PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-12191936-B2
Application Number: US-202017421244-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: System and methods for signaling mechanism for UE assistance feedback

Abstract:
Some embodiments of this disclosure include apparatuses and methods for a signaling mechanism for user equipment (UE) assistance feedback in a wireless communication system. At least a radio frequency integrated circuit can be configured to receive a first configuration signal, and transmit a first message comprising a UE assistance feedback, generated based on the first configuration signal, in an uplink (UL) channel. The first message can contain an index of a profile with information on a service requirement, a traffic characteristic, or a combination thereof of a network. A processor, coupled to the radio frequency integrated circuit, can be configured to generate the UE assistance feedback based on the first configuration signal.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method, comprising:
 receiving, by a user equipment (UE), a first configuration signal; 
 generating, by the UE, a UE assistance feedback based on the first configuration signal and traffic characteristics and power saving requirements of a network; and 
 transmitting, by the UE, a first message comprising the UE assistance feedback, wherein the first message contains a profile chosen from a plurality of profiles each having an associated index, and wherein the profiles have preconfigured information on a service requirement for different traffic characteristics and power saving requirements of the network, and 
 wherein the first configuration signal is triggered by:
 a periodic timer, 
 a higher layer radio resource control (RRC) signaling, 
 a dynamic indication in downlink (DL) or uplink (UL) grant in a bit field, or 
 a dynamic indication in a group-common downlink control information (DCI) having UE specific fields. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the first configuration signal comprises receiving using RRC signaling. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting the first message with each profile having one or more sets of parameters from: a timeline parameter, a bandwidth part (BWP) configuration, an antenna configuration, a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration, a secondary cell (SCell) configuration, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) parameters, or a number of carriers. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting the first message with each profile having an antenna configuration with one or more of a number of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) layers or an antenna panel awareness information. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting the first message with each profile having a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration with one or more of a preferred inactivity timer, an on duration timer, or a DRX cycle. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising transmitting the first message using a grant-free resource. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein transmitting the first message comprising the UE assistance feedback comprises transmitting using a medium access control (MAC) coverage enhancement (CE) mapped to a UL data channel. 
     
     
       8. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:
 receiving a first configuration signal; 
 generating a user equipment (UE) assistance feedback based on the first configuration signal and traffic characteristics and power saving requirements of a network; and 
 causing to transmit a first message comprising the UE assistance feedback, wherein the first message contains a profile chosen from a plurality of profiles each having an associated index, and wherein the profiles have preconfigured information on a service requirement for different traffic characteristics and power saving requirements of the network, and 
 wherein the first configuration signal is triggered by:
 a periodic timer, 
 a higher layer radio resource control (RRC) signaling, 
 a dynamic indication in downlink (DL) or uplink (UL) grant in a bit field, or 
 a dynamic indication in a group-common downlink control information (DCI) having UE specific fields. 
 
 
     
     
       9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise receiving the first configuration signal via RRC signaling. 
     
     
       10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein each profile corresponds to one or more sets of parameters from: a timeline parameter, a bandwidth part (BWP) configuration, an antenna configuration, a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration, a secondary cell (SCell) configuration, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) parameters, or a number of carriers. 
     
     
       11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein the antenna configuration includes one or more of a number of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) layers or an antenna panel awareness information. 
     
     
       12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein the DRX configuration includes one or more of a preferred inactivity timer, an on duration timer, or a DRX cycle. 
     
     
       13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise transmitting the first message using a grant-free resource. 
     
     
       14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise transmitting the first message comprising the UE assistance feedback via a medium access control (MAC) coverage enhancement (CE) mapped to a UL data channel. 
     
     
       15. A user equipment (UE) comprising:
 a radio frequency integrated circuit configured to receive a first configuration signal; and 
 a processor, coupled to the radio frequency integrated circuit, configured to:
 generate a first message comprising a UE assistance feedback based on the first configuration signal and traffic characteristics and power saving requirements of a network, wherein the first message contains a profile chosen from a plurality of profiles each having an associated index, and wherein the profiles have preconfigured information on a service requirement for different traffic characteristics and power saving requirements of the network; 
 wherein the radio frequency integrated circuit is further configured to transmit the first message to an access node, and 
 wherein the first configuration signal is triggered by:
 a periodic timer, 
 a higher layer radio resource control (RRC) signaling, 
 a dynamic indication in downlink (DL) or uplink (UL) grant in a bit field, or 
 a dynamic indication in a group-common downlink control information (DCI) having UE specific fields. 
 
 
 
     
     
       16. The UE of  claim 15 , wherein the radio frequency integrated circuit is further configured to receive the first configuration signal via RRC signaling. 
     
     
       17. The UE of  claim 15 , wherein each profile corresponds to one or more sets of parameters from: a timeline parameter, a bandwidth part (BWP) configuration, an antenna configuration, a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration, a secondary cell (SCell) configuration, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) parameters, or a number of carriers. 
     
     
       18. The UE of  claim 17 , wherein the DRX configuration includes one or more of a preferred inactivity timer, an on duration timer, or a DRX cycle. 
     
     
       19. The UE of  claim 15 , wherein the radio frequency integrated circuit is further configured to transmit the first message using a grant-free resource. 
     
     
       20. The UE of  claim 15 , wherein the radio frequency integrated circuit is further configured to transmit the first message comprising the UE assistance feedback via a medium access control (MAC) coverage enhancement (CE) mapped to a UL data channel.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a national phase entry of PCT/US2020/013011, filed Jan. 10, 2020, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/791,699, filed Jan. 11, 2019, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Various embodiments generally may relate to the field of wireless communications. 
     SUMMARY 
     Some embodiments of this disclosure include apparatuses and methods for a fallback procedure for a signaling mechanism for user equipment (UE) assistance feedback. 
     Some embodiments are directed to a method of operating a system. The method can include receiving, by a user equipment (UE), a first configuration signal, generating, by the UE, a UE assistance feedback based on the first configuration signal, and transmitting, by the UE, a first message comprising the UE assistance feedback in an uplink (UL) channel. The first message can contain an index of a profile with information on a service requirement, a traffic characteristic, or a combination thereof of a network. 
     The method can further include receiving the first configuration signal using radio resource control (RRC) signaling. 
     The method can further include transmitting the first message with the index of the profile having to one or more set of parameters from: a timeline parameter, a bandwidth part (BWP) configuration, an antenna configuration, a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration, a secondary cell (SCell) configuration, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) parameters, or a number of carriers. 
     The method can further include transmitting the first message with the index of the profile having an antenna configuration with one or more of a number of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) layers or an antenna panel awareness information. 
     The method can further include transmitting the first message with the index of the profile having a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration with one or more of a preferred inactivity timer, an on duration timer, or a DRX cycle. 
     The method can further include receiving the first configuration signal using a downlink (DL) grant. 
     The method can further include transmissting using a medium access control (MAC) coverage enhancement (CE) mapped to a UL data channel. 
     Some embodiments are directed to a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations. The operations can include receiving a first configuration signal, generating a UE assistance feedback based on the first configuration signal, and transmitting a first message comprising the UE assistance feedback in an uplink (UL) channel. The first message can contain an index of a profile with information on a service requirement, a traffic characteristic, or a combination thereof of a network. 
     Some embodiments are directed to a non-transitory computer readable medium where the operations further include receiving the first configuration signal via a radio resource control (RRC) signaling. 
     Some embodiments are directed to a non-transitory computer readable medium where the operations the index of the profile corresponds to one or more set of parameters from: a timeline parameter, a bandwidth part (BWP) configuration, an antenna configuration, a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration, a secondary cell (SCell) configuration, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) parameters, or a number of carriers. 
     Some embodiments are directed to a non-transitory computer readable medium where the antenna configuration includes one or more of a number of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) layers or an antenna panel awareness information. 
     Some embodiments are directed to a non-transitory computer readable medium where the DRX configuration includes one or more of a preferred inactivity timer, an on duration timer, or a DRX cycle. 
     Some embodiments are directed to a non-transitory computer readable medium where the operations further include receiving the first configuration signal via a downlink (DL) grant. 
     Some embodiments are directed to a non-transitory computer readable medium where the operations further include transmitting the first message comprising the UE assistance feedback via a medium access control (MAC) coverage enhancement (CE) mapped to a UL data channel. 
     Some embodiments are directed to a system. The system can include a radio frequency integrated circuit configured to: receive a first configuration signal, and transmit a first message. The first message can include a UE assistance feedback, generated based on the first configuration signal, in an uplink (UL) channel. The first message can contain an index of a profile with information on a service requirement, a traffic characteristic, or a combination thereof of a network. The system can further include a processor, coupled to the radio frequency integrated circuit, configured to: generate the UE assistance feedback based on the first configuration signal. 
     Some embodiments are directed to a system where the radio frequency integrated circuit is further configured to receive the first configuration signal via a radio resource control (RRC) signaling. 
     Some embodiments are directed to a system where the index of the profile corresponds to one or more set of parameters from: a timeline parameter, a bandwidth part (BWP) configuration, an antenna configuration, a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration, a secondary cell (SCell) configuration, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) parameters, or a number of carriers. 
     Some embodiments are directed to a system where the DRX configuration includes one or more of a preferred inactivity timer, an on duration timer, or a DRX cycle. 
     Some embodiments are directed to a system where the radio frequency integrated circuit is further configured to receive the first configuration signal via a downlink (DL) grant. 
     Some embodiments are directed to a system where the radio frequency integrated circuit is further configured to transmit the first message comprising the UE assistance feedback via a medium access control (MAC) coverage enhancement (CE) mapped to a UL data channel. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES 
         FIG.  1    illustrates an example system architecture according to embodiments. 
         FIG.  2    illustrates another example system architecture according to embodiments. 
         FIG.  3    illustrates another example system architecture according to embodiments. 
         FIG.  4    illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary infrastructure equipment according to embodiments. 
         FIG.  5    illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary platform according to embodiments. 
         FIG.  6    illustrates a block diagram of baseband circuitry and front end modules according to embodiments. 
         FIG.  7    illustrates a block diagram of exemplary protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device according to embodiments. 
         FIG.  8    illustrates a block diagram of exemplary core network components according to embodiments. 
         FIG.  9    illustrates a block diagram of system components for supporting network function virtualization according to embodiments. 
         FIG.  10    illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computer system that can be utilized to implement various embodiments. 
         FIG.  11    illustrates a method of operating the system according to embodiments. 
         FIG.  12    illustrates a further method of operating the system according to embodiments. 
         FIG.  13    illustrates a further method of operating the system according to embodiments. 
     
