An apparatus of a relay user equipment, UE, operable to act as a relay between a remote UE and a base station, the apparatus comprising one or more processors and memory configured to: receive, from the base station, a relay configuration message that includes relay configuration parameters, wherein the relay configuration parameters include a first quality threshold parameter that represents a minimum link quality for the relay UE to act as the relay and a second quality threshold parameter that represents a maximum link quality after which the relay UE cannot act as the relay, wherein the minimum link quality and the maximum link quality are associated with a communication link between the relay UE and the base station; identify relay UE information associated with one or more relay parameters of the relay UE, wherein the relay UE information includes one or more of a serving cell measurement, battery status information, and user settings associated with the relay UE; determine, at the relay UE, to act as the relay for the remote UE based on the relay configuration parameters and the relay UE information, wherein the relay UE is configured to determine to act as the relay based on a comparison between serving cell measurements and the first and second quality threshold parameters; transmit, from the relay UE, a sidelink information message to the eNodeB to indicate that the relay UE is acting as the relay for the remote UE; and transmit, from the relay UE, a discovery message to the remote UE in order to establish a direct connection between the relay UE and the remote UE, wherein the relay UE is configured to relay data from the base station to the remote UE via the direct connection between the relay UE and the remote UE. receive, from the base station, a relay configuration message that includes relay configuration parameters, wherein the relay configuration parameters include a first quality threshold parameter that represents a minimum link quality for the relay UE to act as the relay and a second quality threshold parameter that represents a maximum link quality after which the relay UE cannot act as the relay, wherein the minimum link quality and the maximum link quality are associated with a communication link between the relay UE and the base station; identify relay UE information associated with one or more relay parameters of the relay UE, wherein the relay UE information includes one or more of a serving cell measurement, battery status information, and user settings associated with the relay UE; determine, at the relay UE, to act as the relay for the remote UE based on the relay configuration parameters and the relay UE information, wherein the relay UE is configured to determine to act as the relay based on a comparison between serving cell measurements and the first and second quality threshold parameters; transmit, from the relay UE, a sidelink information message to the eNodeB to indicate that the relay UE is acting as the relay for the remote UE; and transmit, from the relay UE, a discovery message to the remote UE in order to establish a direct connection between the relay UE and the remote UE, wherein the relay UE is configured to relay data from the base station to the remote UE via the direct connection between the relay UE and the remote UE.