Patent Publication Number: US-2022225416-A1

Title: Methods and Apparatus for PRACH Resource Determination and RA-RNTI Computation in Wireless Communication

Description:
FIELD 
     The present application relates to wireless devices and wireless networks, including devices, circuits, and methods for Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resource determination and Random Access Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RA-RNTI) computation in wireless communication systems. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. In recent years, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers have become increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting telephone calls, many mobile devices now provide access to the internet, email, text messaging, and navigation using the global positioning system (GPS), and are capable of operating sophisticated applications that utilize these functionalities. Additionally, there exist numerous different wireless communication technologies and standards. Some examples of wireless communication standards include GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE Advanced (LTE-A), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), IEEE 802.11 (WLAN or Wi-Fi), BLUETOOTH™, etc. 
     The ever increasing number of features and functionality introduced in wireless communication devices also creates a continuous need for improvement in both wireless communications and in wireless communication devices. To increase coverage and better serve the increasing demand and range of envisioned uses of wireless communication, in addition to the communication standards mentioned above, there are further wireless communication technologies under development, including fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR) communication. Accordingly, improvements in the field in support of such development and design are desired. 
     SUMMARY 
     NR specifications that have been developed in 3GPP Release-15 and Release-16 define wireless communication operations for frequencies up to 52.6 GHz, where all physical layer channels, signals, procedures, and protocols are designed to be optimized for uses under 52.6 GHz. To exploit the available and unlicensed spectrum above 52.6 GHz frequency (e.g., including the so-called NR-U unlicensed spectrum) for operation with NR systems, Release-17 study items have been commissioned to study supporting NR from 52.6 GHz to 71 GHz. 
     However, frequencies above 52.6 GHz are faced with more difficult challenges, such as higher phase noise, larger propagation loss due to high atmospheric absorption, and lower power amplifier efficiency. More specifically, to mitigate the problem of higher phase noise, the largest subcarrier spacing (SCS) maybe increased, e.g., from 120 kHz to 480 kHz or even higher (e.g., 960 kHz). However, the data processing time and HARQ-ACK feedback timing may not scale down linearly for the higher SCS, e.g., 480/960 kHz SCSs, as compared to legacy SCSs, as discussed and concluded in the legacy NR system designs. 
     Thus, there is a clear need to develop solutions for RA-RNTI determination (and other parameters) for the cases of 480 kHz or 960 kHz SCS on the frequency band above 52.6 GHz. In addition, new solutions are needed to support determination of PRACH symbol locations with 480 kHz SCS and/or 960 kHz (or higher) SCS, while balancing between signaling overhead and initial access latency performance. 
     According to certain aspects of this disclosure, a reference subcarrier spacing may be introduced to number the PRACH slots in a PRACH. According to certain aspects of this disclosure, a variety of approaches can be considered to determine the symbol position(s) of PRACH Occasions (POs) within a so-called “reference SCS” slot. According to certain aspects of this disclosure, different solutions may also be employed to determine the RA-RNTI values to address value out-of-range problems that may occur when using existing, i.e., legacy, RA-RNTI computation equations. 
     Aspects disclosed herein relate to wireless devices, circuits, and methods for determining a PRACH resource mapping, wherein the determined PRACH resource mapping comprises a starting symbol position within a reference slot, and wherein the starting symbol position is determined based, at least in part, on a subcarrier spacing configuration of PRACH resources of a wireless network that a wireless device is operating on; and using the radio to transmit a RACH preamble and associated RA-RNTI via the determined PRACH resource mapping. 
     According to other aspects, network devices, circuits, and methods for using a radio to receive a RACH preamble and associated RA-RNTI from a wireless device via a determined PRACH resource mapping, wherein the determined PRACH resource mapping comprises a starting symbol position within a reference slot, and wherein the starting symbol position is determined based, at least in part, on a subcarrier spacing configuration of PRACH resources of a wireless network that the wireless device is operating on; and use the radio to transmit a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message scrambled with the received RA-RNTI to the wireless device. 
     Further aspects disclosed herein relate to devices, circuits, and methods for using a modified RA-RNTI for transmission or reception of data over a wireless network, wherein the wireless network has a subcarrier spacing configuration of PRACH resources, wherein a size of the subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources causes out-of-range RA-RNTI values to be calculated using a legacy RA-RNTI equation in an unmodified form, wherein the range of permissible RA-RNTI values is from 0 to 2 16 −1, i.e., values up to 65,535. 
     The techniques described herein may be implemented in and/or used with a number of different types of devices, including but not limited to cellular phones, wireless devices, wireless base stations, tablet computers, wearable computing devices, portable media players, and any of various other computing devices. 
     This Summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the subject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the above-described features are merely examples and should not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subject matter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparent from the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       A better understanding of the present subject matter can be obtained when the following detailed description of various aspects is considered in conjunction with the following drawings: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an example wireless communication system, according to some aspects. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a base station (BS) in communication with a user equipment (UE) device, according to some aspects. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates an example block diagram of a UE, according to some aspects. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an example block diagram of a BS, according to some aspects. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates an example block diagram of cellular communication circuitry, according to some aspects. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates an example block diagram of a network element, according to some aspects. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates a timeline showing an exemplary reference slot for PRACH, according to some aspects. 
         FIGS. 8A-8C  illustrate various timelines showing exemplary PRACH slot positions within a reference SCS slot for different SCSs, according to some aspects. 
         FIG. 9  illustrates an exemplary predetermined order for determining a PRACH occasion index value, which may be used to calculate a modified RA-RNTI, according to some aspects. 
         FIG. 10  is a flowchart detailing a method of determining a PRACH resource mapping by a wireless device, according to some aspects. 
         FIG. 11  is a flowchart detailing a method of receiving a RACH preamble and RA-RNTI via a determined PRACH resource mapping by a network device, according to some aspects. 
         FIG. 12  is a flowchart detailing a method of using a modified RA-RNTI equation to calculate a modified RA-RNTI value for the transmission or reception of data over a wireless network, according to some aspects. 
     
    
    
     While the features described herein may be susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific aspects thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to be limiting to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In 5G/NR systems, the RA-RNTI is calculated using the following legacy equation: 1+s_id+(14×t_id)+(14×80×f_id)+(14×80×8×ul_carrier_id), wherein s_id is the index of the first Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol of the PRACH occasion (0≤s_id&lt;14), t_id is the index of the first slot of the PRACH occasion in a system frame (0≤t_id&lt;80), where the subcarrier spacing to determine t_id is based on the value of μ specified in clause 5.3.2 in Technical Specification 38.211, f_id is the index of the PRACH occasion in the frequency domain (0≤f_id&lt;8), and ul_carrier_id is the uplink (UL) carrier used for Random Access (RA) Preamble transmission (using a value of 0 for Normal UL carrier, and 1 for Supplemental UL carrier). 
     Increasing the SCS of PRACH resources to 480/960 kHz for frequencies 52.6 GHz or higher may cause an RA-RNTI shortage or “out-of-range” problem. In Rel-15/16, the range of RA-RNTI for Msg-2 scheduling is 1 to 17,920, which is within the range that may be represented by 16 bits of information, i.e., less than a value of 2 16 −1, or 65,535. Similarly, for MsgB RNTI, the range is from 17,920 to 35,840, which is also less than 65,535. However, if SCSs of 480 kHz or even 960 kHz (or higher) are supported, the maximum possible value for the associated RA-RNTI would be increased to 71,680 (i.e., 17920*4, for a 480 kHz SCS)—or even 143,360 (i.e., 17920*8, for a 960 kHz SCS). Clearly, the requested RA-RNTI value range would far exceed the 16-bit width of RA-RNTI in current system. Similarly, for MsgB-RNTI, the range would be further increased to 286,720—also beyond the 16-bit range of the current system. 
     Thus, there is clear need to develop solutions for RA-RNTI determination for the case of 480 kHz or 960 kHz (or other) SCS on the frequency band above 52.6 GHz. In addition, one more fundamental issue needing to be addressed in order to support 480 kHz and 960 kHz SCS is how to determine the PRACH symbol locations, while balancing between signaling overhead and initial access latency performance. 