    
    
     The features and advantages of the embodiments will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which like reference characters identify corresponding elements throughout. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Abbreviations 
     For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations may apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein, but are not meant to be limiting. 
                                                3GPP   Third Generation Partnership Project           4G   Fourth Generation           5G   Fifth Generation           5GC   5G Core network           ACK   Acknowledgement           AF   Application Function           AM   Acknowledged Mode           AMBR   Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate           AMF   Access and Mobility Management Function           AN   Access Network           ANR   Automatic Neighbour Relation           AP   Application Protocol, Antenna Port, Access Point           API   Application Programming Interface           APN   Access Point Name           ARP   Allocation and Retention Priority           ARQ   Automatic Repeat Request           AS   Access Stratum           ASN.1   Abstract Syntax Notation One           AUSF   Authentication Server Function           AWGN   Additive White Gaussian Noise           BCH   Broadcast Channel           BER   Bit Error Ratio           BFD   Beam Failure Detection           BLER   Block Error Rate           BPSK   Binary Phase Shift Keying           BRAS   Broadband Remote Access Server           BSS   Business Support System           BS   Base Station           BSR   Buffer Status Report           BW   Bandwidth           BWP   Bandwidth Part           C-RNTI   Cell Radio Network Temporary Identity           CA   Carrier Aggregation, Certification Authority           CAPEX   CAPital EXpenditure           CBRA   Contention Based Random Access           CC   Component Carrier, Country Code,                Cryptographic Checksum           CCA   Clear Channel Assessment           CCE   Control Channel Element           CCCH   Common Control Channel           CE   Coverage Enhancement           CDM   Content Delivery Network           CDMA   Code-Division Multiple Access           CFRA   Contention Free Random Access           CG   Cell Group           CI   Cell Identity           CID   Cell-ID (e.g., positioning method)           CIM   Common Information Model           CIR   Carrier to Interference Ratio           CK   Cipher Key           CM   Connection Management, Conditional Mandatory           CMAS   Commercial Mobile Alert Service           CMD   Command           CMS   Cloud Management System           CO   Conditional Optional           CoMP   Coordinated Multi-Point           CORESET   Control Resource Set           COTS   Commercial Off-The-Shelf           CP   Control Plane, Cyclic Prefix, Connection Point           CPD   Connection Point Descriptor           CPE   Customer Premise Equipment           CPICH   Common Pilot Channel           CQI   Channel Quality Indicator           CPU   CSI processing unit, Central Processing Unit           C/R   Command/Response field bit           CRAN   Cloud Radio Access Network, Cloud RAN           CRB   Common Resource Block           CRC   Cyclic Redundancy Check           CRI   Channel-State Information Resource Indicator,                CSI-RS Resource Indicator           C-RNTI   Cell RNTI           CS   Circuit Switched           CSAR   Cloud Service Archive           CSI   Channel-State Information           CSI-IM   CSI Interference Measurement           CSI-RS   CSI Reference Signal           CSI-RSRP   CSI reference signal received power           CSI-RSRQ   CSI reference signal received quality           CSI-SINR   CSI signal-to-noise and interference ratio           CSMA   Carrier Sense Multiple Access           CSMA/CA   CSMA with collision avoidance           CSS   Common Search Space, Cell-specific Search Space           CTS   Clear-to-Send           CW   Codeword           CWS   Contention Window Size           D2D   Device-to-Device           DC   Dual Connectivity, Direct Current           DCI   Downlink Control Information           DF   Deployment Flavour           DL   Downlink           DMTF   Distributed Management Task Force           DPDK   Data Plane Development Kit           DM-RS,    Demodulation Reference Signal           DMRS               DN   Data network           DRB   Data Radio Bearer           DRS   Discovery Reference Signal           DRX   Discontinuous Reception           DSL   Domain Specific Language.                Digital Subscriber Line           DSLAM   DSL Access Multiplexer           DwPTS   Downlink Pilot Time Slot           E-LAN   Ethernet Local Area Network           E2E   End-to-End           ECCA   extended clear channel assessment,                extended CCA           ECCE   Enhanced Control Channel Element,                Enhanced CCE           ED   Energy Detection           EDGE   Enhanced Datarates for GSM Evolution                (GSM Evolution)           EGMF   Exposure Governance Management Function           EGPRS   Enhanced GPRS           EIR   Equipment Identity Register           eLAA   enhanced Licensed Assisted Access, enhanced LAA           EM   Element Manager           eMBB   Enhanced Mobile Broadband           EMS   Element Management System           eNB   evolved NodeB, E-UTRAN Node B           EN-DC   E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity           EPC   Evolved Packet Core           EPDCCH   enhanced PDCCH, enhanced Physical                Downlink Control Cannel           EPRE   Energy per resource element           EPS   Evolved Packet System           EREG   enhanced REG, enhanced resource element groups           ETSI   European Telecommunications Standards Institute           ETWS   Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System           eUICC   embedded UICC, embedded Universal Integrated                Circuit Card           E-UTRA   Evolved UTRA           E-UTRAN   Evolved UTRAN           EV2X   Enhanced V2X           F1AP   F1 Application Protocol           F1-C   F1 Control plane interface           F1-U   F1 User plane interface           FACCH   Fast Associated Control CHannel           FACCH/F   Fast Associated Control Channel/Full rate           FACCH/H   Fast Associated Control Channel/Half rate           FACH   Forward Access Channel           FAUSCH   Fast Uplink Signalling Channel           FB   Functional Block           FBI   Feedback Information           FCC   Federal Communications Commission           FCCH   Frequency Correction CHannel           FDD   Frequency Division Duplex           FDM   Frequency Division Multiplex           FDMA   Frequency Division Multiple Access           FE   Front End           FEC   Forward Error Correction           FFS   For Further Study           FFT   Fast Fourier Transformation           feLAA   further enhanced Licensed Assisted                Access, further enhanced LAA           FN   Frame Number           FPGA   Field-Programmable Gate Array           FR   Frequency Range           G-RNTI   GERAN Radio Network Temporary Identity           GERAN   GSM EDGE RAN, GSM EDGE Radio                Access Network           GGSN   Gateway GPRS Support Node           GLONASS   GLObal&#39;naya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya                Sistema (Engl.: Global Navigation Satellite System)           gNB   Next Generation NodeB           gNB-CU   gNB-centralized unit, Next Generation NodeB                centralized unit           gNB-DU   gNB-distributed unit, Next Generation NodeB                distributed unit           GNSS   Global Navigation Satellite System           GPRS   General Packet Radio Service           GSM   Global System for Mobile Communications,                Groupe Spécial Mobile           GTP   GPRS Tunneling Protocol           GTP-U   GPRS Tunnelling Protocol for User Plane           GTS   Go To Sleep Signal (related to WUS)           GUMMEI   Globally Unique MME Identifier           GUTI   Globally Unique Temporary UE Identity           HARQ   Hybrid ARQ, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request           HANDO,    Handover           HO               HFN   HyperFrame Number           HHO   Hard Handover           HLR   Home Location Register           HN   Home Network           HO   Handover           HPLMN   Home Public Land Mobile Network           HSDPA   High Speed Downlink Packet Access           HSN   Hopping Sequence Number           HSPA   High Speed Packet Access           HSS   Home Subscriber Server           HSUPA   High Speed Uplink Packet Access           HTTP   Hyper Text Transfer Protocol           HTTPS   Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure                (https is http/1.1 over SSL, i.e. port 443)           I-Block   Information Block           ICCID   Integrated Circuit Card Identification           ICIC   Inter-Cell Interference Coordination           ID   Identity, identifier           IDFT   Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform           IE   Information element           IBE   In-Band Emission           IEEE   Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers           IEI   Information Element Identifier           IEIDL   Information Element Identifier Data Length           IETF   Internet Engineering Task Force           IF   Infrastructure           IM   Interference Measurement, Intermodulation,                IP Multimedia           IMC   IMS Credentials           IMEI   International Mobile Equipment Identity           IMGI   International mobile group identity           IMPI   IP Multimedia Private Identity           IMPU   IP Multimedia PUblic identity           IMS   IP Multimedia Subsystem           IMSI   International Mobile Subscriber Identity           IoT   Internet of Things           IP   Internet Protocol           Ipsec   IP Security, Internet Protocol Security           IP-CAN   IP-Connectivity Access Network           IP-M   IP Multicast           IPv4   Internet Protocol Version 4           IPv6   Internet Protocol Version 6           IR   Infrared           IS   In Sync           IRP   Integration Reference Point           ISDN   Integrated Services Digital Network           ISIM   IM Services Identity Module           ISO   International Organisation for Standardisation           ISP   Internet Service Provider           IWF   Interworking-Function           I-WLAN   Interworking WLAN           K   Constraint length of the convolutional code,                USIM Individual key           kB   Kilobyte (1000 bytes)           kbps   kilo-bits per second           Kc   Ciphering key           Ki   Individual subscriber authentication key           KPI   Key Performance Indicator           KQI   Key Quality Indicator           KSI   Key Set Identifier           ksps   kilo-symbols per second           KVM   Kernel Virtual Machine           L1   Layer 1 (physical layer)           L1-RSRP   Layer 1 reference signal received power           L2   Layer 2 (data link layer)           L3   Layer 3 (network layer)           LAA   Licensed Assisted Access           LAN   Local Area Network           LBT   Listen Before Talk           LCM   LifeCycle Management           LCR   Low Chip Rate           LCS   Location Services           LCID   Logical Channel ID           LI   Layer Indicator           LLC   Logical Link Control, Low Layer Compatibility           LPLMN   Local PLMN           LPP   LTE Positioning Protocol           LSB   Least Significant Bit           LTE   Long Term Evolution           LWA   LTE-WLAN aggregation           LWIP   LTE/WLAN Radio Level Integration with                IPsec Tunnel           LTE   Long Term Evolution           M2M   Machine-to-Machine           MAC   Medium Access Control (protocol layering context)           MAC   Message authentication code (security/               encryption context)           MAC-A   MAC used for authentication and key agreement                (TSG T WG3 context)           MAC-I   MAC used for data integrity of signalling messages                (TSG T WG3 context)           MANO   Management and Orchestration           MBMS   Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service           MBSFN   Multimedia Broadcast multicast service Single                Frequency Network           MCC   Mobile Country Code           MCG   Master Cell Group           MCOT   Maximum Channel Occupancy Time           MCS   Modulation and coding scheme           MDAF   Management Data Analytics Function           MDAS   Management Data Analytics Service           MDT   Minimization of Drive Tests           ME   Mobile Equipment           MeNB   master eNB           MER   Message Error Ratio           MGL   Measurement Gap Length           MGRP   Measurement Gap Repetition Period           MIB   Master Information Block, Management                Information Base           MIMO   Multiple Input Multiple Output           MLC   Mobile Location Centre           MM   Mobility Management           MME   Mobility Management Entity           MN   Master Node           MO   Measurement Object, Mobile Originated           MPBCH   MTC Physical Broadcast CHannel           MPDCCH   MTC Physical Downlink Control CHannel           MPDSCH   MTC Physical Downlink Shared CHannel           MPRACH   MTC Physical Random Access CHannel           MPUSCH   MTC Physical Uplink Shared Channel           MPLS   MultiProtocol Label Switching           MS   Mobile Station           MSB   Most Significant Bit           MSC   Mobile Switching Centre           MSI   Minimum System Information, MCH                Scheduling Information           MSID   Mobile Station Identifier           MSIN   Mobile Station