LOGGING AND REPORTING OF AERIAL UE-SPECIFIC INFORMATION

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to wireless communication networks and particularly relate to improved techniques for reporting of information associated with failures (e.g., radio link failures) experienced by aerial user equipment (UE) while operating in such networks.

BACKGROUND

Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is an umbrella term for fourth-generation (4G) radio access technologies developed within the Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and initially standardized in Release 8 (Rel-8) and Release 9 (Rel-9), also known as Evolved UTRAN (E- UTRAN). LTE is targeted at various licensed frequency bands and is accompanied by improvements to non-radio aspects commonly referred to as System Architecture Evolution (SAE), which includes Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network. LTE continues to evolve through subsequent releases.

Figure 1 illustrates an example architecture of a network comprising LTE and SAE E- UTRAN 100 includes one or more evolved Node B’s (eNB), such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115, and one or more user equipment (UE), such as UE 120. As used within the 3GPP standards, “user equipment” or “UE” means any wireless communication device (e.g., smartphone or computing device) that is capable of communicating with 3GPP-standard-compliant network equipment, including E-UTRAN as well as UTRAN and/or GERAN, as the third-generation (“3G”) and second-generation (“2G”) 3 GPP RANs are commonly known.

As specified by 3 GPP, E-UTRAN 100 is responsible for all radio-related functions in the network, including radio bearer control, radio admission control, radio mobility control, scheduling, and dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in uplink and downlink, as well as security of the communications with the UE. These functions reside in the eNBs, such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115. Each of the eNBs serve a geographic coverage area including one more cells, including cells 106, 111, and 115 served by eNBs 105, 110, and 115, respectively.

The eNBs in the E-UTRAN communicate with each other via the X2 interface, as illustrated in Figure 1. The eNBs also are responsible for the E-UTRAN interface to EPC 130, specifically the S 1 interface to the Mobility Management Entity (MME) and the Serving Gateway (SGW), illustrated collectively as MME/S-GWs 134 and 138 in Figure 1. In general, the MME/S- GW handles both the overall control of the UE and data flow between the UE and the rest of the EPC. More specifically, the MME processes the signaling (e.g., control plane) protocols between the UE and the EPC, which are referred to as the Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocols. The S- GW handles all Internet Protocol (IP) data packets (e.g., data or user plane) between the UE and the EPC and serves as the local mobility anchor for the data bearers when the UE moves between eNBs, such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115.

EPC 130 may also include a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 131, which manages user- and subscriber-related information. HSS 131 may also provide support functions in mobility management, call and session setup, user authentication and access authorization. The functions of HSS 131 may be related to the functions of legacy Home Location Register (HLR) and Authentication Centre (AuC) functions or operations. HSS 131 may also communicate with MMEs 134 and 138 via respective S6a interfaces.

In some embodiments, HSS 131 may communicate with a user data repository (UDR) - labelled EPC-UDR 135 in Figure 1 - via a Ud interface. EPC-UDR 135 may store user credentials after they have been encrypted by AuC algorithms. These algorithms are not standardized (i.e., vendor-specific), such that encrypted credentials stored in EPC-UDR 135 are inaccessible by any other vendor than the vendor of HSS 131.

Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example control plane (CP) protocol stack between a UE, an eNB, and an MME. The example protocol stack includes Physical (PHY), Medium Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), and Radio Resource Control (RRC) layers between the UE and eNB.

The PHY layer is concerned with how and what characteristics are used to transfer data over transport channels on the LTE radio interface. The MAC layer provides data transfer services on logical channels, maps logical channels to PHY transport channels, and reallocates PHY resources to support these services. The RLC layer provides error detection and/or correction, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly, reordering of data transferred to or from the upper layers. The PDCP layer provides ciphering/deciphering and integrity protection for both CP and user plane (UP), as well as other UP functions such as header compression. The example protocol stack also includes non-access stratum (NAS) signaling between the UE and the MME.

The RRC layer controls communications between a UE and an eNB at the radio interface, as well as the mobility of a UE between cells in the E-UTRAN. After a UE is powered ON it is in the RRC IDLE state until an RRC connection is established with the network, at which time the UE will transition to RRC_CONNECTED state (e.g., where data transfer can occur).

The UE returns to RRC IDLE after the connection with the network is released. In RRC_ IDLE state, the UE does not belong to any cell, no RRC context has been established for the UE (e.g., in E-UTRAN), and the UE is out of uplink synchronization with the network. Even so, a UE in RRC__IDLE state is known in the EPC and has an assigned IP address. Furthermore, in RRCJDLE state, the UE radio is active on a discontinuous reception (DRX) schedule configured by upper layers. During DRX active periods (also referred to as “On durations”), an RRCJDLE UE receives system information (SI) broadcast by a serving cell, performs measurements of neighbor ceils to support cell reselection, and monitors a paging channel for pages from the EEC via an eNB serving the cell in which the UE is camping.

A UE must perform a random-access (RA) procedure to move from RRC DLE to RRC_CONNECTED state. In RRC_CONNECTED state, the cell serving the UE is known and an RRC context is established for the UE in the serving eNB, such that the UE and eNB can communicate. For example, a Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) - a UE identity used for signaling between UE and network - is configured for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED state.

Currently the fifth generation (5G) of cellular systems, also referred to as New Radio (NR), is being standardized within the Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). NR is developed for maximum flexibility to support multiple and substantially different use cases but shares many similarities with fourth-generation LTE. For example, NR uses CP-OFDM (Cyclic Prefix Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) in the downlink and both CP-OFDM and DFT-spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) in the uplink.

As another example, in the time domain, NR downlink and uplink physical resources are organized into equal-sized 1-ms subframes. A subframe is further divided into multiple slots of equal duration, with each slot including multiple OFDM-based symbols. In addition to RRC JDLE and RRC CONNECTED, the NR RRC layer also includes an RRC INACTIVE state with properties similar to the “suspended” condition in LTE Rel-13.

In addition to providing coverage via cells, as in LTE, NR networks also provide coverage via “beams.” In general, a DL “beam” is a coverage area of a network-transmitted reference signal (RS) that may be measured or monitored by a UE. In NR, for example, such RS may include any of the following, alone or in combination: SS/PBCH block (SSB), CSI-RS, tertiary reference signals (or any other sync signal), positioning RS (PRS), demodulation RS (DMRS), phase tracking RS (PTRS), etc. In general, SSB is available to all UEs regardless of RRC state, while other RSs (e.g., CSI-RS, DMRS, PTRS) are associated with specific UEs that are in RRC CONNECTED state.

Seamless mobility is a key feature of 3GPP radio access technologies (RATs). In general, a network configures a UE to perform and report radio resource management (RRM) measurements to assist network-controlled mobility decisions, such as for handover from a serving cell to a neighbor cell while the UE is in RRC_CONNECTED state. Seamless handovers ensure that the UE moves around in the coverage area of different cells with minimal interruptions in data transmission. However, there are scenarios when the network fails to handover the UE to the “correct” neighbor cell in time, which may cause the UE to declare radio link failure (RLF) or handover failure (HOF). Similarly, the UE may experience failure when trying to reestablish a failed connection with the network, causing the UE to declare connection establishment failure (CEF). V arious UE failure reporting procedures were introduced as part of the mobility robustness optimization (MRO) in LTE Rel-9. In these procedures, a UE logs relevant information at the time of failure (e.g., RLF) and later reports such information to the network via target cells to which the UE ultimately connects (e.g., after reestablishment). The reported information may include RRM measurements of various neighbor cells prior to the mobility operation (e.g., handover).

Airborne radio-controlled drones (i.e., unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs for short) are becoming more and more common. Conventionally, drones have been limited to operate within the propagation range of radio signals from dedicated or associated controllers used by drone operators. However, recently functionality enabling remote control of drones over the cellular network has increased their range considerably. However, a recent trend is to extend drone operational range by attaching an LTE UE and coupling the UE to the drone’s navigation system, thereby creating an “airborne UE” or “aerial UE”. With this arrangement, the drone may be controlled over a much wider range covering multiple cells, limited primarily by the drone’s battery capacity. In the following, the terms “aerial UE” and “drone” are used interchangeably unless otherwise noted.

SUMMARY

Because an aerial user equipment (UE) may be in coverage of many more cells at any given time than a conventional UE, aerial UEs may cause various problems, issues, and/or difficulties for conventional mobility and/or radio resource management techniques used in long term evolution (LTE) and new radio (NR) networks. Given the increasing prevalence of aerial UEs operating in LTE and NR networks, solutions are needed. Embodiments of the present disclosure provide specific improvements to mobility procedures in wireless networks, such as by facilitating solutions to overcome the example problems summarized above and described in more detail below. Embodiments of the present disclosure include methods (e.g., procedures) to report a failure event in a wireless network. These example methods may be performed by a UE (e.g., wireless device), such as an aerial UE.

The example methods may include logging information associated with the UE operation in the wireless network during a first duration associated with the failure event. The logged information may include first information related to the UE operation as an aerial UE. The example methods may include sending a report about the failure event to a network node in the wireless network. The report includes the logged information.

In various embodiments, the first information may include any of the following, individually or in any combination:

• height (altitude) at which the failure event occurred;

• speed (air speed) at which the failure event occurred;

• time at which the failure event occurred;

• indication that the UE is an aerial UE;

• flight path information for the UE;

• indication of whether the failure event occurred within or outside of a pre-configured flight path;

• a time value at which the failure event occurred, and potentially associated with the pre configured flight path;

• number of other aerial UEs detected before or when the failure event occurred;

• location of the UE and time when each other aerial UE was detected;

• number of collisions avoided by the UE before the failure event occurred;

• number of cells whose measurements are above a pre-configured threshold; and

• index of an SSB beam the UE was connected to when the failure event occurred.

In some embodiments, the logged information may also include second information not related to the UE operation as an aerial UE, including one or more of the following:

• an identifier of a cell in which the failure event occurred;

• measurements of the cell in which the failure event occurred;

• identifiers of neighbor cells of the cell in which the failure event occurred; and

• measurements of neighbor cells of the cell in which the failure event occurred.

