment 10: Network maintains the same mapping of cell global identity (CGI) within the same geographic location of the UE when satellite cell is moving.

Figure 2 illustrates an example NTN environment 200 in accordance with various embodiments. The example NTN environment 200 includes a first cell 202 and a second cell 204 associated with a moving satellite at three different time points (Tl, T2, and T3). The first cell 202 may have cell ID 1 and the second cell 204 may have cell ID 2. The UE 206 is stationary in this example.

In accordance with various embodiments, when the UE 206 goes to connected state, the UE 206 may report its location to the network. This location may be used for the network to find the CGI based on its location and report to the core network for emergency call. For example, boundary 208 may be used to determine whether the UE is in a first CGI (CGI 1) or a second CGI (CGI 2).

One problem arises if there is another UE on the right side of the boundary 208 at time point T2. The network should have an understanding that there is one UE on the left of the boundary 208 (and thus in CGI 2) and one on the right of the boundary 208 (and thus in CGI 1). Embodiments are provided to enable the network to always report the correct CGI based on the location of the UE. For example, aspects of various embodiments may include:

• UE sends location information when placing an emergency call. The network does the mapping and reports to the core network.

• If network has multiple beams within a cell, it can identify if one beam is on the left side of the dotted line and another beam is on the right side. The satellite beams can be used to identify UE location. However, this technique may have some error due to the beam may not be exact same coverage as the CGI. From the TA, network can estimate the rough location of the UE. The UE can use that information to do the mapping and report to the core network.

Measurement window

As mentioned above, measurement window adjustment will be needed due to large propagation delay. If the UE needs to perform a measurement, the measurement gap will need to consider the propagation delay. Otherwise, the UE will miss the measurement. Various embodiments herein include the following options for the measurement window:

• Option 1: Rely on network implementation. In this case, the network may ensure the synchronization signal block (SSB)-based measurement timing configuration (SMTC) is long enough to cover the measurement window taking into account different propagation delays from the configured satellites to the UE.

• Option 2: Network may configure multiple measurement gaps to the UE. The different measurement gaps may be associated with GEO or LEO satellite(s) and/or with different elevations of the UE.

• Option 3: Use a longer measurement window to accommodate multiple propagation delays from the configured satellites (to be measured) to the UE.

• Option 4: Use a variable length measurement gap. For example, different UEs may have different sets of propagation delays, and the measurement gap may be a variable length per UE based on the longest propagation delay and/or the shortest propagation delay.

Measurement report triggering

As discussed above, regular measurement reporting may not work in NTN environment due to measurement inaccuracy and/or propagation delay. Two issues that should be addressed are (1) when to trigger measurement report and (2) what to trigger measurement report in NTN. For issue (1), when to trigger measurement report, one consideration is that the difference between cell center and cell edge of the reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement may be small. In addition, by the time the UE measures and sends the measurement report to the network, the measurement may have already changed (e.g., is inaccurate) due to propagation delay and/or mobility of the satellite (e.g., LEO satellite). Therefore, the following options may be used in accordance with various embodiments:

• Option 1 : Use periodic measurement. For example, the network may configure periodic measurement based on UE speed and/or LEO speed. • Option 2: Trigger measurement reporting based on UE location and/or relative distance to configured cells (LEO or GEO cell).

• Option 3: Trigger measurement reporting based on UE location and RSRP/SINR >= a threshold (e.g., a configured threshold).

• Option 4: measurement reporting based on UE relative distance to a configured cell and RSRP/SINR >= a threshold (e.g., a configured threshold).

For option 1 (periodic measurement), the configuration of how often UE needs to report is challenging. If it is too in-frequent, the UE will miss the measurement to trigger report and hence handover failure (HOF). If it is too often, the UE power consumption will be impacted.

For option 2, the UE purely sends measurement report base on its location and/or the relative distance from the configured cell(s). With location-based triggering, UE may move anywhere, and it will be difficult for the network to predict where the UE will move to at any given time. On the other hand, if the triggering condition is based on the distance from the configured cell(s), network may receive measurement report when it knows the UE is close to one or more other cells. Accordingly, triggering based on the distance from the configured cell(s) may be preferable. However, either sub-option may be used separately or in combination.

Options 3 and 4 are similar to option 2 but the UE location and/or relative distance to configured cell(s) is used together with the condition of RSRP measurement. The A3 measurement event may not be reliable in NTN because of the measurement invalidity, therefore, using measurement above a threshold to indicate the UE detects the cell may be used to improve reliability.

In some embodiments, the UE location may be included in the measurement report to assist the network to prepare better handover configuration. The measurement result may not be as useful in NTN due to the measurement accuracy and error. However, the measurement result may be included, particularly since it is included in NR and/or 3GPP Release 15 measurement reporting content.

In some embodiments, UE speed may be additionally or alternatively included in the measurement report. The UE speed may be useful for the network to determine the handover configuration. For example, the network may use the UE speed to understand which satellite should be prepared and hence send corresponding configuration to the UE. This may be particularly useful in GEO scenario, but may also be used in other NTN scenarios.

Accordingly, in some embodiments, the UE location and/or UE speed may be included in the measurement report. SYSTEMS AND IMPLEMENTATIONS

Figures 3-5 illustrate various systems, devices, and components that may implement aspects of disclosed embodiments.

Figure 3 illustrates a network 300 in accordance with various embodiments. The network 300 may operate in a manner consistent with 3GPP technical specifications for LTE or 5G/NR systems. However, the example embodiments are not limited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems, or the like.

The network 300 may include a UE 302, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with a RAN 304 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 302 may be communicatively coupled with the RAN 304 by a Uu interface. The UE 302 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, tablet computer, wearable computer device, desktop computer, laptop computer, in-vehicle infotainment, in-car entertainment device, instrument cluster, head-up display device, onboard diagnostic device, dashtop mobile equipment, mobile data terminal, electronic engine management system, electron! c/engine control unit, electron! c/engine control module, embedded system, sensor, microcontroller, control module, engine management system, networked appliance, machine-type communication device, M2M or D2D device, loT device, etc.

In some embodiments, the network 300 may include a plurality of UEs coupled directly with one another via a sidelink interface. The UEs may be M2M/D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc.

In some embodiments, the UE 302 may additionally communicate with an AP 306 via an over-the-air connection. The AP 306 may manage a WLAN connection, which may serve to offload some/all network traffic from the RAN 304. The connection between the UE 302 and the AP 306 may be consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 306 could be a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi®) router. In some embodiments, the UE 302, RAN 304, and AP 306 may utilize cellular- WLAN aggregation (for example, LWA/LWIP). Cellular- WLAN aggregation may involve the UE 302 being configured by the RAN 304 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources.

The RAN 304 may include one or more access nodes, for example, AN 308. AN 308 may terminate air-interface protocols for the UE 302 by providing access stratum protocols including RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and LI protocols. In this manner, the AN 308 may enable data/voice connectivity between CN 320 and the UE 302. In some embodiments, the AN 308 may be implemented in a discrete device or as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of, for example, a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN or virtual baseband unit pool. The AN 308 be referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng-eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP, TRP, etc. The AN 308 may be a macrocell base station or a low power base station for providing femtocells, picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.

In embodiments in which the RAN 304 includes a plurality of ANs, they may be coupled with one another via an X2 interface (if the RAN 304 is an LTE RAN) or an Xn interface (if the RAN 304 is a 5G RAN). The X2/Xn interfaces, which may be separated into control/user plane interfaces in some embodiments, may allow the ANs to communicate information related to handovers, data/context transfers, mobility, load management, interference coordination, etc.

