Wireless relay operation on top of 5g frame structure

A method comprising:

• allocating resources for use by a subframe arrangement, the arrangement comprising a plurality of symbols and:
• a downlink control portion comprising at least one symbol having a first portion allocatable to a first downlink control channel transmission, wherein the first downlink control channel transmission is from a base station to a relay node;
• an uplink control portion comprising at least one symbol having a first portion allocatable to a first uplink control channel transmission, wherein the first uplink control channel transmission is from the relay node to the base station;
• a data portion allocatable to one of one of uplink and downlink data transmission, wherein the data transmission is between the relay node and the base station, and
• wherein symbol timing of the subframe arrangement is different to the symbol timing of a subframe arrangement for use solely in wireless communications between a user equipment and at least one of the base station and a relay node.

An apparatus comprising:

• at least one processor and at least one memory including a computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:
• allocate resources for use by a subframe arrangement, the arrangement comprising a plurality of symbols and:
• a downlink control portion comprising at least one symbol having a first portion allocatable to a first downlink control channel transmission, wherein the first downlink control channel transmission is from a base station to a relay node;
• an uplink control portion comprising at least one symbol having a first portion allocatable to a first uplink control channel transmission, wherein the first uplink control channel transmission is from the relay node to the base station;
• a data portion allocatable to one of one of uplink and downlink data transmission, wherein the data transmission is between the relay node and the base station, and
• wherein symbol timing of the subframe arrangement is different to the symbol timing of a subframe arrangement for use solely in wireless communications between a user equipment and at least one of the base station and a relay node.