PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-12035326-B2
Application Number: US-202017439226-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Enhanced signaling to support multiple configured grants

Abstract:
Methods of signaling. At least one of the methods includes: communicating information using a signaling protocol including one or more parameters; andconfiguring multiple uplink (UL) CGs or multiple downlink (DL) semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) assignments for a user equipment (UE) based, at least in part, on the one or more parameters.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An apparatus comprising one or more processors configured to perform operations comprising:
 selecting a configured grant (CG) index based on a maximum number of configured grants in a bandwidth part (BWP), wherein the maximum number of configured grants comprises 16; 
 generating at least one of a plurality of uplink (UL) CGs or a plurality of downlink (DL) semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) assignments for a user equipment (UE) in the BWP, the generating comprising:
 configuring a first UL CG in an informational element, the informational element comprising: (i) a CG index for the first UL CG in the BWP, and (ii) a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier (ID) offset for the first UL CG; and 
 
 preparing the at least one of the plurality of UL CGs or the plurality of DL SPS assignments for communication to the UE. 
 
     
     
       2. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein preparing the at least one of the plurality of UL CGs or the plurality of DL SPS assignments for communication to the UE uses a signaling protocol that comprises one of a radio resource control (RRC) signaling protocol or a medium access control (MAC) signaling protocol. 
     
     
       3. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein generating the plurality of DL SPS assignments comprises:
 configuring a first DL SPS assignment in an informational element, the informational element comprising: (i) an SPS index for the first DL SPS assignment in the BWP, and (ii) a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARM) process identifier (ID) offset for the DL SPS assignment. 
 
     
     
       4. The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein configuring the first DL SPS assignment in the informational element further comprises:
 selecting the SPS index based on a maximum number of SPS assignments in the BWP. 
 
     
     
       5. The apparatus of  claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
 configuring a downlink control information (DCI) message to include one of: (i) an SPS index of a first DL SPS assignment or (ii) a CG index of a first UL CG, wherein the SPS index is indicative of activating the first DL SPS assignment and the CG index is indicative of activating the first UL CG. 
 
     
     
       6. The apparatus of  claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
 processing a CG confirmation medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) received from the UE, wherein the CG confirmation MAC CE comprises a CG index of a first UL CG; and 
 determining, based on the CG confirmation MAC CE, that the first UL CG is confirmed by the UE. 
 
     
     
       7. The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the CG confirmation MAC CE further comprises at least one of a serving cell identifier (ID) and a BWP ID. 
     
     
       8. The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the CG confirmation MAC CE comprises five bits for the serving cell ID, two bits for the BWP ID, and four bits for a CG index. 
     
     
       9. The apparatus of  claim 6 , the operations further comprising:
 determining, based on the CG confirmation MAC CE, that the UE did not receive one of the plurality of UL CG. 
 
     
     
       10. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein preparing the at least one of the plurality of UL CGs or the plurality of DL SPS assignments for communication to the UE comprises:
 configuring a downlink control information (DCI) message to include one of: (i) four bits for an SPS index of a first DL SPS assignment, wherein the SPS index is indicative of activating the first DL SPS assignment or (ii) four bits for a CG index of a first UL CG, wherein the CG index is indicative of activating the first UL CG. 
 
     
     
       11. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein preparing the at least one of the plurality of UL CGs or the plurality of DL SPS assignments for communication to the UE comprises:
 configuring a downlink control information (DCI) message to include one of: (i) four bits for an SPS index of a first DL SPS assignment, wherein the SPS index is indicative of activating the first DL SPS assignment or (ii) four bits for a CG index of a first UL CG, wherein the CG index is indicative of activating the first UL CG, the operations comprising: 
 receiving, from the UE, a CG confirmation medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), wherein the CG confirmation MAC CE comprises a CG index of a first UL CG and at least one of a serving cell identifier (ID) or a BWP ID; and 
 determining, based on the CG confirmation MAC CE, that the first UL CG is confirmed by the UE. 
 
     
     
       12. An apparatus comprising one or more processors configured to perform operations comprising:
 receiving, from a base station, at least one of: (i) a plurality of uplink (UL) configured grants (CGs), or (ii) a plurality of downlink (DL) semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) assignments for a bandwidth part (BWP), the receiving comprising:
 receiving a first UL CG in an informational element, the informational element comprising: (i) a CG index for the first UL CG in the BWP that was selected based at least on a maximum number of configured grants in a BWP, the maximum number of configured grants comprising 16, and (ii) a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier (ID) offset for the first UL CG; and 
 
 performing a communication in the BWP based on the at least one of the plurality of UL CGs or the plurality of DL SPS assignments. 
 
     
     
       13. The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein receiving the at least one of: (i) the plurality of UL CGs, or (ii) the plurality of DL SPS assignments for the BWP uses a signaling protocol that comprises one of a radio resource control (RRC) signaling protocol or a medium access control (MAC) signaling protocol. 
     
     
       14. The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein receiving the plurality of DL SPS assignments comprises:
 receiving a first DL SPS assignment in an informational element, the informational element comprising: (i) an SPS index for the first DL SPS assignment in the BWP, and (ii) a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier (ID) offset for the DL SPS assignment. 
 
     
     
       15. The apparatus of  claim 12 , the operations further comprising:
 receiving a downlink control information (DCI) message that includes one of an SPS index of a first DL SPS assignment or a CG index of a first UL CG, wherein the SPS index is indicative of activating the first DL SPS assignment and the CG index is indicative of activating the first UL CG. 
 
     
     
       16. The apparatus of  claim 12 , the operations further comprising:
 transmitting, to the base station, a CG confirmation medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), the CG confirmation MAC CE comprising a CG index of a first UL CG. 
 
     
     
       17. The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the CG confirmation MAC CE further comprises at least one of a serving cell identifier (ID) and a BWP ID. 
     
     
       18. The apparatus of  claim 12 , the operations comprising:
 receiving, from the base station, a downlink control information (DCI) message that includes one of: (i) four bits for an SPS index of a first DL SPS assignment, wherein the SPS index is indicative of activating the first DL SPS assignment or (ii) four bits for a CG index of a first UL CG, wherein the CG index is indicative of activating the first UL CG; and 
 sending, to the base station, a CG confirmation medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) that indicates whether the first UL CG is confirmed, wherein the CG confirmation MAC CE comprises a CG index of a first UL CG and at least one of a serving cell identifier (ID) or a BWP ID. 
 
     
     
       19. A method comprising:
 selecting a configured grant (CG) index based on a maximum number of configured grants in a bandwidth part (BWP), wherein the maximum number of configured grants comprises 16; 
 generating at least one of a plurality of uplink (UL) CGs or a plurality of downlink (DL) semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) assignments for a user equipment (UE) in the BWP, the generating comprising:
 configuring a first UL CG in an informational element, the informational element comprising: (i) a CG index for the first UL CG in the BWP, and (ii) a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier (ID) offset for the first UL CG; and 
 
 transmitting the at least one of the plurality of UL CGs or the plurality of DL SPS assignments to the UE. 
 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 19 , wherein generating the plurality of DL SPS assignments comprises:
 configuring a first DL SPS assignment in an informational element, the informational element comprising: (i) an SPS index for the first DL SPS assignment in the BWP, and (ii) a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARM) process identifier (ID) offset for the DL SPS assignment.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a U.S. National Phase Application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 and claims the benefit of priority to International Application No. PCT/US2020/028764, filed Apr. 17, 2020, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/836,017, filed Apr. 18, 2019, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, including to methods, apparatuses, and systems for handling intra user equipment (UE) uplink (UL) overlapping grants. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. Further, wireless communication technology has evolved from voice-only communications to also include the transmission of data, such as Internet and multimedia content, to a variety of devices. To accommodate a growing number of devices communicating both voice and data signals, many wireless communication systems share the available communication channel resources among devices. 
     Fifth generation (5G) of wireless communications technologies can support cellular data networks. The frequency spectrum of 5G can be divided into millimeter waves, mid-band, and low-band. Low-band can use a similar frequency range as the predecessor to 5G, fourth generation (4G) networks. 5G millimeter wave can be the fastest, with actual speeds often being 1-2 Gbit/s down. Frequencies can be above 24 GHz, reaching up to 72 GHz, which can be above the extremely high frequency band&#39;s lower boundary. The reach may be short, so more cells may be needed. 5G New Radio (NR) can refer to a new radio access technology (RAT) developed for the 5G mobile network. In some cases, it is designed to be the global standard for the air interface of 5G networks. 
     SUMMARY 
     In general, in an aspect, a method of signaling is provided. The method includes communicating information using a signaling protocol including one or more parameters. The method includes configuring multiple uplink (UL) CGs or multiple downlink (DL) semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) assignments for a user equipment (UE) based, at least in part, on the one or more parameters. 
     The signaling protocol can include a radio resource control (RRC) signaling protocol. The signaling protocol can include a medium access control (MAC) signaling protocol. The signaling protocol can include a downlink control information (DCI) signaling protocol. 
     The one or more parameters can define an index of a configuration information element (IE) configured in a current bandwidth part (BWP). The one or more parameters can define an offset of a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier (ID). 
     Configuring multiple UL CGs or multiple DL SPS assignments for a UE can include configuring multiple UL CGs or multiple DL SPS assignments for the UE in a BWP. 
     In an aspect, a method of signaling to support multiple uplink (UL) configured grants (CGs) is provided. The method includes configuring or causing to configure an UL CG configuration information element (IE) to include one or more parameters. The one or more parameters can: define an index of a configuration IE configured in a current bandwidth part (BWP); and define and offset of a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier (ID). 
     The method can further include configuring multiple CGs for a user equipment (UE) in the BWP based on the index. A HARQ process ID space of each one of the multiple CGs can start with a configured offset. 
     The index can include a parameter that specifies a maximum number of CGs that can be configured in a UL BWP. The maximum number of CGs that can be configured in the UL BWP can be 16. The UL CG configuration IE can include an UL CG configuration IE defined in third generation partnership project (3GPP) technical specification (TS) 38.331 (release 15). 
     In an aspect, a method for enhanced signaling to support multiple downlink (DL) semi persistent scheduling (SPS) assignments is provided. The method include configuring a DL SPS configuration information element (IE) to include one or more parameters. The one or more parameters: defines an index of the configuration IE configured in a current BWP; and defines an offset of a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier (ID). 
     The method can further include configuring multiple DL SPS assignments for a user equipment (UE) in the BWP based on the one or more parameters. Each one of the DL SPS assignments can be associated with a DL SPS configuration. A HARQ process ID space of each one of the multiple DL SPS assignments can start with a configured offset. 
     The index can include a parameter that specifies a maximum number of DL SPS assignments configurations that can be configured in a DL BWP. The maximum number of DL SPS assignments configurations can be 16. 
     In an aspect, a method for enhanced signaling to support multiple configured grants (CG) and multiple downlink (DL) semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) assignments is provided. The method includes configuring a downlink (DL) downlink control information (DCI) format to include a first parameter. The method includes configuring an uplink (UL) DCI formation to include a second parameter, in which each of the first parameter and the second parameter is assigned 4 bits. 
     A DL SPS assignment including the first parameter or a UL configured grant (CG) including the second parameter can be activated or deactivated using a bit pattern defined in TS 38.213 
     In an aspect, method for enhanced signaling to support multiple configured grants (CG) and multiple downlink (DL) semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) assignments is provided. The method includes redefining a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number field in downlink control information (DCI) formats as a first parameter in downlink (DL) or uplink (UL) DCI formats for DL semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) activation or deactivation. The method includes redefining a HARQ process number field in DCI formats as a second parameter in DL or UL DCI formats for UL configured grant (CG) activation or deactivation. 
     When cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits of a DCI format are scrambled with a configured scheduling random network temporary identifier (CS-RNTI), and a plurality of bit patterns are signaled, the HARQ process number field can include the first parameter or the second parameter depending on a DL flag or a UL flag in a received DCI. When the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits of the DCI format are scrambled with the CS-RNTI and a new data indicator (NDI) bit is 1, a received DCI can schedule a retransmission of a DL SPS assignment packet or a UL CG packet. The HARQ process number field in the received DCI can signal a HARQ process number that stores a transport block for the retransmission. 
     In an aspect, a method for enhanced signaling to support multiple configured grants (CG) is provided. The method includes configuring a configured grant (CG) confirmation medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) to include a serving cell identifier (ID), a bandwidth (BWP) ID, and a CG Index, in which a format of the MAC CE includes: a first field that indicates the service cell ID; a second field that indicates an uplink (UL) BWP; and a third field that indicates a CG for which the MAC CE applies. 
     The CG confirmation MAC CE can inform a next generation NodeB (gNB) about which CG is confirmed by the CG confirmation MAC CE when the gNB receives the CG confirmation MAC CE. A length of the first field can include 5 bits. A length of the second field can include 2 bits. A length of the third field can include 4 bits. The the format of the MAC CE further can include one or more reserved bits, each set to 0. 
     In an aspect, a method is provided that includes receiving, via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, configuration information for a plurality of uplink (UL) configured grants (CGs) in a bandwidth part (BWP) of a new radio (NR) telecommunications system, in which the configuration information includes at least one of: a first parameter corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of UL CGs; or a second parameter indicating an offset of one or more HARQ process IDs to be used for the respective UL CG. The method includes communicating in the BWP of the NR telecommunications system based on the configuration information. 
     A user equipment (UE) can perform the receiving and the communicating. 
     In an aspect, a method is provided that includes receiving, via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, configuration information for a plurality of downlink (DL) semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) assignments in a bandwidth part (BWP) of a new radio (NR) telecommunications system, in which the configuration information includes at least one of: a first parameter corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of DL SPS assignments; or a second parameter that indicates an offset of one or more HARQ process IDs to be used for the respective DL SPS assignment. The method includes communicating in the BWP of the NR telecommunications system based on the configuration information. 
     A user equipment (UE) can perform the receiving and the communicating. 
     In an aspect, a method is provided that includes receiving, via downlink control information (DCI), configuration information for a plurality of uplink (UL) configured grants (CGs) in a new radio (NR) telecommunications system, in which the configuration information includes a first parameter corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of UL CGs. The method includes communicating in the NR telecommunications system based on the configuration information. 
     The first parameter can be assigned 4 bits and is included in an UL DCI format. A user equipment (UE) can perform the receiving and the communicating. The method can further include processing a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number field in a DCI format as the first parameter in a UL DCI format. 
     In an aspect, a method is provided that includes receiving, via downlink control information (DCI), configuration information for a plurality of downlink (DL) semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) assignments in a new radio (NR) telecommunications system, in which the configuration information includes a parameter corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of DL SPS assignments. The method include communicating in the NR telecommunications system based on the configuration information. 
     The parameter can be assigned 4 bits and included in a DL DCI format. A user equipment (UE) can perform the receiving and the communicating. The method can further include processing a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number field in a DCI format as the parameter in a DL DCI format. 
     In an aspect, a method is provided that includes receiving, via medium access control (MAC) signaling, configuration information for a plurality of uplink (UL) configured grants (CGs) in a new radio (NR) telecommunications system, in which the configuration information includes a MAC control element (CE) that includes a serving cell identifier (ID), a bandwidth (BWP) ID, and a CG index corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of UL CGs. The method includes communicating in the NR telecommunications system based on the configuration information. A UE can perform the receiving and the communicating. 
     In an aspect, a method is provided that includes communicating configuration information for a plurality of uplink (UL) configured grants (CGs) in a new radio (NR) telecommunications system, in which the configuration information includes a MAC control element (CE) that includes a serving cell identifier (ID), a bandwidth (BWP) ID, and a CG index and wherein the MAC CE corresponds to a respective one of the plurality of UL CGs. The method includes determining a failed activation or deactivation of the respective one of the plurality of UL CGs based, at least in part, on the MAC CE. 
     A next generation NodeB (gNodeB) can perform the communicating and the determining. 
     In an aspect, an apparatus including means to perform one or more elements of the previously described methods is provided. 
     In an aspect, one or more non-transitory computer-readable media including instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of the previously methods is provided. 
     In an aspect, an apparatus including logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of the previously described methods is provided. 
     In an aspect, an apparatus including one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform one or more elements of the previously described methods is provided. 
     In an aspect, an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, in which execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors is to cause the one or more processors to perform one or more elements of the previously described methods is provided. 
     In an aspect, a processing element including instructions, in which execution of the program by a processing element is to cause the processing element to carry out one or more elements of the previously described methods is provided. 
     The details of one or more implementations are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features and advantages will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         FIGS.  1 - 3    illustrate example wireless communication systems. 
         FIG.  4    illustrates an example of infrastructure equipment. 
         FIG.  5    illustrates an example of a platform or device. 
         FIG.  6    illustrates example components of baseband circuitry and radio front end circuitry. 
         FIG.  7    illustrates example components of cellular communication circuitry. 
         FIG.  8    illustrates example protocol functions that may be implemented in wireless communication systems. 
         FIG.  9    illustrates example components of a core network. 
         FIG.  10    illustrates an example system to support network function virtualization. 
         FIG.  11    illustrates an example computer system. 
         FIG.  12    illustrates an example method for supporting multiple configured grants. 
         FIG.  13    illustrates an example of an enhanced configured grant confirmation MAC CE. 
     