In some embodiments, the flight path information may include a plurality of first locations previously visited by the UE and a corresponding plurality of times when the UE visited the first locations. In some embodiments, the flight path information may include a plurality of second locations expected to be visited by the UE and a corresponding plurality of times when the UE expects to visit the second locations.

In some embodiments, the first information may include respective identifiers of other aerial UEs detected by the UE.

In some embodiments, the failure event comprises a radio link failure (RLF). In such embodiments, the failure event occurred at one of the following: detection of the RLF, or declaration of the RLF at the expiration of a timer initiated based on the detection of the RLF. In some embodiments, the report comprises an RLF report.

In some embodiments, the example methods include receiving, from the network node, a request for information about the UE. The report may be sent in response to the request for information. In some embodiments, the example methods may include sending, to the network node, an indication that the report is available. The request for information may be received in response to the indication.

In some embodiments, the failure event occurs in a second cell served by a second network node and the report is sent via a first cell served by the network node. In some embodiments, the failure event occurs in a first cell and the example methods include receiving, from the network node, a request to handover from the first cell to a second cell.

In some embodiments, the failure event comprises a beam failure, the report is a beam failure report (BFR), and the first duration ends at the detection of the beam failure. In some embodiments, the BFR comprises a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) that includes bitfields of respective sizes arranged to carry respective elements of the first information. In such embodiments, the example methods include receiving, from the network node, a configuration indicating, for each bitfield, a plurality of bitfield values and a corresponding plurality of values for the first information element carried by the bitfield.

Some embodiments include methods (e.g., procedures) to manage failure events reported by UEs (e.g., aerial UEs) in a wireless network. The example methods maybe performed by a network node (e.g., base station, eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, en-gNB, etc., or components thereof) in the wireless network (e.g., E-UTRAN, NG-RAN).

The example methods may include receiving, from a UE, a report about a failure event experienced by the UE. The report may include logged information associated with the UE operation in the wireless network during a first duration associated with the failure event. The logged information may include first information related to the UE operation as an aerial UE. The example methods may include performing at least one mobility operation for the UE based on the first information.

In various embodiments, the first information includes any of the first information described above in relation to UE embodiments. In some embodiments, the logged information also includes second information not related to the UE operation as an aerial UE. The second information may include any of the second information described above in relation to UE embodiments.

In some embodiments, the failure event comprises a radio link failure (RLF) and the failure event occurred at one of the following: detection of the RLF, or declaration of the RLF at the expiration of a timer initiated based on the detection of the RLF. In some embodiments, the report comprises an RLF report. In some embodiments, the example methods include sending, to the UE, a request for information about the UE. The report may be received in response to the request for information.

In some embodiments, the request for information is sent in response to receiving, from the UE, an indication that the report is available. In some embodiments, the request for information is sent in response to determining that the UE is likely to experience a failure event based on one or more measurement reports received from the UE.

In some embodiments, the failure event occurs in a second cell served by a second network node and the report is received via a first cell served by the network node. In such embodiments, performing the at least one mobility operation may include sending at least a portion of the first information to the second network node.

In some embodiments, the failure event occurs in a first cell and performing the at least one mobility operation may include sending, to the UE, a command to handover from the first cell to a second cell.

In some embodiments, the failure event is a beam failure, the report is a beam failure report (BFR), and the first duration ends at the detection of the beam failure. In such embodiments, the at least one mobility procedure includes beam selection and/or beam refinement.

In some embodiments, the BFR is a MAC CE that includes bitfields of respective sizes arranged to carry respective elements of the first information. In such embodiments, the example methods may include transmitting, to the UE, a configuration indicating, for each bitfield, a plurality of bitfield values and a corresponding plurality of values for the first information element carried by the bitfield.

Some embodiments include UEs (e.g., wireless devices, IoT devices, etc. or component(s) thereof) and network nodes (e.g., base stations, eNBs, gNBs, ng-eNBs, etc., or components thereof) configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the example methods described herein. Other embodiments include non-transitory, computer-readable media storing program instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, configure such UEs or RNNs to perform operations corresponding to any of the example methods described herein.

These and other embodiments described herein facilitate aerial UEs to log aerial UE (or UAV)-specific information during operation in a wireless network (e.g., RAN) and report such information to the wireless network. This facilitates aerial UE-specific mobility management by the wireless network, such as taking different actions in response to a RLF (or a beam failure) reported by an aerial UE than the network would take in response to an RLF (or beam failure) reported by a conventional UE. This is beneficial given the different mobility and interference patterns experienced by aerial UEs. At a high level, particular embodiments improve mobility performance of a wireless network with respect to all UEs, such that services delivered over the wireless network have more consistent throughput and fewer interruptions due to mobility events such as handovers. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the disclosed embodiments and their features and advantages, reference is now made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 illustrates a high-level view of an example long term evolution (LTE) network architecture.

Figure 2 illustrates an example configuration of an LTE control plane (CP) protocol stack.

Figure 3 illustrates a high-level view of an example fifth generation (5G)/new radio (NR) network architecture.

Figure 4 illustrates an example configuration of NR user plane (UP) and CP protocol stacks.

Figure 5 illustrates 3GPP self-organizing network (SON) functionality.

Figures 6-7 illustrate various aspects of UE operation during an example radio link failure (RLF) procedure in LTE and NR.

Figure 8 illustrates an example height-based RRC reconfiguration of an aerial UE. Figure 9 illustrates an example arrangement of UAS-to-UTM connectivity through two core networks (e.g., EPC and 5GC) and two RANs (e.g., E-UTRAN and NG-RAN).

Figure 10 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method (e.g., procedure) for a user equipment (UE, e.g., wireless device, IoT device, etc. or component(s) thereof), according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 11 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method (e.g., procedure) for a network node (e.g., eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, en-gNB, etc. or component(s) thereof), according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 12 illustrates a communication system according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 13 illustrates a UE according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 14 illustrates a network node according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 15 illustrates host computing system according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 16 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments of the present disclosure may be virtualized.

Figure 17 illustrates communication between a host computing system, a network node, and a UE via multiple connections, at least one of which is wireless, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Particular embodiments are described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein. The disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context in which it is used. All references to a/an/the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methods disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following or preceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, wherever appropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may apply to any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features, and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from the following description.

Furthermore, the following terms are used throughout the description given below. As used herein, a “radio node” may be either a “radio access node” or a “wireless device.” As used herein, a “radio access node” (or equivalently “radio network node,” “radio access network node,” or “RAN node”) may be any node in a radio access network (RAN) of a cellular communications network that operates to wirelessly transmit and/or receive signals. Some examples of a radio access node include, but are not limited to, a base station (e.g., a new radio (NR) base station (gNB/en-gNB) in a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) fifth generation (5G) NR network or an enhanced or evolved Node B (eNB/ng-eNB) in a 3GPP long term evolution (LTE) network), base station distributed components (e.g., central unit (CU) and distributed unit (DU)), base station control- and/or user-plane components (e.g., CU-CP, CU-UP), a high-power or macro base station, a low-power base station (e.g., micro, pico, femto, or home base station, or the like), an integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, a transmission point, a remote radio unit (RRU or RRH), and a relay node.

As used herein, a “core network node” is any type of node in a core network. Some examples of a core network node include, e.g., a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a serving gateway (SGW), a Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW), an access and mobility management function (AMF), a session management function (AMF), a user plane function (UPF), a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF), or the like.

As used herein, a “wireless device” (or “WD” for short) is any type of device that has access to (i.e., is served by) a cellular communications network by communicating wirelessly with network nodes and/or other wireless devices. Communicating wirelessly may involve transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information through air. Some examples of a wireless device include, but are not limited to, smart phones, mobile phones, cell phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, desktop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless cameras, gaming consoles or devices, music storage devices, playback appliances, wearable devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, tablets, laptops, laptop- embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart devices, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), mobile-type communication (MTC) devices, Internet-of- Things (IoT) devices, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, etc. Unless otherwise noted, the term “wireless device” is used interchangeably herein with the term “user equipment” (or “UE” for short).

As used herein, a “network node” is any node that is either part of the radio access network (e.g., a radio access node or equivalent name discussed above) or of the core network (e.g., a core network node discussed above) of a cellular communications network. Functionally, a network node is equipment capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a wireless device and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the cellular communications network, to enable and/or provide wireless access to the wireless device, and/or to perform other functions (e.g., administration) in the cellular communications network.

The description herein focuses on a 3 GPP cellular communications system and, as such, 3GPP terminology or terminology similar to 3GPP terminology is oftentimes used. However, the concepts disclosed herein are not limited to a 3GPP system. Furthermore, although the term “cell” is used herein, it should be understood that (particularly with respect to 5G NR) beams may be used instead of cells and, as such, concepts described herein apply equally to both cells and beams.

As briefly mentioned above, because an aerial UE may be in coverage of many more cells at any given time than a conventional UE, aerial UEs can cause various problems, issues, and/or difficulties for conventional mobility and/or radio resource management techniques in LTE and NR networks. Given the increasing prevalence of aerial UEs operating in LTE and NR networks, solutions are needed. This is discussed in more detail below, after the following description of NR network architecture and various dual connectivity (DC) arrangements.

Figure 3 illustrates a high-level view of the 5G network architecture, consisting of a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) 399 and a 5G Core (5GC) 398. NG-RAN 399 may include a set of gNodeB’s (gNBs) connected to the 5GC via one or more NG interfaces, such as gNBs 300, 350 connected via interfaces 302, 352, respectively. In addition, the gNBs may be connected to each other via one or more Xn interfaces, such as Xn interface 340 between gNBs 300 and 350. With respect to the NR interface to UEs, each of the gNBs may support frequency division duplexing (FDD), time division duplexing (TDD), or a combination thereof.

NG-RAN 399 is layered into a Radio Network Layer (RNL) and a Transport Network Layer (TNL). The NG-RAN architecture, i.e., the NG-RAN logical nodes and interfaces between them, is defined as part of the RNL. For each NG-RAN interface (NG, Xn, FI) the related TNL protocol and the functionality are specified. The TNL provides services for user plane transport and signaling transport. In some example configurations, each gNB is connected to all 5GC nodes within an AMF region, which is defined in 3GPP TS 23.501. If security protection for CP and UP data on TNL of NG-RAN interfaces is supported, NDS/IP shall be applied.

