User equipment-triggered lower layer-based handover

A computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a processor of a user equipment (UE) configured to perform a UE-triggered lower layer-based handover, cause the processor to:

• based on measurements associated with both a source base station and a target base station, determine that a UE-triggered handover utilizing layer 1 or layer 2 is to be performed;
• determine first uplink resources configured by the source base station for a dedicated scheduling request;
• generate, at the UE, the dedicated scheduling request to request second uplink resources from the source base station for a handover request in a media access control (MAC) control element (CE);
• generate the handover request, the handover request to be carried by the MAC CE to the source base station;
• transmit the handover request to the source base station in the MAC CE;
• monitor for a handover command received from the source base station in response to the handover request, wherein the handover command is associated with performing a handover procedure from the source base station to the target base station, and wherein the monitoring comprises generating a timer associated with the generated handover request, wherein expiration of the timer before receiving the handover command from the source base station causes the UE to re-generate the handover request;
• and
• process the handover command received from the source base station.

A method for performing a UE-triggered lower layer-based handover, the method comprising:

• based on measurements associated with both a source base station and a target base station, determining that a UE-triggered handover utilizing layer 1 or layer 2 is to be performed;
• determining first uplink resources configured by the source base station for a dedicated scheduling request;
• generating, at the UE, the dedicated scheduling request to request second uplink resources from the source base station for a handover request in a media access control (MAC) control element (CE);
• generating the handover request, the handover request to be carried by the MAC CE to the source base station;
• transmitting the handover request to the source base station in the MAC CE;
• monitoring for a handover command received from the source base station in response to the handover request, wherein the handover command is associated with performing a handover procedure from the source base station to the target base station, and wherein the monitoring comprises generating a timer associated with the generated handover request, wherein expiration of the timer before receiving the handover command from the source base station causes the UE to re-generate the handover request;
• and
• processing the handover command received from the source base station.