Generation Node-B (GNB), user equipment (UE) and methods for handover in new radio (NR) systems

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors to perform operations for communication by a base station, the operations to configure the one or more processors to:

• encode, for transmission to a plurality of transmit-receive points (TRPs) of a cell in which the base station operates, one or more control messages that indicate new radio synchronization signals (NR-SS) to be transmitted by the TRPs for radio resource management (RRM) measurements;
• decode, from a User Equipment (UE), a measurement report that indicates a plurality of signal quality measurements based on NR-SS and CSI-RS received from the TRPs;
• determine, based on the plurality of signal quality measurements, a combined signal quality measurement for the cell in which the base station operates;
• and
• determine, based on the combined signal quality measurement, whether the handover of the UE from the cell to a neighbor cell is initiated when a first signal quality measurement is less than a first threshold and a second signal quality measurement is less than a second threshold.

An apparatus, comprising:

• memory;
• and
• processing circuitry, configured to:
• decode, from a base station, one or more control messages that indicate:
• a first measurement event that occurs if a first signal quality measurement based on received new radio synchronization signals (NR-SS) is greater than a first threshold, the NR-SS configured for a cell in which the base station operates, and
• a second measurement event that occurs if a second signal quality measurement based on received channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) is greater than a second threshold, the CSI-RS configured for the UE;
• determine the first and second signal quality measurements;
• if both the first and second measurement events occur:
• encode, for transmission, a measurement report that includes the first and second signal quality measurements, wherein the memory is configured to store the first and second signal quality measurements;
• and
• receive, from the base station, an indication of a handover from the cell to a neighbor cell based on the first signal quality measurement being less than a first threshold and the second signal quality measurement being less than a second threshold.

An apparatus, comprising:

• memory;
• and
• processing circuitry, configured to:
• encode, for transmission, one or more control messages that indicate:
• one or more radio resource management (RRM) measurements at the UE, and
• one or more trigger conditions for transmission of one or more measurement reports, by the UE, based on the RRM measurements,
• wherein the RRM measurements are based on one of:
• new radio synchronization signals (NR-SS) and channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS),
• wherein the RRM measurements are further based on one of:
• a reference signal received power (RSRP), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) and a reference signal signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (RS-SINR),
• wherein the one or more trigger conditions include:
• a first measurement event that occurs when a first signal quality measurement based on received new radio synchronization signals (NR-SS) is greater than a first threshold, the NR-SS configured for a cell in which the base station operates, and
• a second measurement event that occurs when a second signal quality measurement based on received channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) is greater than a second threshold, the CSI-RS configured for the UE;
• and
• determine, based at least partly on the first and second signal quality measurements, whether to initiate a handover of the UE from a serving cell to a neighbor cell, wherein the handover of the UE from the serving cell to the neighbor cell is initiated when the first signal quality measurement is less than a first threshold and the second signal quality measurement is less than a second threshold;
• and
• wherein the memory is configured to store at least a portion of the control messages.