The NG RAN logical nodes shown in Figure 3 include a central (or centralized) unit (CU or gNB-CU) and one or more distributed (or decentralized) units (DU or gNB-DU). For example, gNB 300 includes gNB-CU 310 and gNB-DUs 320 and 330. CUs (e.g., gNB-CU 310) are logical nodes that host higher-layer protocols and perform various gNB functions such controlling the operation of DUs. Each DU is a logical node that hosts lower-layer protocols and can include, depending on the functional split, various subsets of the gNB functions. As such, each of the CUs and DUs may include various circuitry needed to perform their respective functions, including processing circuitry, transceiver circuitry (e.g., for communication), and power supply circuitry. Moreover, the terms “central unit” and “centralized unit” are used interchangeably herein, as are the terms “distributed unit” and “decentralized unit.”

A gNB-CU connects to gNB-DUs over respective FI logical interfaces, such as interfaces 322 and 332 illustrated in Figure 3. The gNB-CU and connected gNB-DUs are only visible to other gNBs and the 5GC as a gNB. In other words, the FI interface is not visible beyond gNB- CU. In the gNB split CU-DU architecture illustrated by Figure 3, DC may be achieved by allowing a UE to connect to multiple DUs served by the same CU or by allowing a UE to connect to multiple DUs served by different CUs. Figure 4 illustrates an example configuration of NR user plane (UP) and control plane (CP) protocol stacks between a UE, a gNB, and an access and mobility management function (AMF) in the 5GC. The Physical (PHY), Medium Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layers between the UE and the gNB are common to UP and CP. The PDCP layer provides ciphering/deciphering, integrity protection, sequence numbering, reordering, and duplicate detection for both CP and UP. In addition, PDCP provides header compression and retransmission for UP data.

On the UP side, Internet protocol (IP) packets arrive to the PDCP layer as service data units (SDUs), and PDCP creates protocol data units (PDUs) to deliver to RLC. When each IP packet arrives, PDCP starts a discard timer. When this timer expires, PDCP discards the associated SDU and the corresponding PDU. If the PDU was delivered to RLC, PDCP also indicates the discard to RLC. The RLC layer transfers PDCP PDUs to the MAC through logical channels (LCH). RLC provides error detection/correction, concatenation, segmentation/reassembly, sequence numbering, reordering of data transferred to/from the upper layers. If RLC receives a discard indication from associated with a PDCP PDU, it will discard the corresponding RLC SDU (or any segment thereof) if it has not been sent to lower layers.

The MAC layer provides mapping between LCHs and PHY transport channels, LCH prioritization, multiplexing into or demultiplexing from transport blocks (TBs), hybrid ARQ (HARQ) error correction, and dynamic scheduling (on gNB side). The PHY layer provides transport channel services to the MAC layer and handles transfer over the NR radio interface, e.g., via modulation, coding, antenna mapping, and beam forming.

On UP side, the Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer handles quality-of-service (QoS). This includes mapping between QoS flows and Data Radio Bearers (DRBs) and marking QoS flow identifiers (QFI) in UL and DL packets. On CP side, the non-access stratum (NAS) layer is between UE and AMF and handles UE/gNB authentication, mobility management, and security control.

The RRC layer sits below NAS in the UE but terminates in the gNB rather than the AMF. RRC controls communications between UE and gNB at the radio interface as well as the mobility of a UE between cells in the NG-RAN. RRC also broadcasts system information (SI) and performs establishment, configuration, maintenance, and release of DRBs and Signaling Radio Bearers (SRBs) and used by UEs. Additionally, RRC controls addition, modification, and release of carrier aggregation (CA) and dual-connectivity (DC) configurations for UEs. RRC also performs various security functions such as key management.

After a UE is powered ON it will be in the RRC_IDLE state until an RRC connection is established with the network, at which time the UE will transition to RRC_CONNECTED state (e.g., where data transfer may occur). The UE returns to RRC IDLE after the connection with the network is released. In RRC IDLE state, the UE s radio is active on a discontinuous reception (DRX) schedule configured by upper layers. During DRX active periods (also referred to as “DRX On durations”), an RRC DLE UE receives SI broadcast in the cell where the UE is camping, performs measurements of neighbor cells to support cell reselection, and monitors a paging channel on PDCCH for pages from 5GC via gNB. An NR UE in RRC IDLE state is not known to the gNB serving the cell where the UE is camping. However, NR RRC includes an RRC_INACTIVE state in which a UE is known (e.g., via UE context) by the serving gNB. RRC_INACTIVE has some properties similar to a “suspended” condition used in LTE.

LTE Rel-12 introduced dual connectivity (DC) whereby a UE in RRC CONNECTED state can be connected to two network nodes simultaneously, thereby improving connection robustness and/or capacity. In LTE DC, these two network nodes are referred to as “Master eNB” (MeNB) and “Secondary eNB” (SeNB), or more generally as master node (MN) and secondary node (SN). More specifically, a UE is configured with a Master Cell Group (MCG) associated with the MN and a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) associated with the SN.

Each of these groups of serving cells include one MAC entity, a set of logical channels with associated RLC entities, a primary cell (PCell or PSCell), and optionally one or more secondary cells (SCells). The term “Special Cell” (or “SpCell” for short) refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG depending on whether the UE’s MAC entity is associated with the MCG or the SCG, respectively. In non-DC operation (e.g., CA), SpCell refers to the PCell. An SpCell is always activated and supports physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission and contention-based random access by UEs.

The MeNB provides system information (SI) and terminates the control plane connection towards the UE and, as such, is the controlling node of the UE, including handovers to and from SeNBs. For example, the MeNB terminates the connection between the eNB and the MME for the UE. An SeNB provides additional radio resources (e.g., bearers) for radio resource bearers include MCG bearers, SCG bearers, and split bearers that have resources from both MCG and SCG. The reconfiguration, addition, and removal of SCells may be performed by RRC. When adding a new SCell, dedicated RRC signaling is used to send the UE all required SI of the SCell, such that UEs need not acquire SI directly from the SCell broadcast. In addition, either or both of the MCG and the SCG may include multiple cells working in CA.

Both MeNB and SeNB may terminate the user plane (UP) to the UE. In particular, the LTE DC UP includes three different types of bearers. MCG bearers are terminated in the MeNB, and the SeNB is not involved in the transport of UP data for MCG bearers. Likewise, SCG bearers are terminated in the SeNB, and the MeNB is not involved in the transport of UP data for SCG bearers. Finally, split bearers (and their corresponding Sl-U connections to S-GW) are also terminated in MeNB. However, PDCP data is transferred between the MeNB and the SeNB via X2-U. Both SeNB and MeNB are involved in transmitting data for split bearers.

3GPP TR 38.804 describes various example DC (more generally, multi-connectivity) scenarios or configurations in which the MN and SN can apply either NR, LTE, or both. The following terminology is used to describe these example DC scenarios or configurations:

• DC: LTE DC (i.e., both MN and SN employ LTE, as discussed above);

• EN-DC: LTE-NR DC where MN (eNB) employs LTE and SN (gNB) employs NR, and both are connected to EPC.

• NGEN-DC: LTE-NR dual connectivity where a UE is connected to one ng-eNB that acts as a MN and one gNB that acts as a SN. The ng-eNB is connected to the 5GC and the gNB is connected to the ng-eNB via the Xn interface.

• NE-DC: LTE-NR dual connectivity where a UE is connected to one gNB that acts as a MN and one ng-eNB that acts as a SN. The gNB is connected to 5GC and the ng-eNB is connected to the gNB via the Xn interface.

• NR-DC (or NR-NR DC): both MN and SN employ NR.

• MR-DC (multi-RAT DC): a generalization of the Intra-E-UTRA DC described in 3 GPP TS 36.300, where a multiple Rx/Tx UE may be configured to utilize resources provided by two different nodes connected via non-ideal backhaul, one providing E-UTRA access and the other one providing NR access. One node acts as MN and the other as SN. The MN and SN are connected via a network interface and at least the MN is connected to the core network. EN-DC, NE-DC, and NGEN-DC are different examples of MR-DC. Self-organizing network (SON) functionality is intended to make planning, configuration, management, optimization, and healing of mobile RANs simpler and faster. SON functionality and behavior has been defined and specified in by organizations such as 3GPP and NGMN (Next Generation Mobile Networks). Figure 5 is a high-level diagram illustrating 3GPP’s division of SON functionality into a self-configuration process and a self-optimization process.

Self-configuration is a pre-operational process in which newly deployed nodes (e.g., eNBs or gNBs in a pre-operational state) are configured by automatic installation procedures to receive the basic configuration for system operation. Pre-operational state generally refers to the time when the node is powered up and has backbone connectivity until the node’s RF transmitter is switched on. Self-configuration operations in pre-operational state include (A) basic setup and (B) initial radio configuration, and each includes various sub-operations as shown in Figure 5.

Self-optimization is a process in which UE and network measurements are used to auto tune the network. This occurs when the nodes are in an operational state, which generally refers to the time when the node’s RF transmitter interface switched on. Self-configuration operations include optimization and adaptation, which include various sub-operations as shown in Figure 5.

Self-configuration and self-optimization features for LTE networks are described in 3GPP TS 36.300 (v) section 22.2. These include dynamic configuration, automatic neighbor relations (ANR), mobility load balancing (MLB), mobility robustness optimization (MRO), RACH optimization, and support for energy savings. Self-configuration and self-optimization features for NR networks are described in 3GPP TS 38.300 section 15. Rel-15 features include dynamic configuration and ANR, with additional features such as MRO being specified for Rel-16.

Returning to discussion of RLF, a network can configure a UE in RRC CONNECTED state to perform and report RRM measurements that assist network-controlled mobility decisions such as UE handover between cells, SN change, etc. The UE may lose coverage in its current serving cell (e.g., PCell in DC) and attempt handover to a target cell. Similarly, a UE in DC may lose coverage in its current PSCell and attempt an SN change. Other events may trigger other mobility-related procedures.

An RLF procedure is typically triggered in the UE when something unexpected happens in any of these mobility -related procedures. The RLF procedure involves interactions between RRC and lower layer protocols such as PHY (or LI), MAC, RLC, etc. including radio link monitoring (RLM) on L 1.