The ANs of the RAN 304 may each manage one or more cells, cell groups, component carriers, etc. to provide the UE 302 with an air interface for network access. The UE 302 may be simultaneously connected with a plurality of cells provided by the same or different ANs of the RAN 304. For example, the UE 302 and RAN 304 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 302 to connect with a plurality of component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell. In dual connectivity scenarios, a first AN may be a master node that provides an MCG and a second AN may be secondary node that provides an SCG. The first/second ANs may be any combination of eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc.

The RAN 304 may provide the air interface over a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum. To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may use LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms based on CA technology with PCells/Scells. Prior to accessing the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may perform medium/carrier-sensing operations based on, for example, a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

In V2X scenarios the UE 302 or AN 308 may be or act as a RSU, which may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable AN or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE. An RSU implemented in or by: a UE may be referred to as a “UE-type RSU”; an eNB may be referred to as an “eNB-type RSU”; a gNB may be referred to as a “gNB-type RSU”; and the like. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs. The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well as applications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may provide very low latency communications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may provide other cellular/WLAN communications services. The components of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or a backhaul network.

In some embodiments, the RAN 304 may be an LTE RAN 310 with eNBs, for example, eNB 312. The LTE RAN 310 may provide an LTE air interface with the following characteristics: SCS of 15 kHz; CP-OFDM waveform for DL and SC-FDMA waveform for UL; turbo codes for data and TBCC for control; etc. The LTE air interface may rely on CSI-RS for CSI acquisition and beam management; PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS for PDSCH/PDCCH demodulation; and CRS for cell search and initial acquisition, channel quality measurements, and channel estimation for coherent demodulation/ detection at the UE. The LTE air interface may operating on sub-6 GHz bands.

In some embodiments, the RAN 304 may be an NG-RAN 314 with gNBs, for example, gNB 316, or ng-eNBs, for example, ng-eNB 318. The gNB 316 may connect with 5G-enabled UEs using a 5G NR interface. The gNB 316 may connect with a 5G core through an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. The ng-eNB 318 may also connect with the 5G core through an NG interface, but may connect with a UE via an LTE air interface. The gNB 316 and the ng-eNB 318 may connect with each other over an Xn interface.

In some embodiments, the NG interface may be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG- U) interface, which carries traffic data between the nodes of the NG-RAN 314 and a UPF 348 (e.g., N3 interface), and an NG control plane (NG-C) interface, which is a signaling interface between the nodes of the NG-RAN314 and an AMF 344 (e.g., N2 interface).

The NG-RAN 314 may provide a 5G-NR air interface with the following characteristics: variable SCS; CP-OFDM for DL, CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL; polar, repetition, simplex, and Reed-Muller codes for control and LDPC for data. The 5G-NR air interface may rely on CSI- RS, PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS similar to the LTE air interface. The 5G-NR air interface may not use a CRS, but may use PBCH DMRS for PBCH demodulation; PTRS for phase tracking for PDSCH; and tracking reference signal for time tracking. The 5G-NR air interface may operating on FR1 bands that include sub-6 GHz bands or FR2 bands that include bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. The 5G-NR air interface may include an SSB that is an area of a downlink resource grid that includes PSS/SSS/PBCH.

In some embodiments, the 5G-NR air interface may utilize BWPs for various purposes. For example, BWP can be used for dynamic adaptation of the SCS. For example, the UE 302 can be configured with multiple BWPs where each BWP configuration has a different SCS. When a BWP change is indicated to the UE 302, the SCS of the transmission is changed as well. Another use case example of BWP is related to power saving. In particular, multiple BWPs can be configured for the UE 302 with different amount of frequency resources (for example, PRBs) to support data transmission under different traffic loading scenarios. A BWP containing a smaller number of PRBs can be used for data transmission with small traffic load while allowing power saving at the UE 302 and in some cases at the gNB 316. A BWP containing a larger number of PRBs can be used for scenarios with higher traffic load.

The RAN 304 is communicatively coupled to CN 320 that includes network elements to provide various functions to support data and telecommunications services to customers/ subscribers (for example, users of UE 302). The components of the CN 320 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes. In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the functions provided by the network elements of the CN 320 onto physical compute/ storage resources in servers, switches, etc. A logical instantiation of the CN 320 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 320 may be referred to as a network sub-slice.

In some embodiments, the CN 320 may be an LTE CN 322, which may also be referred to as an EPC. The LTE CN 322 may include MME 324, SGW 326, SGSN 328, HSS 330, PGW 332, and PCRF 334 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown. Functions of the elements of the LTE CN 322 may be briefly introduced as follows.

The MME 324 may implement mobility management functions to track a current location of the UE 302 to facilitate paging, bearer activation/deactivation, handovers, gateway selection, authentication, etc.

The SGW 326 may terminate an SI interface toward the RAN and route data packets between the RAN and the LTE CN 322. The SGW 326 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement.

The SGSN 328 may track a location of the UE 302 and perform security functions and access control. In addition, the SGSN 328 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by MME 324; MME selection for handovers; etc. The S3 reference point between the MME 324 and the SGSN 328 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle/active states.

The HSS 330 may include a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions. The HSS 330 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 330 and the MME 324 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating/ authorizing user access to the LTE CN 320.

The PGW 332 may terminate an SGi interface toward a data network (DN) 336 that may include an application/content server 338. The PGW 332 may route data packets between the LTE CN 322 and the data network 336. The PGW 332 may be coupled with the SGW 326 by an S5 reference point to facilitate user plane tunneling and tunnel management. The PGW 332 may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (for example, PCEF). Additionally, the SGi reference point between the PGW 332 and the data network 3 36 may be an operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra-operator packet data network, for example, for provision of IMS services. The PGW 332 may be coupled with a PCRF 334 via a Gx reference point.

The PCRF 334 is the policy and charging control element of the LTE CN 322. The PCRF 334 may be communicatively coupled to the app/content server 338 to determine appropriate QoS and charging parameters for service flows. The PCRF 332 may provision associated rules into a PCEF (via Gx reference point) with appropriate TFT and QCI.

In some embodiments, the CN 320 may be a 5GC 340. The 5GC 340 may include an AUSF 342, AMF 344, SMF 346, UPF 348, NSSF 350, NEF 352, NRF 354, PCF 356, UDM 358, and AF 360 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown. Functions of the elements of the 5GC 340 may be briefly introduced as follows.

The AUSF 342 may store data for authentication of UE 302 and handle authentication- related functionality. The AUSF 342 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. In addition to communicating with other elements of the 5GC 340 over reference points as shown, the AUSF 342 may exhibit an Nausf service-based interface.

The AMF 344 may allow other functions of the 5GC 340 to communicate with the UE 302 and the RAN 304 and to subscribe to notifications about mobility events with respect to the UE 302. The AMF 344 may be responsible for registration management (for example, for registering UE 302), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF -related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 344 may provide transport for SM messages between the UE 302 and the SMF 346, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 344 may also provide transport for SMS messages between UE 302 and an SMSF. AMF 344 may interact with the AUSF 342 and the UE 302 to perform various security anchor and context management functions. Furthermore, AMF 344 may be a termination point of a RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the RAN 304 and the AMF 344; and the AMF 344 may be a termination point of NAS (Nl) signaling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. AMF 344 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 302 over an N3 IWF interface.

The SMF 346 may be responsible for SM (for example, session establishment, tunnel management between UPF 348 and AN 308); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP function; configuring traffic steering at UPF 348 to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement, charging, and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sent via AMF 344 over N2 to AN 308; and determining SSC mode of a session. SM may refer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or “session” may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 302 and the data network 336.

The UPF 348 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to data network 336, and a branching point to support multihomed PDU session. The UPF 348 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF-to-QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF 348 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network.

The NSSF 350 may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE 302. The NSSF 350 may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAIs, if needed. The NSSF 350 may also determine the AMF set to be used to serve the UE 302, or a list of candidate AMFs based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 354. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 302 may be triggered by the AMF 344 with which the UE 302 is registered by interacting with the NSSF 350, which may lead to a change of AMF. The NSSF 350 may interact with the AMF 344 via an N22 reference point; and may communicate with another NSSF in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown). Additionally, the NSSF 350 may exhibit an Nnssf service-based interface.

The NEF 352 may securely expose services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure/re-exposure, AFs (e.g., AF 360), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF 352 may authenticate, authorize, or throttle the AFs. NEF 352 may also translate information exchanged with the AF 360 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 352 may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF 352 may also receive information from other NFs based on exposed capabilities of other NFs. This information may be stored at the NEF 352 as structured data, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF 352 to other NFs and AFs, or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF 352 may exhibit an Nnef service-based interface.

The NRF 354 may support service discovery functions, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 354 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 354 may exhibit the Nnrf service-based interface.

The PCF 356 may provide policy rules to control plane functions to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behavior. The PCF 356 may also implement a front end to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM 358. In addition to communicating with functions over reference points as shown, the PCF 356 exhibit an Npcf service-based interface.

The UDM 358 may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE 302. For example, subscription data may be communicated via an N8 reference point between the UDM 358 and the AMF 344. The UDM 358 may include two parts, an application front end and a UDR. The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 358 and the PCF 356, and/or structured data for exposure and application data (including PFDs for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs 302) for the NEF 352. The Nudr service-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM 358, PCF 356, and NEF 352 to access a particular set of the stored data, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM-FE, which is in charge of processing credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification handling, access authorization, registration/mobility management, and subscription management. In addition to communicating with other NFs over reference points as shown, the UDM 358 may exhibit the Nudm service-based interface.

The AF 360 may provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to NEF, and interact with the policy framework for policy control.

In some embodiments, the 5GC 340 may enable edge computing by selecting operator/3^rd party services to be geographically close to a point that the UE 302 is attached to the network. This may reduce latency and load on the network. To provide edge-computing implementations, the 5GC 340 may select a UPF 348 close to the UE 302 and execute traffic steering from the UPF 348 to data network 336 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 360. In this way, the AF 360 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 360 is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF 360 to interact directly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF 360 may exhibit an Naf service-based interface.

The data network 336 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services that may be provided by one or more servers including, for example, application/content server 338.

Figure 4 schematically illustrates a wireless network 400 in accordance with various embodiments. The wireless network 400 may include a UE 402 in wireless communication with an AN 404. The UE 402 and AN 404 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, like- named components described elsewhere herein.

The UE 402 may be communicatively coupled with the AN 404 via connection 406. The connection 406 is illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols such as an LTE protocol or a 5GNR protocol operating at mmWave or sub-6GHz frequencies.

The UE 402 may include a host platform 408 coupled with a modem platform 410. The host platform 408 may include application processing circuitry 412, which may be coupled with protocol processing circuitry 414 of the modem platform 410. The application processing circuitry 412 may run various applications for the UE 402 that source/sink application data. The application processing circuitry 412 may further implement one or more layer operations to transmit/receive application data to/from a data network. These layer operations may include transport (for example UDP) and Internet (for example, IP) operations

The protocol processing circuitry 414 may implement one or more of layer operations to facilitate transmission or reception of data over the connection 406. The layer operations implemented by the protocol processing circuitry 414 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC and NAS operations.

The modem platform 410 may further include digital baseband circuitry 416 that may implement one or more layer operations that are “below” layer operations performed by the protocol processing circuitry 414 in a network protocol stack. These operations may include, for example, PHY operations including one or more of HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling/descrambling, encoding/decoding, layer mapping/de-mapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol/bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding/decoding, which may include one or more of space-time, space-frequency or spatial coding, reference signal generation/detection, preamble sequence generation and/or decoding, synchronization sequence generation/detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.

The modem platform 410 may further include transmit circuitry 418, receive circuitry 420, RF circuitry 422, and RF front end (RFFE) 424, which may include or connect to one or more antenna panels 426. Briefly, the transmit circuitry 418 may include a digital -to-analog converter, mixer, intermediate frequency (IF) components, etc.; the receive circuitry 420 may include an analog-to-digital converter, mixer, IF components, etc.; the RF circuitry 422 may include a low- noise amplifier, a power amplifier, power tracking components, etc.; RFFE 424 may include filters (for example, surface/bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beamforming components (for example, phase-array antenna components), etc. The selection and arrangement of the components of the transmit circuitry 418, receive circuitry 420, RF circuitry 422, RFFE 424, and antenna panels 426 (referred generically as “transmit/receive components”) may be specific to details of a specific implementation such as, for example, whether communication is TDM or FDM, in mmWave or sub-6 gHz frequencies, etc. In some embodiments, the transmit/receive components may be arranged in multiple parallel transmit/receive chains, may be disposed in the same or different chips/modules, etc.

In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry 414 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the transmit/receive components.

A UE reception may be established by and via the antenna panels 426, RFFE 424, RF circuitry 422, receive circuitry 420, digital baseband circuitry 416, and protocol processing circuitry 414. In some embodiments, the antenna panels 426 may receive a transmission from the AN 404 by receive-beamforming signals received by a plurality of antennas/ antenna elements of the one or more antenna panels 426.

A UE transmission may be established by and via the protocol processing circuitry 414, digital baseband circuitry 416, transmit circuitry 418, RF circuitry 422, RFFE 424, and antenna panels 426. In some embodiments, the transmit components of the UE 404 may apply a spatial filter to the data to be transmitted to form a transmit beam emitted by the antenna elements of the antenna panels 426.

Similar to the UE 402, the AN 404 may include a host platform 428 coupled with a modem platform 430. The host platform 428 may include application processing circuitry 432 coupled with protocol processing circuitry 434 of the modem platform 430. The modem platform may further include digital baseband circuitry 436, transmit circuitry 438, receive circuitry 440, RF circuitry 442, RFFE circuitry 444, and antenna panels 446. The components of the AN 404 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with like-named components of the UE 402. In addition to performing data transmission/reception as described above, the components of the AN 408 may perform various logical functions that include, for example, RNC functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, and data packet scheduling.

Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, Figure 5 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 500 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 510, one or more memory /storage devices 520, and one or more communication resources 530, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 540 or other interface circuitry. For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 502 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 500.

The processors 510 may include, for example, a processor 512 and a processor 514. The processors 510 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

The memory /storage devices 520 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory /storage devices 520 may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile, non-volatile, or semi-volatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources 530 may include interconnection or network interface controllers, components, or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 504 or one or more databases 506 or other network elements via a network 508. For example, the communication resources 530 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB, Ethernet, etc.), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components.