    
    
     Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Multiple configurations of a downlink (DL) semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) assignment and an uplink (UL) configured grant (CG) can be supported in new radio (NR) to satisfy quality of service (QoS) for wireless Ethernet when a fifth generation (5G) network serves time sensitive network (TSN) traffic. Specifically, based on an analysis of TSN traffic characteristics, the following enhancements can be advantageous for further development for an NR system:
         support of provisioning, from a core network (CN) to a radio access network (RAN), of TSN traffic pattern related information, such as message periodicity, message size, message arrival time at a next generation NodeB (gNB) (DL) and UE (UL);   support for multiple simultaneous active CG and SPS configurations for a given bandwidth part (BWP) of a user equipment (UE); and   support for shorter SPS periodicities than the existing ones.       

     Additionally, it can be beneficial to support enhanced UL CG transmission (for example, multiple active CG type 1 and type 2 configurations for a given BWP of a serving cell, vehicle to anything (V2X), and so on). Multiple configured DL assignments and UL grants can be used to support mixed TSN traffic and handle situations where TSN traffic periodicity is not a multiple of supported periodicities of CGs/assignments. Since current NR systems may only support one configured DL and UL assignment/grant, to support multiple configured assignments/grants, it can be beneficial to improve many relevant signaling methods. 
     Implementations of the present disclosure describe techniques of enhancing the radio resource control (RRC), medium access control (MAC), and downlink control information (DCI) signaling of NR system to support multiple configurations of DL SPS assignments and UL CGs. Implementations of the present disclosure describe one or more signaling techniques to support multiple configurations for DL SPS and a UL CG. In some implementations, new information element (IE) fields (for example, SPSConfig-Index and CG-Index) are included in the respective RRC, MAC control element (CE), and DCI signaling to identify the particular DL SPS or UL CG configuration on which the signaling applies. 
     In some implementations, the configured UL-grant (DL-assignment) configuration information elements “ConfiguredGrantConfig” (SPS-Config) can be enhanced to include new parameter “CG-Index” (SPSConfig-Index) and “HARQProcessIDOffset” so that multiple uplink CGs (DL SPS assignments) can be configured for a UE in a BWP and the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process ID space of each configuration can start with a configured offset. In some implementations, a HARQ process number field in a DCI format is redefined as SPSConfig-Index and CG-Index in DL or UL DCI formats for DL SPS assignment and UL CG activation/deactivation, respectively. In some implementations, the CG confirmation MAC CE is enhanced to include the serving cell ID, BWP ID, and CG indices. As a result, upon reception of a CG confirmation MAC CE, the gNB can determine which CG is confirmed by the received MAC CE when the network activates/deactivates several CGs consecutively. In some implementations, new DCI fields SPSConfig-Index and CG-Index of 4 bits can be added to the existing DL and UL DCI formats 1_0 (1) and 0_0 (1), respectively so that a particular DL SPS assignment or UL CG with signaled SPSConfig-Index or CG-Index can be activated/deactivated by using the same bit pattern. 
       FIG.  1    illustrates an example wireless communication system  100 . For purposes of convenience and without limitation, the example system  100  is described in the context of the LTE and 5G NR communication standards as defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) technical specifications. However, the technology described herein may be implemented in other communication systems using other communication standards, such as other 3GPP standards or IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN or WiMAX), among others. 
     The system  100  includes UE  101   a  and UE  101   b  (collectively referred to as the “UEs  101 ”). In this example, the UEs  101  are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks). In other examples, any of the UEs  101  may include other mobile or non-mobile computing devices, such as consumer electronics devices, cellular phones, smartphones, feature phones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handsets, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, an Instrument Cluster (IC), 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) devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, or combinations of them, among others. 
     In some examples, any of the UEs  101  may be IoT UEs, which can include 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 using, for example, a public land mobile network (PLMN), proximity services (ProSe), device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensor networks, IoT networks, or combinations of them, among others. 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. The IoT UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages or status updates) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network. 
     The UEs  101  are configured to connect (e.g., communicatively couple) with an access network (AN) or radio access network (RAN)  110 . In some examples, the RAN  110  may be a next generation RAN (NG RAN), an evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN), or a legacy RAN, such as a UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) or a GSM EDGE radio access network (GERAN). As used herein, the term “NG RAN” may refer to a RAN  110  that operates in a 5G NR system  100 , and the term “E-UTRAN” may refer to a RAN  110  that operates in an LTE or 4G system  100 . 
     To connect to the RAN  110 , the UEs  101  utilize connections (or channels)  103  and  104 , respectively, each of which may include a physical communications interface or layer, as described below. In this example, the connections  103  and  104  are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a global system for mobile communications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA) network protocol, a push-to-talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over cellular (POC) protocol, a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G NR protocol, or combinations of them, among other communication protocols. In some examples, the UEs  101  may directly exchange communication data using an interface  105 , such as a ProSe interface. The interface  105  may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface  105  and may include one or more logical channels, such as a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink downlink channel (PSDCH), or a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), or combinations of them, among others. 
     The UE  101   b  is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP)  106  (also referred to as “WLAN node  106 ,” “WLAN 106,” “WLAN Termination  106 ,” “WT  106 ” or the like) using a connection  107 . The connection  107  can include a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, in which the AP  106  would include a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi®) router. In this example, the AP  106  is shown to be connected to the Internet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system, as described in further detail below. In various examples, the UE  101   b , RAN  110 , and AP  106  may be configured to use LTE-WLAN aggregation (LWA) operation or LTW/WLAN radio level integration with IPsec tunnel (LWIP) operation. The LWA operation may involve the UE  101   b  in RRC_CONNECTED being configured by a RAN node  111   a ,  111   b  to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve the UE  101   b  using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection  107 ) using IPsec protocol tunneling to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over the connection  107 . IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entirety of original IP packets and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packets. 
     The RAN  110  can include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes  111   a  and  111   b  (collectively referred to as “RAN nodes  111 ” or “RAN node  111 ”) that enable the connections  103  and  104 . As used herein, the terms “access node,” “access point,” or the like may describe equipment that provides the radio baseband functions for data or voice connectivity, or both, between a network and one or more users. These access nodes can be referred to as base stations (BS), gNodeBs, gNBs, eNodeBs, eNBs, NodeBs, RAN nodes, rode side units (RSUs), transmission reception points (TRxPs or TRPs), and the link, and can include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell), among others. As used herein, the term “NG RAN node” may refer to a RAN node  111  that operates in an 5G NR system  100  (for example, a gNB), and the term “E-UTRAN node” may refer to a RAN node  111  that operates in an LTE or 4G system  100  (e.g., an eNB). In some examples, the RAN nodes  111  may be implemented as one or more of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station, or a low power (LP) base station for providing femtocells, picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells. 
     In some examples, some or all of the RAN nodes  111  may be implemented as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as a cloud RAN (CRAN) or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). The CRAN or vBBUP may implement a RAN function split, such as a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) split in which radio resource control (RRC) and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and other layer two (e.g., data link layer) protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes  111 ; a medium access control (MAC)/physical layer (PHY) split in which RRC, PDCP, MAC, and radio link control (RLC) layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes  111 ; or a “lower PHY” split in which RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers and upper portions of the PHY layer are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and lower portions of the PHY layer are operated by individual RAN nodes  111 . This virtualized framework allows the freed-up processor cores of the RAN nodes  111  to perform, for example, other virtualized applications. In some examples, an individual RAN node  111  may represent individual gNB distributed units (DUs) that are connected to a gNB central unit (CU) using individual F1 interfaces (not shown in  FIG.  1   ). In some examples, the gNB-DUs may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g.,  FIG.  4   ), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server that is located in the RAN  110  (not shown) or by a server pool in a similar manner as the CRAN/vBBUP. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes  111  may be next generation eNBs (ng-eNBs), including RAN nodes that provide E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations toward the UEs  101 , and are connected to a 5G core network (e.g., core network  120 ) using a next generation interface. 
     In vehicle-to-everything (V2X) scenarios, one or more of the RAN nodes  111  may be or act as RSUs. The term “Road Side Unit” or “RSU” refers to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. A RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, where a RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a “UE-type RSU,” a RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an “eNB-type RSU,” a RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a “gNB-type RSU,” and the like. In some examples, an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs  101  (vUEs  101 ). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well as applications or other software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct Short Range Communications (DSRC) 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) or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications, or both. The computing device(s) and some or all of the radiofrequency 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 or a backhaul network, or both. 
     Any of the RAN nodes  111  can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs  101 . In some examples, any of the RAN nodes  111  can fulfill various logical functions for the RAN  110  including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management. 
     In some examples, the UEs  101  can be configured to communicate using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes  111  over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, OFDMA communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communications) or SC-FDMA communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the techniques described here not limited in this respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers. 
     In some examples, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes  111  to the UEs  101 , 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 comprises 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; in the frequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks. 
     In some examples, the UEs  101  and the RAN nodes  111  communicate (e.g., transmit and receive) data over a licensed medium (also referred to as the “licensed spectrum” or the “licensed band”) and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as the “unlicensed spectrum” or the “unlicensed band”). The licensed spectrum may include channels that operate in the frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, whereas the unlicensed spectrum may include the 5 GHz band. 
     To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UEs  101  and the RAN nodes  111  may operate using license assisted access (LAA), enhanced-LAA (eLAA), or further enhanced-LAA (feLAA) mechanisms. In these implementations, the UEs  101  and the RAN nodes  111  may perform one or more known medium-sensing operations or carrier-sensing operations, or both, to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum are unavailable or otherwise occupied prior to transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium/carrier sensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol. LBT is a mechanism in which equipment (for example, UEs  101 , RAN nodes  111 ) senses a medium (for example, a channel or carrier frequency) and transmits when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a specific channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensing operation may include clear channel assessment (CCA), which uses energy detection to determine the presence or absence of other signals on a channel in order to determine if a channel is occupied or clear. This LBT mechanism allows cellular/LAA networks to coexist with incumbent systems in the unlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. Energy detection may include sensing RF energy across an intended transmission band for a period of time and comparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold. 
     The incumbent systems in the 5 GHz band can be WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technologies. WLAN employs a contention-based channel access mechanism (e.g., CSMA with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA)). In some examples, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS), such as UE  101 , AP  106 , or the like) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. Additionally, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions in situations where more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the same time. The backoff mechanism may be a counter that is drawn randomly within the contention window size (CWS), which is increased exponentially upon the occurrence of collision and reset to a minimum value as the transmission succeeds. In some examples, the LBT mechanism designed for LAA is similar to the CSMA/CA of WLAN. In some examples, the LBT procedure for DL or UL transmission bursts, including PDSCH or PUSCH transmissions, respectively, may have an LAA contention window that is variable in length between X and Y extended CAA (ECCA) slots, where X and Y are minimum and maximum values for the CWSs for LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for an LAA transmission may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWS and a maximum channel occupancy time (for example, a transmission burst) may be based on governmental regulatory requirements. 
     In some examples, the LAA mechanisms are built on carrier aggregation technologies of LTE-Advanced systems. In CA, each aggregated carrier is referred to as a component carrier. In some examples, a component carrier may have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz, and a maximum of five component carriers can be aggregated to provide a maximum aggregated bandwidth is 100 MHz. In frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, the number of aggregated carriers can be different for DL and UL. For example, the number of UL component carriers can be equal to or lower than the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, individual component carriers can have a different bandwidth than other component carriers. In time division duplex (TDD) systems, the number of component carriers as well as the bandwidths of each component carrier is usually the same for DL and UL. 
     Carrier aggregation can also include individual serving cells to provide individual component carriers. The coverage of the serving cells may differ, for example, because component carriers on different frequency bands may experience different path loss. A primary service cell (PCell) may provide a primary component carrier for both UL and DL, and may handle RRC and non-access stratum (NAS) related activities. The other serving cells are referred to as secondary component carriers (SCells), and each SCell may provide an individual secondary component carrier for both UL and DL. The secondary component carriers may be added and removed as required, while changing the primary component carrier may require the UE  101  to undergo a handover. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in the unlicensed spectrum (referred to as “LAA SCells”), and the LAA SCells are assisted by a PCell operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on the configured LAA SCells indicating different PUSCH starting positions within a same subframe. 
     The PDSCH carries user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs  101 . The PDCCH carries information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs  101  about the transport format, resource allocation, and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information related to the uplink shared channel. Downlink scheduling (e.g., assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE  101   b  within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes  111  based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs  101 . The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs  101 . 
     The PDCCH uses 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. In some examples, each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, in which each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements collectively referred to 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. In LTE, there can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8). 
     Some implementations may use concepts for resource allocation for control channel information that are an extension of the above-described concepts. For example, some implementations may utilize an enhanced PDCCH (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more enhanced CCEs (ECCEs). Similar to above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements collectively referred to as an enhanced REG (EREG). An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some examples. 
     The RAN nodes  111  are configured to communicate with one another using an interface  112 . In examples, such as where the system  100  is an LTE system (e.g., when the core network  120  is an evolved packet core (EPC) network as shown in  FIG.  2   ), the interface  112  may be an X2 interface  112 . The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes  111  (e.g., two or more eNBs and the like) that connect to the EPC  120 , or between two eNBs connecting to EPC  120 , or both. In some examples, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provide flow control mechanisms for user data packets transferred over the X2 interface, and may be used to communicate information about the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information for user data transferred from a master eNB to a secondary eNB; information about successful in sequence delivery of PDCP protocol data units (PDUs) to a UE  101  from a secondary eNB for user data; information of PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to a UE  101 ; information about a current minimum desired buffer size at the secondary eNB for transmitting to the UE user data, among other information. The X2-C may provide intra-LTE access mobility functionality, including context transfers from source to target eNBs or user plane transport control; load management functionality; inter-cell interference coordination functionality, among other functionality. 
     In some examples, such as where the system  100  is a 5G NR system (e.g., when the core network  120  is a 5G core network as shown in  FIG.  3   ), the interface  112  may be an Xn interface  112 . The Xn interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes  111  (e.g., two or more gNBs and the like) that connect to the 5G core network  120 , between a RAN node  111  (e.g., a gNB) connecting to the 5G core network  120  and an eNB, or between two eNBs connecting to the 5G core network  120 , or combinations of them. In some examples, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support/provide data forwarding and flow control functionality. The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functionality, functionality to manage the Xn-C interface; mobility support for UE  101  in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) including functionality to manage the UE mobility for connected mode between one or more RAN nodes  111 , among other functionality. The mobility support may include context transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node  111  to new (target) serving RAN node  111 , and control of user plane tunnels between old (source) serving RAN node  111  to new (target) serving RAN node  111 . A protocol stack of the Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GPRS tunneling protocol for user plane (GTP-U) layer on top of a user datagram protocol (UDP) or IP layer(s), or both, to carry user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer that is built on a stream control transmission protocol (SCTP). The SCTP may be on top of an IP layer, and may provide the guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, point-to-point transmission is used to deliver the signaling PDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack or the Xn-C protocol stack, or both, may be same or similar to the user plane and/or control plane protocol stack(s) shown and described herein. 
     The RAN  110  is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network  120  (referred to as a “CN  120 ”). The CN  120  includes one or more network elements  122 , which are configured to offer various data and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (e.g., users of UEs  101 ) who are connected to the CN  120  using the RAN  110 . The components of the CN  120  may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes and may include components to read and execute instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some examples, network functions virtualization (NFV) may be used to virtualize some or all of the network node functions described here using executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage mediums, as described in further detail below. A logical instantiation of the CN  120  may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN  120  may be referred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used to execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more network components or functions, or both. 
     Generally, an application server  130  may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS packet services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, among others). The application server  130  can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, among others) for the UEs  101  using the CN  120 . 
     In some examples, the CN  120  may be a 5G core network (referred to as “5GC  120 ”), and the RAN  110  may be connected with the CN  120  using a next generation interface  113 . In some examples, the next generation interface  113  may be split into two parts, an next generation user plane (NG-U) interface  114 , which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes  111  and a user plane function (UPF), and the S1 control plane (NG-C) interface  115 , which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes  111  and access and mobility management functions (AMFs). Examples where the CN  120  is a 5GC  120  are discussed in more detail with regard to  FIG.  3   . 