The principle of RLM is similar in LTE and NR. In general, the UE monitors link quality of the UE’s serving cell (i.e., SpCell) and uses that information to decide whether the UE is in sync (IS) or out-of-sync (OOS) with respect to that serving cell. In LTE, RLM is carried out by the UE measuring downlink reference signals (e.g., CRS) in RRC_CONNECTED state. If RLM (i.e., by Ll/PHY) indicates number of consecutive OOS conditions to the UE RRC layer, then RRC starts a radio link failure (RLF) procedure and declares RLF after expiry of a timer (e.g., T310). The LI RLM procedure is carried out by comparing the estimated CRS measurements to some target block error rates (BLERs), called Qout and Qin. In particular, Qout and Qin correspond to BLER of hypothetical PDCCH/PCIFCH transmissions from the serving cell, with example values of 10% and 2%, respectively. In NR, the network can define the RS type (e.g., CSI-RS and/or SSB), exact resources to be monitored, and even the BLER target for IS and OOS indications.

Figure 6 is a high-level timing diagram illustrating the two phases of an RLF procedure in LTE and NR. The first phase starts upon radio problem detection and leads to radio link failure detection after no recovery is made during a period Tl. The second phase starts upon RLF detection or handover failure and ends with the UE returning to RRC IDLE if no recovery is made during a period T2. Figure 7 illustrates a more detailed version of the UE operations during an example RLF procedure, such as for LTE or NR. In this example, the UE detects N310 consecutive OOS conditions during LI RLM procedures, as described above, and then initiates timer T310. Subsequent operations are performed by higher layers (e.g., RRC). After expiry of T310, the UE starts T311 and RRC reestablishment, searching for the best target cell. After selecting a target cell for reestablishment, the UE obtains system information (SI) for the target cell and performs a random access (e.g., via RACH). The duration after T310 expiry until this point can be considered the UE reestablishment delay. Ultimately, the UE obtains access to the target cell and sends an RRC Reestablishment Request message to the target cell. The duration after T310 expiry until this point can be considered the total RRC reestablishment delay. If the UE does not successfully reestablish in a target cell before expiration of T311, the UE enters RRC_IDLE and releases its connection to the network.

The timers and counters described above are further described in Tables 1-2 below, respectively. For NR-DC and NGEN-DC, T310 is used for both PCell/MCG and PSCell/SCG. For LTE-DC and NE-DC (i.e., where SN is eNB), T313 is used for PSCell/SCG. The UE reads the timer values from system information (SI) broadcast in the UE’s SpCell. Alternatively, the network can configure the UE with UE-specific values of the timers and constants via dedicated RRC signaling (i.e., specific values sent to specific UEs via respective messages).

Table 1.

Table 2.

One reason for introducing the timers and counters listed above is to add filtering, delay, and/or hysteresis to a UE’s determination of failure and/or recovery of a radio link with a serving cell. These parameters avoid a UE abandoning a connection prematurely due to a brief or temporary reduction in link quality that could be recovered by the UE (e.g., before T310 expires, before the counter value N310, etc.). In general, this improves user experience.

For handover failure (HOF) and RLF, the UE may take autonomous actions such as selecting a cell and initiating reestablishment to remain reachable by the network. In general, a UE declares RLF only when the UE realizes that there is no reliable communication channel (or radio link) available between itself and the network, which can result in poor user experience. Also, reestablishing the connection requires signaling with a newly selected cell (e.g., random access procedure, exchanging various RRC messages, etc.), introducing latency until the UE can again reliably transmit and/or receive user data with the network. According to 3GPP TS 36.331 (vl5.7.0), the possible causes for RLF include: 1) Radio link problem indicated by PHY (e.g., expiry of RLM-related timer T310);

2) Random access problem indicated by MAC entity;

3) Expiry of a measurement reporting timer (e.g., T312), due to not receiving a HO command from the network while the timer is running despite sending a measurement report; and

4) Reaching a maximum number of RLC retransmissions. Because RLF leads to reestablishment in a new cell and degradation of UE/network performance and end-user experience, it is in the interest of the network to understand the reasons for UE RLF and to optimize mobility-related parameters (e.g., trigger conditions of measurement reports) to reduce, minimize, and/or avoid subsequent RLFs. Before Rel-9 mobility robustness optimizations (MRO), only the UE was aware of radio quality at the time of RLF, the actual reason for declaring RLF, etc. To identify the RLF cause, the network requires more information from the UE and from the neighboring base stations (e.g., eNBs).

An RLF reporting procedure was introduced as part of MRO for NR Rel-16. In this procedure, a UE logs relevant information at the time of RLF and later reports such information to the network via a target cell to which the UE ultimately connects (e.g., after reestablishment). The UE can store the RLF report in a UE variable call varRLF -Report and retains it in memory for up to 48 hours, after which it may discard the information.

When sending certain RRC messages such as RRCReconfigurationComplete, RRCReestablishmentComplete, RRCSetup-Complete, and RRCResumeComplete, the UE can indicate it has a stored RLF report by setting a rlf-InfoAvailable field to “true”. If the gNB serving the target cell wants to receive the RLF report, it sends the UE an UEInformationRequest message with a flag “rlf-ReportReq-rl6”. In response, the UE sends the gNB an UEInformationResponse message that includes the RLF report.

In general, the UE-reported RLF information can include any of the following:

• Measurement quantities (RSRP, RSRQ) of the last serving cell (PCell).

• Measurement quantities of the neighbor cells in different frequencies of different RATs (e.g., EUTRA, UTRA, GERAN, CDMA2000).

• Measurement quantify (RSSI) associated to WLAN APs.

• Measurement quantify (RSSI) associated to Bluetooth beacons.

• Location information, if available (including location coordinates and velocity)

• Globally unique identify of the last serving cell, if available, otherwise the PCI and the carrier frequency of the last serving cell.

• Tracking area code of the PCell.

• Time elapsed since the last reception of the ‘Handover command’ message.

• Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) used in the previous serving cell.

• Whether or not the UE was configured with a data radio bearer (DRB) having QCI = 1. The RLF reporting procedure not only introduced new RRC signaling between UE and the network (e.g., a target gNB hosting the target cell), but also introduced signaling between nodes in the network (e.g., XnAP signaling specified in 3GPP TS 38.423). For example, a gNB receiving an RLF report could forward some or all of the report to the gNB in which the RLF originated. Two different types of inter-node messages have been standardized in in 3 GPP TS 38.423 for sending RLF reports between nodes: Failure indication and Handover report.

Based on the contents of the RLF report (e.g., a globally unique identity of the last serving cell), the node serving the target cell (i.e., the UE’s new serving cell) can determine the cell where the RLF originated and forward the RLF report to the source gNB serving that cell. Based on receiving this report, the node serving the UE’s source cell (i.e., where the RLF occurred) can deduce whether the RLF was caused due to a coverage hole or due to handover-related parameter configurations. If the RLF was deemed to be due to handover associated parameter configurations, the original serving cell can further classify the handover related failure as too-early, too-late, or handover to wrong cell classes.

The original serving cell can classify a handover failure to be ‘too late handover’ when the original serving cell fails to send the handover command to the UE associated to a handover towards a particular target cell and if the UE reestablishes itself in this target cell post RLF. An example corrective action from the original serving cell may be to initiate the handover procedure towards this target cell earlier by decreasing the CIO (cell individual offset) towards the target cell that controls when the IE sends the event triggered measurement report that leads to taking the handover decision.

The original serving cell can classify a handover failure to be ‘too early handover’ when the original serving cell is successful in sending the handover command to the UE associated to a handover however the UE fails to perform the random access towards this target cell. An example corrective action from the original serving cell may be to initiate the handover procedure towards this target cell later by increasing the CIO (cell individual offset) towards the target cell that controls when the IE sends the event triggered measurement report that leads to taking the handover decision.

The original serving cell can classify a handover failure to be ‘handover- to-wrong-celF when the original serving cell intends to perform the handover for this UE towards a particular target cell but the UE declares the RLF and reestablishes itself in a third cell. A corrective action from the original serving cell may be to initiate the measurement reporting procedure that leads to handover towards the target cell later by decreasing the CIO (cell individual offset) towards the target cell or via initiating the handover towards the cell in which the UE reestablished earlier by increasing the CIO towards the reestablishment cell.

Airborne radio-controlled drones (i.e., unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs for short) are becoming more and more common. Conventionally, drones have been limited to operate within the propagation range of radio signals from dedicated or associated controllers used by drone operators. However, recently functionality enabling remote control of drones over the cellular network has increased their range considerably. However, a recent trend is to extend drone operational range by attaching an LTE UE and coupling the UE to the drone’s navigation system, thereby creating an “airborne UE” or “aerial UE”. With this arrangement, the drone can be controlled over a much wider range covering multiple cells, limited primarily by the drone’s battery capacity.

Recognizing the potential of connecting drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLoS) via cellular network, 3GPP has specified multiple features in LTE Rel-15 for improving the efficiency and robustness of terrestrial LTE network for providing aerial connectivity services, particularly for low altitude UAVs. These features target both command-and-control traffic for flying the drone and the data (also known as payload) traffic from the drone to the cellular network. Some key features specified include:

• Support for subscription-based identification

• Height reporting when UAV crosses height threshold. The report includes height, location (3D), horizontal and vertical speed.

• RSRP reporting per event of N cells’ signal power above a threshold. The report includes RS RP/RS RQ/loc ation(3 D) .

• UE-specific uplink power control.

• Flight path information provided from UE to eNB. This includes network polling and list of waypoints (3D location), time stamp if available.

These features target specific requirements of serving the UAVs by LTE network, e.g., the need for flying mode detection, interference detection, and interference mitigation. Flying mode detection is related to interference detection because the interference conditions for flying aerial UEs are different from aerial UE in terrestrial mode. For interference detection, an enhancement to existing events triggering of RS RP/RS RQ/RS-SINR reports was introduced in LTE Rel-15. The UE may be configured to trigger an event such as A3, A4, A5, which all consider neighbor cell measurements. In such event triggers, a measurement report is triggered when multiple cells’ measured RSRPs, RSRQs, and/or SINRs are above a threshold.

