User equipment and methods for operation in coverage enhancement mode with physical random access channel preamble

An apparatus of an evolved Node-B (eNB) comprising:

• a processor configured to:
• encode for transmission to a user equipment (UE), a mapping between a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble and an enhanced coverage (EC) level of the UE;
• and
• decode, from the UE, repetitions of the PRACH preamble based on the EC level;
• a memory configured to store the mapping,
• wherein a number of PRACH resources used by the repetitions are dependent on the EC level, and
• wherein a frequency hopping pattern of the repetitions is generated according to a system frame number.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors to perform operations by a user equipment (UE), the operations to configure the UE to:

• determine an enhanced coverage (EC) level, from a plurality of enhanced coverage levels, to be used in communications with an evolved Node-B (eNB);
• select a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble from a plurality of PRACH preambles based on the EC level;
• and
• repeatedly transmit the PRACH preamble a number of times, wherein a frequency hopping pattern of the repeated PRACH preamble transmissions is determined by a system frame number and dependent on the EC level.