     In some examples, the CN  120  may be an EPC (referred to as “EPC  120 ” or the like), and the RAN  110  may be connected with the CN  120  using an S1 interface  113 . In some examples, the S1 interface  113  may be split into two parts, an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface  114 , which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes  111  and the serving gateway (S-GW), and the S1-MME interface  115 , which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes  111  and mobility management entities (MMEs). 
       FIG.  2    illustrates an example architecture of a system  200  including a first CN  220 . In this example, the system  200  may implement the LTE standard such that the CN  220  is an EPC  220  that corresponds with CN  120  of  FIG.  1   . Additionally, the UE  201  may be the same or similar as the UEs  101  of  FIG.  1   , and the E-UTRAN  210  may be a RAN that is the same or similar to the RAN  110  of  FIG.  1   , and which may include RAN nodes  111  discussed previously. The CN  220  may comprise MMEs  221 , an S-GW  222 , a PDN gateway (P-GW)  223 , a high-speed packet access (HSS) function  224 , and a serving GPRS support node (SGSN)  225 . 
     The MMEs  221  may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy SGSN, and may implement mobility management (MM) functions to keep track of the current location of a UE  201 . The MMEs  221  may perform various mobility management procedures to manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. Mobility management (also referred to as “EPS MM” or “EMM” in E-UTRAN systems) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data storage, and other aspects that are used to maintain knowledge about a present location of the UE  201 , provide user identity confidentiality, or perform other like services to users/subscribers, or combinations of them, among others. Each UE  201  and the MME  221  may include an EMM sublayer, and an mobility management context may be established in the UE  201  and the MME  221  when an attach procedure is successfully completed. The mobility management context may be a data structure or database object that stores mobility management-related information of the UE  201 . The MMEs  221  may be coupled with the HSS  224  using a S6a reference point, coupled with the SGSN  225  using a S3 reference point, and coupled with the S-GW  222  using a S11 reference point. 
     The SGSN  225  may be a node that serves the UE  201  by tracking the location of an individual UE  201  and performing security functions. In addition, the SGSN  225  may perform Inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between 2G/3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by the MMEs  221 ; handling of UE  201  time zone functions as specified by the MMEs  221 ; and MME selection for handovers to E-UTRAN 3GPP access network, among other functions. The S3 reference point between the MMEs  221  and the SGSN  225  may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle or active states, or both. 
     The HSS  224  may include a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities&#39; handling of communication sessions. The EPC  220  may include one or more HSSs  224  depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, or combinations of them, among other features. For example, the HSS  224  can provide support for routing, roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, among others. A S6a reference point between the HSS  224  and the MMEs  221  may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating or authorizing user access to the EPC  220  between HSS  224  and the MMEs  221 . 
     The S-GW  222  may terminate the S1 interface  113  (“S1-U” in  FIG.  2   ) toward the RAN  210 , and may route data packets between the RAN  210  and the EPC  220 . In addition, the S-GW  222  may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement. The S11 reference point between the S-GW  222  and the MMEs  221  may provide a control plane between the MMEs  221  and the S-GW  222 . The S-GW  222  may be coupled with the P-GW  223  using a S5 reference point. 
     The P-GW  223  may terminate a SGi interface toward a PDN  230 . The P-GW  223  may route data packets between the EPC  220  and external networks such as a network including the application server  130  (sometimes referred to as an “AF”) using an IP interface  125  (see, e.g.,  FIG.  1   ). In some examples, the P-GW  223  may be communicatively coupled to an application server (e.g., the application server  130  of  FIG.  1    or PDN  230  in  FIG.  2   ) using an IP communications interface  125  (see, e.g.,  FIG.  1   ). The S5 reference point between the P-GW  223  and the S-GW  222  may provide user plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW  223  and the S-GW  222 . The S5 reference point may also be used for S-GW  222  relocation due to UE  201  mobility and if the S-GW  222  needs to connect to a non-collocated P-GW  223  for the required PDN connectivity. The P-GW  223  may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (e.g., PCEF (not shown)). Additionally, the SGi reference point between the P-GW  223  and the packet data network (PDN)  230  may be an operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra operator packet data network, for example, for provision of IMS services. The P-GW  223  may be coupled with a policy control and charging rules function (PCRF)  226  using a Gx reference point. 
     PCRF  226  is the policy and charging control element of the EPC  220 . In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF  226  in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE  201 &#39;s Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE  201 &#39;s IP-CAN session, a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within an HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF  226  may be communicatively coupled to the application server  230  using the P-GW  223 . The application server  230  may signal the PCRF  226  to indicate a new service flow and select the appropriate quality of service (QoS) and charging parameters. The PCRF  226  may provision this rule into a PCEF (not shown) with the appropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class identifier (QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified by the application server  230 . The Gx reference point between the PCRF  226  and the P-GW  223  may allow for the transfer of QoS policy and charging rules from the PCRF  226  to PCEF in the P-GW  223 . A Rx reference point may reside between the PDN  230  (or “AF  230 ”) and the PCRF  226 . 
       FIG.  3    illustrates an architecture of a system  300  including a second CN  320 . The system  300  is shown to include a UE  301 , which may be the same or similar to the UEs  101  and UE  201  discussed previously; a (R)AN  310 , which may be the same or similar to the RAN  110  and RAN  210  discussed previously, and which may include RAN nodes  111  discussed previously; and a data network (DN)  303 , which may be, for example, operator services, Internet access or 3rd party services; and a 5GC  320 . The 5GC  320  may include an authentication server function (AUSF)  322 ; an access and mobility management function (AMF)  321 ; a session management function (SMF)  324 ; a network exposure function (NEF)  323 ; a policy control function (PCF)  326 ; a network repository function (NRF)  325 ; a unified data management (UDM) function  327 ; an AF  328 ; a user plane function (UPF)  302 ; and a network slice selection function (NSSF)  329 . 
     The UPF  302  may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to DN  303 , and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF  302  may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform Uplink Traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF  302  may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network. The DN  303  may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services. DN  303  may include, or be similar to, application server  130  discussed previously. The UPF  302  may interact with the SMF  324  using a N4 reference point between the SMF  324  and the UPF  302 . 
     The AUSF  322  stores data for authentication of UE  301  and handle authentication-related functionality. The AUSF  322  may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF  322  may communicate with the AMF  321  using a N12 reference point between the AMF  321  and the AUSF  322 , and may communicate with the UDM  327  using a N13 reference point between the UDM  327  and the AUSF  322 . Additionally, the AUSF  322  may exhibit a Nausf service-based interface. 
     The AMF  321  is responsible for registration management (e.g., for registering UE  301 ), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF  321  may be a termination point for the N11 reference point between the AMF  321  and the SMF  324 . The AMF  321  may provide transport for SM messages between the UE  301  and the SMF  324 , and act as a transparent pro10 for routing SM messages. AMF  321  may also provide transport for SMS messages between UE  301  and an SMSF (not shown in  FIG.  3   ). AMF  321  may act as security anchor function (SEAF), which may include interaction with the AUSF  322  and the UE  301  to, for example, receive an intermediate key that was established as a result of the UE  301  authentication process. Where universal subscriber identity module (USIM) based authentication is used, the AMF  321  may retrieve the security material from the AUSF  322 . AMF  321  may also include a security context management (SCM) function, which receives a key from the SEAF to derive access-network specific keys. Furthermore, AMF  321  may be a termination point of a RAN control plane interface, which may include or be a N2 reference point between the (R)AN  310  and the AMF  321 . In some examples, the AMF  321  may be a termination point of NAS (N1) signaling and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. 
     AMF  321  may also support NAS signaling with a UE  301  over a N3 interworking function (IWF) interface (referred to as the “N3IWF”). The N3IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. The N3IWF may be a termination point for the N2 interface between the (R)AN  310  and the AMF  321  for the control plane, and may be a termination point for the N3 reference point between the (R)AN  310  and the UPF  302  for the user plane. As such, the AMF  321  may handle N2 signaling from the SMF  324  and the AMF  321  for PDU sessions and QoS, encapsulate/de-encapsulate packets for IPsec and N3 tunneling, mark N3 user-plane packets in the uplink, and enforce QoS corresponding to N3 packet marking taking into account QoS requirements associated with such marking received over N2. The N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control-plane NAS signaling between the UE  301  and AMF  321  using a N1 reference point between the UE  301  and the AMF  321 , and relay uplink and downlink user-plane packets between the UE  301  and UPF  302 . The N3IWF also provides mechanisms for IPsec tunnel establishment with the UE  301 . The AMF  321  may exhibit a Namf service-based interface, and may be a termination point for a N14 reference point between two AMFs  321  and a N17 reference point between the AMF  321  and a 5G equipment identity registry (EIR) (not shown in  FIG.  3   ). 
     The UE  301  may register with the AMF  321  in order to receive network services. Registration management (RM) is used to register or deregister the UE  301  with the network (e.g., AMF  321 ), and establish a UE context in the network (e.g., AMF  321 ). The UE  301  may operate in a RM-REGISTERED state or an RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM DEREGISTERED state, the UE  301  is not registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF  321  holds no valid location or routing information for the UE  301  so the UE  301  is not reachable by the AMF  321 . In the RM REGISTERED state, the UE  301  is registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF  321  may hold a valid location or routing information for the UE  301  so the UE  301  is reachable by the AMF  321 . In the RM-REGISTERED state, the UE  301  may perform mobility Registration Update procedures, perform periodic Registration Update procedures triggered by expiration of the periodic update timer (e.g., to notify the network that the UE  301  is still active), and perform a Registration Update procedure to update UE capability information or to re-negotiate protocol parameters with the network, among others. 
     The AMF  321  may store one or more RM contexts for the UE  301 , where each RM context is associated with a specific access to the network. The RM context may be, for example, a data structure or database object, among others, that indicates or stores a registration state per access type and the periodic update timer. The AMF  321  may also store a 5GC mobility management (MM) context that may be the same or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. In some examples, the AMF  321  may store a coverage enhancement mode B Restriction parameter of the UE  301  in an associated MM context or RM context. The AMF  321  may also derive the value, when needed, from the UE&#39;s usage setting parameter already stored in the UE context (and/or MM/RM context). 
     Connection management (CM) may be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE  301  and the AMF  321  over the N1 interface. The signaling connection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE  301  and the CN  320 , and includes both the signaling connection between the UE and the AN (e.g., RRC connection or UE-N3IWF connection for non-3GPP access) and the N2 connection for the UE  301  between the AN (e.g., RAN  310 ) and the AMF  321 . In some examples, the UE  301  may operate in one of two CM modes: CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode. When the UE  301  is operating in the CM-IDLE mode, the UE  301  may have no NAS signaling connection established with the AMF  321  over the N1 interface, and there may be (R)AN  310  signaling connection (e.g., N2 or N3 connections, or both) for the UE  301 . When the UE  301  is operating in the CM-CONNECTED mode, the UE  301  may have an established NAS signaling connection with the AMF  321  over the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN  310  signaling connection (e.g., N2 and/or N3 connections) for the UE  301 . Establishment of a N2 connection between the (R)AN  310  and the AMF  321  may cause the UE  301  to transition from the CM-IDLE mode to the CM-CONNECTED mode, and the UE  301  may transition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode when N2 signaling between the (R)AN  310  and the AMF  321  is released. 
     The SMF  324  may be responsible for session management (SM), such as session establishment, modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node; UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP function; configuring traffic steering at the UPF to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sent using AMF over N2 to AN; and determining SSC mode of a session. SM may refer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session (or “session”) may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between a UE  301  and a data network (DN)  303  identified by a Data Network Name (DNN). PDU sessions may be established upon UE  301  request, modified upon UE  301  and 5GC  320  request, and released upon UE  301  and 5GC  320  request using NAS SM signaling exchanged over the N1 reference point between the UE  301  and the SMF  324 . Upon request from an application server, the 5GC  320  may trigger a specific application in the UE  301 . In response to receipt of the trigger message, the UE  301  may pass the trigger message (or relevant parts/information of the trigger message) to one or more identified applications in the UE  301 . The identified application(s) in the UE  301  may establish a PDU session to a specific DNN. The SMF  324  may check whether the UE  301  requests are compliant with user subscription information associated with the UE  301 . In this regard, the SMF  324  may retrieve and/or request to receive update notifications on SMF  324  level subscription data from the UDM  327 . 
     The SMF  324  may include some or all of the following roaming functionality: handling local enforcement to apply QoS service level agreements (SLAs) (e.g., in VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (e.g., in VPLMN); lawful intercept (e.g., in VPLMN for SM events and interface to LI system); and support for interaction with external DN for transport of signaling for PDU session authorization/authentication by external DN. A N16 reference point between two SMFs  324  may be included in the system  300 , which may be between another SMF  324  in a visited network and the SMF  324  in the home network in roaming scenarios. Additionally, the SMF  324  may exhibit the Nsmf service-based interface. 
     The NEF  323  may provide means for securely exposing the services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure/re-exposure, Application Functions (e.g., AF  328 ), edge computing or fog computing systems, among others. In some examples, the NEF  323  may authenticate, authorize, and/or throttle the AFs. The NEF  323  may also translate information exchanged with the AF  328  and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF  323  may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF  323  may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on exposed capabilities of other network functions. This information may be stored at the NEF  323  as structured data, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF  323  to other NFs and AFs, or used for other purposes such as analytics, or both. Additionally, the NEF  323  may exhibit a Nnef service-based interface. 
     The NRF  325  may support service discovery functions, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF  325  also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. Additionally, the NRF  325  may exhibit the Nnrf service-based interface. 
     The PCF  326  may provide policy rules to control plane function(s) to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behavior. The PCF  326  may also implement a front end to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a unified data repository (UDR) of the UDM  327 . The PCF  326  may communicate with the AMF  321  using an N15 reference point between the PCF  326  and the AMF  321 , which may include a PCF  326  in a visited network and the AMF  321  in case of roaming scenarios. The PCF  326  may communicate with the AF  328  using a N5 reference point between the PCF  326  and the AF  328 ; and with the SMF  324  using a N7 reference point between the PCF  326  and the SMF  324 . The system  300  or CN  320 , or both, may also include a N24 reference point between the PCF  326  (in the home network) and a PCF  326  in a visited network. Additionally, the PCF  326  may exhibit a Npcf service-based interface. 
     The UDM  327  may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities&#39; handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE  301 . For example, subscription data may be communicated between the UDM  327  and the AMF  321  using a N8 reference point between the UDM  327  and the AMF. The UDM  327  may include two parts, an application front end and a UDR (the front end and UDR are not shown in  FIG.  3   ). The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM  327  and the PCF  326 , or structured data for exposure and application data (including PFDs for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs  301 ) for the NEF  323 , or both. The Nudr service-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR  221  to allow the UDM  327 , PCF  326 , and NEF  323  to access a particular set of the stored data, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM front end, which is in charge of processing credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM front end accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification handling, access authorization, registration/mobility management, and subscription management. The UDR may interact with the SMF  324  using a N10 reference point between the UDM  327  and the SMF  324 . UDM  327  may also support SMS management, in which an SMS front end implements the similar application logic as discussed previously. Additionally, the UDM  327  may exhibit the Nudm service-based interface. 
     The AF  328  may provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to the network capability exposure (NCE), and interact with the policy framework for policy control. The NCE may be a mechanism that allows the 5GC  320  and AF  328  to provide information to each other using NEF  323 , which may be used for edge computing implementations. In such implementations, the network operator and third party services may be hosted close to the UE  301  access point of attachment to achieve an efficient service delivery through the reduced end-to-end latency and load on the transport network. For edge computing implementations, the 5GC may select a UPF  302  close to the UE  301  and execute traffic steering from the UPF  302  to DN  303  using the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF  328 . In this way, the AF  328  may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF  328  is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF  328  to interact directly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF  328  may exhibit a Naf service-based interface. 
     The NSSF  329  may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE  301 . The NSSF  329  may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI), if needed. The NSSF  329  may also determine the AMF set to be used to serve the UE  301 , or a list of candidate AMF(s)  321  based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF  325 . The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE  301  may be triggered by the AMF  321  with which the UE  301  is registered by interacting with the NSSF  329 , which may lead to a change of AMF  321 . The NSSF  329  may interact with the AMF  321  using an N22 reference point between AMF  321  and NSSF  329 ; and may communicate with another NSSF  329  in a visited network using a N31 reference point (not shown by  FIG.  3   ). Additionally, the NSSF  329  may exhibit a Nnssf service-based interface. 
     As discussed previously, the CN  320  may include an SMSF, which may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages to or from the UE  301  to or from other entities, such as an SMS-GMSC/IWMSC/SMS-router. The SMS may also interact with AMF  321  and UDM  327  for a notification procedure that the UE  301  is available for SMS transfer (e.g., set a UE not reachable flag, and notifying UDM  327  when UE  301  is available for SMS). 
     The CN  120  may also include other elements that are not shown in  FIG.  3   , such as a data storage system, a 5G-EIR, a security edge protection pro10 (SEPP), and the like. The data storage system may include a structured data storage function (SDSF), an unstructured data storage function (UDSF), or both, among others. Any network function may store and retrieve unstructured data to or from the UDSF (e.g., UE contexts), using a N18 reference point between any NF and the UDSF (not shown in  FIG.  3   ). Individual network functions may share a UDSF for storing their respective unstructured data or individual network functions may each have their own UDSF located at or near the individual network functions. Additionally, the UDSF may exhibit a Nudsf service-based interface (not shown in  FIG.  3   ). The 5G-EIR may be a network function that checks the status of permanent equipment identifiers (PEI) for determining whether particular equipment or entities are blacklisted from the network; and the SEPP may be a non-transparent pro10 that performs topology hiding, message filtering, and policing on inter-PLMN control plane interfaces. 
     In some examples, there may be additional or alternative reference points or service-based interfaces, or both, between the network function services in the network functions. However, these interfaces and reference points have been omitted from  FIG.  3    for clarity. In one example, the CN  320  may include a Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between the MME (e.g., MME  221 ) and the AMF  321  in order to enable interworking between CN  320  and CN  220 . Other example interfaces or reference points may include a N5g-EIR service-based interface exhibited by a 5G-EIR, a N27 reference point between the NRF in the visited network and the NRF in the home network, or a N31 reference point between the NSSF in the visited network and the NSSF in the home network, among others. 
       FIG.  4    illustrates an example of infrastructure equipment  400 . The infrastructure equipment  400  (or “system  400 ”) may be implemented as a base station, a radio head, a RAN node, such as the RAN nodes  111  or AP  106  shown and described previously, an application server(s)  130 , or any other component or device described herein. In other examples, the system  400  can be implemented in or by a UE. 
     The system  400  includes application circuitry  405 , baseband circuitry  410 , one or more radio front end modules (RFEMs)  415 , memory circuitry  420 , power management integrated circuitry (PMIC)  425 , power tee circuitry  430 , network controller circuitry  435 , network interface connector  440 , satellite positioning circuitry  445 , and user interface circuitry  450 . In some examples, the system  400  may include additional elements such as, for example, memory, storage, a display, a camera, one or more sensors, or an input/output (I/O) interface, or combinations of them, among others. In other examples, the components described with reference to the system  400  may be included in more than one device. For example, the various circuitries may be separately included in more than one device for CRAN, vBBU, or other implementations. 
