Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for physical broadcast channel extension are provided. For example, a method can include mapping, by the network element, symbols of a physical channel to a first set of resource elements. The method can also include identifying, by the network element, a portion of the symbols of the physical channel mapped outside a second set of resource elements. The second set of resource elements can be a subset of the first set of resource elements, The method can further include preparing, by the network element, replacement symbols corresponding to a first portion of the physical channel outside the second set of resource elements. The method can additionally include mapping, by the network element, the replacement symbols to the second set of resource elements in extension symbols. The method can also include transmitting, by the network element, the physical channel and the extension symbols.

Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for positioning support are provided. One method may include receiving, by a UE configured with power saving feature(s), positioning performance requirements for a positioning session. The method may also include estimating an impact of one or more power saving or reduced capability features on positioning measurements associated with the positioning session and, based on the accuracy and latency requirements and the estimated impact, determining the power saving or reduced capability features that the UE can implement while still achieving the accuracy and latency requirements for the positioning session. The method may then include signaling, to a network node, information on the determined power saving or reduced capability features that the UE can implement while still achieving the required accuracy and latency requirements for the positioning session.

Abstract: Example embodiments of the invention provide at least a method an apparatus to perform reporting, by the apparatus, information comprises an indication of at least one aggregation level for a performance target of a physical downlink control channel; receiving, from a network node of the communication network, an assignment for a search space set comprising at least one physical downlink control channel candidate; and based on the assignment, performing blind detection of a physical downlink control channel on the at least one assigned physical downlink control channel candidate.

Abstract: An apparatus includes at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory memory including computer program code; wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive from a network a configuration of two or more uplink grants; transmit uplink data to the network during operating in a given time with one of the two or more uplink grants; and operate with a first operation following receiving an indication of triggering the first operation for the apparatus, or following the apparatus autonomously triggering the first operation; wherein operating with the first operation corresponds to at least using the one of the two or more uplink grants for uplink transmission.

Abstract: Example embodiments of the invention provide at least a method and apparatus to perform at least determining, by a user equipment of a communication network, information comprising a plurality of frequency ranges of a transmission; receiving, by the user equipment, the plurality of frequency ranges of the transmission distributed over different time slots monitored by the user equipment; and combining, by the user equipment, the received plurality of frequency ranges to derive content of the transmission. Further, to perform at least determining, by a network device of a communication network, information comprising a plurality of frequency ranges of a transmission; and sending, by the network device, to user equipment of the communication network the plurality of frequency ranges of the transmission distributed over different time slots monitored by the user equipment for causing combining at the user equipment to derive content of the transmission.

Abstract: A method may include monitoring, by a user equipment, a first wake up signal prior to a paging occasion during a discontinuous reception cycle. The method may also include decoding a physical down-link control channel based on the paging occasion in response to detecting the first wake up signal. The method may also include determining that the decoding failed. The method may further include switching to a common paging occasion to decode the physical downlink control channel after determining that the decoding failed.

Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for power saving for reduced capability devices. The method may include receiving a higher layer configuration from a network element. The higher layer configuration may include a slot type configuration for at least one of a first bandwidth communication and a second bandwidth communication. The method may also include performing, based on the higher layer configuration, in a certain slot, data communication with the network element under one of the first bandwidth communication or the second bandwidth communication.

Abstract: Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to devices, methods, apparatuses and computer readable storage media of extended bandwidth allocation. In example embodiments, a first device receives, from a second device, an indication of a reference bandwidth. The first device receives, from the second device, an indication of a bandwidth extended from the reference bandwidth and receives, from the second device, an indication of at least one frequency offset of a first set of narrowbands with respect to a second set of narrowbands associated with the reference bandwidth. Then, the first device determines, based on the reference bandwidth, the extended bandwidth and the at least one frequency offset, the first set of narrowbands for communication with the second device.

Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for deploying an unmanned vehicle base station (BS) are provided. One method may include receiving an indication from at least one device of its capability to switch to a temporary cell of an unmanned vehicle base station (BS), and determining, based on knowledge of locations on a planned path of the unmanned vehicle base station (BS), which of the at least one device is located within coverage of one of the locations on the planned path. The method may then include configuring discontinuous reception cycles or Power-Saving Mode (PSM) of the at least one device so that the at least one device is awake when the unmanned vehicle base station (BS) establishes the temporary cell.

Abstract: According to an aspect, there is provided an apparatus for controlling a terminal device. The apparatus monitors a current charge level of a rechargeable energy storage device of the terminal device and a current energy harvesting state of an energy harvesting device of the terminal device. When the current energy harvesting state corresponds to an energy harvesting state indicative of no energy being harvested, the apparatus causes the terminal device to operate in one of a first, second and third operating modes depending on a value of the current charge level relative to first and second thresholds. The first, second and third operating modes and the first and second thresholds are defined so that the uplink transmission functionality of the terminal device is disabled when the current charge level drops below the first threshold and the downlink transmission functionality of the terminal device is disabled when the current charge level drops below both thresholds.

Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for initialization and operation of intelligent reflecting surface. The method may include transmitting a synchronization signal block burst to a reflection surface device. The method may also include receiving a first measurement report of the synchronization signal block burst received at the reflection surface device. The method may further include determining a transmit beam for a subsequent synchronization signal block burst based on a highest strength of signals in the synchronization signal block burst. In addition, the method may include receiving a second measurement report of the subsequent synchronization signal block burst. Further, the method may include determining an arrival angle of the subsequent synchronization signal block burst at the reflection surface device. The method may also include establishing a connection with the reflection surface device based on the transmit beam and the arrival angle.

Abstract: A method for allocating resources in a wireless network by making use of a resource pool and a resource selection policy. A user equipment is configured by a base station to use a pool of resources and a resource selection policy to use to select one or more resources from the pool of resources. The information from the user equipment in the selected resources is provided to the base station. The resource selection policy may include a random choice of resource blocks. The resource selection policies may be defined prior to the configuring, and they may be mapped to quality of service requirements. The base station may determine the resource selection policy from the defined resource selection policies. The method may be used for a policy-based resource pool allocation for low-latency HOT and other applications.

Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for intelligent reflecting surface configuration. The method may include scanning for synchronization signal blocks and reflection surface synchronization signal blocks during a cell search at a frequency on a synchronization raster. The method may also include determining whether a synchronization signal block or a reflection surface synchronization signal block is detected as a result of the scanning. The method may further include selecting a detected synchronization signal block or a detected reflection synchronization signal block based on a measurement metric of the detected synchronization signal block and the detected reflection synchronization signal block. In addition, the method may include performing an access procedure with a network element using the selected synchronization signal block or the selected reflection synchronization signal block.

Abstract: A technique includes receiving an uplink grant that indicates a size (M) of uplink resources allocated to the user device sub-band precoder indications; determining a set of uplink sub-band allocation parameters, including at least: a total number of bits (N) for sub-band precoder indications (where N remains constant for different values of M); a number of bits (m) per each of the sub-band precoder indications; and a sub-band size (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands; wherein at least one of the number of bits (m) per sub-band precoder indication and the sub-band size (J) for each of the one or more sub-bands changes or is a different value based on different sizes (M) of uplink resources; decoding each of the one or more sub-band precoder indications; and precoding, based on the one or more sub-band precoder indications, data for transmission via the one or more sub-bands.

Abstract: An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform: determining at least one condition; and based on the at least one condition, transmitting a data packet to a first access node using one of a first early data transmission type in a first mode of operation and a second early data transmission type in a second mode of operation of the apparatus.

Abstract: A method may include determining, by a user equipment, a beam alignment reference value and a beam alignment test value; and determining, by the user equipment, based on the beam alignment reference value and the beam alignment test value, that a user equipment receive beam used by the user equipment is not aligned with a transmit beam of the base station.

Abstract: Techniques of defining a transmission scheme for NB-IoT data include determining the TBS based on 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) analysis but use quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) for modulation. For example, a base station (eNB) may determine that a UE is configured to receive or transmit data with 16-QAM modulation via capability signalling from the UE. Upon performing this determination, the eNB transmits configuration data to the UE, e.g., via DCI, configuring the UE to receive data over a narrowband physical downlink shared channel (NPDSCH) using 16-QAM modulation. Part of the configuration data indicates whether the UE is to support 16-QAM modulation with or without repetition via radio resource control (RRC) parameter modulation-restriction-Repetitions. Depending upon this indication, the UE may use quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) rather than 16-QAM despite selecting or being assigned a TBS based on 16-QAM modulation.

Abstract: Various communication systems may benefit from enhanced cell capacity. For example, certain embodiments may benefit from improved packet capacity by managing transmissions in a cell. A method, in certain embodiments, may include determining at a network node whether a packet is of a service type. The service type may indicate that the packet is discardable. The method may also include calculating at the network node a probability factor or a scheduling adjustment factor for transmission of the packet, when it is determined that the packet is of the service type. In addition, the method may include determining at the network node whether to transmit the packet to a user equipment based on the probability factor, or adjusting at the network node a scheduler metric based on the scheduling adjustment factor.

Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for downlink channel quality report for narrowband Internet of things user equipment. The method may include determining one or more of a physical random access channel repetition level or a reference signal received power. The method may also include selecting a channel quality table to use based on one or more of the physical random access channel repetition level or the reference signal received power. The method may further include determining a downlink channel quality report by using the selected channel quality table. In addition, the method may include transmitting the downlink channel quality report to the network element.

Abstract: According to an aspect, there is provided an apparatus for controlling a terminal device. The apparatus monitors a current charge level of a rechargeable energy storage device of the terminal device and a current energy harvesting state of an energy harvesting device of the terminal device. When the current energy harvesting state corresponds to an energy harvesting state indicative of no energy being harvested, the apparatus causes the terminal device to operate in one of a first, second and third operating modes depending on a value of the current charge level relative to first and second thresholds. The first, second and third operating modes and the first and second thresholds are defined so that the uplink transmission functionality of the terminal device is disabled when the current charge level drops below the first threshold and the downlink transmission functionality of the terminal device is disabled when the current charge level drops below both thresholds.