Content for  TS 38.300  Word version:  18.4.0

In RRC_CONNECTED, the UE measures multiple beams (at least one) of a cell and the measurements results (power values) are averaged to derive the cell quality. In doing so, the UE is configured to consider a subset of the detected beams. Filtering takes place at two different levels: at the physical layer to derive beam quality and then at RRC level to derive cell quality from multiple beams. Cell quality from beam measurements is derived in the same way for the serving cell(s) and for the non-serving cell(s). Measurement reports may contain the measurement results of the X best beams if the UE is configured to do so by the gNB. The corresponding high-level measurement model is described below:

• A: measurements (beam specific samples) internal to the physical layer.
• Layer 1 filtering: internal layer 1 filtering of the inputs measured at point A. Exact filtering is implementation dependent. How the measurements are actually executed in the physical layer by an implementation (inputs A and Layer 1 filtering) is not constrained by the standard.
• A¹: measurements (i.e. beam specific measurements) reported by layer 1 to layer 3 after layer 1 filtering.
• Beam Consolidation/Selection: beam specific measurements are consolidated to derive cell quality. The behaviour of the Beam consolidation/selection is standardised and the configuration of this module is provided by RRC signalling. Reporting period at B equals one measurement period at A1.
• B: a measurement (i.e. cell quality) derived from beam-specific measurements reported to layer 3 after beam consolidation/selection.
• Layer 3 filtering for cell quality: filtering performed on the measurements provided at point B. The behaviour of the Layer 3 filters is standardised and the configuration of the layer 3 filters is provided by RRC signalling. Filtering reporting period at C equals one measurement period at B.
• C: a measurement after processing in the layer 3 filter. The reporting rate is identical to the reporting rate at point B. This measurement is used as input for one or more evaluation of reporting criteria.
• Evaluation of reporting criteria: checks whether actual measurement reporting is necessary at point D. The evaluation can be based on more than one flow of measurements at reference point C e.g. to compare between different measurements. This is illustrated by input C and C1. The UE shall evaluate the reporting criteria at least every time a new measurement result is reported at point C, C1. The reporting criteria are standardised and the configuration is provided by RRC signalling (UE measurements).
• D: measurement report information (message) sent on the radio interface.
• L3 Beam filtering: filtering performed on the measurements (i.e. beam specific measurements) provided at point A1. The behaviour of the beam filters is standardised and the configuration of the beam filters is provided by RRC signalling. Filtering reporting period at E equals one measurement period at A1.
• E: a measurement (i.e. beam-specific measurement) after processing in the beam filter. The reporting rate is identical to the reporting rate at point A1. This measurement is used as input for selecting the X measurements to be reported.
• Beam Selection for beam reporting: selects the X measurements from the measurements provided at point E. The behaviour of the beam selection is standardised and the configuration of this module is provided by RRC signalling.
• F: beam measurement information included in measurement report (sent) on the radio interface.

Layer 1 filtering introduces a certain level of measurement averaging. How and when the UE exactly performs the required measurements is implementation specific to the point that the output at B fulfils the performance requirements set in TS 38.133. Layer 3 filtering for cell quality and related parameters used are specified in TS 38.331 and do not introduce any delay in the sample availability between B and C. Measurement at point C, C1 is the input used in the event evaluation. L3 Beam filtering and related parameters used are specified in TS 38.331 and do not introduce any delay in the sample availability between E and F. Measurement reports are characterized by the following:

• Measurement reports include the measurement identity of the associated measurement configuration that triggered the reporting;
• Cell and beam measurement quantities to be included in measurement reports are configured by the network;
• The number of non-serving cells to be reported can be limited through configuration by the network;
• Cells belonging to an exclude-list configured by the network are not used in event evaluation and reporting, and conversely when an allow-list is configured by the network, only the cells belonging to the allow-list are used in event evaluation and reporting;
• Beam measurements to be included in measurement reports are configured by the network (beam identifier only, measurement result and beam identifier, or no beam reporting).