Instructions 550 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 510 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 550 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 510 (e.g., within the processor’s cache memory), the memory /storage devices 520, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 550 may be transferred to the hardware resources 500 from any combination of the peripheral devices 504 or the databases 506. Accordingly, the memory of processors 510, the memory /storage devices 520, the peripheral devices 504, and the databases 506 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

EXAMPLE PROCEDURES

In some embodiments, the electronic device(s), network(s), system(s), chip(s) or component(s), or portions or implementations thereof, of Figures 3-5, or some other figure herein, may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, or methods as described herein, or portions thereof. For example, Figure 6 illustrates a process 600 in accordance with some embodiments. The process 600 may be performed by a UE or a portion thereof.

At 602, the process 600 may include receiving, via broadcast signaling from a next generation Node B (gNB) of a non-terrestrial network (NTN), a common time offset. At 604, the process 600 may further include determining a UE specific time offset for the NTN. For example, in some embodiments, the UE specific time offset may be determined based on an altitude of the UE and/or a distance between the UE and the gNB.

At 606, the process 600 may further include communicating on the NTN based on the common time offset and the UE specific time offset. For example, the communicating may be based on a total timing advance that is or includes a sum of the common time offset and the UE specific time offset. In one example, the communicating may include encoding a physical random access channel (PRACH) message for transmission to the gNB based on the common timing advance and the UE specific timing advance. In another example, the communicating may include determining a random access response window based on the common time offset and the UE specific time offset.

Figure 7 illustrates another process 700 in accordance with various embodiments. The process 700 may be performed by a gNB or an NTN, or a portion thereof. At 702, the process 700 may include encoding an indication of a common time offset for broadcast transmission. At 704, the process 700 may further include encoding, for transmission to a user equipment (UE), configuration information for a UE specific time offset to be used by the UE in combination with the common time offset for communication on the NTN.

Figure 8 illustrates another process 800 in accordance with various embodiments. The process 800 may be performed by a UE or a portion thereof. At 802, the process 800 may include determining that a triggering condition has occurred based on a UE location of the UE or a relative distance of the UE from a cell of a non-terrestrial network (NTN). For example, the triggering condition may be based on a UE location and/or a distance of the UE from the gNB.

At 804, the process 800 may further include generating a measurement report on the cell based on the triggering condition. At 806, the process 800 may further include encoding the measurement report for transmission. In some embodiments, the measurement report may include a location and/or a speed of the UE.

For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the example section.

EXAMPLES

Example 1 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM) having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors cause a user equipment (UE) to: receive, via broadcast signaling from a next generation Node B (gNB) of a non-terrestrial network (NTN), a common time offset; determine a UE specific time offset for the NTN; and communicate on the NTN based on the common time offset and the UE specific time offset.

Example 2 may include the one or more NTCRM of example 1, wherein the common time offset is associated with a cell or a beam of the NTN.

Example 3 may include the one or more NTCRM of example 1, wherein the UE specific time offset is based on an altitude of the UE.

Example 4 may include the one or more NTCRM of example 1, wherein the UE specific time offset is based on a distance between the UE and the gNB.

Example 5 may include the one or more NTCRM of example 1, wherein the instructions are further to cause the UE to receive configuration information for the UE specific time offset, wherein the UE specific time offset is determined based on the configuration information.

Example 6 may include the one or more NTCRM of example 1, wherein the UE is to communicate on the NTN using a total time offset that is the sum of the common time offset and the UE specific time offset. Example 7 may include the one or more NTCRM of any of examples 1-6, wherein the common time offset is a common timing advance, wherein the UE specific time offset is a UE specific timing advance, and wherein to communicate on the NTN includes to encode a physical random access channel (PRACH) message for transmission to the gNB based on the common timing advance and the UE specific timing advance.

Example 8 may include the one or more NTCRM of any of examples 1-6, wherein to communicate on the NTN includes to determine a random access response window based on the common time offset and the UE specific time offset.

Example 9 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM) having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors cause a user equipment (UE) to: determine that a triggering condition has occurred based on a UE location of the UE or a relative distance of the UE from a cell of a non-terrestrial network (NTN); generate a measurement report on the cell based on the triggering condition; and encode the measurement report for transmission.

Example 10 may include the one or more NTCRM of example 9, wherein the triggering condition is based on the UE location.

Example 11 may include the one or more NTCRM of example 9, wherein the triggering condition is based on the relative distance of the UE from the cell.

Example 12 may include the one or more NTCRM of example 9, wherein the triggering condition is further based on a measured reference signal received power (RSRP) or a measured signal-to-interference-plus-noise (SINR) being greater than a threshold.

Example 13 may include the one or more NTCRM of example 12, wherein the instructions, when executed, are further to cause the UE to receive a configuration of the threshold from the cell or another cell.

Example 14 may include the one or more NTCRM of example 9, wherein the measurement report includes at least one of a UE location or a UE speed of the UE.

Example 15 may include the one or more NTCRM of any of examples 9-14, wherein the instructions, when executed, are further to cause the UE to determine a measurement gap for one or more measurements associated with the measurement report, wherein the measurement gap is determined based on a type of satellite that implements the cell or an elevation of the UE.

Example 16 may include the one or more NTCRM of any of examples 9-14, wherein the instructions, when executed, are further to cause the UE to determine a measurement gap for one or more measurements associated with the measurement report, wherein the measurement gap is determined based on a longest propagation delay and a shortest propagation delay associated with respective cells to be measured in the measurement gap. Example 17 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM) having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors cause a next generation Node B (gNB) of a non-terrestrial network (NTN) to: encode an indication of a common time offset for broadcast transmission; and encode, for transmission to a user equipment (UE), configuration information for a UE specific time offset to be used by the UE in combination with the common time offset for communication on the NTN.

Example 18 may include the one or more NTCRM of example 17, wherein the common time offset is associated with a cell or a beam of the NTN.

Example 19 may include the one or more NTCRM of example 17, wherein the configuration information is to indicate the UE specific time offset based on an altitude of the UE.

Example 20 may include the one or more NTCRM of example 17, wherein the configuration information is to indicate the UE specific time offset based on a distance between the UE and the gNB.

Example 21 may include the one or more NTCRM of any of examples 17-20, wherein the common time offset is a common timing advance, wherein the UE specific time offset is a UE specific timing advance, and wherein the UE specific time offset is to be used by the UE in combination with the common timing advance for transmission of a physical random access channel (PRACH) message to the gNB.

Example 22 may include the one or more NTCRM of any of examples 17-20, wherein the UE specific time offset is to be used by the UE in combination with the common time offset to determine a random access response window.

Example 23 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-22, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 24 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-22, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 25 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-22, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 26 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-22, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 27 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-22, or portions thereof.

Example 28 may include a signal as described in or related to any of examples 1-22, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 29 may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples 1-22, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example 30 may include a signal encoded with data as described in or related to any of examples 1-22, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example 31 may include a signal encoded with a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples 1-22, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example 32 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors is to cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-22, or portions thereof.

Example 33 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element is to cause the processing element to carry out the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-22, or portions thereof.