In addition to interference detection, another input to flying mode detection is event- triggered height and location reporting. A new configurable RRM height threshold event was introduced for Rel-15 aerial UEs. When the UE is configured with this event, a report is triggered when UE’s altitude crosses the threshold altitude. In addition to flying mode detection, the exact height information is considered useful for network decisions about reconfiguring measurement reporting for an aerial UE when it crosses a height threshold.

Figure 8 illustrates an example height-based RRC reconfiguration of an aerial UE. When the aerial UE is below a height (altitude) of 100m, the network configures it with measurement reporting configurations and event triggered height/location reporting corresponding to a height threshold of 200m. As the aerial UE crosses the 200-m height (altitude) threshold, the aerial UE is triggered to send a measurement report to the network. After receiving the measurement report from the aerial UE, the network reconfigures the aerial UE with new measurement reporting configurations. The configurations may be performed, for example, by sending the UE an RRCRe configuration message or any other appropriate message.

It is important to keep shared airspace safe and accessible. Therefore, a system referred to as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) is being developed in different parts of the world to manage the traffic of UAS. In this context, “UAS” refers to the combination of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, e.g., aerial UE) and a UAV controller used by an operator with unique credentials and identities. According to U.S. NASA, UTM is a collaborative, automated, and federated airspace management approach that enables safe, efficient, and equitable small UAS operations at scale.

The concept of UTM is being adopted and implemented by many countries and regions in the world, e.g., U.S., Europe, Japan, Australia, etc. UTM can provide various flight-related functions for UAVs and UAV operators, including but not limited to:

• Remote identification, such as enabling UAV identification.

• Operation planning, e.g., flight planning considering various aspects such as UAV performance, weather conditions, etc.

• Operator messaging, e.g., message exchange between operators such as for position and status.

• FAA messaging, e.g., on-demand, periodic, or event-triggered communications with FAA systems to meet regulatory requirements.

• Mapping, e.g., information about airspace restrictions, obstacles, and sensitive regions.

• Conflict advisory, e.g., real-time alerting for collision avoidance.

As described above, 3 GPP networks may enable reliable connectivity between the UAV and its controller. Additionally, 3 GPP networks can provide connectivity between UTM and the UAS, i.e., the UAV and/or the UAV controller. Figure 9 illustrates an example arrangement of UAS-to-UTM connectivity through two core networks (e.g., EPC and 5GC) and two RANs (e.g., E-UTRAN and NG-RAN).

An aerial UE moves around in the horizontal (X-Y) plane much like conventional (non aerial) UEs, albeit with different dynamics (e.g., acceleration). However, an aerial UE has much greater and much more frequent movement in the vertical (Z) dimension than a conventional UE, which typically changes vertical displacement from local ground level fairly slowly (e.g., elevator or stairs). For these and other reasons, aerial UEs show different movement patterns than conventional UEs, such that an aerial UE’s mobility history will show much different serving cells and/or camping cells compared to a conventional UE in the same geographic area. Additionally, an aerial UE may be served by and/or camp on secondary lobes of cells, which may not cover conventional, ground-based UEs. As such, aerial UEs may have concurrent coverage by more cells than conventional UEs. In addition, these secondary lobes may have relatively narrow spatial coverage, such that aerial UEs may need more frequent handovers and/or changes of camping cells than conventional UEs.

Accordingly, Applicant has recognized that it would be beneficial for aerial UEs to log aerial UE (or UAV)-specific information during operation in a wireless network (e.g., RAN) and report such information to the wireless network to facilitate aerial UE-specific mobility management by the wireless network. As used herein, “aerial UE-specific” does not necessarily mean information specific to or that distinguishes a particular aerial UE, but rather can include information that is specific to or distinguishes aerial UEs from conventional UEs.

For example, such information may facilitate the wireless network to take different actions in response to a RLF reported by an aerial UE than it would in response to an RLF reported by a conventional UE, given the different mobility and interference patterns experienced by aerial UEs. Additionally, Applicant has recognized that because an aerial UE may also operate on the ground in a similar manner as conventional UEs, it is beneficial for an aerial UE to indicate which reported information is associated with aerial operation and which reported information is associated with ground-based operation.

Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure provide techniques whereby an aerial UE can log and report aerial-UE-specific information related to UE actions upon occurrence of a failure event, such as a radio link failure (RLF). As described in more detail below, occurrence of an RLF may include detection or declaration of the RLF by the UE.

For example, an aerial UE may log and report any of the following information, individually or in any combination:

• height (altitude) at which the RLF occurred.

• speed (air speed) at which the RLF occurred.

• time at which the RLF occurred.

• indication that the UE is an aerial UE.

• flight path information for the UE.

• indication on whether the RLF occurred within or outside of a pre-configured flight path (represented, e.g., by a series of position-time pairs).

• a time value at which the RLF was detected associated with the pre-configured flight path.

• number of other aerial UEs detected before the RLF occurred.

• location of the UE and time when each other aerial UE was detected. • number of collisions avoided by the aerial UE before the RLF occurred.

• number of cells at the serving/camping/configured frequency whose measurements are above a pre-configured threshold, e.g., number of cells that fulfill an RSRP/RSRQ related event.

• index of SSB beam the UE was connected to when the RLF occurred.

In various embodiments, the aerial UE may log any of the above information as part of an existing report (e.g., RLF report) or as a new report dedicated to collecting information and/or measurements aerial UEs. In some embodiments, the aerial UE indicates availability of the logged information to the network, and then provides the logged information upon request from the network. For example, the network may request such information by a UEInformationRequest message and the aerial UE may provide such information as part of a UEInformationResponse message. The receiving network node may forward the reported information to other network nodes (e.g., RAN nodes or CN nodes) via signaling over inter node interfaces such as Xn, NG and FI.

In some embodiments, an aerial UE may log and report aerial-UE-specific information in a beam failure report (BFR) sent by MAC CE to the network node. The aerial-UE-specific information may be any of the information listed above. In these embodiments, the fields of the MAC CE may be configured to convey particular values for specific parameters based on RRC- configured codepoints. For example, the MAC CE may include a three-bit field for height with eight codepoints that are RRC configured, e.g., “000” means reported height is 0-50m, “001” means reported height is 50-70m, etc. As another example, the MAC CE may have a fixed length (e.g., N bits) field that indicates how many cells have RSRP above a configured threshold, with the codepoints for the field being RRC-configured.

In some embodiments, the content of the BFR MAC CE may be variable but which fields are present and the codepoints of these field may be RRC configured. For example, the MAC CE may be configured to have both height and number of cells fields or only one of those.

Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in more detail. In this description, the terms “network node” and “RAN node” are used interchangeably to refer to nodes such as eNB, ng-eNB, gNB, gNB-CU, gNB-CU-CP, gNB-DU, IAB node, etc.

Some embodiments include methods performed by an aerial UE. In some embodiments, the aerial UE logs and/or reports aerial-UE-specific information related to the UE actions upon detection of a radio link failure (RLF). Some examples of aerial-UE-specific information are described below. These can be combined as desired or needed.

In some embodiments, the aerial UE logs a height (altitude) at which the RLF was detected. In some embodiments, the aerial UE may log the height (altitude)at the time when the RLF was declared. Because the UE starts a timer (e.g., T310) when RLF is detected and declares RLF upon expiration of the timer, the times when the UE detects and declares the RLF may be different.

In some embodiments, an aerial UE logs speed (air speed) at the time when RLF was detected. In some embodiments, the aerial UE logs speed at the time when RLF was declared. These times may differ for the same reason as described above. In another variant, the aerial UE may log an average speed during its flight path before the RLF was detected or before the RLF was declared.

In some embodiments, an aerial UE logs the time when RLF was detected. In some embodiments, the aerial UE logs the time when RLF was declared. These times may differ for the same reason as described above.

In some embodiments, an aerial UE logs an indication that the UE is an aerial UE. For example, this may be a binary indication, with “1” indicating that the UE is an aerial UE and “0” indicating that the UE is not an aerial UE, or vice versa. As another example, this can be a Boolean indication, with “true” indicating that the UE is an aerial UE and “false” indicating that the UE is not an aerial UE, or vice versa.

In some embodiments, an aerial UE logs flight path information for the UE. For example, the aerial UE may log its entire flight path including a series of previously visited locations (i.e., before RLF) and, optionally, the times associated with each of these previously visited locations. In some embodiments, the aerial UE includes in the log a series of one or more locations expected to be visited (i.e., after RLF) and, optionally, expected times associated with each of these locations. The expected locations may be all locations of a subset of locations expected to be visited, such as the next location expected to be visited after the RLF was detected or declared.

In some embodiments, an aerial UE logs an indication of whether the RLF occurred within or outside of a pre-configured flight path. For example, the UE may have had to change its preconfigured flight path to avoid a collision with another aerial UE or a fixed obstacle (e.g., tree, building, etc.), and the RLF occurred when the aerial UE was on the changed flight path. In some embodiments, the aerial UE determines the value (e.g., yes/no) for the indication based on a threshold distance from the pre-configured flight path (e.g., 100m). In some embodiments, the aerial UE logs a time value associated with the pre-configured flight path, e.g., a time at which the UE was expected to be at the location on the flight path nearest to which RLF was detected or declared.

In some embodiments, an aerial UE logs the number of other aerial UEs detected before the RLF was detected or was declared. In a variant, the aerial UE may log identifiers of such other aerial UEs, if available. In another variant, the aerial UE may log locations (i.e., of the aerial UE) and/or times at which the other aerial UEs were detected. As a specific example, the aerial UE may log (position, time, ID) tuples for each other aerial UE that the aerial UE detected. The aerial UE may report the logged tuples in a list.

In some embodiments, an aerial UE logs the number of collisions avoided by the aerial UE before the RLF was detected or declared. For example, the aerial UE may log the number of times the aerial UE had to deviate from a preconfigured flight path to avoid other aerial UEs and/or fixed obstacles (e.g., trees, buildings, etc.). In a variant, the aerial UE only logs deviations that were above a threshold distance (e.g., 100m).