     The application circuitry  405  includes circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, one or more of low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I2C or universal programmable serial interface module, real time clock (RTC), timer-counters including interval and watchdog timers, general purpose input/output (I/O or IO), memory card controllers such as Secure Digital (SD) MultiMediaCard (MMC) or similar, Universal Serial Bus (USB) interfaces, Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) interfaces and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the application circuitry  405  may be coupled with or may include memory or storage elements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory or storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system  400 . In some examples, the memory or storage elements may include on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitable volatile or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory, or combinations of them, among other types of memory. 
     The processor(s) of the application circuitry  405  may include, for example, one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) processors, one or more complex instruction set computing (CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSP), one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, or combinations of them, among others. In some examples, the application circuitry  405  may include, or may be, a special-purpose processor or controller configured to carry out the various techniques described here. As examples, the processor(s) of application circuitry  405  may include one or more Intel Pentium®, Core®, or Xeon® processor(s); Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s), Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), or Epyc® processors; ARM-based processor(s) licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd. such as the ARM Cortex-A family of processors and the ThunderX2® provided by Cavium™, Inc.; a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such as MIPS Warrior P-class processors; and/or the like. In some examples, the system  400  may not utilize application circuitry  405 , and instead may include a special-purpose processor or controller to process IP data received from an EPC or 5GC, for example. 
     In some examples, the application circuitry  405  may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) or deep learning (DL) accelerators, or both. In some examples, the programmable processing devices may be one or more a field-programmable devices (FPDs) such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and the like; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs) or high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs); ASICs such as structured ASICs; programmable SoCs (PSoCs), or combinations of them, among others. In such implementations, the circuitry of application circuitry  405  may include logic blocks or logic fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods, functions described herein. In some examples, the circuitry of application circuitry  405  may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM) or anti-fuses)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, or other data in look-up-tables (LUTs) and the like. 
     The baseband circuitry  410  may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. The various hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry  410  are discussed with regard to FIG. XT. 
     The user interface circuitry  450  may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the system  400  or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the system  400 . User interfaces may include, but are not limited to, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touchscreen, speakers or other audio emitting devices, microphones, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, or combinations of them, among others. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a nonvolatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power supply interface, among others. 
     The radio front end modules (RFEMs)  415  may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some examples, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., antenna array  611  of FIG. XT), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In some examples, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM  415 , which incorporates both mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave. 
     The memory circuitry  420  may include one or more of volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM) or synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM), such as high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), or magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), or combinations of them, among others. In some examples, the memory circuitry  420  may include three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® and Micron®. Memory circuitry  420  may be implemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated circuits, socketed memory modules and plug-in memory cards, for example. 
     The PMIC  425  may include voltage regulators, surge protectors, power alarm detection circuitry, and one or more backup power sources such as a battery or capacitor. The power alarm detection circuitry may detect one or more of brown out (under-voltage) and surge (over-voltage) conditions. The power tee circuitry  430  may provide for electrical power drawn from a network cable to provide both power supply and data connectivity to the infrastructure equipment  400  using a single cable. 
     The network controller circuitry  435  may provide connectivity to a network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet over GRE Tunnels, Ethernet over Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. Network connectivity may be provided to and from the infrastructure equipment  400  using network interface connector  440  using a physical connection, which may be electrical (commonly referred to as a “copper interconnect”), optical, or wireless. The network controller circuitry  435  may include one or more dedicated processors or FPGAs, or both, to communicate using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some examples, the network controller circuitry  435  may include multiple controllers to provide connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols. 
     The positioning circuitry  445  includes circuitry to receive and decode signals transmitted or broadcasted by a positioning network of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of a GNSS include United States&#39; Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia&#39;s Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the European Union&#39;s Galileo system, China&#39;s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., Navigation with Indian Constellation (NAVIC), Japan&#39;s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France&#39;s Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS)), among other systems. The positioning circuitry  445  can include various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTA communications) to communicate with components of a positioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some examples, the positioning circuitry  445  may include a Micro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (Micro-PNT) IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking and estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry  445  may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry  410  or RFEMs  415 , or both, to communicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuitry  445  may also provide data (e.g., position data, time data) to the application circuitry  405 , which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN nodes  111 ). 
     The components shown by  FIG.  4    may communicate with one another using interface circuitry, which may include any number of bus or interconnect (IX) technologies such as industry standard architecture (ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI), peripheral component interconnect extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. The bus or IX may be a proprietary bus, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus or IX systems may be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, point to point interfaces, and a power bus, among others. 
       FIG.  5    illustrates an example of a platform  500  (or “device  500 ”). In some examples, the computer platform  500  may be suitable for use as UEs  101 ,  201 ,  301 , application servers  130 , or any other component or device discussed herein. The platform  500  may include any combinations of the components shown in the example. The components of platform  500  (or portions thereof) may be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs), discrete electronic devices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination of them adapted in the computer platform  500 , or as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system. The block diagram of  FIG.  5    is intended to show a high level view of components of the platform  500 . However, in some examples, the platform  500  may include fewer, additional, or alternative components, or a different arrangement of the components shown in  FIG.  5   . 
     The application circuitry  505  includes circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of LDOs, interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I2C or universal programmable serial interface module, RTC, timer-counters including interval and watchdog timers, general purpose I/O, memory card controllers such as SD MMC or similar, USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces, and JTAG test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the application circuitry  505  may be coupled with or may include memory/storage elements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory or storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system  500 . In some examples, the memory or storage elements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitable volatile or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory, or combinations of them, among other types of memory. 
     The processor(s) of application circuitry  405  may include, for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSP, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, a multithreaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embedded processor, some other known processing element, or any suitable combination thereof. In some examples, the application circuitry  405  may include, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller to carry out the techniques described herein. 
     As examples, the processor(s) of application circuitry  505  may include an Intel® Architecture Core™ based processor, such as a Quark™, an Atom™, an i3, an i5, an i7, or an MCU-class processor, or another such processor available from Intel® Corporation, Santa Clara, CA The processors of the application circuitry  505  may also be one or more of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s) or Accelerated Processing Units (APUs); A5-A9 processor(s) from Apple® Inc., Snapdragon™ processor(s) from Qualcomm® Technologies, Inc., Texas Instruments, Inc.® Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP)™ processor(s); a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such as MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors; an ARM-based design licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M family of processors; or the like. In some examples, the application circuitry  505  may be a part of a system on a chip (SoC) in which the application circuitry  505  and other components are formed into a single integrated circuit, or a single package, such as the Edison™ or Galileo™ SoC boards from Intel® Corporation. 
     Additionally or alternatively, the application circuitry  505  may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more a field-programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs); ASICs such as structured ASICs; programmable SoCs (PSoCs), or combinations of them, among others. In some examples, the application circuitry  505  may include logic blocks or logic fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods, functions described herein. In some examples, the application circuitry  505  may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), or anti-fuses)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, or other data in look-up tables (LUTs) and the like. 
     The baseband circuitry  510  may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. The various hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry  510  are discussed with regard to FIG. XT. 
     The RFEMs  515  may comprise a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some examples, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., antenna array  611  of FIG. XT), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In some examples, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM  515 , which incorporates both mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave. 
     The memory circuitry  520  may include any number and type of memory devices used to provide for a given amount of system memory. As examples, the memory circuitry  520  may include one or more of volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM), such as high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), or magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), or combinations of them, among others. The memory circuitry  520  may be developed in accordance with a Joint Electron Devices Engineering Council (JEDEC) low power double data rate (LPDDR)-based design, such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, or the like. Memory circuitry  520  may be implemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated circuits, single die package (SDP), dual die package (DDP) or quad die package (Q17P), socketed memory modules, dual inline memory modules (DIMMs) including microDIMMs or MiniDIMMs, or soldered onto a motherboard using a ball grid array (BGA). In low power implementations, the memory circuitry  520  may be on-die memory or registers associated with the application circuitry  505 . To provide for persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems and so forth, memory circuitry  520  may include one or more mass storage devices, which may include, for example, a solid state disk drive (SSDD), hard disk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, resistance change memories, phase change memories, holographic memories, or chemical memories, among others. In some examples, the computer platform  500  may incorporate the three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® and Micron®. 
     The removable memory circuitry  523  may include devices, circuitry, enclosures, housings, ports or receptacles, among others, used to couple portable data storage devices with the platform  500 . These portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage purposes, and may include, for example, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSD cards, xD picture cards), and USB flash drives, optical discs, or external HDDs, or combinations of them, among others. 
     The platform  500  may also include interface circuitry (not shown) for connecting external devices with the platform  500 . The external devices connected to the platform  500  using the interface circuitry include sensor circuitry  521  and electromechanical components (EMCs)  522 , as well as removable memory devices coupled to removable memory circuitry  523 . 
     The sensor circuitry  521  include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send the information (e.g., sensor data) about the detected events to one or more other devices, modules, or subsystems. Examples of such sensors include inertial measurement units (IMUs) such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, or magnetometers; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) or nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) including 3-axis accelerometers, 3-axis gyroscopes, or magnetometers; level sensors; flow sensors; temperature sensors (e.g., thermistors); pressure sensors; barometric pressure sensors; gravimeters; altimeters; image capture devices (e.g., cameras or lensless apertures); light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors; proximity sensors (e.g., infrared radiation detector and the like), depth sensors, ambient light sensors, ultrasonic transceivers; microphones or other audio capture devices, or combinations of them, among others. 
     The EMCs  522  include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to enable the platform  500  to change its state, position, or orientation, or move or control a mechanism, system, or subsystem. Additionally, the EMCs  522  may be configured to generate and send messages or signaling to other components of the platform  500  to indicate a current state of the EMCs  522 . Examples of the EMCs  522  include one or more power switches, relays, such as electromechanical relays (EMRs) or solid state relays (SSRs), actuators (e.g., valve actuators), an audible sound generator, a visual warning device, motors (e.g., DC motors or stepper motors), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks, or combinations of them, among other electromechanical components. In some examples, the platform  500  is configured to operate one or more EMCs  522  based on one or more captured events, instructions, or control signals received from a service provider or clients, or both. 
     In some examples, the interface circuitry may connect the platform  500  with positioning circuitry  545 . The positioning circuitry  545  includes circuitry to receive and decode signals transmitted or broadcasted by a positioning network of a GNSS. Examples of a GNSS include United States&#39; GPS, Russia&#39;s GLONASS, the European Union&#39;s Galileo system, China&#39;s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., NAVIC), Japan&#39;s QZSS, France&#39;s DORIS, among other systems. The positioning circuitry  545  comprises various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTA communications) to communicate with components of a positioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some examples, the positioning circuitry  545  may include a Micro-PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking or estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry  545  may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry  410  or RFEMs  515 , or both, to communicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuitry  545  may also provide data (e.g., position data, time data) to the application circuitry  505 , which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., radio base stations), for turn-by-turn navigation applications, or the like. 
     In some examples, the interface circuitry may connect the platform  500  with Near-Field Communication (NFC) circuitry  540 . The NFC circuitry  540  is configured to provide contactless, short-range communications based on radio frequency identification (RFID) standards, in which magnetic field induction is used to enable communication between NFC circuitry  540  and NFC-enabled devices external to the platform  500  (e.g., an “NFC touchpoint”). The NFC circuitry  540  includes an NFC controller coupled with an antenna element and a processor coupled with the NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip or IC providing NFC functionalities to the NFC circuitry  540  by executing NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to emit short-range RF signals. The RF signals may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transmit stored data to the NFC circuitry  540 , or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuitry  540  and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) that is proximate to the platform  500 . 
     The driver circuitry  546  may include software and hardware elements that operate to control particular devices that are embedded in the platform  500 , attached to the platform  500 , or otherwise communicatively coupled with the platform  500 . The driver circuitry  546  may include individual drivers allowing other components of the platform  500  to interact with or control various input/output (I/O) devices that may be present within, or connected to, the platform  500 . For example, the driver circuitry  546  may include a display driver to control and allow access to a display device, a touchscreen driver to control and allow access to a touchscreen interface of the platform  500 , sensor drivers to obtain sensor readings of sensor circuitry  521  and control and allow access to sensor circuitry  521 , EMC drivers to obtain actuator positions of the EMCs  522  or control and allow access to the EMCs  522 , a camera driver to control and allow access to an embedded image capture device, audio drivers to control and allow access to one or more audio devices. 
     The power management integrated circuitry (PMIC)  525  (also referred to as “power management circuitry  525 ”) may manage power provided to various components of the platform  500 . In particular, with respect to the baseband circuitry  510 , the PMIC  525  may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMIC  525  may be included when the platform  500  is capable of being powered by a battery  530 , for example, when the device is included in a UE  101 ,  201 ,  301 . 
     In some examples, the PMIC  525  may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the platform  500 . For example, if the platform  500  is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the platform  500  may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the platform  500  may transition off to an RRC Idle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback or handover. This can allow the platform  500  to enter a very low power state, where it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. In some examples, the platform  500  may not receive data in the RRC Idle state and instead must transition back to RRC_Connected state to receive data. An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device may be unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time may incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable. 
     A battery  530  may power the platform  500 , although in some examples the platform  500  may be deployed in a fixed location, and may have a power supply coupled to an electrical grid. The battery  530  may be a lithium ion battery, a metal-air battery, such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, or a lithium-air battery, among others. In some examples, such as in V2X applications, the battery  530  may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery. 
     In some examples, the battery  530  may be a “smart battery,” which includes or is coupled with a Battery Management System (BMS) or battery monitoring integrated circuitry. The BMS may be included in the platform  500  to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery  530 . The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery  530  to provide failure predictions, such as the state of health (SoH) and the state of function (SoF) of the battery  530 . The BMS may communicate the information of the battery  530  to the application circuitry  505  or other components of the platform  500 . The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) convertor that allows the application circuitry  505  to directly monitor the voltage of the battery  530  or the current flow from the battery  530 . The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform  500  may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, or sensing frequency, among others. 
     A power block, or other power supply coupled to an electrical grid may be coupled with the BMS to charge the battery  530 . In some examples, the power block  530  may be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain the power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the computer platform  500 . In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit may be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuits chosen may depend on the size of the battery  530 , and thus, the current required. The charging may be performed using the Airfuel standard promulgated by the Airfuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard promulgated by the Wireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence charging standard promulgated by the Alliance for Wireless Power, among others. 
