Methods and apparatus for enabling further L1 enhancements in LTE heterogeneous networks

A method for communication in a wireless telecommunication network, the method comprising:

• providing, by a network element in a first cell in the network, uplink and downlink grants in the first cell, wherein the first cell is a low-power cell within the coverage area of a second cell that is a high-power cell, and wherein the first cell acts as a secondary cell and the second cell acts as a primary cell in a carrier aggregation (CA) mode, wherein the network element schedules the uplink and downlink grants based on information received from the second cell via an X2 interface between the first and second cells, and wherein at least one uplink control signal is received by one of only the first cell or both the first cell and the second cell;
• assigning, by the network element, a first cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) to a user equipment (UE), wherein the first C-RNTI is different from a second C-RNTI that the second cell assigns to the UE;
• and
• indicating, by the network element to the UE, use of a higher modulation order in the first cell than in the second cell.

A user equipment (UE) configured to maintain dual connectivity with a first cell and a second cell in a wireless telecommunication network, the UE comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable on the processor to:
• send at least one uplink control signal to one of only the first cell or both the first cell and the second cell, wherein the second cell is a high-power cell and the first cell is a low-power cell within the coverage area of the second cell, and wherein the second cell acts as a primary cell and the first cell acts as a secondary cell in a carrier aggregation mode;
• receive, from the first cell, an assignment of a first cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) to the UE, wherein the first C-RNTI is different from a second C-RNTI that is assigned to the UE by the second cell;
• and
• receive from the network element, an indication to use, by the UE, a higher modulation order in the first cell than in the second cell.