Beam measurement and reporting in cellular networks

An apparatus of a user equipment (UE) for reporting beam specific measurements comprising:

• a memory interface to access data describing a beam measurement gap pattern for beam measurements;
• a processing unit configured to:
• decode a message comprising an indicator from a radio access network (RAN) node indicating the beam measurement gap pattern and an indicator of a set of beamformed beams for beam measurements during gaps of the beam measurement gap pattern, wherein the message comprises a flag to indicate the beam measurement gap pattern is for beam specific reference signal (BRS) measurement;
• perform a set of beam measurements of the set of beamformed beams during the gaps of the beam measurement gap pattern as indicated by the message;
• and
• generate a report from the UE to the RAN node providing results of the beam measurements.

A non-transitory computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by a processor to perform operations of a radio access network (RAN) node for performing beam measurements in a cellular network, the operations, when executed by the processor, to perform a method, the method comprising:

• configuring a beam measurement gap pattern for a user equipment (UE) performing inter-frequency beam measurements of a set of beams created by beamforming;
• generating an information element for the UE comprising an indicator of the beam measurement gap pattern and an indicator of a beam for beam measurements, wherein the information element comprises a flag to indicate the beam measurement gap pattern is for beam specific reference signal (BRS) measurement;
• avoiding scheduling the UE during a gap of the beam measurement gap pattern;
• and
• processing a report from the UE providing results of the inter-frequency beam measurements.