Pc5 radio resource control (rrc) sidelink (sl) connection management with base station notification

A base station comprising:

• a receiver configured to receive a PC5 Radio Resource Control (RRC) communication-released report from a source user equipment (UE) device, the PC5 RRC communication-released report indicating that a PC5 RRC communication link with a peer UE device has been released;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• determine whether a PC5 RRC communication-released peer notification should be sent to the peer UE device, the PC5 RRC communication-released peer notification indicating to the peer UE device that the PC5 RRC communication link has been released by the source UE device, and
• initiate transmission of the PC5 RRC communication-released notification to the peer UE device in response to determining that PC5 RRC communication-released notification should be sent.

A peer user equipment (UE) device comprising:

• a transceiver configured to maintain a PC5 Radio Resource Control (RRC) communication link with a source UE device;
• a receiver configured to receive, from a base station, a PC5 RRC communication-released peer notification indicating a source UE device has released the PC5 RRC communication link;
• and
• a controller configured to release the PC5 RRC communication link in response to the PC5 RRC communication-released peer notification.