Intra-frequency neighbour (cell) measurements and inter-frequency neighbour (cell) measurements are defined as follows:

• SSB based intra-frequency measurement: a measurement is defined as an SSB based intra-frequency measurement provided the center frequency of the SSB of the serving cell and the center frequency of the SSB of the neighbour cell are the same, and the subcarrier spacing of the two SSBs is also the same.
• SSB based inter-frequency measurement: a measurement is defined as an SSB based inter-frequency measurement provided the center frequency of the SSB of the serving cell and the center frequency of the SSB of the neighbour cell are different, or the subcarrier spacing of the two SSBs is different.
• CSI-RS based intra-frequency measurement: a measurement is defined as a CSI-RS based intra-frequency measurement provided that:
  • The subcarrier spacing of CSI-RS resources on the neighbour cell configured for measurement is the same as the SCS of CSI-RS resources on the serving cell indicated for measurement; and
  • For 60kHz subcarrier spacing, the CP type of CSI-RS resources on the neighbour cell configured for measurement is the same as the CP type of CSI-RS resources on the serving cell indicated for measurement; and
  • The centre frequency of CSI-RS resources on the neighbour cell configured for measurement is the same as the centre frequency of CSI-RS resource on the serving cell indicated for measurement.
• CSI-RS based inter-frequency measurement: a measurement is defined as a CSI-RS based inter-frequency measurement if it is not a CSI-RS based intra-frequency measurement.

Whether a measurement is non-gap-assisted or gap-assisted depends on the capability of the UE, the active BWP of the UE and the current operating frequency:

• For SSB based inter-frequency measurement, if the measurement gap requirement information is reported by the UE, a measurement gap configuration may be provided according to the information. Otherwise, a measurement gap configuration is always provided in the following cases:
  • If the UE only supports per-UE measurement gaps;
  • If the UE supports per-FR measurement gaps and any of the serving cells are in the same frequency range of the measurement object.
• For SSB based intra-frequency measurement, if the measurement gap requirement information is reported by the UE, a measurement gap configuration may be provided according to the information. Otherwise, a measurement gap configuration is always provided in the following case:
  • Other than the initial BWP, if any of the UE configured BWPs do not contain the frequency domain resources of the SSB associated to the initial DL BWP, and are not configured with NCD-SSB for serving cell measurement.
• For CSI-RS based intra-frequency measurement, no measurement gap is needed;
• For CSI-RS based inter-frequency measurement, a measurement gap configuration is always provided in the following cases:
  • If the UE only supports per-UE measurement gaps;
  • If the UE supports per-FR measurement gaps and any of the serving cells are in the same frequency range of the measurement object.

In non-gap-assisted scenarios, the UE shall be able to carry out such measurements without measurement gaps. In gap-assisted scenarios, the UE cannot be assumed to be able to carry out such measurements without measurement gaps. Network may request the UE to measure NR and/or E-UTRA carriers in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE via system information or via dedicated measurement configuration in RRCRelease. If the UE was configured to perform measurements of NR and/or E-UTRA carriers while in RRC_IDLE or in RRC_INACTIVE, it may provide an indication of the availability of corresponding measurement results to the gNB in the RRCSetupComplete message. The network may request the UE to report those measurements after security activation. The request for the measurements can be sent by the network immediately after transmitting the Security Mode Command (i.e. before the reception of the Security Mode Complete from the UE). If the UE was configured to perform measurements of NR and/or E-UTRA carriers while in RRC_INACTIVE, the gNB can request the UE to provide corresponding measurement results in the RRCResume message and then the UE can include the available measurement results in the RRCResumeComplete message. Alternatively, the UE may provide an indication of the availability of the measurement results to the gNB in the RRCResumeComplete message and the gNB can then request the UE to provide these measurement results.

