Measurement reporting and handover procedures between relay paths

A method for wireless communications at a base station, comprising:

• communicating with a first user equipment (UE) via a second UE operating as a UE-to-network relay;
• receiving, from the first UE via the second UE, a measurement report associated with the second UE and at least a third UE corresponding to a candidate UE-to-network relay;
• determining to handover the first UE from using the second UE as the UE-to-network relay to using the third UE as the UE-to-network relay based at least in part on the measurement report;
• transmitting a handover command to the first UE via the second UE indicating a PC5 radio link control channel configuration for the third UE based at least in part on determining to handover the first UE;
• and
• communicating with the first UE via the third UE operating as the UE-to-network relay based at least in part on the handover command.

An apparatus for wireless communications at a first user equipment (UE), comprising:

• one or more processors;
• one or more memories coupled with the one or more processors;
• and
• instructions stored in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to:
• communicate with a network via a second UE operating as a UE-to-network relay;
• determine a trigger event for a measurement report associated with the second UE and at least a third UE corresponding to a candidate UE-to-network relay;
• transmit the measurement report based at least in part on the trigger event;
• receiving, from the network via the second UE, a handover command indicating a PC5 radio link control channel configuration for the third UE;
• perform a handover procedure from the second UE operating as the UE-to-network relay to the third UE operating as the UE-to-network relay in accordance with the handover command;
• and
• communicate with the network via the third UE operating as the UE-to-network relay based at least in part on the handover procedure.

An apparatus for wireless communications at a base station, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• one or more memories coupled with the one or more processors;
• and
• instructions stored in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to:
• communicate with a first user equipment (UE) via a second UE operating as a UE-to-network relay;
• receive, from the first UE via the second UE, a measurement report associated with the second UE and at least a third UE corresponding to a candidate UE-to-network relay;
• determine to handover the first UE from using the second UE as the UE-to-network relay to using the third UE as the UE-to-network relay based at least in part on the measurement report;
• transmit a handover command to the first UE via the second UE indicating a PC5 radio link control channel configuration for the third UE based at least in part on determining to handover the first UE;
• and
• communicate with the first UE via the third UE operating as the UE-to-network relay based at least in part on the handover command.