     The following is a glossary of terms that may be used in this disclosure: 
     Memory Medium—Any of various types of non-transitory memory devices or storage devices. The term “memory medium” is intended to include an installation medium, e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks, or tape device; a computer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; a non-volatile memory such as a Flash, magnetic media, e.g., a hard drive, or optical storage; registers, or other similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium may include other types of non-transitory memory as well or combinations thereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a first computer system in which the programs are executed, or may be located in a second different computer system which connects to the first computer system over a network, such as the Internet. In the latter instance, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer for execution. The term “memory medium” may include two or more memory mediums which may reside in different locations, e.g., in different computer systems that are connected over a network. The memory medium may store program instructions (e.g., embodied as computer programs) that may be executed by one or more processors. 
     Carrier Medium—a memory medium as described above, as well as a physical transmission medium, such as a bus, network, and/or other physical transmission medium that conveys signals such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals. 
     Programmable Hardware Element—includes various hardware devices comprising multiple programmable function blocks connected via a programmable interconnect. Examples include FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), FPOAs (Field Programmable Object Arrays), and CPLDs (Complex PLDs). The programmable function blocks may range from fine grained (combinatorial logic or look up tables) to coarse grained (arithmetic logic units or processor cores). A programmable hardware element may also be referred to as “reconfigurable logic.” 
     Computer System—any of various types of computing or processing systems, including a personal computer system (PC), mainframe computer system, workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance, personal digital assistant (PDA), television system, grid computing system, or other device or combinations of devices. In general, the term “computer system” can be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combination of devices) having at least one processor that executes instructions from a memory medium. 
     User Equipment (UE) (also “User Device” or “UE Device”)—any of various types of computer systems or devices that are mobile or portable and that perform wireless communications. Examples of UE devices include mobile telephones or smart phones (e.g., iPhone™, Android™-based phones), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS™, Play Station Portable™, Gameboy Advance™, iPhone™), laptops, wearable devices (e.g., smart watch, smart glasses), PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices, other handheld devices, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, an instrument cluster, head-up display (HUD) devices, onboard diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminals (MDTs), Electronic Engine Management System (EEMS), electronic/engine control units (ECUs), electronic/engine control modules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMS), networked or “smart” appliances, machine type communications (MTC) devices, machine-to-machine (M2M), internet of things (IoT) devices, etc. In general, the terms “UE” or “UE device” or “user device” can be broadly defined to encompass any electronic, computing, and/or telecommunications device (or combination of devices) that is easily transported by a user (or vehicle) and capable of wireless communication. 
     Wireless Device—any of various types of computer systems or devices that perform wireless communications. A wireless device can be portable (or mobile) or may be stationary or fixed at a certain location. A UE is an example of a wireless device. 
     Communication Device—any of various types of computer systems or devices that perform communications, where the communications can be wired or wireless. A communication device can be portable (or mobile) or may be stationary or fixed at a certain location. A wireless device is an example of a communication device. A UE is another example of a communication device. 
     Base Station—The terms “base station,” “wireless base station,” or “wireless station” have the full breadth of their ordinary meaning, and at least includes a wireless communication station installed at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system. For example, if the base station is implemented in the context of LTE, it may alternately be referred to as an ‘eNodeB’ or ‘eNB’. If the base station is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternately be referred to as a ‘gNodeB’ or ‘gNB’. Although certain aspects are described in the context of LTE or 5G NR, references to “eNB,” “gNB,” “nodeB,” “base station,” “NB,” etc., may refer to one or more wireless nodes that service a cell to provide a wireless connection between user devices and a wider network generally and that the concepts discussed are not limited to any particular wireless technology. Although certain aspects are described in the context of LTE or 5G NR, references to “eNB,” “gNB,” “nodeB,” “base station,” “NB,” etc., are not intended to limit the concepts discussed herein to any particular wireless technology and the concepts discussed may be applied in any wireless system. 
     Node—The term “node,” or “wireless node” as used herein, may refer to one more apparatus associated with a cell that provide a wireless connection between user devices and a wired network generally. 
     Processing Element (or Processor)—refers to various elements or combinations of elements that are capable of performing a function in a device, such as a user equipment or a cellular network device. Processing elements may include, for example: processors and associated memory, portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processor cores, individual processors, processor arrays, circuits such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), programmable hardware elements such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA), as well any of various combinations of the above. 
     Channel—a medium used to convey information from a sender (transmitter) to a receiver. It should be noted that since characteristics of the term “channel” may differ according to different wireless protocols, the term “channel” as used herein may be considered as being used in a manner that is consistent with the standard of the type of device with reference to which the term is used. In some standards, channel widths may be variable (e.g., depending on device capability, band conditions, etc.). For example, LTE may support scalable channel bandwidths from 1.4 MHz to 20 MHz. In contrast, WLAN channels may be 22 MHz wide while Bluetooth channels may be 1 Mhz wide. Other protocols and standards may include different definitions of channels. Furthermore, some standards may define and use multiple types of channels, e.g., different channels for uplink or downlink and/or different channels for different uses such as data, control information, etc. 
     Band—The term “band” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning, and at least includes a section of spectrum (e.g., radio frequency spectrum) in which channels are used or set aside for the same purpose. 
     Automatically—refers to an action or operation performed by a computer system (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or device (e.g., circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASICs, etc.), without user input directly specifying or performing the action or operation. Thus, the term “automatically” is in contrast to an operation being manually performed or specified by the user, where the user provides input to directly perform the operation. An automatic procedure may be initiated by input provided by the user, but the subsequent actions that are performed “automatically” are not specified by the user, i.e., are not performed “manually”, where the user specifies each action to perform. For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting each field and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typing information, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is filling out the form manually, even though the computer system must update the form in response to the user actions. The form may be automatically filled out by the computer system where the computer system (e.g., software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of the form and fills in the form without any user input specifying the answers to the fields. As indicated above, the user may invoke the automatic filling of the form but not be involved in the actual filling of the form (e.g., the user is not manually specifying answers to fields but rather they are being automatically completed). The present specification provides various examples of operations being automatically performed in response to actions the user has taken. 
     Approximately—refers to a value that is almost correct or exact. For example, approximately may refer to a value that is within 1 to 10 percent of the exact (or desired) value. It should be noted, however, that the actual threshold value (or tolerance) may be application dependent. For example, in some aspects, “approximately” may mean within 0.1% of some specified or desired value, while in various other aspects, the threshold may be, for example, 2%, 3%, 5%, and so forth, as desired or as required by the particular application. 
     Concurrent—refers to parallel execution or performance, where tasks, processes, or programs are performed in an at least partially overlapping manner. For example, concurrency may be implemented using “strong” or strict parallelism, where tasks are performed (at least partially) in parallel on respective computational elements, or using “weak parallelism”, where the tasks are performed in an interleaved manner, e.g., by time multiplexing of execution threads. 
     Configured to—Various components may be described as “configured to” perform a task or tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broad recitation generally meaning “having structure that” performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the component can be configured to perform the task even when the component is not currently performing that task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors may be configured to electrically connect a module to another module, even when the two modules are not connected). In some contexts, “configured to” may be a broad recitation of structure generally meaning “having circuitry that” performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the component can be configured to perform the task even when the component is not currently on. In general, the circuitry that forms the structure corresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuits. 
     Various components may be described as performing a task or tasks, for convenience in the description. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including the phrase “configured to.” Reciting a component that is configured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not to invoke 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) interpretation for that component. 
     Example Wireless Communication System 
     Turning now to  FIG. 1 , a simplified example of a wireless communication system is illustrated, according to some aspects. It is noted that the system of  FIG. 1  is merely one example of a possible system, and that features of this disclosure may be implemented in any of various systems, as desired. 
     As shown, the example wireless communication system includes a base station  102 A, which communicates over a transmission medium with one or more user devices  106 A,  106 B, etc., through  106 N. Each of the user devices may be referred to herein as a “user equipment” (UE). Thus, the user devices  106  are referred to as UEs or UE devices. 
     The base station (BS)  102 A may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or cell site (a “cellular base station”) and may include hardware that enables wireless communication with the UEs  106 A through  106 N. 
     The communication area (or coverage area) of the base station may be referred to as a “cell.” The base station  102 A and the UEs  106  may be configured to communicate over the transmission medium using any of various radio access technologies (RATs), also referred to as wireless communication technologies, or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), 5G new radio (5G NR), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc. Note that if the base station  102 A is implemented in the context of LTE, it may alternately be referred to as an ‘eNodeB’ or ‘eNB’. Note that if the base station  102 A is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternately be referred to as a ‘gNodeB’ or ‘gNB’. 
     In some aspects, the UEs  106  may be IoT UEs, which may comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE can utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC for exchanging data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), proximity service (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. As an example, vehicles to everything (V2X) may utilize ProSe features using a PC5 interface for direct communications between devices. The IoT UEs may also execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network. 
     As shown, the UEs  106 , such as UE  106 A and UE  106 B, may directly exchange communication data via a PC5 interface  108 . The PC5 interface  105  may comprise one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH), and a Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH). 
     In V2X scenarios, one or more of the base stations  102  may be or act as Road Side Units (RSUs). The term RSU may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable wireless node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a “UE-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an “eNB-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by 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 (vUEs). 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 operate on the 5.9 GHz Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) band to 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 operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low latency communications, as well as other cellular communications services. Additionally, or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and/or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. The computing device(s) and some or all of the radio frequency circuitry 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 and/or a backhaul network. 
     As shown, the base station  102 A may also be equipped to communicate with a network  100  (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, a telecommunication network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN), and/or the Internet, among various possibilities). Thus, the base station  102 A may facilitate communication between the user devices and/or between the user devices and the network  100 . In particular, the cellular base station  102 A may provide UEs  106  with various telecommunication capabilities, such as voice, SMS and/or data services. 
     Base station  102 A and other similar base stations (such as base stations  102 B . . .  102 N) operating according to the same or a different cellular communication standard may thus be provided as a network of cells, which may provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to UEs  106 A-N and similar devices over a geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards. 
     Thus, while base station  102 A may act as a “serving cell” for UEs  106 A-N as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , each UE  106  may also be capable of receiving signals from (and possibly within communication range of) one or more other cells (which might be provided by base stations  102 B-N and/or any other base stations), which may be referred to as “neighboring cells.” Such cells may also be capable of facilitating communication between user devices and/or between user devices and the network  100 . Such cells may include “macro” cells, “micro” cells, “pico” cells, and/or cells which provide any of various other granularities of service area size. For example, base stations  102 A-B illustrated in  FIG. 1  might be macro cells, while base station  102 N might be a micro cell. Other configurations are also possible. 
     In some aspects, base station  102 A may be a next generation base station, e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or “gNB.” In some aspects, a gNB may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and/or to a NR core (NRC)/5G core (5GC) network. In addition, a gNB cell may include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). In addition, a UE capable of operating according to 5G NR may be connected to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs. For example, it may be possible that that the base station  102 A and one or more other base stations  102  support joint transmission, such that UE  106  may be able to receive transmissions from multiple base stations (and/or multiple TRPs provided by the same base station). For example, as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , both base station  102 A and base station  102 C are shown as serving UE  106 A. 
     Note that a UE  106  may be capable of communicating using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, the UE  106  may be configured to communicate using a wireless networking (e.g., Wi-Fi) and/or peer-to-peer wireless communication protocol (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi peer-to-peer, etc.) in addition to at least one cellular communication protocol (e.g., GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc.). The UE  106  may also or alternatively be configured to communicate using one or more global navigational satellite systems (GNSS, e.g., GPS or GLONASS), one or more mobile television broadcasting standards (e.g., ATSC-M/H), and/or any other wireless communication protocol, if desired. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible. 
     Example User Equipment (UE) 
       FIG. 2  illustrates user equipment  106  (e.g., one of the devices  106 A through  106 N) in communication with a base station  102 , according to some aspects. The UE  106  may be a device with cellular communication capability such as a mobile phone, a hand-held device, a computer, a laptop, a tablet, a smart watch or other wearable device, or virtually any type of wireless device. 
     The UE  106  may include a processor (processing element) that is configured to execute program instructions stored in memory. The UE  106  may perform any of the method aspects described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively, or in addition, the UE  106  may include a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field-programmable gate array), an integrated circuit, and/or any of various other possible hardware components that are configured to perform (e.g., individually or in combination) any of the method aspects described herein, or any portion of any of the method aspects described herein. 
     The UE  106  may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols or technologies. In some aspects, the UE  106  may be configured to communicate using, for example, NR or LTE using at least some shared radio components. As additional possibilities, the UE  106  could be configured to communicate using CDMA2000 (1×RTT/1×EV-DO/HRPD/eHRPD) or LTE using a single shared radio and/or GSM or LTE using the single shared radio. The shared radio may couple to a single antenna, or may couple to multiple antennas (e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications. In general, a radio may include any combination of a baseband processor, analog RF signal processing circuitry (e.g., including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or digital processing circuitry (e.g., for digital modulation as well as other digital processing). Similarly, the radio may implement one or more receive and transmit chains using the aforementioned hardware. For example, the UE  106  may share one or more parts of a receive and/or transmit chain between multiple wireless communication technologies, such as those discussed above. 
     In some aspects, the UE  106  may include separate transmit and/or receive chains (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As a further possibility, the UE  106  may include one or more radios which are shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, and one or more radios which are used exclusively by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, the UE  106  might include a shared radio for communicating using either of LTE or 5G NR (or either of LTE or 1×RTT, or either of LTE or GSM, among various possibilities), and separate radios for communicating using each of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Other configurations are also possible. 
     In some aspects, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the base stations  102  to the UEs  106 , while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resource grid may comprise a number of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements. There are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks. 
     The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs  106 . The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs  106  about the transport format, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE  102  within a cell) may be performed at any of the base stations  102  based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs  106 . The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs. 
     The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as resource element groups (REGs). Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8). 
     Example Communication Device 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an example simplified block diagram of a communication device  106 , according to some aspects. It is noted that the block diagram of the communication device of  FIG. 3  is only one example of a possible communication device. According to aspects, communication device  106  may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet, and/or a combination of devices, among other devices. As shown, the communication device  106  may include a set of components  300  configured to perform core functions. For example, this set of components may be implemented as a system on chip (SOC), which may include portions for various purposes. Alternatively, this set of components  300  may be implemented as separate components or groups of components for the various purposes. The set of components  300  may be coupled (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to various other circuits of the communication device  106 . 
     For example, the communication device  106  may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash  310 ), an input/output interface such as connector I/F  320  (e.g., for connecting to a computer system; dock; charging station; input devices, such as a microphone, camera, keyboard; output devices, such as speakers; etc.), the display  360 , which may be integrated with or external to the communication device  106 , and wireless communication circuitry  330  (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, NR, UMTS, GSM, CDMA2000, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, etc.). In some aspects, communication device  106  may include wired communication circuitry (not shown), such as a network interface card, e.g., for Ethernet. 
     The wireless communication circuitry  330  may couple (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antenna(s)  335  as shown. The wireless communication circuitry  330  may include cellular communication circuitry and/or short to medium range wireless communication circuitry, and may include multiple receive chains and/or multiple transmit chains for receiving and/or transmitting multiple spatial streams, such as in a multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) configuration. 
     In some aspects, as further described below, cellular communication circuitry  330  may include one or more receive chains (including and/or coupled to (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) dedicated processors and/or radios) for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). In addition, in some aspects, cellular communication circuitry  330  may include a single transmit chain that may be switched between radios dedicated to specific RATs. For example, a first radio may be dedicated to a first RAT, e.g., LTE, and may be in communication with a dedicated receive chain and a transmit chain shared with a second radio. The second radio may be dedicated to a second RAT, e.g., 5G NR, and may be in communication with a dedicated receive chain and the shared transmit chain. In some aspects, the second RAT may operate at mmWave frequencies. As mmWave systems operate in higher frequencies than typically found in LTE systems, signals in the mmWave frequency range are heavily attenuated by environmental factors. To help address this attenuating, mmWave systems often utilize beamforming and include more antennas as compared LTE systems. These antennas may be organized into antenna arrays or panels made up of individual antenna elements. These antenna arrays may be coupled to the radio chains. 
     The communication device  106  may also include and/or be configured for use with one or more user interface elements. The user interface elements may include any of various elements, such as display  360  (which may be a touchscreen display), a keyboard (which may be a discrete keyboard or may be implemented as part of a touchscreen display), a mouse, a microphone and/or speakers, one or more cameras, one or more buttons, and/or any of various other elements capable of providing information to a user and/or receiving or interpreting user input. 
     The communication device  106  may further include one or more smart cards  345  that include SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) functionality, such as one or more UICC(s) (Universal Integrated Circuit Card(s)) cards  345 . 
     As shown, the SOC  300  may include processor(s)  302 , which may execute program instructions for the communication device  106  and display circuitry  304 , which may perform graphics processing and provide display signals to the display  360 . The processor(s)  302  may also be coupled to memory management unit (MMU)  340 , which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor(s)  302  and translate those addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory  306 , read only memory (ROM)  350 , NAND flash memory  310 ) and/or to other circuits or devices, such as the display circuitry  304 , wireless communication circuitry  330 , connector I/F  320 , and/or display  360 . The MMU  340  may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or set up. In some aspects, the MMU  340  may be included as a portion of the processor(s)  302 . 
     As noted above, the communication device  106  may be configured to communicate using wireless and/or wired communication circuitry. As described herein, the communication device  106  may include hardware and software components for implementing any of the various features and techniques described herein. The processor  302  of the communication device  106  may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition), processor  302  may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or in addition) the processor  302  of the communication device  106 , in conjunction with one or more of the other components  300 ,  304 ,  306 ,  310 ,  320 ,  330 ,  340 ,  345 ,  350 ,  360  may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein. 
     In addition, as described herein, processor  302  may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processor  302  may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of processor  302 . In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor(s)  302 . 
     Further, as described herein, wireless communication circuitry  330  may include one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in wireless communication circuitry  330 . Thus, wireless communication circuitry  330  may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of wireless communication circuitry  330 . In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of wireless communication circuitry  330 . 
     Example Base Station 
       FIG. 4  illustrates an example block diagram of a base station  102 , according to some aspects. It is noted that the base station of  FIG. 4  is merely one example of a possible base station. As shown, the base station  102  may include processor(s)  404  which may execute program instructions for the base station  102 . The processor(s)  404  may also be coupled to memory management unit (MMU)  440 , which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor(s)  404  and translate those addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory  460  and read only memory (ROM)  450 ) or to other circuits or devices. 
     The base station  102  may include at least one network port  470 . The network port  470  may be configured to couple to a telephone network and provide a plurality of devices, such as UE devices  106 , access to the telephone network as described above in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
     The network port  470  (or an additional network port) may also or alternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility related services and/or other services to a plurality of devices, such as UE devices  106 . In some cases, the network port  470  may couple to a telephone network via the core network, and/or the core network may provide a telephone network (e.g., among other UE devices serviced by the cellular service provider). 
     In some aspects, base station  102  may be a next generation base station, e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or “gNB.” In such aspects, base station  102  may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and/or to a NR core (NRC)/5G core (5GC) network. In addition, base station  102  may be considered a 5G NR cell and may include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). In addition, a UE capable of operating according to SGNR may be connected to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs. 
     The base station  102  may include at least one antenna  434 , and possibly multiple antennas. The at least one antenna  434  may be configured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with UE devices  106  via radio  430 . The antenna  434  communicates with the radio  430  via communication chain  432 . Communication chain  432  may be a receive chain, a transmit chain or both. The radio  430  may be configured to communicate via various wireless communication standards, including, but not limited to, 5G NR, LTE, LTE-A, GSM, UMTS, CDMA 2000 , Wi-Fi, etc. 
     The base station  102  may be configured to communicate wirelessly using multiple wireless communication standards. In some instances, the base station  102  may include multiple radios, which may enable the base station  102  to communicate according to multiple wireless communication technologies. For example, as one possibility, the base station  102  may include an LTE radio for performing communication according to LTE as well as a 5G NR radio for performing communication according to 5G NR. In such a case, the base station  102  may be capable of operating as both an LTE base station and a 5G NR base station. When the base station  102  supports mmWave, the 5G NR radio may be coupled to one or more mmWave antenna arrays or panels. As another possibility, the base station  102  may include a multi-mode radio, which is capable of performing communications according to any of multiple wireless communication technologies (e.g., 5G NR and LTE, 5G NR and Wi-Fi, LTE and Wi-Fi, LTE and UMTS, LTE and CDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.). 
     As described further subsequently herein, the BS  102  may include hardware and software components for implementing or supporting implementation of features described herein. The processor  404  of the base station  102  may be configured to implement or support implementation of part or all of the methods described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer readable memory medium). Alternatively, the processor  404  may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or a combination thereof. Alternatively (or in addition) the processor  404  of the BS  102 , in conjunction with one or more of the other components  430 ,  432 ,  434 ,  440 ,  450 ,  460 ,  470  may be configured to implement or support implementation of part or all of the features described herein. 
     In addition, as described herein, processor(s)  404  may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processor(s)  404  may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of processor(s)  404 . In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor(s)  404 . 
     Further, as described herein, radio  430  may include one or more processing elements. Thus, radio  430  may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of radio  430 . In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of radio  430 . 
     Example Cellular Communication Circuitry 
       FIG. 5  illustrates an example simplified block diagram of cellular communication circuitry, according to some aspects. It is noted that the block diagram of the cellular communication circuitry of  FIG. 5  is only one example of a possible cellular communication circuit; other circuits, such as circuits including or coupled to sufficient antennas for different RATs to perform uplink activities using separate antennas, or circuits including or coupled to fewer antennas, e.g., that may be shared among multiple RATs, are also possible. According to some aspects, cellular communication circuitry  330  may be included in a communication device, such as communication device  106  described above. As noted above, communication device  106  may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet and/or a combination of devices, among other devices. 
     The cellular communication circuitry  330  may couple (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antennas  335   a - b  and  336  as shown. In some aspects, cellular communication circuitry  330  may include dedicated receive chains (including and/or coupled to (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) dedicated processors and/or radios) for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). For example, as shown in  FIG. 5 , cellular communication circuitry  330  may include a first modem  510  and a second modem  520 . The first modem  510  may be configured for communications according to a first RAT, e.g., such as LTE or LTE-A, and the second modem  520  may be configured for communications according to a second RAT, e.g., such as 5G NR. 
     As shown, the first modem  510  may include one or more processors  512  and a memory  516  in communication with processors  512 . Modem  510  may be in communication with a radio frequency (RF) front end  530 . RF front end  530  may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, RF front end  530  may include receive circuitry (RX)  532  and transmit circuitry (TX)  534 . In some aspects, receive circuitry  532  may be in communication with downlink (DL) front end  550 , which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna  335   a.    
     Similarly, the second modem  520  may include one or more processors  522  and a memory  526  in communication with processors  522 . Modem  520  may be in communication with an RF front end  540 . RF front end  540  may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, RF front end  540  may include receive circuitry  542  and transmit circuitry  544 . In some aspects, receive circuitry  542  may be in communication with DL front end  560 , which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna  335   b.    
     In some aspects, a switch  570  may couple transmit circuitry  534  to uplink (UL) front end  572 . In addition, switch  570  may couple transmit circuitry  544  to UL front end  572 . UL front end  572  may include circuitry for transmitting radio signals via antenna  336 . Thus, when cellular communication circuitry  330  receives instructions to transmit according to the first RAT (e.g., as supported via the first modem  510 ), switch  570  may be switched to a first state that allows the first modem  510  to transmit signals according to the first RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain that includes transmit circuitry  534  and UL front end  572 ). Similarly, when cellular communication circuitry  330  receives instructions to transmit according to the second RAT (e.g., as supported via the second modem  520 ), switch  570  may be switched to a second state that allows the second modem  520  to transmit signals according to the second RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain that includes transmit circuitry  544  and UL front end  572 ). 
     As described herein, the first modem  510  and/or the second modem  520  may include hardware and software components for implementing any of the various features and techniques described herein. The processors  512 ,  522  may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition), processors  512 ,  522  may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or in addition) the processors  512 ,  522 , in conjunction with one or more of the other components  530 ,  532 ,  534 ,  540 ,  542 ,  544 ,  550 ,  570 ,  572 ,  335  and  336  may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein. 
     In addition, as described herein, processors  512 ,  522  may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processors  512 ,  522  may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of processors  512 ,  522 . In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processors  512 ,  522 . 
     In some aspects, the cellular communication circuitry  330  may include only one transmit/receive chain. For example, the cellular communication circuitry  330  may not include the modem  520 , the RF front end  540 , the DL front end  560 , and/or the antenna  335   b.  As another example, the cellular communication circuitry  330  may not include the modem  510 , the RF front end  530 , the DL front end  550 , and/or the antenna  335   a.  In some aspects, the cellular communication circuitry  330  may also not include the switch  570 , and the RF front end  530  or the RF front end  540  may be in communication, e.g., directly, with the UL front end  572 . 
     Example Network Element 
       FIG. 6  illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a network element  600 , according to some aspects. According to some aspects, the network element  600  may implement one or more logical functions/entities of a cellular core network, such as a mobility management entity (MME), serving gateway (S-GW), access and management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), network slice quota management (NSQM) function, etc. It is noted that the network element  600  of  FIG. 6  is merely one example of a possible network element  600 . As shown, the core network element  600  may include processor(s)  604  which may execute program instructions for the core network element  600 . The processor(s)  604  may also be coupled to memory management unit (MMU)  640 , which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor(s)  604  and translate those addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory  660  and read only memory (ROM)  650 ) or to other circuits or devices. 
     The network element  600  may include at least one network port  670 . The network port  670  may be configured to couple to one or more base stations and/or other cellular network entities and/or devices. The network element  600  may communicate with base stations (e.g., eNBs/gNBs) and/or other network entities/devices by means of any of various communication protocols and/or interfaces. 
     As described further subsequently herein, the network element  600  may include hardware and software components for implementing and/or supporting implementation of features described herein. The processor(s)  604  of the core network element  600  may be configured to implement or support implementation of part or all of the methods described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a nontransitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, the processor  604  may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or a combination thereof. 
     Symbol Position Determination for Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) Occasions (POs) within a Reference Slot 
     Turning now to  FIG. 7 , a timeline showing an exemplary reference slot  700  for PRACH is illustrated, according to some aspects. According to certain aspects of this disclosure, the following values may be used for PRACH resource mapping and determination. A “reference” subcarrier spacing may be introduced to number the PRACH slots in the time domain for PRACH resource(s) determination. In some designs, a reference subcarrier spacing, Δ ref =60 kHz or 120 kHz, may be used for the purpose of slot numbering for PRACH slot index determination. For PRACH resource SCSs having larger values, e.g., 240, 480, or 960 kHz, etc., the starting position, t start   RA  (various examples of which are shown at  705   1 ,  705   2 ,  705   3 , and  705   4  in  FIG. 7 ), of the PRACH preamble may be defined with respect to a reference slot (e.g., a 60 kHz or 120 kHz reference slot), and given by the following equations: 
       t start   RA =t start,l   μ , where 
       t start,l   μ =0 (when 1=0), and     T start,l   μ =t start,l−1   μ +(N μ   μ +N CP,l−1   μ )×T c  (when 1=otherwise). A reference slot may be assumed to start at t=0. A timing advance value, N TA  of 0 shall be assumed. N μ   μ  and N CP,l−1   μ  are defined as in Rel-15, and may be reused depending on the SCS configuration parameter, μ (where, e.g., μ=4 corresponds to 240 kHz SCS, μ=5 corresponds to 480 kHz SCS, μ=6 corresponds to 960 kHz SCS, and so forth). In some aspects, the symbol position, l, may also be a function of the SCS configuration, as will be described in greater detail below.   
     For example, according to a first aspect, Table 6.3.3.2-4 for random access configuration in Technical Specification 38.211 may be reused. However, for the cases of Δf ra =240, 480, or 960 kHz, the value of current column labeled ‘Number of RACH slots within a 60 kHz slot’, denoted as ‘P,’ could be redefined as ‘Number of RACH slots within a reference SCS slot’ instead. In some designs, the reference SCS may be hard-encoded in the specification as 60 kHz (or 120 kHz) for new SCS on Frequency Range 2 (FR2). Further, the symbol position, 1, may be given as follows: l=l 0 +n t   RA N dur   RA +14n slot   RA , where l 0  is given by the parameter “starting symbol” in Table 6.3.3.2-4, n t   RA  is the PRACH transmission occasion within the PRACH slot, numbered in increasing order from 0 to N t   RA,slot −1 within a RACH slot, where N t   RA,slot  is also given in Table 6.3.3.2-4, and N dur   RA  is the PRACH duration given by Table 6.3.3.2-4. 
     Various techniques may be employed to determine the value of n slot   RA , that is, the number of PRACH occasions in a reference slot. According to a first aspect, values of n slot   RA  may be limited to either 0 or 1, which would provide for the same number of PRACH occasions within a reference SCS slot (e.g., a 60 kHz or 120 kHz SCS) as is used in current system design for Δf ra  values of 60 or 120 kHz. 
     In a second aspect, e.g., for Δf ra  values of 240, 480, or 960 kHz, the value of n slot   RA  may be defined as l×Δ s , wherein Δ s =(Δf ra /(Δ ref ×P)), where 1 is in the range 0, . . . , P-1, where Δ ref  is the reference SCS, and P is the “number of PRACH slots within a reference SCS slot,” and provided by repurposing the “number of PRACH slots within a 60 kHz SCS slot” column from Table 6.3.3.2-4, as discussed above. One benefit of this second aspect&#39;s approach is that it can more evenly distribute the PRACH occasions across slots within a reference SCS slot, e.g., as compared to the first aspect described above. 
     In a third aspect, e.g., for Δf ra  values of 240, 480, or 960 kHz, all of the slots within a reference SCS slot may be used as PRACH slots and may be available for PRACH transmission. According to this third aspect, the PRACH capability of the system increases linearly with the ratio between Δf ra  and Δ ref . The symbol position, l, may then be given as follows: l=l 0 +n t   RA N dur   RA +14K, wherein K is in the range of 0, 1, . . . ((Δf ra /Δ ref )−1). 
       FIGS. 8A-8C  illustrate various timelines showing exemplary PRACH slot positions within a reference SCS slot for different SCSs, according to some aspects. Timeline  800  of  FIG. 8A  illustrates the first aspect described above. Time is shown across the horizontal axis  810 , which represents the duration of a reference SCS slot  820  with Δ ref =60 kHz. Descending down the vertical axis  805  are exemplary symbol position (and, by extension, slot position) determinations for PRACH Occasions with SCSs of Δf ra =60 kHz, 120 kHz, 240 kHz, 480 kHz, and, finally, 960 kHz, in the bottom row of timeline  800 . As illustrated, with a 120 kHz SCS, the reference PRACH slot  820  may be divided into two slots,  822   0  and  822   1 . Likewise, with a 240 kHz SCS, the reference PRACH slot  820  may be divided into four slots, the first two of which,  824   0  and  824   1 , may be used for PRACH occasions; with a 480 kHz SCS, the reference PRACH slot  820  may be divided into eight slots, the first two of which,  826   0  and  826   1 , may be used for PRACH occasions; and, with a 960 kHz SCS, the reference PRACH slot  820  may be divided into sixteen slots, the first two of which,  828   0  and  828   1 , may be used for PRACH occasions. As may now be appreciated, with each increasing of the SCS for the PRACH resources, the corresponding slot length will decrease in a linear fashion (e.g., with each doubling of the SCS, the PRACH slot duration is halved, culminating with the slot length for 960 kHz SCS ( 815 ) having the shortest illustrated PRACH slot length). According to the first aspect shown in timeline  800 , for each possible SCS, there are only 2 PRACH slots per reference slot, and they are concentrated at the earliest in time slots within the reference slot. 
     Turning now to timeline  830  of  FIG. 8B , the second aspect described above is illustrated. Again, time is shown across the horizontal axis, and a reference SCS slot with Δ ref =60 kHz is used. Descending down the vertical axis are again exemplary symbol position determinations for PRACH Occasions with SCSs of Δf ra =60 kHz, 120 kHz, 240 kHz, 480 kHz, and, finally, 960 kHz, in the bottom row of timeline  830 . As illustrated, with a 120 kHz SCS, the reference PRACH slot  820  is again divided into two slots,  822   0  and  822   1 . With a 240 kHz SCS, the reference PRACH slot  820  may be divided into four slots, the first and third of which,  832   0  and  832   1 , may be used for PRACH occasions; with a 480 kHz SCS, the reference PRACH slot  820  may be divided into eight slots, the first and fourth of which,  834   0  and  834   1 , may be used for PRACH occasions; and, with a 960 kHz SCS, the reference PRACH slot  820  may be divided into sixteen slots, the first and eighth of which,  836   0  and  836   1 , may be used for PRACH occasions. According to the second aspect shown in timeline  830 , for each possible SCS, there are again only 2 PRACH slots per reference slot, but they are evenly-distributed in time across the available PRACH slots within the reference slot, which may improve latency performance for UE initial access. In particular, a given UE may be operating in a discontinuous reception (DRX) mode, i.e., causing it to power down at different times, so it may not be optimal to concentrate all the PRACH occasions in the beginning of the slots (as was shown in timeline  800 ). 
     As stated above, the PRACH Occasion positions illustrated in  FIG. 8B  are merely exemplary, and other schemes of evenly-distributing the selected number of PRACH slots per reference slot according to the second aspect described above are also possible. For example, with a 480 kHz SCS, wherein the reference PRACH slot  820  may be divided into eight slots, rather than using the first and fourth positions for the PRACH occasions (i.e.,  834   0  and  834   1 ), a given implementation may instead use the fifth and eighth positions (i.e.,  834   2  and  834   3 ) to evenly distribute the PRACH occasions. Other distributions are possible, as well. For example, if a given implantation used 4 PRACH slots per reference slot, the odd-numbered positions (i.e., first, third, fifth, seventh) may be used for the PRACH occasions, or, alternatively, the even-numbered symbol positions may be used (i.e., second, fourth, sixth, eighth), and so on. 
     Similarly, with a 960 kHz SCS, wherein the reference PRACH slot  820  may be divided into sixteen slots, rather than using the first and ninth positions for the PRACH occasions (i.e.,  836   0  and  836   1 ), a given implementation may instead use the eighth and sixteenth symbol positions (i.e.,  836   2  and  836   3 ) to evenly distribute the PRACH occasions. In other words, however many “portions” the reference SCS slot is divided into, i.e., based on the determined number of PRACH occasions to be distributed evenly across the reference slot, the PRACH occasions may be placed at any desired position index within a given portion of the reference SCS, e.g., the first index position of each portion (i.e., as with  836   0  and  836   1 ), the last index position of each portion (i.e., as with  836   2  and  836   3 ), the second index position of each portion, the fourth index position of each portion, and so forth. 
     Turning now to timeline  860  of  FIG. 8C , the third aspect described above is illustrated. Again, time is shown across the horizontal axis, and a reference SCS slot with Δ ref =60 kHz is used. Descending down the vertical axis are again exemplary symbol position determinations for PRACH Occasions with SCSs of Δf ra =60 kHz, 120 kHz, 240 kHz, 480 kHz, and, finally, 960 kHz, in the bottom row of timeline  860 . As illustrated, with a 120 kHz SCS, the reference PRACH slot  820  is again divided into two slots,  822   0  and  822   1 . However, with a 240 kHz SCS, the reference PRACH slot  820  may be divided into four slots, each of which,  862   0 - 862   3 , may be used for PRACH occasions; with a 480 kHz SCS, the reference PRACH slot  820  may be divided into eight slots, each of which,  864   0 - 864   7 , may be used for PRACH occasions; and, with a 960 kHz SCS, the reference PRACH slot  820  may be divided into sixteen slots, each of which,  866   0 - 866   15 , may be used for PRACH occasions. According to the third aspect shown in timeline  860 , for each possible SCS, each of the PRACH slots within the reference slot is available to serve as a PRACH occasion, which may increase PRACH capacity by 4×, 8×, 16×, etc., as compared to the number available in a reference 60 kHz SCS configuration, which may be useful to accommodate the requests of massive numbers of IoT devices (e.g., within an industrial warehouse) attempting to connect to a gNB and/or in the case of beam management for PRACH access. 
       FIG. 9  illustrates an exemplary predetermined order for determining a PRACH occasion index value, which may be used to calculate a modified RA-RNTI, according to some aspects. As will be discussed in greater detail below with reference to  FIG. 12 , different solutions may be employed to determine modified RA-RNTI values to address out-of-range problems existing with the legacy RA-RNTI equation, e.g., when operating with SCS configurations larger than 120 kHz. In the example shown in  FIG. 9 , the RA-RNTI value may be determined based on counting the actual PRACH occasions, e.g., according to the following equation: RA-RNTI=1+P_id, wherein P_id represents the index number of the actual PRACH occasion within a system radio frame  900 . Because PRACH slots are sparsely configured in the time domain, by counting the indices of only the actual PRACH occasions in the radio frame, e.g., according to a predetermined ordering scheme, the RA-RNTI value out-of-range issue described above may be avoided. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 9 , radio frame  900  is comprised of a plurality of slots  905  across the horizontal axis of the radio frame, each slot having a slot index  910 , increasing in value from left to right across the horizontal axis of the radio frame  900 . The actual PRACH Occasions  915  within the various slots are labeled with indices  920  (i.e., the aforementioned P_id value), in ascending order. 
     According to some aspects, the predetermined order for counting the PRACH Occasions may be defined as follows: first, in an increasing order of frequency resource indices for frequency-multiplexed POs (e.g., as shown by P_id&#39;s  0 - 3  in  FIG. 9 ); second, in an increasing order of time resource indices for time-multiplexed POs within a PRACH slot (not illustrated in  FIG. 9 ); third, in increasing order of indices for the PRACH slot (e.g., as shown by P_id&#39;s  4 - 7  following P_id&#39;s  0 - 3 , followed by P_id&#39;s  9 - 12 , and so forth, in  FIG. 9 ); and fourth, starting from a Normal Uplink carrier, and then followed by a Supplemental Uplink carrier, if the Supplemental Uplink carrier is present (not illustrated in  FIG. 9 ). 
     Exemplary UE Methods for RACH Starting Symbol Determination 
     Turning first to  FIG. 10 , a flowchart  1000  is shown, detailing an exemplary method of determining a PRACH resource mapping by a wireless device, according to some aspects. Method  1000  may begin by determining, by a wireless device, a PRACH resource mapping, wherein the determined PRACH resource mapping comprises a starting symbol position (and, by extension, a starting PRACH slot position) within a reference slot, and wherein the starting symbol position is determined based, at least in part, on a subcarrier spacing configuration of PRACH resources of a wireless network that the wireless device is operating on (Step  1002 ). In some aspects, e.g., the subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources comprises at least one of the following: a  480 kHz subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources, and a  960 kHz subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources. 