Paging allows the network to reach UEs in RRC_IDLE and in RRC_INACTIVE state through Paging messages, and to notify UEs in RRC_IDLE, RRC_INACTIVE and RRC_CONNECTED state of system information change (see clause 7.3.3) and ETWS/CMAS indications (see clause 16.4) through Short Messages. Both Paging messages and Short Messages are addressed with P-RNTI on PDCCH, but while the former is sent on PCCH, the latter is sent over PDCCH directly (see clause 6.5 of TS 38.331). While in RRC_IDLE the UE monitors the paging channels for CN-initiated paging. While in RRC_INACTIVE with no ongoing SDT procedure (see clause 18.0) the UE monitors paging channels for RAN-initiated paging and CN-initiated paging. A UE need not monitor paging channels continuously though; Paging DRX is defined where the UE in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE is only required to monitor paging channels during one Paging Occasion (PO) per DRX cycle (see TS 38.304). The Paging DRX cycles are configured by the network:

1. For CN-initiated paging, a default cycle is broadcast in system information;
2. For CN-initiated paging, a UE specific cycle can be configured via NAS signalling;
3. For RAN-initiated paging, a UE-specific cycle is configured via RRC signalling;
   • The UE uses the shortest of the DRX cycles applicable i.e. a UE in RRC_IDLE uses the shortest of the first two cycles above, while a UE in RRC_INACTIVE uses the shortest of the three.

The POs of a UE for CN-initiated and RAN-initiated paging are based on the same UE ID, resulting in overlapping POs for both. The number of different POs in a DRX cycle is configurable via system information and a network may distribute UEs to those POs based on their IDs. While in RRC_CONNECTED and while in RRC_INACTIVE with ongoing SDT procedure, the UE monitors the paging channels in any PO signalled in system information for SI change indication and PWS notification. In case of BA, a UE in RRC_CONNECTED only monitors paging channels on the active BWP with common search space configured. For operation with shared spectrum channel access, a UE can be configured for an additional number of PDCCH monitoring occasions in its PO to monitor for paging. However, when the UE detects a PDCCH transmission within the UE's PO addressed with P-RNTI, the UE is not required to monitor the subsequent PDCCH monitoring occasions within this PO. If Paging Cause is included in the Paging message, a UE in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state may use the Paging Cause as per TS 23.501. Paging optimization for UEs in CM_IDLE: Paging optimization for UEs in RRC_INACTIVE: UE power saving for paging monitoring: These subgroups have the following characteristics:

• They are formed based on either CN controlled subgrouping or UE ID based subgrouping;
• If CN controlled subgroup ID is not provided from AMF, UE ID based subgrouping is used if supported by the UE and network;
• The RRC state (RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state) does not impact which subgroup the UE belongs to;
• Subgrouping support for a cell is broadcast in the system information as one of the following: Only CN controlled subgrouping supported, only UE ID based subgrouping supported, or both CN controlled subgrouping and UE ID based subgrouping supported;
• Total number of subgroups allowed in a cell is up to 8 and represents the sum of CN controlled and UE ID based subgrouping configured by the network;
• A UE configured with CN controlled subgroup ID applies CN controlled subgroup ID if the cell supports CN controlled subgrouping; otherwise, it derives UE ID based subgroup ID if the cell supports only UE ID based subgrouping.

PEI associated with subgroups has the following characteristics:

• If the PEI is supported by the UE, it shall at least support UE ID based subgrouping method;
  • PEI monitoring can be limited via system information to the last used cell (i.e., the cell in which the UE most recently received RRCRelease without indicating that the last used cell for PEI shall not be updated);
  • A PEI-capable UE shall store its last used cell information;
  • gNBs supporting the PEI monitoring to the last used cell function provide the UE's last used cell information to the AMF in the NG-AP UE Context Release Complete message for PEI capable UEs, as described in TS 38.413;
  • UE that expects MBS group notification shall ignore the PEI and shall monitor paging in its PO.

CN controlled subgrouping: The following Figure describes the procedure for CN controlled subgrouping:

UE ID based subgrouping: