User equipment-triggered lower layer-based handover

1. An apparatus of a user equipment (UE), comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

based on measurements associated with both a source base station and a target base station, determine that a UE-triggered handover utilizing layer 1 or layer 2 is to be performed;

determine first uplink resources configured by the source base station for a dedicated scheduling request;

generate, at the UE, the dedicated scheduling request to request second uplink resources from the source base station for a handover request in a media access control (MAC) control element (CE);

generate the handover request, the handover request to be carried by the MAC CE to the source base station;

transmit the handover request to the source base station in the MAC CE;

monitor for a handover command received from the source base station in response to the handover request, wherein the handover command is associated with performing a handover procedure from the source base station to the target base station, and wherein the monitoring comprises generating a timer associated with the generated handover request, wherein expiration of the timer before receiving the handover command from the source base station causes the UE to re-generate the handover request; and

process the handover command received from the source base station; and

a memory configured to store information associated with performing a UE-triggered lower layer-based handover.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a duration of the timer is configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the source base station configures a maximum number of handover request re-generations.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the handover command is carried by a MAC CE or a downlink control information (DCI).

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of a dedicated search space and a control resource set (CORESET) is used to receive the handover command.

6. A computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a processor of a user equipment (UE) configured to perform a UE-triggered lower layer-based handover, cause the processor to:

based on measurements associated with both a source base station and a target base station, determine that a UE-triggered handover utilizing layer 1 or layer 2 is to be performed;

determine first uplink resources configured by the source base station for a dedicated scheduling request;

generate, at the UE, the dedicated scheduling request to request second uplink resources from the source base station for a handover request in a media access control (MAC) control element (CE);

generate the handover request, the handover request to be carried by the MAC CE to the source base station;

transmit the handover request to the source base station in the MAC CE;

monitor for a handover command received from the source base station in response to the handover request, wherein the handover command is associated with performing a handover procedure from the source base station to the target base station, and wherein the monitoring comprises generating a timer associated with the generated handover request, wherein expiration of the timer before receiving the handover command from the source base station causes the UE to re-generate the handover request; and

process the handover command received from the source base station.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein a duration of the timer is configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the source base station configures a maximum number of handover request re-generations.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein the handover command is carried by a MAC CE or a downlink control information (DCI).

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein at least one of a dedicated search space and a control resource set (CORESET) is used to receive the handover command.

11. A method for performing a UE-triggered lower layer-based handover, the method comprising:

based on measurements associated with both a source base station and a target base station, determining that a UE-triggered handover utilizing layer 1 or layer 2 is to be performed;

determining first uplink resources configured by the source base station for a dedicated scheduling request;

generating, at the UE, the dedicated scheduling request to request second uplink resources from the source base station for a handover request in a media access control (MAC) control element (CE);

generating the handover request, the handover request to be carried by the MAC CE to the source base station;

transmitting the handover request to the source base station in the MAC CE;

monitoring for a handover command received from the source base station in response to the handover request, wherein the handover command is associated with performing a handover procedure from the source base station to the target base station, and wherein the monitoring comprises generating a timer associated with the generated handover request, wherein expiration of the timer before receiving the handover command from the source base station causes the UE to re-generate the handover request; and

processing the handover command received from the source base station.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein a duration of the timer is configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the source base station configures a maximum number of handover request re-generations.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the handover command is carried by a MAC CE or a downlink control information (DCI).