Identification Number           MSISDN   Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number           MT   Mobile Terminated, Mobile Termination           MTC   Machine-Type Communications           mMTC   massive MTC, massive Machine-Type                Communications           MU-MIMO   Multi User MIMO           MWUS   MTC wake-up signal, MTC WUS           NACK   Negative Acknowledgement           NAI   Network Access Identifier           NAS   Non-Access Stratum, Non-Access Stratum layer           NCT   Network Connectivity Topology           NEC   Network Capability Exposure           NE-DC   NR-E-UTRA Dual Connectivity           NEF   Network Exposure Function           NF   Network Function           NFP   Network Forwarding Path           NFPD   Network Forwarding Path Descriptor           NFV   Network Functions Virtualization           NFVI   NFV Infrastructure           NFVO   NFV Orchestrator           NG   Next Generation, Next Gen           NGEN-DC   NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity           NM   Network Manager           NMS   Network Management System           N-PoP   Network Point of Presence           NMIB,    Narrowband MIB           N-MIB               NPBCH   Narrowband Physical Broadcast CHannel           NPDCCH   Narrowband Physical Downlink Control CHannel           NPDSCH   Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared CHannel           NPRACH   Narrowband Physical Random Access CHannel           NPUSCH   Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared CHannel           NPSS   Narrowband Primary Synchronization Signal           NSSS   Narrowband Secondary Synchronization Signal           NR   New Radio, Neighbour Relation           NRF   NF Repository Function           NRS   Narrowband Reference Signal           NS   Network Service           NSA   Non-Standalone operation mode           NSD   Network Service Descriptor           NSR   Network Service Record           NSSAI   ‘Network Slice Selection Assistance Information           S-NNSAI   Single-NSSAI           NSSF   Network Slice Selection Function           NW   Network           NWUS   Narrowband wake-up signal, Narrowband WUS           NZP   Non-Zero Power           O&amp;M   Operation and Maintenance           ODU2   Optical channel Data Unit - type 2           OFDM   Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing           OFDMA   Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access           OOB   Out-of-band           OOS   Out of Sync           OPEX   OPerating EXpense           OSI   Other System Information           OSS   Operations Support System           OTA   over-the-air           PAPR   Peak-to-Average Power Ratio           PAR   Peak to Average Ratio           PBCH   Physical Broadcast Channel           PC   Power Control, Personal Computer           PCC   Primary Component Carrier, Primary CC           PCell   Primary Cell           PCI   Physical Cell ID, Physical Cell Identity           PCEF   Policy and Charging Enforcement Function           PCF   Policy Control Function           PCRF   Policy Control and Charging Rules Function           PDCP   Packet Data Convergence Protocol, Packet Data                Convergence Protocol layer           PDCCH   Physical Downlink Control Channel           PDCP   Packet Data Convergence Protocol           PDN   Packet Data Network, Public Data Network           PDSCH   Physical Downlink Shared Channel           PDU   Protocol Data Unit           PEI   Permanent Equipment Identifiers           PFD   Packet Flow Description           P-GW   PDN Gateway           PHICH   Physical hybrid-ARQ indicator channel           PHY   Physical layer           PLMN   Public Land Mobile Network           PIN   Personal Identification Number           PM   Performance Measurement           PMI   Precoding Matrix Indicator           PNF   Physical Network Function           PNFD   Physical Network Function Descriptor           PNFR   Physical Network Function Record           POC   PTT over Cellular           PP, PTP   Point-to-Point           PPP   Point-to-Point Protocol           PRACH   Physical RACH           PRB   Physical resource block           PRG   Physical resource block group           ProSe   Proximity Services, Proximity-Based Service           PRS   Positioning Reference Signal           PRR   Packet Reception Radio           PS   Packet Services           PSBCH   Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel           PSDCH   Physical Sidelink Downlink Channel           PSCCH   Physical Sidelink Control Channel           PSSCH   Physical Sidelink Shared Channel           PSCell   Primary SCell           PSS   Primary Synchronization Signal           PSTN   Public Switched Telephone Network           PT-RS   Phase-tracking reference signal           PTT   Push-to-Talk           PUCCH   Physical Uplink Control Channel           PUSCH   Physical Uplink Shared Channel           QAM   Quadrature Amplitude Modulation           QCI   QoS class of identifier           QCL   Quasi co-location           QFI   QoS Flow ID, QoS Flow Identifier           QoS   Quality of Service           QPSK   Quadrature (Quaternary) Phase Shift Keying           QZSS   Quasi-Zenith Satellite System           RA-RNTI   Random Access RNTI           RAB   Radio Access Bearer, Random Access Burst           RACH   Random Access Channel           RADIUS   Remote Authentication Dial In User Service           RAN   Radio Access Network           RAND   RANDom number (used for authentication)           RAR   Random Access Response           RAT   Radio Access Technology           RAU   Routing Area Update           RB   Resource block, Radio Bearer           RBG   Resource block group           REG   Resource Element Group           Rel   Release           REQ   REQuest           RF   Radio Frequency           RI   Rank Indicator           RIV   Resource indicator value           RL   Radio Link           RLC   Radio Link Control, Radio Link Control layer           RLC AM   RLC Acknowledged Mode           RLC UM   RLC Unacknowledged Mode           RLF   Radio Link Failure           RLM   Radio Link Monitoring           RLM-RS   Reference Signal for RLM           RM   Registration Management           RMC   Reference Measurement Channel           RMSI   Remaining MSI, Remaining Minimum                System Information           RN   Relay Node           RNC   Radio Network Controller           RNL   Radio Network Layer           RNTI   Radio Network Temporary Identifier           ROHC   RObust Header Compression           RRC   Radio Resource Control, Radio Resource                Control layer           RRM   Radio Resource Management           RS   Reference Signal           RSRP   Reference Signal Received Power           RSRQ   Reference Signal Received Quality           RSSI   Received Signal Strength Indicator           RSU   Road Side Unit           RSTD   Reference Signal Time difference           RTP   Real Time Protocol           RTS   Ready-To-Send           RTT   Round Trip Time           Rx   Reception, Receiving, Receiver           S1AP   S1 Application Protocol           S1-MME   S1 for the control plane           S1-U   S1 for the user plane           S-GW   Serving Gateway           S-RNTI   SRNC Radio Network Temporary Identity           S-TMSI   SAE Temporary Mobile Station Identifier           SA   Standalone operation mode           SAE   System Architecture Evolution           SAP   Service Access Point           SAPD   Service Access Point Descriptor           SAPI   Service Access Point Identifier           SCC   Secondary Component Carrier, Secondary CC           SCell   Secondary Cell           SC-FDMA   Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple                Access           SCG   Secondary Cell Group           SCM   Security Context Management           SCS   Subcarrier Spacing           SCTP   Stream Control Transmission Protocol           SDAP   Service Data Adaptation Protocol, Service Data                Adaptation Protocol layer           SDL   Supplementary Downlink           SDNF   Structured Data Storage Network Function           SDP   Service Discovery Protocol (Bluetooth related)           SDSF   Structured Data Storage Function           SDU   Service Data Unit           SEAF   Security Anchor Function           SeNB   secondary eNB           SEPP   Security Edge Protection Proxy           SFI   Slot format indication           SFTD   Space-Frequency Time Diversity, SFN and                frame timing difference           SFN   System Frame Number           SgNB   Secondary gNB           SGSN   Serving GPRS Support Node           S-GW   Serving Gateway           SI   System Information           SI-RNTI   System Information RNTI           SIB   System Information Block           SIM   Subscriber Identity Module           SIP   Session Initiated Protocol           SiP   System in Package           SL   Sidelink           SLA   Service Level Agreement           SM   Session Management           SMF   Session Management Function           SMS   Short Message Service           SMSF   SMS Function           SMTC   SSB-based Measurement Timing Configuration           SN   Secondary Node, Sequence Number           SoC   System on Chip           SON   Self-Organizing Network           SpCell   Special Cell           SP-CSI-   Semi-Persistent CSI RNTI           RNTI               SPS   Semi-Persistent Scheduling           SQN   Sequence number           SR   Scheduling Request           SRB   Signalling Radio Bearer           SRS   Sounding Reference Signal           SS   Synchronization Signal           SSB   Synchronization Signal Block, SS/PBCH Block           SSBRI   SS/PBCH Block Resource Indicator,                Synchronization Signal Block Resource Indicator           SSC   Session and Service Continuity           SS-RSRP   Synchronization Signal based Reference Signal                Received Power           SS-RSRQ   Synchronization Signal based Reference Signal                Received Quality           SS-SINR   Synchronization Signal based Signal to Noise and                Interference Ratio           SSS   Secondary Synchronization Signal           SSSG   Search Space Set Group           SSSIF   Search Space Set Indicator           SST   Slice/Service Types           SU-MIMO   Single User MIMO           SUL   Supplementary Uplink           TA   Timing Advance, Tracking Area           TAC   Tracking Area Code           TAG   Timing Advance Group           TAU   Tracking Area Update           TB   Transport Block           TBS   Transport Block Size           TBD   To Be Defined           TCI   Transmission Configuration Indicator           TCP   Transmission Communication Protocol           TDD   Time Division Duplex           TDM   Time Division Multiplexing           TDMA   Time Division Multiple Access           TE   Terminal Equipment           TEID   Tunnel End Point Identifier           TFT   Traffic Flow Template           TMSI   Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity           TNL   Transport Network Layer           TPC   Transmit Power Control           TPMI   Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator           TR   Technical Report           TRP, TRxP   Transmission Reception Point           TRS   Tracking Reference Signal           TRx   Transceiver           TS   Technical Specifications, Technical Standard           TTI   Transmission Time Interval           Tx   Transmission, Transmitting, Transmitter           U-RNTI   UTRAN Radio Network Temporary Identity           UART   Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter           UCI   Uplink Control Information           UE   User Equipment           UDM   Unified Data Management           UDP   User Datagram Protocol           UDSF   Unstructured Data Storage Network Function           UICC   Universal Integrated Circuit Card           UL   Uplink           UM   Unacknowledged Mode           UML   Unified Modelling Language           UMTS   Universal Mobile Telecommunications System           UP   User Plane           UPF   User Plane Function           URI   Uniform Resource Identifier           URL   Uniform Resource Locator           URLLC   Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency           USB   Universal Serial Bus           USIM   Universal Subscriber Identity Module           USS   UE-specific search space           UTRA   UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access           UTRAN   Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network           UwPTS   Uplink Pilot Time Slot           V2I   Vehicle-to-Infrastruction           V2P   Vehicle-to-Pedestrian           V2V   Vehicle-to-Vehicle           V2X   Vehicle-to-everything           VIM   Virtualized Infrastructure Manager           VL   Virtual Link,           VLAN   Virtual LAN, Virtual Local Area Network           VM   Virtual Machine           VNF   Virtualized Network Function           VNFFG   VNF Forwarding Graph           VNFFGD   VNF Forwarding Graph Descriptor           VNFM   VNF Manager           VoIP   Voice-over-IP, Voice-over-Internet Protocol           VPLMN   Visited Public Land Mobile Network           VPN   Virtual Private Network           VRB   Virtual Resource Block           WiMAX   Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access           WLAN   Wireless Local Area Network           WMAN   Wireless Metropolitan Area Network           WPAN   Wireless Personal Area Network           X2-C   X2-Control plane           X2-U   X2-User plane           XML   eXtensible Markup Language           XRES   EXpected user RESponse           XOR   eXclusive OR           ZC   Zadoff-Chu           ZP   Zero Power                        
Discussion of Embodiments
 