     The user interface circuitry  550  includes various input/output (I/O) devices present within, or connected to, the platform  500 , and includes one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the platform  500  or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the platform  500 . The user interface circuitry  550  includes input device circuitry and output device circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for accepting an input including one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, keypad, mouse, touchpad, touchscreen, microphones, scanner, or headset, or combinations of them, among others. The output device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for showing information or otherwise conveying information, such as sensor readings, actuator position(s), or other information. Output device circuitry may include any number or combinations of audio or visual display, including one or more simple visual outputs or indicators (e.g., binary status indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs such as display devices or touchscreens (e.g., Liquid Chrystal Displays (LCD), LED displays, quantum dot displays, or projectors), with the output of characters, graphics, or multimedia objects being generated or produced from the operation of the platform  500 . The output device circuitry may also include speakers or other audio emitting devices, or printer(s). In some examples, the sensor circuitry  521  may be used as the input device circuitry (e.g., an image capture device or motion capture device), and one or more EMCs may be used as the output device circuitry (e.g., an actuator to provide haptic feedback). In another example, NFC circuitry comprising an NFC controller coupled with an antenna element and a processing device may be included to read electronic tags or connect with another NFC-enabled device. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, or a power supply interface. 
     Although not shown, the components of platform  500  may communicate with one another using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, which may include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCIe, a Time-Trigger Protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or any number of other technologies. The bus or IX may be a proprietary bus or IX, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus or IX systems may be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, point-to-point interfaces, and a power bus, among others. 
     FIG. XT illustrates example components of baseband circuitry  610  and radio front end modules (RFEM)  615 . The baseband circuitry  610  can correspond to the baseband circuitry  410  and  510  of  FIGS.  4  and  5   , respectively. The RFEM  615  can correspond to the RFEM  415  and  515  of  FIGS.  4  and  5   , respectively. As shown, the RFEMs  615  may include Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry  606 , front-end module (FEM) circuitry  608 , antenna array  611  coupled together. 
     The baseband circuitry  610  includes circuitry or control logic, or both, configured to carry out various radio or network protocol and control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks using the RF circuitry  606 . The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation and demodulation, encoding and decoding, and radio frequency shifting. In some examples, modulation and demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry  610  may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping and demapping functionality. In some examples, encoding and decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry  610  may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder and decoder functionality. Modulation and demodulation and encoder and decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other examples. The baseband circuitry  610  is configured to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry  606  and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry  606 . The baseband circuitry  610  is configured to interface with application circuitry (e.g., the application circuitry  405 ,  505  shown in  FIGS.  4  and  5   ) for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry  606 . The baseband circuitry  610  may handle various radio control functions. 
     The aforementioned circuitry and control logic of the baseband circuitry  610  may include one or more single or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor  604 A, a 4G or LTE baseband processor  604 B, a 5G or NR baseband processor  604 C, or some other baseband processor(s)  604 D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., sixth generation (6G)). In some examples, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors  604 A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory  604 G and executed using a Central Processing Unit (CPU)  604 E. In some examples, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors  604 A-D may be provided as hardware accelerators (e.g., FPGAs or ASICs) loaded with the appropriate bit streams or logic blocks stored in respective memory cells. In some examples, the memory  604 G may store program code of a real-time OS (RTOS) which, when executed by the CPU  604 E (or other baseband processor), is to cause the CPU  604 E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources of the baseband circuitry  610 , schedule tasks, or carry out other operations. Examples of the RTOS may include Operating System Embedded (OSE)™ provided by Enea®, Nucleus RTOS™ provided by Mentor Graphics®, Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Mentor Graphics®, ThreadX™ provided by Express Logic®, FreeRTOS, REX OS provided by Qualcomm®, OKL4 provided by Open Kernel (OK) Labs®, or any other suitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein. In addition, the baseband circuitry  610  includes one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP)  604 F. The audio DSP(s)  604 F include elements for compression and decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in some examples. 
     In some examples, each of the processors  604 A- 604 E include respective memory interfaces to send and receive data to and from the memory  604 G. The baseband circuitry  610  may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries or devices, such as an interface to send and receive data to and from memory external to the baseband circuitry  610 ; an application circuitry interface to send and receive data to and from the application circuitry  405 ,  505  of  FIG.  4    and XT); an RF circuitry interface to send and receive data to and from RF circuitry  606  of FIG. XT; a wireless hardware connectivity interface to send and receive data to and from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth®/Bluetooth® Low Energy components, Wi-Fi® components, and/or the like); and a power management interface to send and receive power or control signals to and from the PMIC  525 . 
     In some examples (which may be combined with the above described examples), the baseband circuitry  610  includes one or more digital baseband systems, which are coupled with one another using an interconnect subsystem and to a CPU subsystem, an audio subsystem, and an interface subsystem. The digital baseband subsystems may also be coupled to a digital baseband interface and a mixed-signal baseband subsystem using another interconnect subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems may include a bus system, point-to-point connections, network-on-chip (NOC) structures, or some other suitable bus or interconnect technology, such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include DSP circuitry, buffer memory, program memory, speech processing accelerator circuitry, data converter circuitry such as analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converter circuitry, analog circuitry including one or more of amplifiers and filters, among other components. In some examples, the baseband circuitry  610  may include protocol processing circuitry with one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the digital baseband circuitry or radio frequency circuitry (e.g., the radio front end modules  615 ). 
     Although not shown in FIG. XT, in some examples, the baseband circuitry  610  includes individual processing device(s) to operate one or more wireless communication protocols (e.g., a “multi-protocol baseband processor” or “protocol processing circuitry”) and individual processing device(s) to implement PHY layer functions. In some examples, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In some examples, the protocol processing circuitry operates or implements various protocol layers or entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. For example, the protocol processing circuitry may operate LTE protocol entities or 5G NR protocol entities, or both, when the baseband circuitry  610  or RF circuitry  606 , or both, are part of mmWave communication circuitry or some other suitable cellular communication circuitry. In this example, the protocol processing circuitry can operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In some examples, the protocol processing circuitry may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols when the baseband circuitry  610  or RF circuitry  606 , or both, are part of a Wi-Fi communication system. In this example, the protocol processing circuitry can operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuitry may include one or more memory structures (e.g.,  604 G) to store program code and data for operating the protocol functions, as well as one or more processing cores to execute the program code and perform various operations using the data. The baseband circuitry  610  may also support radio communications for more than one wireless protocol. 
     The various hardware elements of the baseband circuitry  610  discussed herein may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged IC soldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing two or more ICs. In some examples, the components of the baseband circuitry  610  may be suitably combined in a single chip or chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board. In some examples, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry  610  and RF circuitry  606  may be implemented together such as, for example, a system on a chip (SoC) or System-in-Package (SiP). In some examples, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry  610  may be implemented as a separate SoC that is communicatively coupled with and RF circuitry  606  (or multiple instances of RF circuitry  606 ). In some examples, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry  610  and the application circuitry  405 ,  505  may be implemented together as individual SoCs mounted to a same circuit board (e.g., a “multi-chip package”). 
     In some examples, the baseband circuitry  610  may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, the baseband circuitry  610  may support communication with an E-UTRAN or other WMAN, a WLAN, or a WPAN. Examples in which the baseband circuitry  610  is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry. 
     The RF circuitry  606  may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In some examples, the RF circuitry  606  may include switches, filters, or amplifiers, among other components, to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. The RF circuitry  606  may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry  608  and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry  610 . The RF circuitry  606  may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry  610  and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry  608  for transmission. 
     The receive signal path of the RF circuitry  606  includes mixer circuitry  606   a , amplifier circuitry  606   b  and filter circuitry  606   c . In some examples, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry  606  may include filter circuitry  606   c  and mixer circuitry  606   a . The RF circuitry  606  also includes synthesizer circuitry  606   d  for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry  606   a  of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some examples, the mixer circuitry  606   a  of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry  608  based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry  606   d . The amplifier circuitry  606   b  may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry  606   c  may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry  610  for further processing. In some examples, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some examples, the mixer circuitry  606   a  of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers. 
     In some examples, the mixer circuitry  606   a  of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry  606   d  to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry  608 . The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry  610  and may be filtered by filter circuitry  606   c.    
     In some examples, the mixer circuitry  606   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  606   a  of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some examples, the mixer circuitry  606   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  606   a  of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some examples, the mixer circuitry  606   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  606   a  of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some examples, the mixer circuitry  606   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  606   a  of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation. 
     In some examples, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals. In some examples, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals, and the RF circuitry  606  may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry  610  may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry  606 . 
     In some dual-mode examples, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the techniques described here are not limited in this respect. 
     In some examples, the synthesizer circuitry  606   d  may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although other types of frequency synthesizers may used. For example, synthesizer circuitry  606   d  may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. 
     The synthesizer circuitry  606   d  may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry  606   a  of the RF circuitry  606  based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some examples, the synthesizer circuitry  606   d  may be a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer. 
     In some examples, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry  610  or the application circuitry  405 / 505  depending on the desired output frequency. In some examples, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the application circuitry  405 ,  505 . 
     The synthesizer circuitry  606   d  of the RF circuitry  606  may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some examples, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some examples, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some examples, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. The delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle. 
     In some examples, synthesizer circuitry  606   d  may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other examples, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some examples, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some examples, the RF circuitry  606  may include an IQ or polar converter. 
     The FEM circuitry  608  may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antenna array  611 , amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry  606  for further processing. The FEM circuitry  608  may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry  606  for transmission by one or more of antenna elements of antenna array  611 . The amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry  606 , solely in the FEM circuitry  608 , or in both the RF circuitry  606  and the FEM circuitry  608 . 
     In some examples, the FEM circuitry  608  may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry  608  may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry  608  may include an LNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry  606 ). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry  608  may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry  606 ), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array  611 . 
     The antenna array  611  comprises one or more antenna elements, each of which is configured convert electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and to convert received radio waves into electrical signals. For example, digital baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry  610  is converted into analog RF signals (e.g., modulated waveform) that will be amplified and transmitted using the antenna elements of the antenna array  611  including one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formed in a multitude of arranges as are known and/or discussed herein. The antenna array  611  may comprise microstrip antennas or printed antennas that are fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. The antenna array  611  may be formed as a patch of metal foil (e.g., a patch antenna) in a variety of shapes, and may be coupled with the RF circuitry  606  and/or FEM circuitry  608  using metal transmission lines or the like. 
     Processors of the application circuitry  405 / 505  and processors of the baseband circuitry  610  may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the baseband circuitry  610 , alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the application circuitry  405 ,  505  may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., TCP and UDP layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a RRC layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 may comprise a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a PHY layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below. 
       FIG.  7    illustrates example components of communication circuitry  700 . In some examples, the communication circuitry  700  may be implemented as part of the system  400  or the platform  500  shown in  FIGS.  4  and  5   . The communication circuitry  700  may be communicatively coupled (e.g., directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antennas  702   a - c . In some examples, the communication circuitry  700  includes or is communicatively coupled to dedicated receive chains, processors, or radios, or combinations of them, 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.  7   , the communication circuitry  700  includes a modem  710  and a modem  720 , which may correspond to or be a part of the baseband circuitry  410  and  510  of  FIGS.  4  and  5   . The modem  710  may be configured for communications according to a first RAT, such as LTE or LTE-A, and the modem  720  may be configured for communications according to a second RAT, such as 5G NR. 
     The modem  710  includes one or more processors  712  and a memory  716  in communication with the processors  712 . The modem  710  is in communication with a radio frequency (RF) front end  730 , which may correspond to or be a part of to the RFEM  415  and  515  of  FIGS.  4  and  5   . The RF front end  730  may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, the RF front end  730  includes receive circuitry (RX)  732  and transmit circuitry (TX)  734 . In some examples, the receive circuitry  732  is in communication with a DL front end  750 , which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals from the antenna  702   a . A switch  770  may selectively couple the modem  710  to an UL front end  772 , which may include circuitry for transmitting radio signals using the antenna  702   c.    
     Similarly, the modem  720  includes one or more processors  722  and a memory  726  in communication with the processors  722 . The modem  720  is in communication with an RF front end  740 , which may correspond to or be a part of to the RFEM  415  and  515  of  FIGS.  4  and  5   . The RF front end  740  may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, the RF front end  740  includes receive circuitry  742  and transmit circuitry  744 . In some examples, the receive circuitry  742  is in communication with a DL front end  760 , which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals from the antenna  702   b . The switch  770  may selectively couple the modem  720  to the UL front end  772  for transmitting radio signals using the antenna  702   c.    
     The modem  710  may include hardware and software components for time division multiplexing UL data (e.g., for NSA NR operations), as well as the various other techniques described herein. The processors  712  may include one or more processing elements configured to implement various features described herein, such as by executing program instructions stored on the memory  716  (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). In some examples, the processor  712  may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as a FPGA or an ASIC. In some examples, the processors  712  may include one or more ICs that are configured to perform the functions of processors  712 . For example, each IC may include circuitry configured to perform the functions of processors  712 . 
     The modem  720  may include hardware and software components for time division multiplexing UL data (e.g., for NSA NR operations), as well as the various other techniques described herein. The processors  722  may include one or more processing elements configured to implement various features described herein, such as by executing instructions stored on the memory  726  (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). In some examples, the processor  722  may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as a FPGA or an ASIC. In some examples, the processor  722  may include one or more ICs that are configured to perform the functions of processors  722 . For example, each IC may include circuitry configured to perform the functions of processors  522 . 
       FIG.  8    illustrates various protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device. In particular,  FIG.  8    includes an arrangement  800  showing interconnections between various protocol layers/entities. The following description of  FIG.  8    is provided for various protocol layers and entities that operate in conjunction with the 5G NR system standards and the LTE system standards, but some or all of the aspects of  FIG.  8    may be applicable to other wireless communication network systems as well. 
     The protocol layers of arrangement  800  may include one or more of PHY  810 , MAC  820 , RLC  830 , PDCP  840 , SDAP  847 , RRC  855 , and NAS layer  857 , in addition to other higher layer functions not illustrated. The protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., items  859 ,  856 ,  850 ,  849 ,  845 ,  835 ,  825 , and  815  in  FIG.  8   ) that may provide communication between two or more protocol layers. 
     The PHY  810  may transmit and receive physical layer signals  805  that may be received from or transmitted to one or more other communication devices. The physical layer signals  805  may include one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. The PHY  810  may further perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers, such as the RRC  855 . The PHY  810  may still further perform error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding and decoding of the transport channels, modulation and demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. In some examples, an instance of PHY  810  may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of MAC  820  using one or more PHY-SAP  815 . In some examples, requests and indications communicated using PHY-SAP  815  may comprise one or more transport channels. 
     Instance(s) of MAC  820  may process requests from, and provide indications to, an instance of RLC  830  using one or more MAC-SAPs  825 . These requests and indications communicated using the MAC-SAP  825  may include one or more logical channels. The MAC  820  may perform mapping between the logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto transport blocks (TBs) to be delivered to PHY  810  using the transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or more logical channels from TBs delivered from the PHY  810  using transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, and logical channel prioritization. 
     Instance(s) of RLC  830  may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of PDCP  840  using one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAP)  835 . These requests and indications communicated using RLC-SAP  835  may include one or more RLC channels. The RLC  830  may operate in a plurality of modes of operation, including: Transparent Mode™, Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC  830  may execute transfer of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transfers, and concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers. The RLC  830  may also execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, and perform RLC re-establishment. 
     Instance(s) of PDCP  840  may process requests from and provide indications to instance(s) of RRC  855  or instance(s) of SDAP  847 , or both, using one or more packet data convergence protocol service access points (PDCP-SAP)  845 . These requests and indications communicated using PDCP-SAP  845  may include one or more radio bearers. The PDCP  840  may execute header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP Sequence Numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs at re-establishment of lower layers, eliminate duplicates of lower layer SDUs at re-establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-based discard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, or integrity verification). 