     According to some aspects, at Step  1004 , the method may further comprise determining a number of PRACH Occasions (POs) within the reference slot (e.g., greater than two POs) based, at least in part, on the subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources, and wherein the starting symbol position is further determined based, at least in part, on the determined number of POs within the reference slot. 
     According to other aspects, at Step  1006 , the method may further comprise further determining the starting symbol position based, at least in part, on a reference subcarrier spacing configuration of the wireless network that the wireless device is operating on. 
     According to yet other aspects, at Step  1008 , the method may further comprise evenly-distributing the determined number of POs in time within the reference slot. 
     According to still other aspects, at Step  1010 , the method may further comprise further determining the starting symbol position based, at least in part, on a ratio between the subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources and a reference subcarrier spacing configuration. 
     Finally, at Step  1012 , the method may proceed by transmitting, by the wireless device, a RACH preamble and associated Random Access Radio Network Temporary Identifier RA-RNTI, e.g., to a gNB, via the determined PRACH resource mapping from Step  1002 . After the transmission at Step  1012 , the method  1000  may terminate. 
     Exemplary Network Methods for RACH Starting Symbol Determination 
       FIG. 11  is a flowchart detailing a method  1100  of receiving a RACH preamble and RA-RNTI via a determined PRACH resource mapping by a network device, according to some aspects. Method  1000  may begin by receiving, by a network device, a RACH preamble and associated RA-RNTI from a wireless device via a determined PRACH resource mapping, wherein the determined PRACH resource mapping comprises a starting symbol position within a reference slot, and wherein the starting symbol position is determined based, at least in part, on a subcarrier spacing configuration of PRACH resources of a wireless network that the wireless device is operating on (Step  1102 ). In some aspects, e.g., the subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources comprises at least one of the following: a 480 kHz subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources, and a 960 kHz subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources. 
     According to some aspects, at Step  1104 , the method may further comprise a number of PRACH Occasions (POs) within the reference slot (e.g., greater than two POs) being determined based, at least in part, on the subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources, and wherein the starting symbol position is further determined based, at least in part, on the determined number of POs within the reference slot. 
     According to other aspects, at Step  1106 , the method may further comprise the starting symbol position being further determined based, at least in part, on a reference subcarrier spacing configuration of the wireless network that the wireless device is operating on. 
     According to yet other aspects, at Step  1108 , the method may further comprise the determined number of POs being evenly-distributed in time within the reference slot. 
     According to still other aspects, at Step  1110 , the method may further comprise the starting symbol position being further determined based, at least in part, on a ratio between the subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources and a reference subcarrier spacing configuration. 
     Finally, at Step  1112 , the method may proceed by transmitting, by the network device, a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message scrambled with the received RA-RNTI to the wireless device. After the transmission at Step  1112 , the method  1100  may terminate. 
     Exemplary Methods for Modified RA-RNTI Calculation 
       FIG. 12  is a flowchart detailing a method  1200  of using a modified RA-RNTI equation to calculate a modified RA-RNTI value for the transmission or reception of data over a wireless network, according to some aspects. As mentioned above, using larger SCS configurations for PRACH may cause out-of-range RA-RNTI values using the legacy RA-RNTI equation in unmodified form. Method  12000  may begin by a device using a modified RA-RNTI equation for transmission or reception of data over a wireless network, wherein the wireless network has a subcarrier spacing configuration of PRACH resources (Step  1202 ). 
     According to some aspects, at Step  1204 , the method may further comprise the size of the subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources being large enough, such that it causes out of range RA-RNTI values to be calculated using a legacy RA-RNTI equation in an unmodified form, wherein the range of permissible RA-RNTI values is from 0 to 2 16 −1. 
     According to some such aspects (Step  1206 ) the legacy RA-RNTI equation referred to in Step  1204  in unmodified form comprises: RA-RNTI=1+s_id+(14×t_id)+[14×(10×SCS/15)×f_id]+[14×(10×SCS/15)×8×ul_carrier_id], wherein s_id is an index of a first Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol of a specified Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) (0≤s_id&lt;14), wherein t_id is an index of a first slot of the specified PRACH in a system frame (0≤t_id&lt;80, according to the legacy RA-RNTI equation in unmodified form), wherein SCS is a subcarrier spacing configuration for the PRACH resources (SCS=120 kHz, according to the legacy RA-RNTI equation in unmodified form), wherein f_id is an index of the specified PRACH in the frequency domain (0≤f_id&lt;8, according to the legacy RA-RNTI equation in unmodified form), and wherein ul_carrier_id is the UL carrier used for Msg1 transmission (wherein 0 is used for Normal Uplink, and 1 is used for Supplemental Uplink carrier). 
     According to other aspects, at Step  1208 , the method may further comprise calculating the modified RA-RNTI by applying a modulo operation to the output of the legacy RA-RNTI equation, e.g., wherein the divisor of the modulo operation comprises a value of 2 16 −1. This will ensure that the modified RA-RNTI is never larger than 2 16 −1. 
     According to still other aspects, at Step  1210 , the method may further comprise calculating the modified RA-RNTI by redefining the t_id value from the legacy RA-RNTI equation as an accumulative index value of a first slot of the specified PRACH in a system frame, wherein only slots configured with PRACH resources are counted towards the accumulative index value for the redefined t_id value. In other words, according to the techniques referred to in Step  1210 , instead of indexing the RA-RNTI based on the slot index within a radio frame, the existing parameter t_id may be redefined by incrementing the accumulative index only for slots that are actually configured with PRACH resources. According to the legacy RA-RNTI equation, the fixed value of ‘8’ unnecessarily increases the RA-RNTI value range. In some aspects, then, another parameter, n, may be introduced to avoid RA-RNTI value wastage. The n value may be equal to the value of ‘msg1-FDM’ configured by SIB1 message. In one example, n=2 if msg-FDM is set with ‘2’ in the SIB1 configuration. Thus, a newly-modified RA-RNTI equation according to some aspects may comprise: 
       RA-RNTI=1+s_id+(14×t_id)+[14×q×f_id]+[14×q×n×ul_carrier_id],
 
     wherein t_id is the above-redefined accumulative index, n is as defined above, and q is the total number of slots with PRACH resources within a system frame. 
     According to yet other aspects, at Step  1212 , the method may further comprise calculating the modified RA-RNTI by redefining the f_id value from the legacy RA-RNTI equation to be defined separately based on the subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources of the wireless network. For example, a maximum permissible value of the redefined f_id value from the legacy RA-RNTI equation is inversely proportional to the size of the subcarrier spacing of the PRACH resources of the wireless network. As two examples, the maximum f_id for 480 kHz SCS may be set to 4, while the maximum f_id for 960 kHz SCS may be set to 2. 
     Finally, according to other aspects, at Step  1214 , the method may further comprise calculating the modified RA-RNTI based on an index determined by counting the POs within a radio frame according to a predetermined order, such as the predetermined order illustrated and described above, with reference to  FIG. 9 . 
     It is to be understood that, in some cases, the network device referred to in method  1200  may comprise a UE, wherein the UE transmits the modified RA-RNTI information over the wireless network, while, in other cases, the network device referred to in method  1200  may comprise a wireless station, wherein the wireless station receives the modified RA-RNTI information over the wireless network. 
     It is also noted that the dashed line boxes in  FIGS. 10-12  in this application indicate the optionality of such steps or features. Further, one or more optional steps or features may be combined with each other in any desired fashion. 
     EXAMPLES 
     In the following sections, further exemplary aspects are provided. 
     According to Example 1, a wireless device is disclosed, comprising: a radio; and a processor operably coupled to the radio, wherein the processor is configured to: determine a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resource mapping, wherein the determined PRACH resource mapping comprises a starting symbol position within a reference slot, and wherein the starting symbol position is determined based, at least in part, on a subcarrier spacing configuration of PRACH resources of a wireless network that the wireless device is operating on; and use the radio to transmit a Random Access Channel (RACH) preamble and associated Random Access Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RA-RNTI) via the determined PRACH resource mapping. 