     The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the various aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrase “A or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). 
     Energy efficiency is of paramount importance for operation of 5G/NR UEs, which may have a diverse range of supported applications compared to LTE devices. UEs may have more information about service type and characteristics and may assist the network by providing some side information, such as preferred number of MIMO layers, which bandwidth part to bank on etc. on preferred operating configuration so that the network can take this into account for scheduling and device configuration. 
     In this disclosure, different signaling mechanisms are discussed for providing UE assistance feedback to the network. In particular, UE assistance feedback information can be transmitted to the network in one or more of the following ways: (1) during RRC connection setup, (2) by higher layer signaling, (3) following RRC connection setup, such as MAC CE or RRC, by using UL control channel. 
     UE assistance information can be triggered by one or more of the following ways: (1) by higher layer configured periodicity, (2) by a timer, (3) by explicit higher layer or L1 indication by network. 
     Providing UE assistance information to the network may facilitate selection of right set of parameters for UE adaptation to traffic and power saving characteristics/requirements of a network. UE may have more accurate information on the service requirement and traffic characteristics, therefore some UE assistance information would be beneficial for the network to trigger the UE adaptation properly. In particular, UE having better knowledge on channel status and traffic demand/pattern/usage could help network to make better decisions such as for discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration, bandwidth part (BWP) configuration etc. 
     UE assistance feedback may include one or more of the following: (1) UE preferred processing timeline parameters, e.g., K0, K1, K2 values, (2) UE preferred BWP information/configuration, (3) UE preferred antenna configuration, including number of MIMO layers, antenna panel awareness information, (4) UE assistance/feedback on the DRX configurations/parameters, such as inactivity timer, On duration timer, DRX cycle etc., (5) UE preferred BWP provided to assist network in BWP switching, (6) UE request on SCell/SCG activation/de-activation/configuration, (7) UE preferred PDCCH monitoring parameters/search space configuration/maximum number of blind decoding, (8) UE preferred number of carriers etc. 
     Instead of indicating one or more of the above parameters separately, UE may indicate an index of a profile, where the profile may comprise one or more of the above parameters which may save in overhead. The network may identify the profile based on the index received from the UE. Additionally, a signaling and/or triggering mechanism for transmission of UE assistance feedback is described. Below, by transmission of UE assistance feedback, it is understood that UE can send feedback for each parameter individually, by group, or by profile index, where different profiles may be pre-configured for the UE, and each profile may be adapted for a given traffic characteristics and power saving requirements. 
     Methods of Signaling and Trigger 
     In a first embodiment, network triggers the UE to send assistance feedback. UE may send the assistance feedback after being configured to transmit the feedback. The transmission of assistance feedback can be periodic or based on a timer. The trigger from the network can be based on one or more of the following: (1) higher layer RRC signaling, for e.g., as part of BWP configuration where UE may periodically report or report based on a timer, (2) dynamic indication in DL or UL grant, in a bit field, which may comprise one or more bits, for example, CSI request field in UL grant can be augmented to trigger other kinds of assistance information, (3) dynamic indication in a group-common DCI, where there are UE specific fields. Each field may trigger assistance feedback from a UE. 
     In a second embodiment, UE may autonomously send UE assistance feedback or request the network to assign resource for sending UE assistance feedback. UE may use grant-free resource to send UE assistance feedback. One configuration of DMRS may be used so that gNB identifies the grant-free transmission contains UE assistance feedback, and treat it separately from typical grant-free UL data transmission. In another example, UE sends SR so that network allocates resource for transmitting UE assistance feedback. One SR configuration can be used for this purpose. 
     Different UL channels can be used for transmission of UE assistance feedback. In particular, one or more of the following UL channels can be used for transmitting UE assistance feedback: (1) higher layer signaling such as RRC signaling and/or MAC CE signaling, which are mapped to UL-SCH, i.e., UL data channel, for example, the LCD field in one of the MAC sub-headers is set to a reserved value indicating the presence of a UE assistance feedback, (2) UL control channel, can be transmitted in PUSCH or in PUCCH, for example PUCCH formats 0-5 can be used, (3) during RRC connection setup, such as, as part of MSG4. 
     In one embodiment, different formats or types can be supported for UE assistance feedback, depending on payload and/or types of information and/or whether UE is supporting carrier aggregation (CA) or dual connectivity (DC). For example, format or type 1 may include information for processing time related parameters only, whereas type 2 may provide BWP configuration, along with PDCCH monitoring parameters, DRX parameters to be assumed within the preferred BWP etc. 
     In another example, there can be association of different UE assistance feedback profile with other transmission parameters. For example, SR configuration 1 (e.g., can be used to request grant for eMBB traffic) may be associated with Profile index 1, whereas SR configuration 2 (e.g., can be used to request grant for URLLC traffic) may be associated with Profile Index 2. 
     Systems and Implementations 
       FIG.  1    illustrates an example architecture of a system  100  of a network, in accordance with various embodiments. The following description is provided for an example system  100  that operates in conjunction with the LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards as provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the example embodiments are not limited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., Sixth Generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), or the like. 
     As shown by  FIG.  1   , the system  100  includes UE  101   a  and UE  101   b  (collectively referred to as “UEs  101 ” or “UE  101 ”). In this example, UEs  101  are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks), but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, 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, MTC devices, M2M, IoT devices, and/or the like. 
     In some embodiments, any of the UEs  101  may be IoT UEs, which may comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE can utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC for exchanging data with an MTC server or device via a PLMN, ProSe or D2D communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The IoT UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network. 
     The UEs  101  may be configured to connect, for example, communicatively couple, with a RAN  110 . In embodiments, the RAN  110  may be an NG RAN or a 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as a UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term “NG RAN” or the like may refer to a RAN  110  that operates in an NR or 5G system  100 , and the term “E-UTRAN” or the like may refer to a RAN  110  that operates in an LTE or 4G system  100 . The UEs  101  utilize connections (or channels)  103  and  104 , respectively, each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further detail 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 GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and/or any of the other communications protocols discussed herein. In embodiments, the UEs  101  may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface  105 . The ProSe interface  105  may alternatively be referred to as a SL interface  105  and may comprise one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a PSCCH, a PSSCH, a PSDCH, and a PSBCH. 
     The UE  101   b  is shown to be configured to access an AP  106  (also referred to as “WLAN node  106 ,” “WLAN  106 ,” “WLAN Termination  106 ,” “WT  106 ” or the like) via connection  107 . The connection  107  can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP  106  would comprise 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 (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, the UE  101   b , RAN  110 , and AP  106  may be configured to utilize LWA operation and/or LWIP operation. The LWA operation may involve the UE  101   b  in RRC_CONNECTED being configured by a RAN node  111   a - 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 ) via 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 and/or voice connectivity between a network and one or more users. These access nodes can be referred to as BS, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNBs, NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs or TRPs, and so forth, and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the term “NG RAN node” or the like may refer to a RAN node  111  that operates in an NR or 5G system  100  (for example, a gNB), and the term “E-UTRAN node” or the like may refer to a RAN node  111  that operates in an LTE or 4G system  100  (e.g., an eNB). According to various embodiments, the RAN nodes  111  may be implemented as one or more of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station, and/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 embodiments, all or parts 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 CRAN and/or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement a RAN function split, such as a PDCP split wherein RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes  111 ; a MAC/PHY split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes  111 ; or a “lower PHY” split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, 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 other virtualized applications. In some implementations, an individual RAN node  111  may represent individual gNB-DUs that are connected to a gNB-CU via individual F1 interfaces (not shown by  FIG.  1   ). In these implementations, 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), which are RAN nodes that provide E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations toward the UEs  101 , and are connected to a 5GC (e.g., CN  320  of  FIG.  3   ) via an NG interface (discussed infra). 
     In V2X scenarios one or more of the RAN nodes  111  may be or act as RSUs. The term “Road Side Unit” or “RSU” may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a “UE-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an “eNB-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a “gNB-type RSU,” and the like. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs  101  (vUEs  101 ). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well as applications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz 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) and/or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. The computing device(s) and some or all of the 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 and/or a backhaul network. 
     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 embodiments, 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 embodiments, the UEs  101  can be configured to communicate using 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, an OFDMA communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a SC-FDMA communication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers. 
     In some embodiments, 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. 
     According to various embodiments, the UEs  101  and the RAN nodes  111 ,  112  communicate data (for example, transmit and receive) data over a licensed medium (also referred to as the “licensed spectrum” and/or the “licensed band”) and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as the “unlicensed spectrum” and/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 ,  112  may operate using LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, the UEs  101  and the RAN nodes  111 ,  112  may perform one or more known medium-sensing operations and/or carrier-sensing operations in order to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum is 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 whereby equipment (for example, UEs  101 , RAN nodes  111 ,  112 , etc.) 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 CCA, which utilizes at least ED 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. ED 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. 
     Typically, the incumbent systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technologies. WLAN employs a contention-based channel access mechanism, called CSMA/CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE  101  or 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 CWS, which is increased exponentially upon the occurrence of collision and reset to a minimum value when the transmission succeeds. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA/CA of WLAN. In some implementations, 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 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 MCOT (for example, a transmission burst) may be based on governmental regulatory requirements. 
     The LAA mechanisms are built upon CA technologies of LTE-Advanced systems. In CA, each aggregated carrier is referred to as a CC. A CC may have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz and a maximum of five CCs can be aggregated, and therefore, a maximum aggregated bandwidth is 100 MHz. In FDD systems, the number of aggregated carriers can be different for DL and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lower than the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, individual CCs can have a different bandwidth than other CCs. In TDD systems, the number of CCs as well as the bandwidths of each CC is usually the same for DL and UL. 
     CA also comprises individual serving cells to provide individual CCs. The coverage of the serving cells may differ, for example, because CCs on different frequency bands will experience different pathloss. A primary service cell or PCell may provide a PCC for both UL and DL, and may handle RRC and NAS related activities. The other serving cells are referred to as SCells, and each SCell may provide an individual SCC for both UL and DL. The SCCs may be added and removed as required, while changing the PCC 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 HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (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 CCEs to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as 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 DCI and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8). 
     Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for control channel information that are an extension of the above-described concepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an EPDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more ECCEs. Similar to above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as an EREGs. An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations. 
