Radio resource control connection procedures for remote wireless devices

A method, comprising:

• by a first wireless device:
• receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message on a Uu link from a cellular base station for a second wireless device;
• relaying the RRC reconfiguration message to the second wireless device on a relay link and start a timer;
• and
• wherein:
• when an RRC reconfiguration complete message is received, stop the timer;
• and
• when the timer expires, detecting that a link failure has occurred on the relay link.

A user equipment (UE) device, comprising:

• one or more radios;
• and
• a processor coupled to the one or more radios and configured to cause the UE device to:
• receive a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message on a Uu link from a cellular base station for a remote wireless device;
• relay the RRC reconfiguration message to the remote wireless device on a relay link and start a timer;
• and
• wherein:
• when an RRC reconfiguration complete message is received, stop the timer;
• and
• when the timer expires, detecting that a link failure has occurred on the relay link.