Probabilistic random access

A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• at least one processor coupled to the memory, the memory including instructions executable by the at least one processor to cause the UE to:
• generate, for a set of random access occasions of a base station of a wireless network, a random number over an interval;
• for the generated random number meeting a threshold value within the interval, transmit, to the base station a random access preamble within one of the random access occasions of the set;
• for the generated random number not meeting the threshold value, attempt contention-based access to the wireless network within a subsequent set of random access occasions of the base station, the subsequent set of random access occasions occurring after the set of random access occasions of the base station;
• and
• receive, from the base station prior to transmitting, the threshold value as an information element in at least one of a Radio Resource Control Message, a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message, a Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) message, and a paging message.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable code, the code when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

• generate, for a set of random access occasions of a base station of a wireless network, a random number over an interval;
• for the generated random number meeting a threshold value within the interval, transmit, to the base station, a random access preamble within one of the random access occasions of the set;
• for the generated random number not meeting the threshold value, attempt contention-based access to the wireless network within a subsequent set of random access occasions of the base station, the subsequent set of random access occasions occurring after the set of random access occasions of the base station;
• and
• receive, from the base station prior to transmitting, the threshold value as an information element in at least one of a Radio Resource Control Message, a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message, a Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) message, and a paging message.

An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

• means for generating, for a set of random access occasions of a base station of a wireless network, a random number over an interval;
• means for transmitting, to the base station and for the generated random number meeting a threshold value within the interval, a random access preamble within one of the random access occasions of the set;
• means for attempting, for the generated random number not meeting the threshold value, contention-based access to the wireless network within a subsequent set of random access occasions of the base station, the subsequent set of random access occasions occurring after the set of random access occasions of the base station;
• and
• means for receiving, from the base station prior to transmitting, the threshold value as an information element in at least one of a Radio Resource Control Message, a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message, a Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) message, and a paging message.