     The RAN nodes  111  may be configured to communicate with one another via interface  112 . In embodiments where the system  100  is an LTE system (e.g., when CN  120  is an EPC  220  as 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 EPC  120 , and/or between two eNBs connecting to EPC  120 . In some implementations, 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 MeNB to an SeNB; information about successful in sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs to a UE  101  from an SeNB 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 SeNB for transmitting to the UE user data; and the like. The X2-C may provide intra-LTE access mobility functionality, including context transfers from source to target eNBs, user plane transport control, etc.; load management functionality; as well as inter-cell interference coordination functionality. 
     In embodiments where the system  100  is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN  120  is an 5GC  320  as in  FIG.  3   ), the interface  112  may be an Xn interface  112 . The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes  111  (e.g., two or more gNBs and the like) that connect to 5GC  120 , between a RAN node  111  (e.g., a gNB) connecting to 5GC  120  and an eNB, and/or between two eNBs connecting to 5GC  120 . In some implementations, 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 . 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 GTP-U layer on top of a UDP and/or IP layer(s) 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 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 and/or the Xn-C protocol stack 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—in this embodiment, core network (CN)  120 . The CN  120  may comprise a plurality of 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  via the RAN  110 . The components of the CN  120  may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes including 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 embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-described network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage mediums (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 EPC components/functions. 
     Generally, the application server  130  may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). 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, etc.) for the UEs  101  via the EPC  120 . 
     In embodiments, the CN  120  may be a 5GC (referred to as “5GC  120 ” or the like), and the RAN  110  may be connected with the CN  120  via an NG interface  113 . In embodiments, the NG interface  113  may be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface  114 , which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes  111  and a UPF, and the S1 control plane (NG-C) interface  115 , which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes  111  and AMFs. Embodiments where the CN  120  is a 5GC  120  are discussed in more detail with regard to  FIG.  3   . 
     In embodiments, the CN  120  may be a 5G CN (referred to as “5GC  120 ” or the like), while in other embodiments, the CN  120  may be an EPC). Where CN  120  is an EPC (referred to as “EPC  120 ” or the like), the RAN  110  may be connected with the CN  120  via an S1 interface  113 . In embodiments, 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 S-GW, and the S1-MME interface  115 , which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes  111  and MMEs. An example architecture wherein the CN  120  is an EPC  120  is shown by  FIG.  2   . 
       FIG.  2    illustrates another example system architecture according to embodiments.  FIG.  2    illustrates an example architecture of a system  200  including a first CN  220 , in accordance with various embodiments. In this example, system  200  may implement the LTE standard wherein 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 P-GW  223 , a HSS  224 , and a SGSN  225 . 
     The MMEs  221  may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy SGSN, and may implement MM functions to keep track of the current location of a UE  201 . The MMEs  221  may perform various MM procedures to manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. MM (also referred to as “EPS MM” or “EMM” in E-UTRAN systems) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data storage, etc. that are used to maintain knowledge about a present location of the UE  201 , provide user identity confidentiality, and/or perform other like services to users/subscribers. Each UE  201  and the MME  221  may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and an MM context may be established in the UE  201  and the MME  221  when an attach procedure is successfully completed. The MM context may be a data structure or database object that stores MM-related information of the UE  201 . The MMEs  221  may be coupled with the HSS  224  via an S6a reference point, coupled with the SGSN  225  via an S3 reference point, and coupled with the S-GW  222  via an 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. 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 and/or active states. 
     The HSS  224  may comprise a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities&#39; handling of communication sessions. The EPC  220  may comprise one or several HSSs  224 , depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS  224  can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS  224  and the MMEs  221  may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating/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 routes 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  via an S5 reference point. 
     The P-GW  223  may terminate an 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  (alternatively referred to as an “AF”) via an IP interface  125  (see e.g.,  FIG.  1   ). In embodiments, the P-GW  223  may be communicatively coupled to an application server (application server  130  of  FIG.  1    or PDN  230  in  FIG.  2   ) via 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 PCRF  226  via 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  via the P-GW  223 . The application server  230  may signal the PCRF  226  to indicate a new service flow and select the appropriate QoS and charging parameters. The PCRF  226  may provision this rule into a PCEF (not shown) with the appropriate TFT and 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 . An Rx reference point may reside between the PDN  230  (or “AF  230 ”) and the PCRF  226 . 
       FIG.  3    illustrates another example system architecture according to embodiments.  FIG.  3    illustrates an architecture of a system  300  including a second CN  320  in accordance with various embodiments. 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 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 AUSF  322 ; an AMF  321 ; a SMF  324 ; a NEF  323 ; a PCF  326 ; a NRF  325 ; a UDM  327 ; an AF  328 ; a UPF  302 ; and a 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  via an N4 reference point between the SMF  324  and the UPF  302 . 
     The AUSF  322  may store 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  via an N12 reference point between the AMF  321  and the AUSF  322 ; and may communicate with the UDM  327  via an N13 reference point between the UDM  327  and the AUSF  322 . Additionally, the AUSF  322  may exhibit an Nausf service-based interface. 
     The AMF  321  may be responsible for registration management (e.g., for registering UE  301 , etc.), 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 an 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 proxy for routing SM messages. AMF  321  may also provide transport for SMS messages between UE  301  and an SMSF (not shown by  FIG.  3   ). AMF  321  may act as SEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF  322  and the UE  301 , receipt of an intermediate key that was established as a result of the UE  301  authentication process. Where USIM based authentication is used, the AMF  321  may retrieve the security material from the AUSF  322 . AMF  321  may also include a SCM function, which receives a key from the SEA that it uses to derive access-network specific keys. Furthermore, AMF  321  may be a termination point of a RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the (R)AN  310  and the AMF  321 ; and the AMF  321  may be a termination point of NAS (N1) signalling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. 
     AMF  321  may also support NAS signalling with a UE  301  over an N3 IWF interface. The N3IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. 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 signalling from the SMF  324  and the AMF  321  for PDU sessions and QoS, encapsulate/de-encapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunnelling, 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. N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control-plane NAS signalling between the UE  301  and AMF  321  via an 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 an Namf service-based interface, and may be a termination point for an N14 reference point between two AMFs  321  and an N17 reference point between the AMF  321  and a 5G-EIR (not shown by  FIG.  3   ). 
     The UE  301  may need to register with the AMF  321  in order to receive network services. 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 an 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 a data structure, database object, etc. that indicates or stores, inter alia, a registration state per access type and the periodic update timer. The AMF  321  may also store a 5GC MM context that may be the same or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. In various embodiments, the AMF  321  may store a CE 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). 
     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 comprises 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 . The UE  301  may operate in one of two CM states, CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode. When the UE  301  is operating in the CM-IDLE state/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 and/or N3 connections) for the UE  301 . When the UE  301  is operating in the CM-CONNECTED state/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 an N2 connection between the (R)AN  310  and the AMF  321  may cause the UE  301  to transition from CM-IDLE mode to 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 SM (e.g., 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 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 via 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 the following roaming functionality: handling local enforcement to apply QoS SLAB (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful intercept (in VPLMN for SM events and interface to LI system); and support for interaction with external DN for transport of signalling for PDU session authorization/authentication by external DN. An 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, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF  323  may authenticate, authorize, and/or throttle the AFs. 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, and/or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF  323  may exhibit an 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 behaviour. The PCF  326  may also implement an FE to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM  327 . The PCF  326  may communicate with the AMF  321  via 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  via an N5 reference point between the PCF  326  and the AF  328 ; and with the SMF  324  via an N7 reference point between the PCF  326  and the SMF  324 . The system  300  and/or CN  320  may also include an 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 an 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  via an N8 reference point between the UDM  327  and the AMF. The UDM  327  may include two parts, an application FE and a UDR (the FE and UDR are not shown by  FIG.  3   ). The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM  327  and the PCF  326 , and/or structured data for exposure and application data (including PFDs for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs  301 ) for the NEF  323 . 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-FE, which is in charge of processing credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification handling, access authorization, registration/mobility management, and subscription management. The UDR may interact with the SMF  324  via an N10 reference point between the UDM  327  and the SMF  324 . UDM  327  may also support SMS management, wherein an SMS-FE 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 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 via 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  via 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 an 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 S-NSSAIs, 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  via an N22 reference point between AMF  321  and NSSF  329 ; and may communicate with another NSSF  329  in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown by  FIG.  3   ). Additionally, the NSSF  329  may exhibit an 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/from the UE  301  to/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  320  may also include other elements that are not shown by  FIG.  3   , such as a Data Storage system/architecture, a 5G-EIR, a SEPP, and the like. The Data Storage system may include a SDSF, an UDSF, and/or the like. Any NF may store and retrieve unstructured data into/from the UDSF (e.g., UE contexts), via N18 reference point between any NF and the UDSF (not shown by  FIG.  3   ). Individual NFs may share a UDSF for storing their respective unstructured data or individual NFs may each have their own UDSF located at or near the individual NFs. Additionally, the UDSF may exhibit an Nudsf service-based interface (not shown by  FIG.  3   ). The 5G-EIR may be an NF that checks the status of PEI for determining whether particular equipment/entities are blacklisted from the network; and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topology hiding, message filtering, and policing on inter-PLMN control plane interfaces. 
     Additionally, there may be many more reference points and/or service-based interfaces between the NF services in the NFs; however, these interfaces and reference points have been omitted from  FIG.  3    for clarity. In one example, the CN  320  may include an 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/reference points may include an N5g-EIR service-based interface exhibited by a 5G-EIR, an N27 reference point between the NRF in the visited network and the NRF in the home network; and an N31 reference point between the NSSF in the visited network and the NSSF in the home network. 
       FIG.  4    illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary infrastructure equipment according to embodiments.  FIG.  4    illustrates an example of infrastructure equipment  400  in accordance with various embodiments. The infrastructure equipment  400  (or “system  400 ”) may be implemented as a base station, radio head, RAN node such as the RAN nodes  111  and/or AP  106  shown and described previously, application server(s)  130 , and/or any other element/device discussed herein. In other examples, the system  400  could be implemented in or by a UE  101 ,  201 , or  301 . 
     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  450 . In some embodiments, the device  400  may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device. For example, said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device for CRAN, vBBU, or other like implementations. 