In some embodiments, an aerial UE logs a number of cells at the serving/camping/configured frequency whose measurements are above a pre-configured threshold (e.g., number of cells that fulfill an RSRP/RSRQ related event) when the RLF was detected or declared. In some embodiments, an aerial UE logs identifying information for the cell (e.g., serving cell or camping cell) in which the RLF was detected or declared. The identifying information may include cell global identity (CGI), physical cell identity (PCI), and/or operating frequency (e.g., ARFCN) of the cell.

As described above, in various embodiments, the aerial UE may log any of the above information as part of an existing report (e.g., RLF report) or as a new report dedicated to collecting information and/or measurements for aerial UEs. In some embodiments, the UE logs a plurality of sets of aerial-UE-specific information, each set being related to the UE actions upon detection of a different RLF or other such event. The UE may report the logged information in any the ways described above.

As described above, the aerial UE may indicate availability of the logged information to the network, and then provide the logged information upon request from the network. In some embodiments, the network may make an unsolicited request for any aerial UE-specific information that the aerial UE may have logged, such as in response to receiving a measurement report and/or determining that the UE is likely to experience an RLF or other undesirable event. For example, the network may request such information by a UEInformationRequest message and the aerial UE may provide such information as part of a UEInformationResponse message.

In some embodiments, if the UE provided the logged aerial UE-specific information to a second network node (e.g., a second gNB-CU) different from a first network node serving the UE when the RLF was detected/declared (e.g., a first gNB-CU), the second network node forwards the received aerial UE-specific information the first network node via an inter-node interface (e.g., Xn or NG) or via inter-node RRC messages. In an alternative, the second network node may be a gNB-CU and the first network node may be a gNB-DU. In such case, the gNB-CU may forward the report to the gNB-DU over the FI interface, such that the gNB- DU can take actions in response to the reported RLF or other event.

In some embodiments, an aerial UE logs and reports aerial-UE-specific information in a beam failure report (BFR) sent by MAC CE to the network node. The aerial -UE-specific information may be any of the information listed above. Different configuration options for fields of the BFR MAC CE were described above.

Some embodiments include operations by the network node after receiving a report from an aerial UE of any of the logged information discussed above, e.g., in an RLF report. For example, the network node may use the reported aerial-UE specific information for a handover decision when the aerial UE needs to be handed off to a new cell according to a (pre)configured flight path.

In some embodiments, the network node uses flight path information included in the logged information from the aerial UE to determine whether there are better cells covering locations in the flight path that are better than the cell in which the RLF occurred. The network node may base this determination on neighbor cell measurements included in the RLF report.

As a more specific example, if the aerial UE was planning to visit a certain location covered by a second cell different from a first cell in which the RLF occurred, and the aerial UE measured radio quality above a certain threshold for the second cell, then the network node may decide to proactively handover other aerial UEs having the same or similar flight path from the first cell to the second cell.

In some embodiments, the network node receiving the report may decide to delay handover of the aerial UE until it will be in coverage of a cell that is considered more stable (i.e., stronger signal or lower interference).

In some embodiments, the network node uses flight path information included in the logged information from the aerial UE to determine whether a particular location that the aerial UE is expected to visit has good coverage. For example, the aerial UE may have experienced an RLF while in a particular location. As another example, if the radio measurements of a first cell included in the RLF report are not satisfactory and the aerial UE expects to visit a first location within coverage of the first cell, the network may avoid handing over the aerial UE to the first cell. Instead, the network node may decide to handover the aerial UE to a second cell having coverage of a second location that the aerial UE expects to visit after the first location, provided that the radio measurements of the second cell are deemed satisfactory by the network node.

The embodiments described above are further illustrated with reference to Figures 10-11, which illustrate example methods (e.g., procedures) for an aerial UE and a network node, respectively. In other words, various features of operations described below correspond to various embodiments described above. The example methods may be used cooperatively to provide various example benefits and/or advantages. Although Figures 10-11 illustrate specific blocks in a particular order, the operations of the respective methods may be performed in different orders than shown and may be combined and/or divided into blocks having different functionality than shown. Optional blocks or operations are indicated by dashed lines.

In particular, Figure 10 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method (e.g., procedure) to report a failure event in a wireless network, according to various example embodiments of the present disclosure. The example method may be performed by a UE (e.g., wireless device), such as an aerial UE described elsewhere herein.

The example method may include operations of block 1020, where the UE logs information associated with the UE operation in the wireless network during a first duration associated with the failure event. The logged information may include first information related to the UE operation as an aerial UE. The example method may also include operations of block 1050, where the UE may send a report about the failure event to a network node in the wireless network, wherein the report includes the logged information.

In various embodiments, the first information may include any of the following, individually or in any combination:

• height (altitude) at which the failure event occurred;

• speed (air speed) at which the failure event occurred;

• time at which the failure event occurred;

• indication that the UE is an aerial UE;

• flight path information for the UE;

• indication of whether the failure event occurred within or outside of a pre-configured flight path;

• a time value associated with the pre-configured flight path, at which the failure event occurred;

• number of other aerial UEs detected before the failure event occurred;

• location of the UE and time when each other aerial UE was detected;

• number of collisions avoided by the UE before the failure event occurred;

• number of cells whose measurements are above a pre-configured threshold; and

• index of an SSB beam the UE was connected to when the failure event occurred.

In some embodiments, the logged information includes second information not related to the UE operation as an aerial UE, including one or more of the following:

• an identifier of a cell in which the failure event occurred; • measurements of the cell in which the failure event occurred;

• identifiers of neighbor cells of the cell in which the failure event occurred; and

• measurements of neighbor cells of the cell in which the failure event occurred.

In some embodiments, the flight path information (i.e., in the first information) includes a plurality of first locations previously visited by the UE and a corresponding plurality of times when the UE visited the first locations. In some embodiments, the flight path information may also include a plurality of second locations expected to be visited by the UE and a corresponding plurality of times when the UE expects to visit the second locations.

In some embodiments, the first information includes respective identifiers of other aerial UEs detected by the UE.

In some embodiments, the failure event is a radio link failure (RLF). In such embodiments, the failure event occurred at one of the following: the detection of the RLF, or the declaration of the RLF at the expiration of a timer initiated based on the detection of the RLF. In some embodiments the report comprises an RLF report.

In some embodiments, the example method includes the operations of block 1040, where the UE may receive, from the network node, a request for information about the UE. The report may be sent (e.g., in block 1050) in response to the request for information. In some embodiments, the example method may include the operations of block 1030, where the UE sends, to the network node, an indication that the report is available. The request for information may be received (e.g., in block 1040) in response to the indication.

In some embodiments, the failure event occurred in a second cell served by a second network node and the report is sent via a first cell served by the network node. In some embodiments, the failure event occurred in a first cell and the example method includes the operations of block 1060, where the UE may receive, from the network node, a request to handover from the first cell to a second cell.

In some embodiments, the failure event comprises a beam failure, the report comprises a beam failure report (BFR), and the first duration ends at the detection of the beam failure. In some embodiments, the BFR comprises a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) that includes bitfields of respective sizes arranged to carry respective elements of the first information. In such embodiments, the example method may include the operations of block 1010, where the UE receives, from the network node, a configuration indicating, for each bitfield, a plurality of bitfield values and a corresponding plurality of values for the first information element carried by the bitfield. An example of these embodiments is the three-bit field for height with eight codepoints that are RRC configured that was described in more detail above. In addition, Figure 11 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method (e.g., procedure) to manage failure events reported by UEs (e.g., aerial UEs) in a wireless network, according to various example embodiments of the present disclosure. The example method may be performed by a network node (e.g., base station, eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, en-gNB, etc., or components thereof) in the wireless network (e.g., E-UTRAN, NG-RAN).

The example method may include operations of block 1150, where the network node receives, from a UE, a report about a failure event experienced by the UE. The report may include logged information associated with the UE operation in the wireless network during a first duration associated with the failure event. The logged information may include first information related to the UE operation as an aerial UE. The example method may include operations of block 1160, where the network node performs at least one mobility operation for the UE based on the first information.

In various embodiments, the first information includes any of the first information described above in relation to UE embodiments. In some embodiments, the logged information includes second information not related to the UE operation as an aerial UE. The second information may include any of the second information described above in relation to UE embodiments.

In some embodiments, the failure event comprises a radio link failure (RLF) and the failure event occurred at one of the following: the detection of the RLF, or the declaration of the RLF at the expiration of a timer initiated based on the detection of the RLF. In some embodiments, the report comprises an RLF report. In some embodiments, the example method includes the operations of blocks 1140, where the network node sends, to the UE, a request for information about the UE. The report may be received (e.g., in block 1150) in response to the request for information. In some embodiments, the request for information is sent in response to the operations of block 1120, where the network node receives, from the UE, an indication that the report is available. In some embodiments, the request for information is sent in response to the operations of block 1130, where the network node determines that the UE is likely to experience the failure event based on one or more measurement reports received from the UE. In some embodiments, the failure event occurred in a second cell served by a second network node and the report is received via a first cell served by the network node. In such embodiments, performing the at least one mobility operation in block 1160 includes the operation of sub-block 1162, where the network node sends at least a portion of the first information to the second network node. In some embodiments, the failure event occurred in a first cell and performing the at least one mobility operation in block 1160 includes the operations of sub-block 1161, where the network node sends, to the UE, a command to handover from the first cell to a second cell.

In some embodiments, the failure event comprises a beam failure, the report comprises a beam failure report (BFR), and the first duration ends at the detection of the beam failure. In such embodiments, the at least one mobility procedure includes beam selection and/or beam refinement.

In some embodiments, the BFR comprises a MAC CE that includes bitfields of respective sizes arranged to carry respective elements of the first information. In such embodiments, the example method includes the operations of block 1110, where the network node transmits, to the UE, a configuration indicating, for each bitfield, a plurality of bitfield values and a corresponding plurality of values for the first information element carried by the bitfield. An example of these embodiments is the three-bit field for height with eight codepoints that are RRC configured that was described in more detail above.

