Architecture for wireless network access

1. A network entity comprising processing circuitry to:

define a downlink control channel comprising:

a synchronization signal;

a physical broadcast channel (PBCH); and

at least one slot for contention resolution or device-to-device (D2D) discovery and link setup;

broadcast a synchronization signal comprising the control channel from a plurality of remote radio heads (RRH) communicatively coupled to the network entity;

receive an initial access request form a user equipment (UE) via an uplink control channel comprising:

a sounding signal to facilitate RRH selection;

a physical random access channel (PRACH) to facilitate initial access; and

at least one slot for contention resolution or device-to-device (D2D) discovery and link setup;

assign a unique identifier to the UE;

select a RRH to provide a transmission point (TP) to the UE;

measure a received power strength of the sounding signal; and

select a RRH to provide a transmission point based at least in part on a signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the sounding signal.

2. The network entity of claim 1 , wherein the control channel has a dedicated bandwidth separate from a data channel.

3. The network entity of claim 2 , wherein the control channel is implemented using a bandwidth adjacent to from the data channel.

4. The network entity of claim 1 , wherein the control channel is multiplexed with a data channel using either frequency division multiplexing (FDM) or time division multiplexing (TDM).

5. The network entity of claim 1 , further comprising processing circuitry to:

implement a beamforming training procedure between the TP and the UE.

6. The network entity of claim 5 , wherein the processing circuitry to implement the beamforming training procedure further comprises processing circuitry to:

estimate an angle of departure of a signal from the UE using the sounding signal from the UE.

7. User equipment (UE) comprising processing circuitry to:

receive a synchronization signal comprising the control channel from a plurality of remote radio heads (RRH), wherein the control channel comprising: the synchronization signal, physical broadcast channel (PBCH), and at least one slot for contention resolution or device-to-device (D2D) discovery and link setup;

transmit an initial access request via an uplink control channel comprising:

a sounding signal;

a physical random access channel (PRACH); and

at least one slot for contention resolution or device-to-device (D2D) discovery and link setup;

receive a unique identifier for the UE; and

receive an identifier for an RRH designed designated to provide a transmission point (TP) to the UE, the RRH designated to provide the TP to the UE selected based at least in part on a signal to noise ratio of the sounding signal determined by processing circuitry associated with the plurality of RRH.

8. The user equipment of claim 7 , wherein the initial access request is broadcast using an omnidirectional antenna.

9. The user equipment of claim 7 , further comprising processing circuitry to:

implement a contention resolution procedure with the RRH designated to provide a TP to the UE.

10. The user equipment of claim 7 , further comprising processing circuitry to:

implement a device-to-device (D2D) relay to provide access to the RRH acting as a TP for the UE to a second UE.

11. The user equipment of claim 10 , further comprising processing circuitry to:

receive a request from the second UE for a D2D relay; and

implement a beamforming training process with the second UE.

12. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, configure the processor to:

define a downlink control channel comprising:

a synchronization signal;

a physical broadcast channel (PBCH); and

at least one slot for contention resolution or device-to-device (D2D) discovery and link setup; and

broadcast a synchronization signal comprising the control channel from a plurality of remote radio heads (RRH) communicatively coupled to the network entity;

receive an initial access request form a user equipment (UE) via an uplink control channel comprising:

a sounding signal to facilitate RRH selection;

a physical random access channel (PRACH) to facilitate initial access; and

at least one slot for contention resolution or device-to-device (D2D) discovery and link setup;

assign a unique identifier to the UE;

select a RRH to provide a transmission point (TP) to the UE;

measure a received power strength of the sounding signal; and

select a RRH to provide a transmission point based at least in part on a signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the sounding signal.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 12 , wherein the control channel has a dedicated bandwidth separate from a data channel.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 13 , wherein the control channel is implemented using a bandwidth adjacent to from the data channel.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 12 , wherein the control channel is multiplexed with a data channel using either frequency division multiplexing (FDM) or time division multiplexing (TDM).

16. The article of manufacture of claim 12 , further comprising instructions stored on the non-transitory storage medium what, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to:

implement a beamforming training procedure between the TP and the UE.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 16 , further comprising instructions stored on the non-transitory storage medium what, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to:

estimate an angle of departure of a signal from the UE using the sounding signal from the UE.

18. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, configure the processor to:

receive a synchronization signal comprising the control channel from a plurality of remote radio heads (RRH), wherein the control channel comprising: the synchronization signal, physical broadcast channel (PBCH), and at least one slot for contention resolution or device-to-device (D2D) discovery and link setup;

transmit an initial access request via an uplink control channel comprising:

a sounding signal;

a physical random access channel (PRACH); and

at least one slot for contention resolution or device-to-device (D2D) discovery and link setup;

receive a unique identifier for the UE; and

receive an identifier for an RRH designed designated to provide a transmission point (TP) to the UE, the RRH designated to provide the TP to the UE selected based at least in part on a signal to noise ratio of the sounding signal determined by processing circuitry associated with the plurality of RRH.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18 , wherein the initial access request is broadcast using an omnidirectional antenna.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 18 , further comprising instructions stored on the non-transitory storage medium what, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to:

implement a contention resolution procedure with the RRH designated to provide a TP to the UE.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 18 , further comprising instructions stored on the non-transitory storage medium what, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to:

implement a device-to-device (D2D) relay to provide access to the RRH acting as a TP for the UE to a second UE.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 18 , further comprising instructions stored on the non-transitory storage medium what, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to:

receive a request from the second UE for a D2D relay; and

implement a beamforming training process with the second UE.