     Instance(s) of SDAP  847  may process requests from and provide indications to one or more higher layer protocol entities using one or more SDAP-SAP  849 . These requests and indications communicated using SDAP-SAP  849  may include one or more QoS flows. The SDAP  847  may map QoS flows to data radio bearers (DRBs), and vice versa, and may also mark QoS flow identifiers (QFIs) in DL and UL packets. A single SDAP entity  847  may be configured for an individual PDU session. In the UL direction, the NG-RAN  110  may control the mapping of QoS Flows to DRB(s) in two different ways, reflective mapping or explicit mapping. For reflective mapping, the SDAP  847  of a UE  101  may monitor the QFIs of the DL packets for each DRB, and may apply the same mapping for packets flowing in the UL direction. For a DRB, the SDAP  847  of the UE  101  may map the UL packets belonging to the QoS flows(s) corresponding to the QoS flow ID(s) and PDU session observed in the DL packets for that DRB. To enable reflective mapping, the NG-RAN  310  may mark DL packets over the Uu interface with a QoS flow ID. The explicit mapping may involve the RRC  855  configuring the SDAP  847  with an explicit QoS flow to DRB mapping rule, which may be stored and followed by the SDAP  847 . In some examples, the SDAP  847  may only be used in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations. 
     The RRC  855  may configure, using one or more management service access points (M-SAP), aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of PHY  810 , MAC  820 , RLC  830 , PDCP  840  and SDAP  847 . In some examples, an instance of RRC  855  may process requests from and provide indications to one or more NAS entities  857  using one or more RRC-SAPs  856 . The main services and functions of the RRC  855  may include broadcast of system information (e.g., included in master information blocks (MIBs) or system information blocks (SIBs) related to the NAS), broadcast of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE  101  and RAN  110  (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of point to point Radio Bearers, security functions including key management, inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. The MIBs and SIBs may comprise one or more information elements, which may each comprise individual data fields or data structures. 
     The NAS  857  may form the highest stratum of the control plane between the UE  101  and the AMF  321 . The NAS  857  may support the mobility of the UEs  101  and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE  101  and a P-GW in LTE systems. 
     In some examples, one or more protocol entities of arrangement  800  may be implemented in UEs  101 , RAN nodes  111 , AMF  321  in NR implementations or MME  221  in LTE implementations, UPF  302  in NR implementations or S-GW  222  and P-GW  223  in LTE implementations, or the like to be used for control plane or user plane communications protocol stack between the aforementioned devices. In some examples, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE  101 , gNB  111 , AMF  321 , among others, may communicate with a respective peer protocol entity that may be implemented in or on another device using the services of respective lower layer protocol entities to perform such communication. In some examples, a gNB-CU of the gNB  111  may host the RRC  855 , SDAP  847 , and PDCP  840  of the gNB that controls the operation of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of the gNB  111  may each host the RLC  830 , MAC  820 , and PHY  810  of the gNB  111 . 
     In some examples, a control plane protocol stack may include, in order from highest layer to lowest layer, NAS  857 , RRC  855 , PDCP  840 , RLC  830 , MAC  820 , and PHY  810 . In this example, upper layers  860  may be built on top of the NAS  857 , which includes an IP layer  861 , an SCTP  862 , and an application layer signaling protocol (AP)  863 . 
     In some examples, such as NR implementations, the AP  863  may be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP)  863  for the NG interface  113  defined between the NG-RAN node  111  and the AMF  321 , or the AP  863  may be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP)  863  for the Xn interface  112  that is defined between two or more RAN nodes  111 . 
     The NG-AP  863  may support the functions of the NG interface  113  and may comprise elementary procedures (EPs). An NG-AP EP may be a unit of interaction between the NG-RAN node  111  and the AMF  321 . The NG-AP  863  services may include two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to a UE  101 ) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the whole NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node  111  and AMF  321 ). These services may include functions such as, but not limited to: a paging function for the sending of paging requests to NG-RAN nodes  111  involved in a particular paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF  321  to establish, modify, or release a UE context in the AMF  321  and the NG-RAN node  111 ; a mobility function for UEs  101  in ECM-CONNECTED mode for intra-system HOs to support mobility within NG-RAN and inter-system HOs to support mobility from/to EPS systems; a NAS Signaling Transport function for transporting or rerouting NAS messages between UE  101  and AMF  321 ; a NAS node selection function for determining an association between the AMF  321  and the UE  101 ; NG interface management function(s) for setting up the NG interface and monitoring for errors over the NG interface; a warning message transmission function for providing means to transfer warning messages using NG interface or cancel ongoing broadcast of warning messages; a configuration transfer function for requesting and transferring of RAN configuration information (e.g., SON information or performance measurement (PM) data) between two RAN nodes  111  using CN  120 , or combinations of them, among others. 
     The XnAP  863  may support the functions of the Xn interface  112  and may comprise XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. The XnAP basic mobility procedures may comprise procedures used to handle UE mobility within the NG RAN  111  (or E-UTRAN  210 ), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, or dual connectivity related procedures, among others. The XnAP global procedures may comprise procedures that are not related to a specific UE  101 , such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, or cell activation procedures, among others. 
     In LTE implementations, the AP  863  may be an S1 Application Protocol layer (S1-AP)  863  for the S1 interface  113  defined between an E-UTRAN node  111  and an MME, or the AP  863  may be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP)  863  for the X2 interface  112  that is defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes  111 . 
     The S1 Application Protocol layer (S1-AP)  863  may support the functions of the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, the S1-AP may include S1-AP EPs. An S1-AP EP may be a unit of interaction between the E-UTRAN node  111  and an MME  221  within an LTE CN  120 . The S1-AP  863  services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services and non UE-associated services. These services perform functions including, but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer. 
     The X2AP  863  may support the functions of the X2 interface  112  and may include X2AP basic mobility procedures and X2AP global procedures. The X2AP basic mobility procedures may include procedures used to handle UE mobility within the E-UTRAN  120 , such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, or dual connectivity related procedures, among others. The X2AP global procedures may comprise procedures that are not related to a specific UE  101 , such as X2 interface setup and reset procedures, load indication procedures, error indication procedures, or cell activation procedures, among others. 
     The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP/IP layer)  862  may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP or XnAP messages in NR implementations, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in LTE implementations). The SCTP  862  may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node  111  and the AMF  321 /MME  221  based in part on the IP protocol, supported by the IP  861 . The Internet Protocol layer (IP)  861  may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functionality. In some implementations the IP layer  861  may use point-to-point transmission to deliver and convey PDUs. In this regard, the RAN node  111  may include L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME/AMF to exchange information. 
     In some examples, a user plane protocol stack may include, in order from highest layer to lowest layer, SDAP  847 , PDCP  840 , RLC  830 , MAC  820 , and PHY  810 . The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between the UE  101 , the RAN node  111 , and UPF  302  in NR implementations or an S-GW  222  and P-GW  223  in LTE implementations. In this example, upper layers  851  may be built on top of the SDAP  847 , and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP/IP)  852 , a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol for the user plane layer (GTP-U)  853 , and a User Plane PDU layer (UP PDU)  863 . 
     The transport network layer  854  (also referred to as a “transport layer”) may be built on IP transport, and the GTP-U  853  may be used on top of the UDP/IP layer  852  (comprising a UDP layer and IP layer) to carry user plane PDUs (UP-PDUs). The IP layer (also referred to as the “Internet layer”) may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functionality. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example. 
     The GTP-U  853  may be used for carrying user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. The user data transported can be packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example. The UDP/IP  852  may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication on the selected data flows. The RAN node  111  and the S-GW  222  may utilize an S1-U interface to exchange user plane data using a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer (e.g., PHY  810 ), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC  820 , RLC  830 , PDCP  840 , and/or SDAP  847 ), the UDP/IP layer  852 , and the GTP-U  853 . The S-GW  222  and the P-GW  223  may utilize an S5/S8a interface to exchange user plane data using a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer, an L2 layer, the UDP/IP layer  852 , and the GTP-U  853 . As discussed previously, NAS protocols may support the mobility of the UE  101  and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE  101  and the P-GW  223 . 
     Moreover, although not shown by  FIG.  8   , an application layer may be present above the AP  863  and/or the transport network layer  854 . The application layer may be a layer in which a user of the UE  101 , RAN node  111 , or other network element interacts with software applications being executed, for example, by application circuitry  405  or application circuitry  505 , respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for software applications to interact with communications systems of the UE  101  or RAN node  111 , such as the baseband circuitry  610 . In some examples, the IP layer or the application layer, or both, may provide the same or similar functionality as layers 5-7, or portions thereof, of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model (e.g., OSI Layer 7—the application layer, OSI Layer 6—the presentation layer, and OSI Layer 5—the session layer). 
       FIG.  9    illustrates components of a core network  220 . The components of the CN  220  may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes and may include components to read and execute instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some examples, the components of CN  320  may be implemented in a same or similar manner as discussed herein with regard to the components of CN  220 . In some examples, NFV is utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-described network node functions using executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage mediums, as described in further detail below. A logical instantiation of the CN  220  may be referred to as a network slice  901 , and individual logical instantiations of the CN  220  may provide specific network capabilities and network characteristics. A logical instantiation of a portion of the CN  220  may be referred to as a network sub-slice  902  (e.g., the network sub-slice  902  is shown to include the P-GW  223  and the PCRF  226 ). 
     As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. A network instance may refer to information identifying a domain, which may be used for traffic detection and routing in case of different IP domains or overlapping IP addresses. A network slice instance may refer to a set of network functions (NFs) instances and the resources (e.g., compute, storage, and networking resources) required to deploy the network slice. 
     With respect to 5G systems (see, e.g.,  FIG.  3   ), a network slice may include a RAN part and a CN part. The support of network slicing relies on the principle that traffic for different slices is handled by different PDU sessions. The network can realize the different network slices by scheduling or by providing different L1/L2 configurations, or both. The UE  301  provides assistance information for network slice selection in an appropriate RRC message if it has been provided by NAS. While the network can support large number of slices, the UE need not support more than 8 slices simultaneously in some examples. 
     A network slice may include the CN  320  control plane and user plane NFs, NG-RANs  310  in a serving PLMN, and a N3IWF functions in the serving PLMN. Individual network slices may have different S-NSSAI or different SSTs, or both. NSSAI includes one or more S-NSSAIs, and each network slice is uniquely identified by an S-NSSAI. Network slices may differ for supported features and network functions optimizations. In some examples, multiple network slice instances may deliver the same services or features but for different groups of UEs  301  (e.g., enterprise users). For example, individual network slices may deliver different committed service(s) or may be dedicated to a particular customer or enterprise, or both. In this example, each network slice may have different S-NSSAIs with the same SST but with different slice differentiators. Additionally, a single UE may be served with one or more network slice instances simultaneously using a 5G AN, and the UE may be associated with eight different S-NSSAIs. Moreover, an AMF  321  instance serving an individual UE  301  may belong to each of the network slice instances serving that UE. 
     Network slicing in the NG-RAN  310  involves RAN slice awareness. RAN slice awareness includes differentiated handling of traffic for different network slices, which have been pre-configured. Slice awareness in the NG-RAN  310  is introduced at the PDU session level by indicating the S-NSSAI corresponding to a PDU session in all signaling that includes PDU session resource information. How the NG-RAN  310  supports the slice enabling in terms of NG-RAN functions (e.g., the set of network functions that comprise each slice) is implementation dependent. The NG-RAN  310  selects the RAN part of the network slice using assistance information provided by the UE  301  or the 5GC  320 , which unambiguously identifies one or more of the pre-configured network slices in the PLMN. The NG-RAN  310  also supports resource management and policy enforcement between slices as per SLAs. A single NG-RAN node may support multiple slices, and the NG-RAN  310  may also apply an appropriate RRM policy for the SLA in place to each supported slice. The NG-RAN  310  may also support QoS differentiation within a slice. 
     The NG-RAN  310  may also use the UE assistance information for the selection of an AMF  321  during an initial attach, if available. The NG-RAN  310  uses the assistance information for routing the initial NAS to an AMF  321 . If the NG-RAN  310  is unable to select an AMF  321  using the assistance information, or the UE  301  does not provide any such information, the NG-RAN  310  sends the NAS signaling to a default AMF  321 , which may be among a pool of AMFs  321 . For subsequent accesses, the UE  301  provides a temp ID, which is assigned to the UE  301  by the 5GC  320 , to enable the NG-RAN  310  to route the NAS message to the appropriate AMF  321  as long as the temp ID is valid. The NG-RAN  310  is aware of, and can reach, the AMF  321  that is associated with the temp ID. Otherwise, the method for initial attach applies. 
     The NG-RAN  310  supports resource isolation between slices. NG-RAN  310  resource isolation may be achieved by means of RRM policies and protection mechanisms that should avoid that shortage of shared resources if one slice breaks the service level agreement for another slice. In some examples, it is possible to fully dedicate NG-RAN  310  resources to a certain slice. How NG-RAN  310  supports resource isolation is implementation dependent. 
     Some slices may be available only in part of the network. Awareness in the NG-RAN  310  of the slices supported in the cells of its neighbors may be beneficial for inter-frequency mobility in connected mode. The slice availability may not change within the UE&#39;s registration area. The NG-RAN  310  and the 5GC  320  are responsible to handle a service request for a slice that may or may not be available in a given area. Admission or rejection of access to a slice may depend on factors such as support for the slice, availability of resources, support of the requested service by NG-RAN  310 . 
     The UE  301  may be associated with multiple network slices simultaneously. In case the UE  301  is associated with multiple slices simultaneously, only one signaling connection is maintained, and for intra-frequency cell reselection, the UE  301  tries to camp on the best cell. For inter-frequency cell reselection, dedicated priorities can be used to control the frequency on which the UE  301  camps. The 5GC  320  is to validate that the UE  301  has the rights to access a network slice. Prior to receiving an Initial Context Setup Request message, the NG-RAN  310  may be allowed to apply some provisional or local policies based on awareness of a particular slice that the UE  301  is requesting to access. During the initial context setup, the NG-RAN  310  is informed of the slice for which resources are being requested. 
     NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more NFs, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used to execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC components and functions. 
       FIG.  10    is a block diagram illustrating components of a system  1000  to support NFV. The system  1000  is illustrated as including a virtualized infrastructure manager (VIM)  1002 , a network function virtualization infrastructure (NFVI)  1004 , a virtualized network function manager (VNFM)  1006 , virtualized network functions (VNFs)  1008 , an element manager (EM)  1010 , a network function virtualization orchestrator (NFVO)  1012 , and a network manager (NM)  1014 . 
     The VIM  1002  manages the resources of the NFVI  1004 . The NFVI  1004  can include physical or virtual resources and applications (including hypervisors) used to execute the system  1000 . The VIM  1002  may manage the life cycle of virtual resources with the NFVI  1004  (e.g., creation, maintenance, and tear down of VMs associated with one or more physical resources), track VM instances, track performance, fault and security of VM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instances and associated physical resources to other management systems. 
     The VNFM  1006  may manage the VNFs  1008 . The VNFs  1008  may be used to execute, for example, EPC components and functions. The VNFM  1006  may manage the life cycle of the VNFs  1008  and track performance, fault and security of the virtual aspects of VNFs  1008 . The EM  1010  may track the performance, fault and security of the functional aspects of VNFs  1008 . The tracking data from the VNFM  1006  and the EM  1010  may comprise, for example, PM data used by the VIM  1002  or the NFVI  1004 . Both the VNFM  1006  and the EM  1010  can scale up or down the quantity of VNFs of the system  1000 . 
     The NFVO  1012  may coordinate, authorize, release and engage resources of the NFVI  1004  in order to provide the requested service (e.g., to execute an EPC function, component, or slice). The NM  1014  may provide a package of end-user functions with the responsibility for the management of a network, which may include network elements with VNFs, non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of the VNFs may occur using the EM  1010 ). 
       FIG.  11    is a block diagram illustrating components for reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the techniques described herein. Specifically,  FIG.  11    shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources  1100  including one or more processors (or processor cores)  1110 , one or more memory or storage devices  1120 , and one or more communication resources  1130 , each of which may be communicatively coupled using a bus  1140 . For implementations where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor  1102  may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices or sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources  1100 . 
     The processors  1110  may include a processor  1112  and a processor  1114 . The processor(s)  1110  may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof. 
     The memory/storage devices  1120  may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices  1120  may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile or nonvolatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, or solid-state storage, or combinations of them, among others. 
     The communication resources  1130  may include interconnection or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices  1104  or one or more databases  1106  using a network  1108 . For example, the communication resources  1130  may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling using USB), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components. 
     Instructions  1150  may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors  1110  to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions  1150  may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors  1110  (e.g., within the processor&#39;s cache memory), the memory/storage devices  1120 , or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions  1150  may be transferred to the hardware resources  1100  from any combination of the peripheral devices  1104  or the databases  1106 . Accordingly, the memory of processors  1110 , the memory/storage devices  1120 , the peripheral devices  1104 , and the databases  1106  are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media. 
     In some implementations, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more elements of the method  1200  discussed later with reference to  FIGS.  12 - 13   . In some implementations, the baseband circuitry as described previously in connection with one or more of the preceding figures is configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the methods discussed later with reference to  FIGS.  12 - 13   . In some implementations, circuitry associated with one or more of a UE, base station, network element, and so forth, as described previously in connection with one or more of the preceding figures can be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the methods described in relation to  FIGS.  12 - 13   . 
       FIG.  12    illustrates an example method  1200  for supporting multiple configured grants. The method  1200  includes: communicating, or causing to communicate, information using a signaling protocol that includes one or more parameters (block  1202 ) and configuring, or causing to configure, multiple UL CGs or multiple SPS assignments for a UE based, at least in part, on the one or more parameters (block  1204 ). In some implementations, the method  1200  is performed by a gNB. 
     At block  1202 , the gNB communicates or causes to communicate information using a modified RRC signaling protocol, a modified MAC signaling protocol, or a modified DCI signaling protocol. In some implementations, the signaling protocol includes one or more parameters. 
     At block  1204 , the gNB configures or causes to configure multiple UL CGs or multiple DL SPS assignments for a UE based, at least in part, on the one or more parameters. 
     In some implementations, new information element (IE) fields “SPSConfig-Index” and “CG-Index” are included in the respective RRC, MAC control element (CE), and DCI signaling to identify the particular DL SPS or UL CG configuration on which the signaling applies. 
     In some implementations, the UL CG configuration information element “ConfiguredGrantConfig” in TS 38.331 is enhanced enhanced to include new parameters, “CG-index” and “HARQProcessIDOffset” as follows, so that multiple UL CGs can be configured for a UE in a BWP and the HARQ process ID space of each CG can start with a configured offset: 
                                ConfiguredGrantConfig ::=  SEQUENCE {         ......         &lt;all existing information elements&gt;         CG-Index  INTEGER (0..maxNrofCGsPerBWP-1) OPTIONAL, -- Need R         HARQProcessIDOffset INTEGER (0..15) OPTIONAL, -- Need R        ...       }                    
where:
 
     1. CG-Index: defines the index of the CG configured in the current BWP, and parameter maxNrofCGsPerBWP denotes the maximum number of CGs which can be configured in a UL BWP, e.g., 16. 
     2. HARQProcessIDOffset: defines the offset of HARQ process IDs used for determination of HARQ process IDs of each CG occasion starting from CURRENT_symbol as follows:
 
HARQ Process ID=[floor(CURRENT_symbol/periodicity)] modulo nrofHARQ Processes+HARQProcessIDOffset
         where:
           CURRENT_symbol=(system frame number (SFN)×numberOfSlotsPerFrame×numberOfSymbolsPerSlot+slot number in the frame×numberOfSymbolsPerSlot+symbol number in the slot); and   numberOfSlotsPerFrame and numberOfSymbolsPerSlot refer to the number of consecutive slots per frame and the number of consecutive symbols per slot, respectively, as specified in 3GPP TS 38.211.   
               

     In some implementations, the DL SPS configuration information element SPS Config in TS 38.331 is enhanced to include new parameters “SPSConfig-index” and “HARQProcessIDOffset” as follows so that multiple SPS configurations can be configured for a UE in a BWP and the HARQ process ID space of each SPS configuration can start with a configured offset: 
                                    SPS-Config ::=   SEQUENCE {                   ......         &lt;all existing information elements&gt;         SPSConfig-Index  INTEGER (0..maxNrofSPSConfigsPerBWP-1) OPTIONAL, -- Need R                       HARQProcessIDOffset   INTEGER (0..15) OPTIONAL, -- Need R                  ...       }                    
where:
         1. SPSConfig-Index: defines the index of the SPS configuration (SPS-Config) configured in the current BWP, and parameter maxNrofSPSConfigsPerBWP denotes the maximum number of SPS-Configs which can be configured in a DL BWP, e.g., 16; and   2. HARQProcessIDOffset: defines the offset of HARQ process IDs used for determination of HARQ process IDs of each SPS-Config occasion starting from CURRENT_symbol as (1).       

