Coverage enhancement of Msg3 and MsgA transmissions on physical uplink shared channel

A method of operating a network node in a communications network, the method comprising:

• receiving a preamble from a communication device during a random access, RA, procedure;
• determining whether the communication device will transmit Msg3 information using repetition based on a subset of preambles associated with the preamble received from the communication device during the RA procedure, wherein the determining determines whether the preamble received from the communication device is one of the preambles in the subset of preambles that are reserved for Msg3 repetition;
• and
• receiving the Msg3 information from the communication device.

A communication device for operating in a communications network, the communication device comprising:

• processing circuitry;
• and
• memory containing instructions that, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the apparatus to:
• determine to transmit Msg3 information using repetition to a network node operating in the communications network during a random access, RA, procedure;
• determine to use a subset of preambles that are reserved for Msg3 repetition based on determining to transmit the Msg3 information using repetition;
• determine a preamble of the subset of preambles that are reserved for Msg3 repetition;
• transmit the preamble to the network node;
• and
• transmit the Msg3 information using repetition to the network node.

A network node for operating in a communications network, the communication device comprising:

• processing circuitry;
• and
• memory containing instructions that, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the apparatus to:
• receive a preamble from a communication device during a random access, RA, procedure;
• determine whether the communication device will transmit Msg3 information using repetition based on a subset of preambles associated with the preamble received from the communication device during the RA procedure, wherein the determining determines whether the preamble received from the communication device is one of the preambles in the subset of preambles that are reserved for Msg3 repetition;
• and
• receive the Msg3 information from the communication device.