Example 34 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

Example 35 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

Example 36 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

Example 37 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples), unless explicitly stated otherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments. Abbreviations

Unless used differently herein, terms, definitions, and abbreviations may be consistent with terms, definitions, and abbreviations defined in 3GPP TR 21.905 V16.0.0 (2019-06). For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations may apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

3GPP Third Generation ASN.1 Abstract Syntax CAPEX CAPital Partnership Notation One Expenditure

Project AUSF Authentication CBRA Contention Based 4G Fourth Server Function Random Access Generation 40 AWGN Additive 75 CC Component 5G Fifth Generation White Gaussian Carrier, Country 5GC 5G Core network Noise Code, Cryptographic ACK BAP Backhaul Checksum

Acknowledgeme Adaptation Protocol CCA Clear Channel nt 45 BCH Broadcast 80 Assessment

AF Application Channel CCE Control Channel Function BER Bit Error Ratio Element

AM Acknowledged BFD Beam CCCH Common Control Mode Failure Detection Channel AMBRAggregate 50 BLER Block Error Rate 85 CE Coverage Maximum Bit Rate BPSK Binary Phase Enhancement AMF Access and Shift Keying CDM Content Delivery Mobility BRAS Broadband Network

Management Remote Access CDMA Code- Function 55 Server 90 Division Multiple

AN Access Network BSS Business Support Access ANR Automatic System CFRAContention Free Neighbour Relation BS Base Station Random Access

AP Application BSR Buffer Status CG Cell Group Protocol, Antenna 60 Report 95 CI Cell Identity

Port, Access Point BW Bandwidth CID Cell-ID (e g., API Application BWP Bandwidth Part positioning method) Programming Interface C-RNTI Cell CIM Common APN Access Point Radio Network Information Model Name 65 Temporary 100 CIR Carrier to

ARP Allocation and Identity Interference Ratio Retention Priority CA Carrier CK Cipher Key ARQ Automatic Aggregation, CM Connection Repeat Request Certification Management,

AS Access Stratum 70 Authority Conditional CRAN Cloud Radio CSMA/CA CSMA

Mandatory 35 Access Network, 70 with collision avoidance

CM AS Commercial Cloud RAN CSS Common Search

Mobile Alert Service CRB Common Space, Cell- specific

CMD Command Resource Block Search Space

CMS Cloud CRC Cyclic CTS Clear-to-Send

Management System 40 Redundancy Check 75 CW Codeword

CO Conditional CRI Channel-State CWS Contention

Optional Information Resource Window Size

CoMP Coordinated Indicator, CSI-RS D2D Device-to-Device

Multi-Point Resource DC Dual

CORESET Control 45 Indicator 80 Connectivity, Direct

Resource Set C-RNTI Cell Current

COTS Commercial Off- RNTI DCI Downlink

The-Shelf CS Circuit Switched Control

CP Control Plane, CSAR Cloud Service Information

Cyclic Prefix, 50 Archive 85 DF Deployment

Connection Point CSI Channel-State Flavour

CPD Connection Point Information DL Downlink

Descriptor CSI-IM CSI DMTF Distributed

CPE Customer Interference Management Task

Premise 55 Measurement 90 Force

Equipment CSI-RS CSI DPDK Data Plane

CPICHCommon Pilot Reference Signal Development Kit

Channel CSI-RSRP CSI DM-RS, DMRS

CQI Channel Quality reference signal Demodulation

Indicator 60 received power 95 Reference Signal

CPU CSI processing CSI-RSRQ CSI DN Data network unit, Central reference signal DRB Data Radio

Processing Unit received quality Bearer

C/R CSI-SINR CSI DRS Discovery

Command/Respo 65 signal-to-noise and 100 Reference Signal nse field bit interference ratio DRX Discontinuous

CSMA Carrier Sense Reception Multiple Access DSL Domain Specific EM Element Manager E-UTRA Evolved Language. Digital eMBB Enhanced Mobile UTRA

Subscriber Line Broadband E-UTRAN Evolved DSLAM DSL EMS Element UTRAN

Access Multiplexer 40 Management System 75 EV2X Enhanced V2X DwPTS Downlink eNB evolved NodeB, F1AP Fl Application

Pilot Time Slot E-UTRAN Node B Protocol

E-LAN Ethernet EN-DC E-UTRA- Fl-C Fl Control plane

Local Area Network NR Dual interface E2E End-to-End 45 Connectivity 80 Fl-U Fl User plane ECCA extended clear EPC Evolved Packet interface channel Core FACCH Fast assessment, EPDCCH enhanced Associated Control extended CCA PDCCH, enhanced CHannel ECCE Enhanced 50 Physical 85 FACCH/F Fast Control Channel Downlink Control Associated Control

Element, Cannel Channel/Full rate Enhanced CCE EPRE Energy per FACCH/H Fast ED Energy Detection resource element Associated Control EDGE Enhanced 55 EPS Evolved Packet 90 Channel/Half rate Datarates for GSM System FACH Forward Access

Evolution (GSM EREG enhanced REG, Channel Evolution) enhanced resource FAUSCH Fast EGMF Exposure element groups Uplink Signalling Governance 60 ETSI European 95 Channel

Management T elecommunicati FB Functional Block Function ons Standards FBI Feedback

EGPRS Enhanced Institute Information

GPRS ETWS Earthquake and FCC Federal

EIR Equipment 65 Tsunami Warning 100 Communications Identity Register System Commission eLAA enhanced eUICC embedded UICC, FCCH Frequency Licensed Assisted embedded Universal Correction CHannel

Access, enhanced Integrated Circuit FDD Frequency

LAA 70 Card 105 Division Duplex FDM Frequency Sistema (Engl.: GUTI Globally Unique Division Multiplex Global Navigation Temporary UE

FDM A F requency Satellite System) Identity Division Multiple gNB Next Generation HARQ Hybrid ARQ,

Access 40 NodeB 75 Hybrid

FE Front End gNB-CU gNB- Automatic

FEC Forward Error centralized unit, Next Repeat Request Correction Generation HANDO Handover

FFS For Further Study NodeB HFN HyperFrame FFT Fast Fourier 45 centralized unit 80 Number

Transformation gNB-DU gNB- HHO Hard Handover feLAA further enhanced distributed unit, Next HLR Home Location Licensed Assisted Generation Register Access, further NodeB HN Home Network enhanced LAA 50 distributed unit 85 HO Handover FN Frame Number GNSS Global HPLMN Home FPGA Field- Navigation Satellite Public Land Mobile Programmable Gate System Network

Array GPRS General Packet HSDPA High

FR Frequency Range 55 Radio Service 90 Speed Downlink G-RNTI GERAN GSM Global System Packet Access Radio Network for Mobile HSN Hopping

Temporary Communications, Sequence Number Identity Groupe Special HSPA High Speed GERAN 60 Mobile 95 Packet Access

GSM EDGE GTP GPRS Tunneling HSS Home Subscriber RAN, GSM EDGE Protocol Server

Radio Access GTP-UGPRS Tunnelling HSUPA High Network Protocol for User Speed Uplink Packet

GGSN Gateway GPRS 65 Plane 100 Access Support Node GTS Go To Sleep HTTP Hyper Text GLONASS Signal (related to Transfer Protocol

GLObal'naya WUS) HTTPS Hyper

NAvigatsionnaya GUMMEI Globally Text Transfer Protocol

Sputnikovaya 70 Unique MME Identifier 105 Secure (https is http/1.1 over 35 IM Interference 70 IR Infrared SSL, i.e. port 443) Measurement, IS In Sync I-Block Intermodulation, IRP Integration

Information IP Multimedia Reference Point Block IMC IMS Credentials ISDN Integrated

ICCID Integrated Circuit 40 IMEI International 75 Services Digital Card Identification Mobile Network IAB Integrated Access Equipment ISIM IM Services and Backhaul Identity Identity Module ICIC Inter-Cell IMGI International ISO International

Interference 45 mobile group identity 80 Organisation for

Coordination IMPI IP Multimedia Standardisation

ID Identity, Private Identity ISP Internet Service identifier IMPU IP Multimedia Provider

IDFT Inverse Discrete PUblic identity IWF Interworking- Fourier 50 IMS IP Multimedia 85 Function

Transform Subsystem I-WLAN

IE Information IMSI International Interworking element Mobile WLAN

IBE In-Band Subscriber Constraint length

Emission 55 Identity 90 of the convolutional

IEEE Institute of loT Internet of code, USIM Individual

Electrical and Things key

Electronics IP Internet Protocol kB Kilobyte (1000 Engineers Ipsec IP Security, bytes) IEI Information 60 Internet Protocol 95 kbps kilo-bits per

Element Identifier Security second

IEIDL Information IP-CAN IP- Kc Ciphering key

Element Identifier Connectivity Access Ki Individual

Data Length Network subscriber IETF Internet 65 IP-M IP Multicast 100 authentication Engineering Task IPv4 Internet Protocol key

Force Version 4 KPI Key Performance

IF Infrastructure IPv6 Internet Protocol Indicator

Version 6 KQI Key Quality LPP LTE Positioning MBMS Indicator Protocol Multimedia

KSI Key Set Identifier LSB Least Significant Broadcast and Multicast ksps kilo-symbols per Bit Service second 40 LTE Long Term 75 MBSFN

KVM Kernel Virtual Evolution Multimedia

Machine LWA LTE-WLAN Broadcast multicast

LI Layer 1 (physical aggregation service Single layer) LWIP LTE/WLAN Frequency

Ll-RSRP Layer 1 45 Radio Level 80 Network reference signal Integration with MCC Mobile Country received power IPsec Tunnel Code

L2 Layer 2 (data link LTE Long Term MCG Master Cell layer) Evolution Group

L3 Layer 3 (network 50 M2M Machine-to- 85 MCOT Maximum layer) Machine Channel

LAA Licensed MAC Medium Access Occupancy Time

Assisted Access Control (protocol MCS Modulation and

LAN Local Area layering context) coding scheme

Network 55 MAC Message 90 MD AF Management

LBT Listen Before authentication code Data Analytics

Talk (security/encry ption Function

LCM LifeCycle context) MDAS Management Management MAC-A MAC Data Analytics

LCR Low Chip Rate 60 used for 95 Service

LCS Location authentication MDT Minimization of

Services and key agreement Drive Tests

LCID Logical (TSG T WG3 context) ME Mobile

Channel ID MAC-IMAC used for Equipment

LI Layer Indicator 65 data integrity of 100 MeNB master eNB

LLC Logical Link signalling messages MER Message Error Control, Low Layer (TSG T WG3 context) Ratio Compatibility MANO MGL Measurement

LPLMN Local Management and Gap Length

PLMN 70 Orchestration MGRP Measurement MPLS MultiProtocol NAI Network Access Gap Repetition Period Label Switching Identifier MIB Master MS Mobile Station NAS Non-Access Information Block, MSB Most Significant Stratum, Non- Access Management 40 Bit 75 Stratum layer

Information Base MSC Mobile NCT Network MIMO Multiple Input Switching Centre Connectivity Topology Multiple Output MSI Minimum NC-JT NonMLC Mobile Location System coherent Joint

Centre 45 Information, 80 Transmission

MM Mobility MCH Scheduling NEC Network Management Information Capability Exposure MME Mobility MSID Mobile Station NE-DC NR-E- Management Entity Identifier UTRA Dual

MN Master Node 50 MSIN Mobile Station 85 Connectivity MnS Management Identification NEF Network Service Number Exposure Function

MO Measurement MSISDN Mobile NF Network

Object, Mobile Subscriber ISDN Function

Originated 55 Number 90 NFP Network

MPBCH MTC MT Mobile Forwarding Path

Physical Broadcast Terminated, Mobile NFPD Network CHannel Termination Forwarding Path

MPDCCH MTC MTC Machine-Type Descriptor

Physical Downlink 60 Communications 95 NFV Network

Control CHannel mMTCmassive MTC, Functions

MPDSCH MTC massive Machine- Virtualization Physical Downlink Type Communications NFVI NFV

Shared CHannel MU-MIMO Multi Infrastructure

MPRACH MTC 65 User MIMO 100 NFVO NFV Physical Random MWUS MTC Orchestrator

Access CHannel wake-up signal, MTC NG Next Generation,

MPUSCH MTC wus Next Gen Physical Uplink Shared NACKNegative

Channel 70 Acknowledgement NGEN-DC NG-RAN NSSS Narrowband 70 OFDM Orthogonal E-UTRA-NR Dual Secondary Frequency Division

Connectivity Synchronization Multiplexing

NM Network Signal OFDMA Manager 40 NR New Radio, Orthogonal

NMS Network Neighbour Relation 75 Frequency Division Management System NRF NF Repository Multiple Access N-PoP Network Point of Function OOB Out-of-band Presence NRS Narrowband OOS Out of Sync

NMIB, N-MIB 45 Reference Signal OPEX OPerating Narrowband MIB NS Network Service 80 EXpense NPBCH NSA Non-Standalone OSI Other System

Narrowband operation mode Information

Physical Broadcast NSD Network Service OSS Operations CHannel 50 Descriptor Support System

NPDCCH NSR Network Service 85 OTA over-the-air

Narrowband Record PAPR Peak-to-Average

Physical Downlink NSSAINetwork Slice Power Ratio Control CHannel Selection PAR Peak to Average

NPDSCH 55 Assistance Ratio

Narrowband Information 90 PBCH Physical

Physical Downlink S-NNSAI Single- Broadcast Channel Shared CHannel NSSAI PC Power Control,

NPRACH NSSF Network Slice Personal Computer

Narrowband 60 Selection Function PCC Primary

Physical Random NW Network 95 Component Carrier, Access CHannel NWU S N arrowband Primary CC

NPUSCH wake-up signal, PCell Primary Cell

Narrowband Narrowband WUS PCI Physical Cell ID,

Physical Uplink 65 NZP Non-Zero Power Physical Cell Shared CHannel O&M Operation and 100 Identity

NPSS Narrowband Maintenance PCEF Policy and Primary ODU2 Optical channel Charging

Synchronization Data Unit - type 2 Enforcement

Signal Function PCF Policy Control 35 PIN Personal PSBCH Physical Function Identification Number 70 Sidelink Broadcast

PCRF Policy Control PM Performance Channel and Charging Rules Measurement PSDCH Physical Function PMI Precoding Matrix Sidelink Downlink

PDCP Packet Data 40 Indicator Channel Convergence Protocol, PNF Physical Network 75 PSCCH Physical Packet Data Function Sidelink Control

Convergence PNFD Physical Network Channel Protocol layer Function PSFCH Physical

PDCCH Physical 45 Descriptor Sidelink Feedback Downlink Control PNFR Physical Network 80 Channel

Channel Function Record PSSCH Physical

PDCP Packet Data POC PTT over Sidelink Shared Convergence Protocol Cellular Channel PDN Packet Data 50 PP, PTP Point-to- PSCell Primary SCell Network, Public Point 85 PSS Primary

Data Network PPP Point-to-Point Synchronization

PDSCH Physical Protocol Signal

Downlink Shared PRACH Physical PSTN Public Switched

Channel 55 RACH Telephone Network

PDU Protocol Data PRB Physical resource 90 PT-RS Phase-tracking Unit block reference signal

PEI Permanent PRG Physical resource PTT Push-to-Talk Equipment Identifiers block group PUCCH Physical PFD Packet Flow 60 ProSe Proximity Uplink Control Description Services, 95 Channel

P-GW PDN Gateway Proximity-Based PUSCH Physical PHICH Physical Service Uplink Shared hybrid-ARQ indicator PRS Positioning Channel channel 65 Reference Signal QAM Quadrature

PHY Physical layer PRR Packet Reception 100 Amplitude PLMN Public Land Radio Modulation Mobile Network PS Packet Services QCI QoS class of identifier QCL Quasi co-location REG Resource 70 RNL Radio Network QFI QoS Flow ID, Element Group Layer QoS Flow Identifier Rel Release RNTI Radio Network QoS Quality of REQ REQuest Temporary Identifier Service 40 RF Radio Frequency ROHC RObust Header

QPSK Quadrature RI Rank Indicator 75 Compression (Quaternary) Phase RIV Resource RRC Radio Resource Shift Keying indicator value Control, Radio

QZSS Quasi-Zenith RL Radio Link Resource Control Satellite System 45 RLC Radio Link layer

RA-RNTI Random Control, Radio 80 RRM Radio Resource

Access RNTI Link Control Management

RAB Radio Access layer RS Reference Signal

Bearer, Random RLC AM RLC RSRP Reference Signal

Access Burst 50 Acknowledged Mode Received Power

RACH Random Access RLC UM RLC 85 RSRQ Reference Signal Channel Unacknowledged Mode Received Quality

RADIUS Remote RLF Radio Link RSSI Received Signal

Authentication Dial In Failure Strength Indicator User Service 55 RLM Radio Link RSU Road Side Unit

RAN Radio Access Monitoring 90 RSTD Reference Signal

Network RLM-RS Reference Time difference

RANDRANDom Signal for RLM RTP Real Time number (used for RM Registration Protocol authentication) 60 Management RTS Ready-To-Send

RAR Random Access RMC Reference 95 RTT Round Trip Time Response Measurement Channel Rx Reception,

RAT Radio Access RMSI Remaining MSI, Receiving, Receiver Technology Remaining Minimum S1AP SI Application

RAU Routing Area 65 System Protocol Update Information 100 SI -MME SI for the

RB Resource block, RN Relay Node control plane Radio Bearer RNC Radio Network Sl-U SI for the user

RBG Resource block Controller plane group S-GW Serving Gateway S-RNTI SRNC 35 SDAP Service Data SI System Radio Network Adaptation Protocol, 70 Information Temporary Service Data SI-RNTI System

Identity Adaptation Information RNTI

S-TMSI SAE Protocol layer SIB System Temporary Mobile 40 SDL Supplementary Information Block

Station Identifier Downlink 75 SIM Subscriber

SA Standalone SDNF Structured Data Identity Module operation mode Storage Network SIP Session Initiated SAE System Function Protocol Architecture Evolution 45 SDP Session SiP System in SAP Service Access Description Protocol 80 Package Point SDSF Structured Data SL Sidelink

SAPD Service Access Storage Function SLA Service Level Point Descriptor SDU Service Data Unit Agreement SAPI Service Access 50 SEAF Security Anchor SM Session Point Identifier Function 85 Management SCC Secondary SeNB secondary eNB SMF Session Component Carrier, SEPP Security Edge Management Function Secondary CC Protection Proxy SMS Short Message

SCell Secondary Cell 55 SFI Slot format Service SC-FDMA Single indication 90 SMSF SMS Function Carrier Frequency SFTD Space-Frequency SMTC SSB-based

Division Multiple Time Diversity, SFN Measurement Timing Access and frame timing Configuration

SCG Secondary Cell 60 difference SN Secondary Node, Group SFN System Frame 95 Sequence Number

SCM Security Context Number or SoC System on Chip Management Single Frequency SON Self-Organizing

SCS Subcarrier Network Network Spacing 65 SgNB Secondary gNB SpCell Special Cell

SCTP Stream Control SGSN Serving GPRS 100 SP-CSI-RNTISemi- Transmission Support Node Persistent CSI RNTI

Protocol S-GW Serving Gateway SPS Semi-Persistent

Scheduling SQN Sequence number SSSIF Search Space Set TFT Traffic Flow SR Scheduling Indicator Template Request SST Slice/Service TMSI Temporary

SRB Signalling Radio Types Mobile Bearer 40 SU-MIMO Single 75 Subscriber

SRS Sounding User MIMO Identity

Reference Signal SUL Supplementary TNL Transport

SS Synchronization Uplink Network Layer

Signal TA Timing Advance, TPC Transmit Power

SSB SS Block 45 Tracking Area 80 Control

SSBRI SSB Resource TAC Tracking Area TPMI Transmitted

Indicator Code Precoding Matrix

SSC Session and TAG Timing Advance Indicator

Service Group TR Technical Report

Continuity 50 TAU Tracking Area 85 TRP, TRxP

SS-RSRP Update Transmission

Synchronization TB Transport Block Reception Point

Signal based Reference TBS Transport Block TRS Tracking Signal Received Size Reference Signal

Power 55 TBD To Be Defined 90 TRx Transceiver

SS-RSRQ TCI Transmission TS Technical

Synchronization Configuration Indicator Specifications, Signal based Reference TCP Transmission Technical Signal Received Communication Standard

Quality 60 Protocol 95 TTI Transmission

SS-SINR TDD Time Division Time Interval

Synchronization Duplex Tx Transmission, Signal based Signal to TDM Time Division Transmitting, Noise and Interference Multiplexing Transmitter

Ratio 65 TDMATime Division 100 U-RNTI UTRAN SSS Secondary Multiple Access Radio Network Synchronization TE Terminal Temporary

Signal Equipment Identity

SSSG Search Space Set TEID Tunnel End Point UART Universal Group 70 Identifier 105 Asynchronous Receiver and USB Universal Serial 70 VNFFGD VNF

Transmitter Bus Forwarding Graph

UCI Uplink Control USIM Universal Descriptor

Information Subscriber Identity VNFMVNF Manager

UE User Equipment 40 Module VoIP Voice-over-IP,

UDM Unified Data USS UE-specific 75 Voice-over- Internet

Management search space Protocol

UDP User Datagram UTRA UMTS VPLMN Visited

Protocol Terrestrial Radio Public Land Mobile

UDR Unified Data 45 Access Network

Repository UTRAN Universal 80 VPN Virtual Private

UDSF Unstructured Terrestrial Radio Network

Data Storage Network Access Network VRB Virtual Resource

Function UwPTS Uplink Block

UICC Universal 50 Pilot Time Slot WiMAX

Integrated Circuit V2I Vehicle-to- 85 Worldwide

Card Infras traction Interoperability for

UL Uplink V2P Vehicle-to- Microwave Access

UM Unacknowledged Pedestrian WLANWireless Local

Mode 55 V2V Vehicle-to- Area Network

UML Unified Vehicle 90 WMAN Wireless

Modelling Language V2X Vehicle-to- Metropolitan Area

UMTS Universal Mobile every thing Network

T elecommunicati VIM Virtualized WPANWireless ons System 60 Infrastructure Manager Personal Area Network

UP User Plane VL Virtual Link, 95 X2-C X2-Control plane

UPF User Plane VLAN Virtual LAN, X2-U X2-User plane

Function Virtual Local Area XML extensible

URI Uniform Network Markup Language

Resource Identifier 65 VM Virtual Machine XRES EXpected user

URL Uniform VNF Virtualized 100 RESponse

Resource Locator Network Function XOR exclusive OR

URLLC UltraVNFFG VNF ZC Zadoff-Chu

Reliable and Low Forwarding Graph ZP Zero Power

Latency Terminology

For the purposes of the present document, the following terms and definitions are applicable to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

The term “circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes hardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field- programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term “circuitry” may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the program code used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuitry.

The term “processor circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carrying out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, and/or transferring digital data. Processing circuitry may include one or more processing cores to execute instructions and one or more memory structures to store program and data information. The term “processor circuitry” may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and/or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, and/or functional processes. Processing circuitry may include more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and/or deep learning (DL) accelerators. The terms “application circuitry” and/or “baseband circuitry” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, “processor circuitry.” The term “interface circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term “interface circuitry” may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I/O interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and/or the like.

The term “user equipment” or “UE” as used herein refers to a device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communications network. The term “user equipment” or “UE” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the term “user equipment” or “UE” may include any type of wireless/wired device or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.

The term “network element” as used herein refers to physical or virtualized equipment and/or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term “network element” may be considered synonymous to and/or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and/or the like.

The term “computer system” as used herein refers to any type interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term “computer system” and/or “system” may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled with one another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” and/or “system” may refer to multiple computer devices and/or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another and configured to share computing and/or networking resources.

The term “appliance,” “computer appliance,” or the like, as used herein refers to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide a specific computing resource. A “virtual appliance” is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide a specific computing resource.

The term “resource” as used herein refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and/or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, such as computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor/CPU time, processor/CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardware time or usage, electrical power, input/output operations, ports or network sockets, channel/link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, network, database and applications, workload units, and/or the like. A “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by physical hardware element(s). A “virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. The term “network resource” or “communication resource” may refer to resources that are accessible by computer devices/systems via a communications network. The term “system resources” may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services, and may include computing and/or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services, accessible through a server where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.

The term “channel” as used herein refers to any transmission medium, either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or a data stream. The term “channel” may be synonymous with and/or equivalent to “communications channel,” “data communications channel,” “transmission channel,” “data transmission channel,” “access channel,” “data access channel,” “link,” “data link,” “carrier,” “radiofrequency carrier,” and/or any other like term denoting a pathway or medium through which data is communicated. Additionally, the term “link” as used herein refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information.

The terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like as used herein refers to the creation of an instance. An “instance” also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code.

The terms “coupled,” “communicatively coupled,” along with derivatives thereof are used herein. The term “coupled” may mean two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another, may mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and/or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements that are said to be coupled with each other. The term “directly coupled” may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another. The term “communicatively coupled” may mean that two or more elements may be in contact with one another by a means of communication including through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless communication channel or link, and/or the like.

The term “information element” refers to a structural element containing one or more fields. The term “field” refers to individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains content.

The term “SMTC” refers to an S SB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB- MeasurementTimingConflguration.

The term “SSB” refers to an SS/PBCH block.

The term “a “Primary Cell” refers to the MCG cell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection re-establishment procedure.

The term “Primary SCG Cell” refers to the SCG cell in which the UE performs random access when performing the Reconfiguration with Sync procedure for DC operation.

The term “Secondary Cell” refers to a cell providing additional radio resources on top of a Special Cell for a UE configured with CA. The term “Secondary Cell Group” refers to the subset of serving cells comprising the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells for a UE configured with DC.

The term “Serving Cell” refers to the primary cell for a UE in RRC CONNECTED not configured with CA/DC there is only one serving cell comprising of the primary cell. The term “serving cell” or “serving cells” refers to the set of cells comprising the Special Cell(s) and all secondary cells for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured with CA/.

The term “Special Cell” refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term “Special Cell” refers to the Pcell.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM) having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors cause a user equipment (UE) to: receive, via broadcast signaling from a next generation Node B (gNB) of a non-terrestrial network (NTN), a common time offset; determine a UE specific time offset for the NTN; and communicate on the NTN based on the common time offset and the UE specific time offset.

2. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the common time offset is associated with a cell or a beam of the NTN.

3. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the UE specific time offset is based on an altitude of the UE.

4. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the UE specific time offset is based on a distance between the UE and the gNB.

5. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the instructions are further to cause the UE to receive configuration information for the UE specific time offset, wherein the UE specific time offset is determined based on the configuration information.

6. The one or more NTCRM of claim 1, wherein the UE is to communicate on the NTN using a total time offset that is the sum of the common time offset and the UE specific time offset.

7. The one or more NTCRM of any of claims 1-6, wherein the common time offset is a common timing advance, wherein the UE specific time offset is a UE specific timing advance, and wherein to communicate on the NTN includes to encode a physical random access channel (PRACH) message for transmission to the gNB based on the common timing advance and the UE specific timing advance.

42

8. The one or more NTCRM of any of claims 1-6, wherein to communicate on the NTN includes to determine a random access response window based on the common time offset and the UE specific time offset.

9. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM) having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors cause a user equipment (UE) to: determine that a triggering condition has occurred based on a UE location of the UE or a relative distance of the UE from a cell of a non-terrestrial network (NTN); generate a measurement report on the cell based on the triggering condition; and encode the measurement report for transmission.

10. The one or more NTCRM of claim 9, wherein the triggering condition is based on the UE location.

11. The one or more NTCRM of claim 9, wherein the triggering condition is based on the relative distance of the UE from the cell.

12. The one or more NTCRM of claim 9, wherein the triggering condition is further based on a measured reference signal received power (RSRP) or a measured signal-to- interference-plus-noise (SINR) being greater than a threshold.

13. The one or more NTCRM of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed, are further to cause the UE to receive a configuration of the threshold from the cell or another cell.

14. The one or more NTCRM of claim 9, wherein the measurement report includes at least one of a UE location or a UE speed of the UE.

15. The one or more NTCRM of any of claims 9-14, wherein the instructions, when executed, are further to cause the UE to determine a measurement gap for one or more measurements associated with the measurement report, wherein the measurement gap is determined based on a type of satellite that implements the cell or an elevation of the UE.

16. The one or more NTCRM of any of claims 9-14, wherein the instructions, when executed, are further to cause the UE to determine a measurement gap for one or more

43 measurements associated with the measurement report, wherein the measurement gap is determined based on a longest propagation delay and a shortest propagation delay associated with respective cells to be measured in the measurement gap.

17. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media (NTCRM) having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors cause a next generation Node B (gNB) of a non-terrestrial network (NTN) to: encode an indication of a common time offset for broadcast transmission; and encode, for transmission to a user equipment (UE), configuration information for a UE specific time offset to be used by the UE in combination with the common time offset for communication on the NTN.

18. The one or more NTCRM of claim 17, wherein the common time offset is associated with a cell or a beam of the NTN.

19. The one or more NTCRM of claim 17, wherein the configuration information is to indicate the UE specific time offset based on an altitude of the UE.

20. The one or more NTCRM of claim 17, wherein the configuration information is to indicate the UE specific time offset based on a distance between the UE and the gNB.

21. The one or more NTCRM of any of claims 17-20, wherein the common time offset is a common timing advance, wherein the UE specific time offset is a UE specific timing advance, and wherein the UE specific time offset is to be used by the UE in combination with the common timing advance for transmission of a physical random access channel (PRACH) message to the gNB.

22. The one or more NTCRM of any of claims 17-20, wherein the UE specific time offset is to be used by the UE in combination with the common time offset to determine a random access response window.

44