     In some implementations, new DCI fields “SPSConfig-Index” and “CG-Index” of 4 bits are added to the existing DL and UL DCI formats 1_0 (1) and 0_0 (1), respectively, so that a particular DL SPS-Config or UL CG with signaled “SPSConfig-Index”or “CG-Index” can be activated/deactivated by using the same bit pattern defined in TS 38.213, as follows: 
     
       
         
           
               
             
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
             
            
               
                   
               
               
                 Special fields for DL SPS and UL grant Type 2 scheduling activation 
               
               
                 physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) validation 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 DCI format 
                 DCI format 
                 DCI format 
               
               
                   
                 0_0/0_1 
                 1_0 
                 1_1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 HARQ process number 
                 set to all ‘0’s 
                 set to all ‘0’s 
                 set to all ‘0’s 
               
               
                 Redundancy version 
                 set to ‘00’ 
                 set to ‘00’ 
                 For the enabled 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 transport block: 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 set to ‘00’ 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     
       
         
           
               
             
               
                 TABLE 2 
               
             
            
               
                   
               
               
                 Special fields for DL SPS and UL grant Type 2 
               
               
                 scheduling release PDCCH validation 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 DCI format 
                 DCI format 
               
               
                   
                 0_0 
                 1_0 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 HARQ process number 
                 set to all ‘0’s 
                 set to all ‘0’s 
               
               
                   
                 Redundancy version 
                 set to ‘00’ 
                 set to ‘00’ 
               
               
                   
                 Modulation and coding 
                 set to all ‘1’s 
                 set to all ‘1’s 
               
               
                   
                 scheme 
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Frequency domain resource 
                 set to all ‘1’s 
                 set to all ‘1’s 
               
               
                   
                 assignment 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     In some implementations, the HARQ process number field in DCI formats is re-defined as SPSConfig Index and CG-Index in DL or UL DCI formats for DL SPS and UL CG activation/deactivation, respectively. Specifically, when the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits of a DCI format is scrambled with a configured scheduling radio network temporary identifier (CS-RNTI) and bit patterns in Tables 3 and 4 below are signaled, depending on DL/UL flag in the received DCI, the HARQ process number field is interpreted as SPSConfig-Index or CG-Index. 
     
       
         
           
               
             
               
                 TABLE 3 
               
             
            
               
                   
               
               
                 Special fields for DL SPS and UL grant Type 2 
               
               
                 scheduling activation PDCCH validation 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 DCI format 
                 DCI format 
                 DCI format 
               
               
                   
                 0_0/0_1 
                 1_0 
                 1_1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 New Data 
                 0 
                 0 
                 0 
               
               
                 Indicator (NDI) 
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                 Redundancy 
                 set to ‘00’ 
                 set to ‘00’ 
                 For the enabled 
               
               
                 version 
                   
                   
                 transport block: 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 set to ‘00’ 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
                     TABLE 4                  Special fields for DL SPS and UL grant Type 2       scheduling release PDCCH validation                             DCI format   DCI format           0_0   1_0                                         New Data Indicator (NDI)   0   0           Redundancy version   set to ‘00’   set to ‘00’           Modulation and coding   set to all ‘1’s   set to all ‘1’s           scheme                   Frequency domain resource   set to all ‘1’s   set to all ‘1’s           assignment                    
When CRC bits of a DCI format are scrambled with a CS-RNTI, and the NDI bit is 1, the received DCI schedules the retransmission of DL SPS or UL CG packet. In this case, the signaled HARQ process field signals the HARQ process number which stores the transport block to be retransmitted.
 
       FIG.  13    illustrates an example of an enhanced configured grant confirmation MAC CE. In some implementations, the CG confirmation MAC CE is enhanced to include the serving cell ID, BWP ID, and CG indices as illustrated in  FIG.  1   . As a result, upon reception of the CG confirmation MAC CE, the gNB can determine which CG is confirmed by the received MAC CE. This can be particularly useful when the network activates/deactivates several CGs consecutively. When the number of received confirmation MAC CEs is not equal to the number of activation/deactivation commands, by virtue of the signaled CG Index of the CG confirmation MAC CE, the gNB can determine which CG activation/deactivation command was missed by the UE. As shown in  FIG.  13   , the enhanced configured grant confirmation MAC CE includes the following fields:
         Serving Cell ID: This field indicates the identity of the Serving Cell for which the MAC CE applies. In some implementations, the length of the field is 5 bits;   BWP ID: This field indicates a UL BWP for which the MAC CE applies. In some implementations, the length of the BWP ID field is 2 bits;   CG-Index: This field indicates a CG for which the MAC CE applies. In some implementations, the length of the CG-Index field is 4 bits; and   R: Reserved bit, which is set to “0” (zero).       

     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. 
     The methods described here may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination thereof, in different implementations. In addition, the order of the blocks of the methods may be changed, and various elements may be added, reordered, combined, omitted, modified, and the like. Various modifications and changes may be made as would be obvious to a person skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. The various implementations described here are meant to be illustrative and not limiting. Many variations, modifications, additions, and improvements are possible. Accordingly, plural instances may be provided for components described here as a single instance. Boundaries between various components, operations and data stores are somewhat arbitrary, and particular operations are illustrated in the context of specific illustrative configurations. Other allocations of functionality are envisioned and may fall within the scope of claims that follow. Finally, structures and functionality presented as discrete components in the example configurations may be implemented as a combined structure or component. 
     The following terms and definitions may be applicable to the examples described herein. 
     The term “circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes hardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term “circuitry” may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the program code used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuitry. 
     The term “processor circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carrying out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, and/or transferring digital data. The term “processor circuitry” may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and/or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, and/or functional processes. The terms “application circuitry” and/or “baseband circuitry” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, “processor circuitry.” 
     The term “interface circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term “interface circuitry” may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I/O interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and/or the like. 
     The term “user equipment” or “UE” as used herein refers to a device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communications network. The term “user equipment” or “UE” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the term “user equipment” or “UE” may include any type of wireless/wired device or any computing device including a wireless communications interface. 
     The term “network element” as used herein refers to physical or virtualized equipment and/or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term “network element” may be considered synonymous to and/or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and/or the like. 
     The term “computer system” as used herein refers to any type interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term “computer system” and/or “system” may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled with one another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” and/or “system” may refer to multiple computer devices and/or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another and configured to share computing and/or networking resources. 
     The term “appliance,” “computer appliance,” or the like, as used herein refers to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide a specific computing resource. A “virtual appliance” is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide a specific computing resource. 
     The term “resource” as used herein refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and/or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, such as computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor/CPU time, processor/CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardware time or usage, electrical power, input/output operations, ports or network sockets, channel/link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, network, database and applications, workload units, and/or the like. A “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by physical hardware element(s). A “virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. The term “network resource” or “communication resource” may refer to resources that are accessible by computer devices/systems via a communications network. The term “system resources” may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services, and may include computing and/or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services, accessible through a server where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable. 
     The term “channel” as used herein refers to any transmission medium, either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or a data stream. The term “channel” may be synonymous with and/or equivalent to “communications channel,” “data communications channel,” “transmission channel,” “data transmission channel,” “access channel,” “data access channel,” “link,” “data link,” “carrier,” “radiofrequency carrier,” and/or any other like term denoting a pathway or medium through which data is communicated. Additionally, the term “link” as used herein refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information. 
     The terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like as used herein refers to the creation of an instance. An “instance” also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. 
     The terms “coupled,” “communicatively coupled,” along with derivatives thereof are used herein. The term “coupled” may mean two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another, may mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and/or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements that are said to be coupled with each other. The term “directly coupled” may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another. The term “communicatively coupled” may mean that two or more elements may be in contact with one another by a means of communication including through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless communication channel or ink, and/or the like. 
     The term “information element” refers to a structural element containing one or more fields. The term “field” refers to individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains content. 
     The term “SMTC” refers to an SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration. 
     The term “SSB” refers to an SS/PBCH block. 
     The term “a “Primary Cell” refers to the MCG cell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection re-establishment procedure. 
     The term “Primary SCG Cell” refers to the SCG cell in which the UE performs random access when performing the Reconfiguration with Sync procedure for DC operation. 
     The term “Secondary Cell” refers to a cell providing additional radio resources on top of a Special Cell for a UE configured with CA. 
     The term “Secondary Cell Group” refers to the subset of serving cells comprising the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells for a UE configured with DC. 
     The term “Serving Cell” refers to the primary cell for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA/DC there is only one serving cell comprising of the primary cell. 
     The term “serving cell” or “serving cells” refers to the set of cells comprising the Special Cell(s) and all secondary cells for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured with CA/DC. 
     The term “Special Cell” refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term “Special Cell” refers to the Pcell.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20200417
Publication Date: 20240709
Grant Date: 20240709
Priority Date: 20190418
Inventors: MIAO, HONGLEI
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H04W80/02", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/1273", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/044", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L1/1812", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/20", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/1273", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/23", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/04", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/1268", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W80/02", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/1273", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/044", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L1/1812", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/23", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 70614643