     Example 2 comprises the subject matter of example 1, wherein the subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources comprises at least one of the following: a 480 kHz subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources, and a 960 kHz subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources. 
     Example 3 comprises the subject matter of example 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine a number of PRACH Occasions (POs) within the reference slot based, at least in part, on the subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources. 
     Example 4 comprises the subject matter of example 3, wherein the determined number of POs within the reference slot is larger than two. 
     Example 5 comprises the subject matter of example 3, wherein the starting symbol position is further determined based, at least in part, on the determined number of POs within the reference slot. 
     Example 6 comprises the subject matter of example 5, wherein the starting symbol position is further determined based, at least in part, on a reference subcarrier spacing configuration of the wireless network that the wireless device is operating on. 
     Example 7 comprises the subject matter of example 3, wherein the determined number of POs are evenly distributed in time within the reference slot. 
     Example 8 comprises the subject matter of example 1, wherein all slots within the reference slot are available to use as POs. 
     Example 9 comprises the subject matter of example 8, wherein the starting symbol position is further determined based, at least in part, on a ratio between the subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources in the wireless network that the wireless device is operating on and a reference subcarrier spacing configuration of the wireless network that the wireless device is operating on. 
     According to Example 10, a network device is disclosed, comprising: a radio; and a processor operably coupled to the radio, wherein the processor is configured to: use the radio to receive a Random Access Channel (RACH) preamble and associated Random Access Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RA-RNTI) from a wireless device via a determined Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resource mapping, wherein the determined PRACH resource mapping comprises a starting symbol position within a reference slot, and wherein the starting symbol position is determined based, at least in part, on a subcarrier spacing configuration of PRACH resources of a wireless network that the wireless device is operating on; and use the radio to transmit a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message scrambled with the received RA-RNTI to the wireless device. 
     Example 11 comprises the subject matter of example 10, wherein the subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources comprises at least one of the following: a 480 kHz subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources, and a 960 kHz subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources. 
     Example 12 comprises the subject matter of example 10, wherein a number of PRACH Occasions (POs) within the reference slot is determined based, at least in part, on the subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources. 
     Example 13 comprises the subject matter of example 12, wherein the determined number of POs within the reference slot is larger than two. 
     Example 14 comprises the subject matter of example 12, wherein the starting symbol position is further determined based, at least in part, on the determined number of POs within the reference slot. 
     Example 15 comprises the subject matter of example 14, wherein the starting symbol position is further determined based, at least in part, on a reference subcarrier spacing configuration of the wireless network that the wireless device is operating on. 
     Example 16 comprises the subject matter of example 12, wherein the determined number of POs are evenly distributed in time within the reference slot. 
     Example 17 comprises the subject matter of example 10, wherein all slots within the reference slot are available to use as POs. 
     Example 18 comprises the subject matter of example 17, wherein the starting symbol position is further determined based, at least in part, on a ratio between the subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources in the wireless network that the wireless device is operating on and a reference subcarrier spacing configuration of the wireless network that the wireless device is operating on. 
     According to Example 19, a network device is disclosed, comprising: a radio; and a processor operably coupled to the radio, wherein the processor is configured to: use a modified Random Access Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RA-RNTI) for transmission or reception of data over a wireless network, wherein the wireless network has a subcarrier spacing configuration of Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resources, wherein a size of the subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources causes out of range RA-RNTI values to be calculated using a legacy RA-RNTI equation in an unmodified form, wherein the range of permissible RA-RNTI values is from 0 to 216-1. 
     Example 20 comprises the subject matter of example 19, wherein the legacy RA-RNTI equation in unmodified form comprises: RA-RNTI=1+s_id+(14×t_id)+[14×(10×SCS/15)×f_id]+[14×(10×SCS/15)×8×ul_carrier_id], wherein s_id is an index of a first Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol of a specified Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) (0≤s_id&lt;14), wherein t_id is an index of a first slot of the specified PRACH in a system frame (0≤t_id&lt;80 , according to the legacy RA-RNTI equation in unmodified form), wherein SCS is a subcarrier spacing configuration for the PRACH resources (SCS=120 kHz, according to the legacy RA-RNTI equation in unmodified form), wherein f_id is an index of the specified PRACH in the frequency domain (0≤f_id&lt;8, according to the legacy RA-RNTI equation in unmodified form), and wherein ul_carrier_id is the UL carrier used for Msg1 transmission (wherein 0 is used for Normal Uplink, and 1 is used for Supplemental Uplink carrier). 
     Example 21 comprises the subject matter of example 19, wherein the modified RA-RNTI is calculated by applying a modulo operation to the legacy RA-RNTI equation. 
     Example 22 comprises the subject matter of example 21, wherein the divisor of the modulo operation comprises a value of 216-1. 
     Example 23 comprises the subject matter of example 20, wherein the modified RA-RNTI is calculated by redefining the t_id value from the legacy RA-RNTI equation as an accumulative index value of a first slot of the specified PRACH in a system frame, wherein only slots configured with PRACH resources are counted towards the accumulative index value for the redefined t_id value. 
     Example 24 comprises the subject matter of example 20, wherein the modified RA-RNTI is calculated by redefining the f_id value from the legacy RA-RNTI equation to be defined separately based on the subcarrier spacing configuration of the PRACH resources of the wireless network. 
     Example 25 comprises the subject matter of example 24, wherein a maximum permissible value of the redefined f_id value from the legacy RA-RNTI equation is inversely proportional to the size of the subcarrier spacing of the PRACH resources of the wireless network. 
     Example 26 comprises the subject matter of example 20, wherein the modified RA-RNTI is calculated based on an index determined by counting the PRACH Occasions (POs) within a radio frame according to a predetermined order. 
     Example 27 comprises the subject matter of example 26, wherein the predetermined order is defined as follows: first, in an increasing order of frequency resource indices for frequency-multiplexed POs; second, in an increasing order of time resource indices for time-multiplexed POs within a PRACH slot; third, in increasing order of indices for the PRACH slot; and fourth, starting from a Normal Uplink carrier, and then followed by a Supplemental Uplink carrier, if the Supplemental Uplink carrier is present. 
     Example 28 comprises the subject matter of example 20, wherein the network device comprises a User Equipment (UE), and wherein the UE transmits the modified RA-RNTI information over the wireless network. 
     Example 29 comprises the subject matter of example 20, wherein the network device comprises a wireless station, and wherein the wireless station receives the modified RA-RNTI information over the wireless network. 
     Yet another exemplary aspect may include a method performing any or all parts of the preceding examples. 
     A yet further exemplary aspect may include a non-transitory computer-accessible memory medium comprising program instructions which, when executed at a device, cause the device to implement any or all parts of any of the preceding examples. 
     A still further exemplary aspect may include a computer program comprising instructions for performing any or all parts of any of the preceding examples. 
     Yet another exemplary aspect may include an apparatus comprising means for performing any or all of the elements of any of the preceding examples. 
     Still another exemplary aspect may include an apparatus comprising a processor configured to cause a device to perform any or all of the elements of any of the preceding examples. 
     It is well understood that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmental requirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and handled so as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users. 
     Aspects of the present disclosure may be realized in any of various forms. For example, some aspects may be realized as a computer-implemented method, a computer-readable memory medium, or a computer system. Other aspects may be realized using one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. Still other aspects may be realized using one or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs. 
     In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium may be configured so that it stores program instructions and/or data, where the program instructions, if executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method, e.g., any of a method aspects described herein, or, any combination of the method aspects described herein, or, any subset of any of the method aspects described herein, or, any combination of such subsets. 
     In some aspects, a device (e.g., a UE  106 , a BS  102 , a network element  600 ) may be configured to include a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium, where the memory medium stores program instructions, where the processor is configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory medium, where the program instructions are executable to implement any of the various method aspects described herein (or, any combination of the method aspects described herein, or, any subset of any of the method aspects described herein, or, any combination of such subsets). The device may be realized in any of various forms. 
     Although the aspects above have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications.