Patent ID: 10911303

Abstract:
An apparatus, method of operating the apparatus, and system comprising the apparatus are provided. The apparatus has a backhaul sub-node to provide a backhaul connection to a communications network and an access sub-node to provide an access cell to which user equipment can connect. In response to a configuration trigger a configuration procedure is performed, in which the backhaul sub-node gathers information about the network environment and transmits at least a portion of the information about the network environment to a network management node. The the network management node then generates an access sub-node configuration which it transmits to the access sub-node, where the configuration is dependent on the information about the network environment transmitted to the network management node by the backhaul sub-node. The backhaul sub-node's greater ability to gather information about the network environment thus supports an improved configuration for the access sub-node, without technical input from the user being required.