Message 2 repetition with transmit beam sweep and associated beam refinement for message 3 and message 4

A method of wireless communication, comprising:

• transmitting a plurality of repeated physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates to a user equipment (UE) for a single random access message 2 during a random access response window;
• receiving a random access message 3 from the UE on resources indicated by the random access message 2, the resources for the random access message 3 being time shifted by an offset associated with a strongest of the plurality of repeated PDCCH candidates;
• selecting a beam associated with the offset for transmitting a random access message 4;
• and
• transmitting the random access message 4, to the UE, using the selected beam.

An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

• a memory storing computer executable instructions;
• and
• at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions to:
• receive, from a network node, a plurality of repeated physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates for a single random access message 2 during a random access response window;
• transmit, to the network node, a random access message 3 on resources indicated by the random access message 2, the resources for the random access message 3 being time shifted by an offset associated with a strongest of the plurality of repeated PDCCH candidates;
• and
• receive, from the network node, a random access message 4 that is transmitted using a beam associated with the offset.

An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

• a memory storing computer executable instructions;
• and
• at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions to:
• transmit a plurality of repeated physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates to a user equipment (UE) for a single random access message 2 during a random access response window;
• receive, from the UE, a random access message 3 on resources indicated by the random access message 2, the resources for the random access message 3 being time shifted by an offset associated with a strongest of the plurality of repeated PDCCH candidates;
• select a beam associated with the offset for transmitting a random access message 4;
• and
• transmit the random access message 4, to the UE, using the selected beam.