     Application circuitry  405  includes circuitry such as, but not limited to one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I 2 C 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/storage elements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system  400 . In some implementations, the memory/storage elements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitable volatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein. 
     The processor(s) of 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 any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuitry  405  may comprise, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller to operate according to the various embodiments herein. 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 embodiments, the system  400  may not utilize application circuitry  405 , and instead may include a special-purpose processor/controller to process IP data received from an EPC or 5GC, for example. 
     In some implementations, 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) and/or deep learning (DL) accelerators. As 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), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such implementations, the circuitry of application circuitry  405  may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, 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), anti-fuses, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. 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 infra with regard to  FIG.  6   . 
     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, etc. 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, etc. 
     The radio front end modules (RFEMs)  415  may comprise a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, 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.  6    infra), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, 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 including dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and/or synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAIVI), etc., and may incorporate the 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. 
     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/from the infrastructure equipment  400  via 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 and/or FPGAs to communicate using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, 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/broadcasted by a positioning network of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or 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), etc.), or the like. The positioning circuitry  445  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 embodiments, 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/estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry  445  may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry  410  and/or RFEMs  415  to communicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuitry  445  may also provide position data and/or time data to the application circuitry  405 , which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN nodes  111 , etc.), or the like. 
     The components shown by  FIG.  4    may communicate with one another using interface circuitry, which may include any number of bus and/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/IX may be a proprietary bus, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems may be included, such as an I 2 C interface, an SPI interface, point to point interfaces, and a power bus, among others. 
       FIG.  5    illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary platform according to embodiments.  FIG.  5    illustrates an example of a platform  500  (or “device  500 ”) in accordance with various embodiments. In embodiments, the computer platform  500  may be suitable for use as UEs  101 ,  201 , application servers  130 , and/or any other element/device discussed herein. The platform  500  may include any combinations of the components shown in the example. The components of platform  500  may be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs), portions thereof, discrete electronic devices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof 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 computer platform  500 . However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangement of the components shown may occur in other implementations. 
     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, I 2 C 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/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system  500 . In some implementations, the memory/storage elements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitable volatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein. 
     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 embodiments, the application circuitry  405  may comprise, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller to operate according to the various embodiments 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 implementations, 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, application circuitry  505  may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more a field-programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs and the like; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such embodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry  505  may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitry of 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), anti-fuses, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. 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 infra with regard to  FIG.  6   . 
     The RFEMs  515  may comprise a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, 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.  6    infra), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, 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 including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and/or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc. 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, and/or soldered onto a motherboard via 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, inter alia, 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. For example, the computer platform  500  may incorporate the three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® and Micron®. 
     Removable memory circuitry  523  may include devices, circuitry, enclosures/housings, ports or receptacles, etc. 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 the like), and USB flash drives, optical discs, external HDDs, and the like. 
     The platform  500  may also include interface circuitry (not shown) that is used to connect external devices with the platform  500 . The external devices connected to the platform  500  via the interface circuitry include sensor circuitry  521  and electro-mechanical 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 (sensor data) about the detected events to some other a device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, inter alia, inertia measurement units (IMUS) comprising accelerometers, gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) or nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) comprising 3-axis accelerometers, 3-axis gyroscopes, and/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 like audio capture devices; etc. 
     EMCs  522  include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to enable platform  500  to change its state, position, and/or orientation, or move or control a mechanism or (sub)system. Additionally, EMCs  522  may be configured to generate and send messages/signalling 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 including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and/or solid state relays (SSRs), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), an audible sound generator, a visual warning device, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks, and/or other like electro-mechanical components. In embodiments, platform  500  is configured to operate one or more EMCs  522  based on one or more captured events and/or instructions or control signals received from a service provider and/or various clients. 
     In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect the platform  500  with positioning circuitry  545 . The positioning circuitry  545  includes circuitry to receive and decode signals transmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a GNSS. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or 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, etc.), or the like. 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 embodiments, the positioning circuitry  545  may include a Micro-PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking/estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry  545  may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry  410  and/or RFEMs  515  to communicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuitry  545  may also provide position data and/or 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 implementations, the interface circuitry may connect the platform  500  with Near-Field Communication (NFC) circuitry  540 . NFC circuitry  540  is configured to provide contactless, short-range communications based on radio frequency identification (RFID) standards, wherein 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”). NFC circuitry  540  comprises an NFC controller coupled with an antenna element and a processor coupled with the NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip/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, 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  and/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 often 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 . 
     In some embodiments, 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, handover, etc. The platform  500  goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. The platform  500  may not receive data in this state; in order to receive data, it can then transition back to RRC_Connected state. 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 is unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time 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 mounted 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, a lithium-air battery, and the like. In some implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery  530  may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery. 
     In some implementations, 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, sensing frequency, and the like. 
     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 XS30 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. 
     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  and/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, inter alia, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, keypad, mouse, touchpad, touchscreen, microphones, scanner, headset, and/or the like. 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 like information. Output device circuitry may include any number and/or combinations of audio or visual display, including, inter alia, one or more simple visual outputs/indicators (e.g., binary status indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and 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, projectors, etc.), with the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, and the like being generated or produced from the operation of the platform  500 . The output device circuitry may also include speakers or other audio emitting devices, printer(s), and/or the like. In some embodiments, the sensor circuitry  521  may be used as the input device circuitry (e.g., an image capture device, motion capture device, or the like) and one or more EMCs may be used as the output device circuitry (e.g., an actuator to provide haptic feedback or the like). 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 and/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, a power supply interface, etc. 
     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/IX may be a proprietary bus/IX, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems may be included, such as an I 2 C interface, an SPI interface, point-to-point interfaces, and a power bus, among others. 
       FIG.  6    illustrates a block diagram of baseband circuitry and front end modules according to embodiments.  FIG.  6    illustrates example components of baseband circuitry  610  and radio front end modules (RFEM)  615  in accordance with various embodiments. The baseband circuitry  610  corresponds to the baseband circuitry  410  and  510  of  FIGS.  4  and  5   , respectively. The RFEM  615  corresponds 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 at least as shown. 
     The baseband circuitry  610  includes circuitry and/or control logic configured to carry out various radio/network protocol and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry  606 . The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry  610  may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry  610  may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments. 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  405 / 505  (see Figures XS 1  and XS 2 ) 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/or 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/LTE baseband processor  604 B, a 5G/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), etc.). In other embodiments, 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 via a Central Processing Unit (CPU)  604 E. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors  604 A-D may be provided as hardware accelerators (e.g., FPGAs, ASICs, etc.) loaded with the appropriate bit streams or logic blocks stored in respective memory cells. In various embodiments, 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, etc. 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/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. 
     In some embodiments, each of the processors  604 A- 604 E include respective memory interfaces to send/receive data to/from the memory  604 G. The baseband circuitry  610  may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry  610 ; an application circuitry interface to send/receive data to/from the application circuitry  405 / 505  of  FIGS.  4  and  5   ); an RF circuitry interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry  606  of  FIG.  6   ; a wireless hardware connectivity interface to send/receive data to/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/receive power or control signals to/from the PMIC  525 . 
     In alternate embodiments (which may be combined with the above described embodiments), baseband circuitry  610  comprises one or more digital baseband systems, which are coupled with one another via 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 via another interconnect subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems may include a bus system, point-to-point connections, network-on-chip (NOC) structures, and/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, and/or other like components. In an aspect of the present disclosure, 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 and/or radio frequency circuitry (e.g., the radio front end modules  615 ). 