Figures 12-17 illustrates various communication systems, network nodes, and UEs in which various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. In particular, Figure 12 illustrates an example of a communication system 1200 in accordance with some embodiments. In this example, communication system 1200 includes a telecommunication network 1202 that includes an access network 1204, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 1206, which includes one or more core network nodes 1208. The access network 1204 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 1210a and 1210b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 1210), or any other similar 3 GPP access node or non- 3GPP access point. The network nodes 1210 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 1212a, 1212b, 1212c, and 1212d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 1212) to the core network 1206 over one or more wireless connections.

Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 1200 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 1200 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system. The UEs 1212 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 1210 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 1210 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 1212 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 1202 to enable and/or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and/or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 1202.

In the depicted example, the core network 1206 connects the network nodes 1210 to one or more hosts, such as host 1216. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 1206 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 1208) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and/or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 1208. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and/or a User Plane Function (UPF).

The host 1216 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 1204 and/or the telecommunication network 1202 and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 1216 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

As a whole, the communication system 1200 of Figure 12 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and/or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

In some examples, the telecommunication network 1202 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 1202 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 1202. For example, the telecommunications network 1202 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)/Massive IoT services to yet further UEs.

In some examples, the UEs 1212 are configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 1204 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 1204. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e., being configured for multi -radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

In the example, the hub 1214 communicates with the access network 1204 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 1212c and/or 1212d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 1210b). In some examples, the hub 1214 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 1214 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 1206 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 1214 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 1210, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 1214. As another example, the hub 1214 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 1214 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 1214 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 1214 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 1214 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular in if one or more of the UEs are low energy IoT devices.

The hub 1214 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 1210b. The hub 1214 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 1214 and UEs (e.g., UE 1212c and/or 1212d), and between the hub 1214 and the core network 1206. In other examples, the hub 1214 is connected to the core network 1206 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 1214 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 1204 and/or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 1210 while still connected via the hub 1214 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 1214 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to/from the UEs from/to the network node 1210b. In other embodiments, the hub 1214 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 1210b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels.

Figure 13 illustrates a UE 1300 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded/integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter). The UE 1300 includes processing circuitry 1302 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1304 to an input/output interface 1306, a power source 1308, a memory 1310, a communication interface 1312, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 13. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

The processing circuitry 1302 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 1310. The processing circuitry 1302 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field- programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 1302 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

In the example, the input/output interface 1306 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and/or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 1300. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

In some embodiments, the power source 1308 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 1308 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 1308 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 1300 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 1308. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 1308 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 1300 to which power is supplied.

The memory 1310 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 1310 includes one or more application programs 1314, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 1316. The memory 1310 may store, for use by the UE 1300, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

The memory 1310 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and/or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 1310 may allow the UE 1300 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 1310, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

The processing circuitry 1302 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 1312. The communication interface 1312 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 1322. The communication interface 1312 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 1318 and/or a receiver 1320 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 1318 and receiver 1320 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 1322) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 1312 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol/intemet protocol (TCP/IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 1312, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an IoT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door/window sensor, a flood/moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an IoT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the IoT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 1300 shown in Figure 13.

As yet another specific example, in an IoT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another UE and/or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3 GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g., by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and/or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

Figure 14 illustrates a network node 1400 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NRNodeBs (gNBs)).

Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

The network node 1400 includes a processing circuitry 1402, a memory 1404, a communication interface 1406, and a power source 1408. The network node 1400 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 1400 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 1400 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 1404 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 1410 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 1400 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 1400, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 1400.

The processing circuitry 1402 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 1400 components, such as the memory 1404, to provide network node 1400 functionality.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1402 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1402 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1412 and baseband processing circuitry 1414. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1412 and the baseband processing circuitry 1414 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1412 and baseband processing circuitry 1414 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

The memory 1404 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 1402. The memory 1404 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 1402 and utilized by the network node 1400. The memory 1404 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 1402 and/or any data received via the communication interface 1406. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1402 and memory 1404 is integrated.

The communication interface 1406 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between a network node, access network, and/or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 1406 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 1416 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 1406 also includes radio front-end circuitry 1418 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 1410. Radio front-end circuitry 1418 comprises filters 1420 and amplifiers 1422. The radio front-end circuitry 1418 may be connected to an antenna 1410 and processing circuitry 1402. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1410 and processing circuitry 1402. The radio front-end circuitry 1418 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front- end circuitry 1418 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1420 and/or amplifiers 1422. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 1410. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 1410 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 1418. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 1402. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components. In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 1400 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 1418, instead, the processing circuitry 1402 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 1410. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 1412 is part of the communication interface 1406. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 1406 includes one or more ports or terminals 1416, the radio front- end circuitry 1418, and the RF transceiver circuitry 1412, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 1406 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 1414, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

The antenna 1410 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. The antenna 1410 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 1418 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 1410 is separate from the network node 1400 and connectable to the network node 1400 through an interface or port.

The antenna 1410, communication interface 1406, and/or the processing circuitry 1402 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 1410, the communication interface 1406, and/or the processing circuitry 1402 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment.

The power source 1408 provides power to the various components of network node 1400 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 1408 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 1400 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 1400 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 1408. As a further example, the power source 1408 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

Embodiments of the network node 1400 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 14 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 1400 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 1400 and to allow output of information from the network node 1400. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 1400.

Figure 15 is a block diagram illustrating a host 1500, which may be an embodiment of the host 1216 of Figure 12, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 1500 may be or comprise various combinations hardware and/or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 1500 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

The host 1500 includes processing circuitry 1502 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1504 to an input/output interface 1506, a network interface 1508, a power source 1510, and a memory 1512. Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as Figures 13 and 14, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of host 1500.

The memory 1512 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 1514 and data 1516, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by a UE for the host 1500 or data generated by the host 1500 for a UE. Embodiments of the host 1500 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs 1514 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, heads-up display systems). The host application programs 1514 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network. Accordingly, the host 1500 may select and/or indicate a different host for over-the-top services for a UE. The host application programs 1514 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

Figure 16 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1600 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 1600 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized.

Applications 1602 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

Hardware 1604 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and/or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and/or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input/output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1606 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 1608a and 1608b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1608), and/or perform any of the functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1606 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 1608.

The VMs 1608 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1606. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1602 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 1608, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

In the context of NFV, a VM 1608 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 1608, and that part of hardware 1604 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and/or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 1608 on top of the hardware 1604 and corresponds to the application 1602.

Hardware 1604 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 1604 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1604 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g., such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 1610, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 1602. In some embodiments, hardware 1604 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 1612 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

Figure 17 illustrates a communication diagram of a host 1702 communicating via a network node 1704 with a UE 1706 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments. Example implementations, in accordance with various embodiments, of the UE (such as a UE 1212a of Figure 12 and/or UE 1300 of Figure 13), network node (such as network node 1210a of Figure 12 and/or network node 1400 of Figure 14), and host (such as host 1216 of Figure 12 and/or host 1500 of Figure 15) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to Figure 17.

Like host 1500, embodiments of host 1702 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 1702 also includes software, which is stored in or accessible by the host 1702 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as the UE 1706 connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1750 extending between the UE 1706 and host 1702. In providing the service to the remote user, a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 1750.

The network node 1704 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host 1702 and UE 1706. The connection 1760 may be direct or pass through a core network (like core network 1206 of Figure 12) and/or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, an intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

The UE 1706 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by UE 1706 and executable by the UE’s processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific “app” that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 1706 with the support of the host 1702. In the host 1702, an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection 1750 terminating at the UE 1706 and host 1702. In providing the service to the user, the UE's client application may receive request data from the host's host application and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 1750 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application through the OTT connection 1750.

The OTT connection 1750 may extend via a connection 1760 between the host 1702 and the network node 1704 and via a wireless connection 1770 between the network node 1704 and the UE 1706 to provide the connection between the host 1702 and the UE 1706. The connection 1760 and wireless connection 1770, over which the OTT connection 1750 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host 1702 and the UE 1706 via the network node 1704, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection 1750, in step 1708, the host 1702 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 1706. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE 1706 that shares data with the host 1702 without explicit human interaction. In step 1710, the host 1702 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards the UE 1706. The host 1702 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by the UE 1706. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 1706 or by operation of the client application executing on the UE 1706. The transmission may pass via the network node 1704, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in step 1712, the network node 1704 transmits to the UE 1706 the user data that was carried in the transmission that the host 1702 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 1714, the UE 1706 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on the UE 1706 associated with the host application executed by the host 1702.

In some examples, the UE 1706 executes a client application which provides user data to the host 1702. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from the host 1702. Accordingly, in step 1716, the UE 1706 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via an input/output interface of the UE 1706. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE 1706 initiates, in step 1718, transmission of the user data towards the host 1702 via the network node 1704. In step 1720, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 1704 receives user data from the UE 1706 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 1702. In step 1722, the host 1702 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 1706.

One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 1706 using the OTT connection 1750, in which the wireless connection 1770 forms the last segment. For example, embodiments can facilitate aerial UEs to log aerial UE (or UAV)-specific information during operation in a wireless network (e.g., RAN) and report such information to the wireless network. This can facilitate aerial UE-specific mobility management by the wireless network, such as taking different actions in response to a RLF (or a beam failure) reported by an aerial UE than it would in response to an RLF (or beam failure) reported by a conventional UE. This can be beneficial given the different mobility and interference patterns experienced by aerial UEs. At a high level, embodiments can improve mobility performance of a wireless network with respect to all UEs, such that OTT services delivered over the wireless network have more consistent throughput and fewer interruptions due to mobility events such as handovers. This can increase the value of OTT services to both end users and service providers.

In an example scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 1702. As another example, the host 1702 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps. As another example, the host 1702 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, the host 1702 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE. As another example, the host 1702 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR or AR which it can broadcast, multicast or unicast to UEs. As other examples, the host 1702 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time critical electrical load to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing and/or transmitting data.

In some examples, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1750 between the host 1702 and UE 1706, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 1702 and/or UE 1706. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 1750 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 1750 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of the network node 1704. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like, by the host 1702. The measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 1750 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.

The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the disclosure. Various modifications and alterations to the described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the teachings herein. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous systems, arrangements, and procedures that, although not explicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of the disclosure and can be thus within the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Various example embodiments can be used together with one another, as well as interchangeably therewith, as should be understood by those having ordinary skill in the art.

