Dual-protocol for mobility enhancement

A user equipment (UE) comprising:

• a radio frequency (RF) transceiver that transmits and receives radio signals in a wireless network;
• a source protocol stack and a target protocol stack that communicate with the RF transceiver;
• a memory;
• and
• a processor coupled to the memory, the source protocol stack and the source protocol stack, the processor configured to receive a reconfiguration message from a source gNB, wherein the UE performs data transmission and reception with the source gNB through the source protocol stack, configure a new target protocol stack for a target gNB based on the received reconfiguration message, wherein the new target protocol is concurrent with the source protocol stack, and wherein the target protocol stack is configured with an existing source data radio bearer (DRB) configuration for the target gNB, perform random access (RA) procedure and establishes radio resource control (RRC) connection with the target gNB through the target protocol stack while simultaneously maintaining data transmission and reception with the source gNB through the source protocol stack, reorder PDCP packet data units (PDUs) received from the source protocol stack and the target protocol stack by a UE PDCP entity, and release an RRC connection with the source gNB and performing data transmission and reception with the target gNB upon detecting one or more predefined release triggering event.