     Although not shown by  FIG.  6   , in some embodiments, 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 these embodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry operates or implements various protocol layers/entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, the protocol processing circuitry may operate LTE protocol entities and/or 5G/NR protocol entities when the baseband circuitry  610  and/or RF circuitry  606  are part of mmWave communication circuitry or some other suitable cellular communication circuitry. In the first example, the protocol processing circuitry would operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In a second example, the protocol processing circuitry may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols when the baseband circuitry  610  and/or RF circuitry  606  are part of a Wi-Fi communication system. In the second example, the protocol processing circuitry would 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 one example, 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 another example, 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 another example, 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 yet another example, 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 embodiments, the baseband circuitry  610  may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  610  may support communication with an E-UTRAN or other WMAN, a WLAN, a WPAN. Embodiments 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. 
     RF circuitry  606  may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry  606  may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. 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 . 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. 
     In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry  606  may include mixer circuitry  606 A, amplifier circuitry  606 B and filter circuitry  606 C. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry  606  may include filter circuitry  606 C and mixer circuitry  606 A. RF circuitry  606  may also include 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 embodiments, 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 embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry  606 A of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. 
     In some embodiments, 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 embodiments, 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 embodiments, 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 embodiments, 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 embodiments, 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 embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, 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 embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. 
     In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry  606 D may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. 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 embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry  606 D may be a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer. 
     In some embodiments, 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 embodiments, 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 . 
     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 embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, 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 example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, 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 embodiments, synthesizer circuitry  606 D may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, 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 embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry  606  may include an IQ/polar converter. 
     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. 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 . In various embodiments, 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 embodiments, 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 via the antenna elements of the antenna array  611  including one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional, direction, 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 in 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 a block diagram of exemplary protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device according to embodiments.  FIG.  7    illustrates various protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device according to various embodiments. In particular,  FIG.  7    includes an arrangement  700  showing interconnections between various protocol layers/entities. The following description of  FIG.  7    is provided for various protocol layers/entities that operate in conjunction with the 5G/NR system standards and LTE system standards, but some or all of the aspects of  FIG.  7    may be applicable to other wireless communication network systems as well. 
     The protocol layers of arrangement  700  may include one or more of PHY  710 , MAC  720 , RLC  730 , PDCP  740 , SDAP  747 , RRC  755 , and NAS layer  757 , in addition to other higher layer functions not illustrated. The protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., items  759 ,  756 ,  750 ,  749 ,  745 ,  735 ,  725 , and  715  in  FIG.  7   ) that may provide communication between two or more protocol layers. 
     The PHY  710  may transmit and receive physical layer signals  705  that may be received from or transmitted to one or more other communication devices. The physical layer signals  705  may comprise one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. The PHY  710  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  755 . The PHY  710  may still further perform error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. In embodiments, an instance of PHY  710  may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of MAC  720  via one or more PHY-SAP  715 . According to some embodiments, requests and indications communicated via PHY-SAP  715  may comprise one or more transport channels. 
     Instance(s) of MAC  720  may process requests from, and provide indications to, an instance of RLC  730  via one or more MAC-SAPs  725 . These requests and indications communicated via the MAC-SAP  725  may comprise one or more logical channels. The MAC  720  may perform mapping between the logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be delivered to PHY  710  via the transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or more logical channels from TBs delivered from the PHY  710  via transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, and logical channel prioritization. 
     Instance(s) of RLC  730  may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of PDCP  740  via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAP)  735 . These requests and indications communicated via RLC-SAP  735  may comprise one or more RLC channels. The RLC  730  may operate in a plurality of modes of operation, including: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC  730  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  730  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  740  may process requests from and provide indications to instance(s) of RRC  755  and/or instance(s) of SDAP  747  via one or more packet data convergence protocol service access points (PDCP-SAP)  745 . These requests and indications communicated via PDCP-SAP  745  may comprise one or more radio bearers. The PDCP  740  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, integrity verification, etc.). 
     Instance(s) of SDAP  747  may process requests from and provide indications to one or more higher layer protocol entities via one or more SDAP-SAP  749 . These requests and indications communicated via SDAP-SAP  749  may comprise one or more QoS flows. The SDAP  747  may map QoS flows to DRBs, and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL and UL packets. A single SDAP entity  747  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  747  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  747  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  755  configuring the SDAP  747  with an explicit QoS flow to DRB mapping rule, which may be stored and followed by the SDAP  747 . In embodiments, the SDAP  747  may only be used in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations. 
     The RRC  755  may configure, via 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  710 , MAC  720 , RLC  730 , PDCP  740  and SDAP  747 . In embodiments, an instance of RRC  755  may process requests from and provide indications to one or more NAS entities  757  via one or more RRC-SAPs  756 . The main services and functions of the RRC  755  may include broadcast of system information (e.g., included in MIBs or 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 IEs, which may each comprise individual data fields or data structures. 
     The NAS  757  may form the highest stratum of the control plane between the UE  101  and the AMF  321 . The NAS  757  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. 
     According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities of arrangement  700  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 such embodiments, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE  101 , gNB  111 , AMF  321 , etc. 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 embodiments, a gNB-CU of the gNB  111  may host the RRC  755 , SDAP  747 , and PDCP  740  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  730 , MAC  720 , and PHY  710  of the gNB  111 . 
     In a first example, a control plane protocol stack may comprise, in order from highest layer to lowest layer, NAS  757 , RRC  755 , PDCP  740 , RLC  730 , MAC  720 , and PHY  710 . In this example, upper layers  760  may be built on top of the NAS  757 , which includes an IP layer  761 , an SCTP  762 , and an application layer signaling protocol (AP)  763 . 
     In NR implementations, the AP  763  may be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP)  763  for the NG interface  113  defined between the NG-RAN node  111  and the AMF  321 , or the AP  763  may be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP)  763  for the Xn interface  112  that is defined between two or more RAN nodes  111 . 
     The NG-AP  763  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  763  services may comprise 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 including, 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, and/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 via 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, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes  111  via CN  120 ; and/or other like functions. 
     The XnAP  763  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, dual connectivity related procedures, and the like. 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, cell activation procedures, and the like. 
     In LTE implementations, the AP  763  may be an S1 Application Protocol layer (S1-AP)  763  for the S1 interface  113  defined between an E-UTRAN node  111  and an MME, or the AP  763  may be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP)  763  for the X2 interface  112  that is defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes  111 . 
     The S1 Application Protocol layer (S1-AP)  763  may support the functions of the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, the S1-AP may comprise 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  763  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  763  may support the functions of the X2 interface  112  and may comprise X2AP basic mobility procedures and X2AP global procedures. The X2AP basic mobility procedures may comprise 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, dual connectivity related procedures, and the like. 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, cell activation procedures, and the like. 
     The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP/IP layer)  762  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  762  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  761 . The Internet Protocol layer (IP)  761  may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functionality. In some implementations the IP layer  761  may use point-to-point transmission to deliver and convey PDUs. In this regard, the RAN node  111  may comprise L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME/AMF to exchange information. 
     In a second example, a user plane protocol stack may comprise, in order from highest layer to lowest layer, SDAP  747 , PDCP  740 , RLC  730 , MAC  720 , and PHY  710 . 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  751  may be built on top of the SDAP  747 , and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP/IP)  752 , a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol for the user plane layer (GTP-U)  753 , and a User Plane PDU layer (UP PDU)  763 . 
     The transport network layer  754  (also referred to as a “transport layer”) may be built on IP transport, and the GTP-U  753  may be used on top of the UDP/IP layer  752  (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  753  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  752  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 via a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer (e.g., PHY  710 ), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC  720 , RLC  730 , PDCP  740 , and/or SDAP  747 ), the UDP/IP layer  752 , and the GTP-U  753 . The S-GW  222  and the P-GW  223  may utilize an S5/S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer, an L2 layer, the UDP/IP layer  752 , and the GTP-U  753 . 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.  7   , an application layer may be present above the AP  763  and/or the transport network layer  754 . 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 implementations the IP layer and/or the application layer 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.  8    illustrates a block diagram of exemplary core network components according to embodiments.  FIG.  8    illustrates components of a core network in accordance with various embodiments. The components of the CN  220  may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes including components to read and execute instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In embodiments, 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 embodiments, NFV is utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-described network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). A logical instantiation of the CN  220  may be referred to as a network slice  801 , 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  802  (e.g., the network sub-slice  802  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 always comprises 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 and also by providing different L1/L2 configurations. 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. 
     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 and/or may have different SSTs. 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, and/or multiple network slice instances may deliver the same service/features but for different groups of UEs  301  (e.g., enterprise users). For example, individual network slices may deliver different committed service(s) and/or may be dedicated to a particular customer or enterprise. 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 via a 5G AN and 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 implementations, 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/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/functions. 
       FIG.  9    illustrates a block diagram of system components for supporting network function virtualization according to embodiments.  FIG.  9    is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, of a system  900  to support NFV. The system  900  is illustrated as including a VIM  902 , an NFVI  904 , an VNFM  906 , VNFs  908 , an EM  910 , an NFVO  912 , and a NM  914 . 