The term unit, as used herein, can have conventional meaning in the field of electronics, electrical devices and/or electronic devices and can include, for example, electrical and/or electronic circuitry, devices, modules, processors, memories, logic solid state and/or discrete devices, computer programs or instructions for carrying out respective tasks, procedures, computations, outputs, and/or displaying functions, and so on, as such as those that are described herein.

Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include Digital Signal Processor (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

As described herein, device and/or apparatus can be represented by a semiconductor chip, a chipset, or a (hardware) module comprising such chip or chipset; this, however, does not exclude the possibility that a functionality of a device or apparatus, instead of being hardware implemented, be implemented as a software module such as a computer program or a computer program product comprising executable software code portions for execution or being run on a processor. Furthermore, functionality of a device or apparatus can be implemented by any combination of hardware and software. A device or apparatus can also be regarded as an assembly of multiple devices and/or apparatuses, whether functionally in cooperation with or independently of each other. Moreover, devices and apparatuses can be implemented in a distributed fashion throughout a system, so long as the functionality of the device or apparatus is preserved. Such and similar principles are considered as known to a skilled person.

Furthermore, functions described herein as being performed by a wireless device or a network node may be distributed over a plurality of wireless devices and/or network nodes. In other words, it is contemplated that the functions of the network node and wireless device described herein are not limited to performance by a single physical device and, in fact, can be distributed among several physical devices.

In addition, certain terms used in the present disclosure, including the specification, drawings and example embodiments thereof, can be used synonymously in certain instances, including, but not limited to, e.g., data and information. It should be understood that, while these words and/or other words that can be synonymous to one another, can be used synonymously herein, that there can be instances when such words can be intended to not be used synonymously. Further, to the extent that the prior art knowledge has not been explicitly incorporated by reference herein above, it is explicitly incorporated herein in its entirety. All publications referenced are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. It will be further understood that terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein. In addition, certain terms used in the present disclosure, including the specification and drawings, can be used synonymously in certain instances (e.g., “data” and “information”). It should be understood, that although these terms (and/or other terms that can be synonymous to one another) can be used synonymously herein, there can be instances when such words can be intended to not be used synonymously. Further, to the extent that the prior art knowledge has not been explicitly incorporated by reference herein above, it is explicitly incorporated herein in its entirety. All publications referenced are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

The techniques and apparatus described herein include, but are not limited to, the following enumerated examples:

A 1. A method for a user equipment (UE) to report a failure event in a wireless network, the method comprising: logging information associated with the UE’s operation in the wireless network during a first duration associated with the failure event, the logged information including first information related to the UE’s operation as an aerial UE; and sending a report about the failure event to a network node in the wireless network, wherein the report includes the logged information.

A2. The method of embodiment A 1, where the first information includes one or more of the following: height at which the failure event occurred; speed at which the failure event occurred; time at which the failure event occurred; indication that the UE is an aerial UE; flight path information for the UE; indication of whether the failure event occurred within or outside of a pre-configured flight path; a time value associated with the pre-configured flight path, at which the failure event occurred; number of other aerial UEs detected before the failure event occurred; location of the UE and time when each other aerial UE was detected; number of collisions avoided by the UE before the failure event occurred; number of cells whose measurements are above a pre-configured threshold; and index of a synchronization signal/PBCCH block (SSB) beam the UE was connected to when the failure event occurred. A3. The method of embodiment A2, wherein the logged information also includes second information not related to the UE’s operation as an aerial UE, including one or more of the following: an identifier of a cell in which the failure event occurred; measurements of the cell in which the failure event occurred; identifiers of neighbor cells of the cell in which the failure event occurred; and measurements of neighbor cells of the cell in which the failure event occurred.

A4. The method of any of embodiments A2-A3, wherein the flight path information includes a plurality of first locations previously visited by the UE and a corresponding plurality of times when the UE visited the first locations.

A5. The method of embodiment A4, wherein the flight path information also includes a plurality of second locations expected to be visited by the UE and a corresponding plurality of times when the UE expects to visit the second locations.

A5a. The method of any of embodiments A2-A5, wherein the first information also includes respective identifiers of other aerial UEs detected by the UE.

A6. The method of any of embodiments Al-A5a, wherein the failure event is a radio link failure (RLF) and the failure event occurred at one of the following: the UE’s detection of the RLF, or the UE’s declaration of the RLF at the expiration of a timer initiated based on the UE’s detection of the RLF.

A7. The method of embodiment A6, wherein the report is an RLF report.

A8. The method of any of embodiments A6-A7, further comprising receiving, from the network node, a request for information about the UE, wherein the report is sent in response to the request for information. A9. The method of embodiment A8, further comprising sending, to the network node, an indication that the report is available, wherein the request for information is received in response to the indication.

A 10. The method of any of embodiments A6-A9, wherein the failure event occurred in a second cell served by a second network node and the report is sent via a first cell served by the network node.

All. The method of any of embodiments A6-A10, wherein the failure event occurred in a first cell and the method further comprises receiving, from the network node, a request to handover from the first cell to a second cell. A12. The method of any of embodiments Al-A5a, wherein the failure event is a beam failure, the report is a beam failure report (BFR), and the first duration ends at the UE’s detection of the beam failure.

A 13. The method of embodiment A 12, wherein: the BFR is a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) that includes bitfields of respective sizes arranged to carry respective elements of the first information; and the method further comprises receiving, from the network node, a configuration indicating, for each bitfield, a plurality of bitfield values and a corresponding plurality of values for the first information element carried by the bitfield.

B 1. A method, for a network node in a wireless network, to manage failure events reported by user equipment (UEs), the method comprising: receiving, from a UE, a report about a failure event experienced by the UE, the report including logged information associated with the UE’s operation in the wireless network during a first duration associated with the failure event, the logged information including first information related to the UE’s operation as an aerial UE; and performing at least one mobility operation for the UE based on the first information.

B2. The method of embodiment B 1, where the first information includes one or more of the following: height at which the failure event occurred; speed at which the failure event occurred; time at which the failure event occurred; indication that the UE is an aerial UE; flight path information for the UE; indication of whether the failure event occurred within or outside of a pre-configured flight path; a time value associated with the pre-configured flight path, at which the failure event occurred; number of other aerial UEs detected before the failure event occurred; location of the UE and time when each other aerial UE was detected; number of collisions avoided by the UE before the failure event occurred; number of cells whose measurements are above a pre-configured threshold; and index of a synchronization signal/PBCCH block (SSB) beam the UE was connected to when the failure event occurred.

B3. The method of embodiment B2, wherein the logged information also includes second information not related to the UE’s operation as an aerial UE, including one or more of the following: an identifier of a cell in which the failure event occurred; measurements of the cell in which the failure event occurred; identifiers of neighbor cells of the cell in which the failure event occurred; and measurements of neighbor cells of the cell in which the failure event occurred.

B4. The method of any of embodiments B2-B3, wherein the flight path information includes a plurality of first locations previously visited by the UE and a corresponding plurality of times when the UE visited the first locations.

B5. The method of embodiment B4, wherein the flight path information also includes a plurality of second locations expected to be visited by the UE and a corresponding plurality of times when the UE expects to visit the second locations.

B5a. The method of any of embodiments B2-B5, wherein the first information also includes respective identifiers of other aerial UEs detected by the UE.

B6. The method of any of embodiments B 1-B5a, wherein the failure event is a radio link failure (RLF) and the failure event occurred at one of the following: the UE’s detection of the RLF, or the UE’s declaration of the RLF at the expiration of a timer initiated based on the UE’s detection of the RLF.

B7. The method of embodiment B6, wherein the report is an RLF report.

B8. The method of any of embodiments B6-B7, further comprising sending, to the UE, a request for information about the UE, wherein the report is received in response to the request for information.

B9. The method of embodiment B8, wherein the request for information is sent in response to one of the following: receiving an indication from the UE that the report is available; or determining that the UE is likely to experience the failure event based on one or more measurement reports received from the UE.

B10. The method of any of embodiments B6-B9, wherein: the failure event occurred in a second cell served by a second network node and the report is received via a first cell served by the network node; and performing the at least one mobility operation comprises sending at least a portion of the first information to the second network node.

B 11. The method of any of embodiments B6-B9, wherein the failure event occurred in a first cell and performing the at least one mobility operation comprises sending, to the UE, a command to handover from the first cell to a second cell.

B 12. The method of any of embodiments B 1-B5a, wherein the failure event is a beam failure, the report is a beam failure report (BFR), and the first duration ends at the UE’s detection of the beam failure.

B 12a. The method of embodiment B 12, wherein the at least one mobility procedure includes one or more of the following: beam selection and beam refinement.

B13. The method of any of embodiments B12-B13, wherein: the BFR is a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) that includes bitfields of respective sizes arranged to carry respective elements of the first information; and the method further comprises transmitting, to the UE, a configuration indicating, for each bitfield, a plurality of bitfield values and a corresponding plurality of values for the first information element carried by the bitfield.

Cl. A user equipment (UE) configured to report a failure event in a wireless network, the UE comprising: communication interface circuitry configured to communicate with a network node in the wireless network; and processing circuitry operatively coupled to the communication interface circuitry, whereby the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are configured to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments A 1 -A 13.

C2. A user equipment (UE) configured to report a failure event in a wireless network, the UE being further configured to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments A 1 -A 13.

C3. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) configured to report a failure event in a wireless network, configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments A1-A13.

C4. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) configured to report a failure event in a wireless network, configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments A1-A13.

Dl. A network node, in a wireless network, configured to manage failure events reported by user equipment (UEs), the network node comprising: communication interface circuitry configured to communicate with one or more UEs and with one or more other network nodes in the wireless network; and processing circuitry operatively coupled to the communication interface circuitry, whereby the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are configured to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments B 1 -B 13.

D2. A network node, in a wireless network, configured to manage failure events reported by user equipment (UEs), the network node being further configured to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments B1-B13. D3. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a network node configured to manage failure events reported by user equipment (UEs) in a wireless network, configure the network node to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments B1-B13.

D4. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a network node configured to manage failure events reported by user equipment (UEs) in a wireless network, configure the network node to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments B1-B13.