     The VIM  902  manages the resources of the NFVI  904 . The NFVI  904  can include physical or virtual resources and applications (including hypervisors) used to execute the system  900 . The VIM  902  may manage the life cycle of virtual resources with the NFVI  904  (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  906  may manage the VNFs  908 . The VNFs  908  may be used to execute EPC components/functions. The VNFM  906  may manage the life cycle of the VNFs  908  and track performance, fault and security of the virtual aspects of VNFs  908 . The EM  910  may track the performance, fault and security of the functional aspects of VNFs  908 . The tracking data from the VNFM  906  and the EM  910  may comprise, for example, PM data used by the VIM  902  or the NFVI  904 . Both the VNFM  906  and the EM  910  can scale up/down the quantity of VNFs of the system  900 . 
     The NFVO  912  may coordinate, authorize, release and engage resources of the NFVI  904  in order to provide the requested service (e.g., to execute an EPC function, component, or slice). The NM  914  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 via the EM  910 ). 
       FIG.  10    illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computer system that can be utilized to implement various embodiments.  FIG.  10    is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically,  FIG.  10    shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources  1000  including one or more processors (or processor cores)  1010 , one or more memory/storage devices  1020 , and one or more communication resources  1030 , each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus  1040 . For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor  1002  may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources  1000 . 
     The processors  1010  may include, for example, a processor  1012  and a processor  1014 . The processor(s)  1010  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  1020  may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices  1020  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, solid-state storage, etc. 
     The communication resources  1030  may include interconnection or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices  1004  or one or more databases  1006  via a network  1008 . For example, the communication resources  1030  may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components. 
     Instructions  1050  may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors  1010  to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions  1050  may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors  1010  (e.g., within the processor&#39;s cache memory), the memory/storage devices  1020 , or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions  1050  may be transferred to the hardware resources  1000  from any combination of the peripheral devices  1004  or the databases  1006 . Accordingly, the memory of processors  1010 , the memory/storage devices  1020 , the peripheral devices  1004 , and the databases  1006  are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media. 
       FIG.  11    illustrates a method  1100  of operating the system according to embodiments of the disclosure. The method  1100  includes: receiving, by a UE, a first configuration signal as shown in box  1102 ; generating, by the UE, a UE assistance feedback based on the first configuration signal as shown in box  1104 ; and transmitting, by the UE, a first message comprising the UE assistance feedback in an uplink (UL) channel, wherein the first message contains an index of a profile with information on a service requirement, a traffic characteristic, or a combination thereof of a network as shown in box  1106 . 
       FIG.  12    illustrates a further method  1200  of operating the system according to embodiments of the disclosure. The method  1200  includes: receiving, by a UE, a first configuration signal using a radio resource control (RRC) signaling as shown in box  1202 ; generating, by the UE, a UE assistance feedback based on the first configuration signal as shown in box  1204 ; and transmitting, by the UE, a first message comprising the UE assistance feedback in an uplink (UL) channel, wherein the first message contains an index of a profile with information on a service requirement, a traffic characteristic, or a combination thereof of a network as shown in box  1206 . 
       FIG.  13    illustrates a further method  1300  of operating the system according to embodiments of the disclosure. The method  1300  includes: receiving, by a UE, a first configuration signal as shown in box  1302 ; generating, by the UE, a UE assistance feedback based on the first configuration signal as shown in box  1304 ; and transmitting a first message comprising a UE assistance feedback in an uplink (UL) channel, wherein the first message contains an index of a profile with information on a service requirement, a traffic characteristic, or a combination thereof of a network, and wherein transmitting the first message with the index of the profile having to one or more set of parameters from: a timeline parameter, a bandwidth part (BWP) configuration, an antenna configuration, a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration, a secondary cell (SCell) configuration, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) parameters, or a number of carriers as shown in box  1306 . 
     The processes and functions described in  FIGS.  11 - 12    can be performed by one or more of application circuitry  405  or  505 , baseband circuitry  410  or  510 , or processors  1014 . 
     For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the example section. 
     EXAMPLES 
     Example 1 may include the method of NR communication, where receiving by a UE, a first configuration signaling, enabling the UE to send UE assistance feedback transmitting by the UE, a first message comprising UE assistance feedback, in a UL channel, where the first message contains an index of a profile. 
     Example 2 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein, the first signaling is transmitted by RRC signaling. 
     Example 3 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein, the profile index correspond to one or more set of parameters from list at the top of Page 3. 
     Example 4 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein, the first signaling is sent in a DL grant. 
     Example 5 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, where the UE assistance feedback is transmitted by MAC CE and mapped to UL-SCH. 
     Example 6 may include a method comprising: identifying UE assistance information that includes UE preferences for one or more of a timeline parameter, a bandwidth part configuration, an antenna configuration, a DRX configuration, an SCEll/SCG activation/de-activation configuration, PDCCH parameters, or a number of carriers; and transmitting or causing to transmit a message to a gNB to indicate the UE assistance information. 
     Example 7 may include the method of Example 6, wherein the antenna configuration includes one or more of a number of MIMO layers or antenna panel awareness information. 
     Example 8 may include the method of Example 6-7 or another example herein, wherein the DRX configuration includes one or more of a preferred inactivity timer, on duration timer, or DRX cycle. 
     Example 9 may include the method of Example 6-8 or another example herein, wherein the PDCCH parameters include one or more of PDCCH monitoring parameters, a search space configuration, or a maximum number of blind decoding candidates. 
     Example 10 may include the method of examples 6-9 or another example herein, wherein the message includes a profile index to be used by the gNB to obtain the UE assistance information. 
     Example 11 may include the method of Example 10 or another example herein, further comprising receiving configuration information for a plurality of profiles, wherein individual profiles correspond to different sets of UE assistance information. 
     Example 12 may include the method of Example 6-11 or another example herein, wherein the message is transmitted periodically or based on expiration of a timer. 
     Example 13 may include the method of Example 6-12 or another example herein, further comprising receiving a request for the UE assistance information, wherein the message is transmitted responsive to the request. 
     Example 14 may include the method of Example 13 or another example herein, wherein the request is included in a downlink control information (DCI) message intended for a group of UEs, wherein the request includes multiple fields and wherein individual fields correspond to different UEs to indicate whether UE assistance information is triggered from the respective UE. 
     Example 15 may include the method of Example 6-14 or another example herein, wherein the message is transmitted by radio resource control (RRC) signaling. 
     Example 16 may include the method of Example 6-14 or another example herein, wherein the message is a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE). 
     Example 17 may include the method of Example 6-14 or another example herein, wherein the message is transmitted in an uplink control channel. 
     Example 18 may include the method of Example 17 or another example herein, wherein the uplink control channel is a PUSCH or a PUCCH. 
     Example 19 may include the method of Example 6-14 or another example herein, wherein the message is transmitted during RRC connection setup. 
     Example 20 may include the method of Example 19 or another example herein, wherein the message is included in MSG4. 
     Example 21 may include the method of Example 6-20 or another example herein, wherein the method is performed by a UE or a portion thereof. 
     Example 22 may include a method comprising: receiving, from a UE, an indication of UE assistance information that includes UE preferences for one or more of a timeline parameter, a bandwidth part configuration, an antenna configuration, a DRX configuration, an SCEll/SCG activation/de-activation configuration, PDCCH parameters, or a number of carriers; and determining one or more configuration parameters for the UE based on the UE assistance information. 
     Example 23 may include the method of Example 22, wherein the antenna configuration includes one or more of a number of MIMO layers or antenna panel awareness information. 
     Example 24 may include the method of Example 22-23 or another example herein, wherein the DRX configuration includes one or more of a preferred inactivity timer, on duration timer, or DRX cycle. 
     Example 25 may include the method of Example 22-24 or another example herein, wherein the PDCCH parameters include one or more of PDCCH monitoring parameters, a search space configuration, or a maximum number of blind decoding candidates. 
     Example 26 may include the method of examples 22-25 or another example herein, wherein the message includes a profile index, and wherein the method further comprises identifying the UE assistance information based on the profile index. 
     Example 27 may include the method of Example 26 or another example herein, further comprising transmitting or causing to transmit, to the UE, configuration information for a plurality of profiles, wherein individual profiles correspond to different sets of UE assistance information. 
     Example 28 may include the method of Example 22-27 or another example herein, wherein the message is received periodically or based on expiration of a timer. 
     Example 29 may include the method of Example 22-28 or another example herein, further comprising transmitting or causing to transmit, to the UE, a request for the UE assistance information, wherein the message is received responsive to the request. 
     Example 30 may include the method of Example 29 or another example herein, wherein the request is included in a downlink control information (DCI) message intended for a group of UEs, wherein the request includes multiple fields and wherein individual fields correspond to different UEs to indicate whether UE assistance information is triggered from the respective UE. 
     Example 31 may include the method of Example 22-30 or another example herein, wherein the message is received by radio resource control (RRC) signaling. 
     Example 32 may include the method of Example 22-30 or another example herein, wherein the message is a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE). 
     Example 33 may include the method of Example 22-30 or another example herein, wherein the message is transmitted in an uplink control channel. 
     Example 34 may include the method of Example 33 or another example herein, wherein the uplink control channel is a PUSCH or a PUCCH. 
     Example 35 may include the method of Example 22-30 or another example herein, wherein the message is transmitted during RRC connection setup. 
     Example 36 may include the method of Example 35 or another example herein, wherein the message is included in MSG4. 
     Example 37 may include the method of Example 22-30 or another example herein, wherein the method is performed by a gNB or a portion thereof. 
     Example 38 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-37, or any other method or process described herein. 
     Example 39 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-37, or any other method or process described herein. 
     Example 40 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-37, or any other method or process described herein. 
     Example 41 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-37, or portions or parts thereof. 
     Example 42 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-37, or portions thereof. 
     Example 43 may include a signal as described in or related to any of examples 1-37, or portions or parts thereof. 
     Example 44 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein. 
     Example 45 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein. 
     Example 46 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. 
     Example 47 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. 
     Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples), unless explicitly stated otherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments. 
     Terminology 
     For the purposes of the present document, the following terms and definitions are applicable to the examples and embodiments discussed herein, but are not meant to be limiting. 
     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/. 
     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: 20200110
Publication Date: 20250107
Grant Date: 20250107
Priority Date: 20190111
Inventors: ISLAM, TOUFIQUL
HE, HONG
ERMOLAEV, Grigory
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H04W72/1268", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/044", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W76/28", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W76/28", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B7/0413", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L5/0053", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L5/001", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W76/15", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/23", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/0457", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W8/24", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "Y02D30/70", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W28/02", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B7/0417", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/21", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/21", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W76/28", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/1268", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W72/044", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B7/0417", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 69467790