Hop-count indication in wireless systems
Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described that provide for hop-count indication in an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network. An IAB-node may adopt and indicate multiple values for hop-count. The hop-count may be conveyed by a number of different reference signals and channels. A resource pattern and/or a slot pattern may also be associated with the hop-count to simply signaling. By associating the patterns with the hop-count, an IAB-node may be able to infer the resource pattern used by another IAB-node.
1. A method for wireless communications at a control node in a wireless communications system, comprising:
determining, at the control node, a resource configuration for a relay network node in the wireless communications system, wherein the resource configuration is associated with a slot structure comprising resources that are selectable based at least in part on a hop count between the relay network node and a network node in the wireless communications system, the slot structure comprising a first set of resources associated with a first set of even hop counts and a second set of resources associated with a second set of odd hop counts, and wherein the hop count for the relay network node is different than a second hop count for a child node of the relay network node; and
transmitting, by the control node, the resource configuration to the relay network node.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting the resources based at least in part on the hop count.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network node is a reference network node.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the resource configuration is associated with multiple sets of time-frequency resources; and
one or more of the multiple sets of time-frequency resources are selectable by the relay network node based at least in part on the hop count.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the multiple sets of time-frequency resources are partitioned into two or more resource sets based at least in part on the relay network node and the network node.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein each resource set of the two or more resource sets is associated with a respective hop count between two or more network nodes of the wireless communications system.
7. The method of claim 5 , wherein a first resource set of the two or more resource sets corresponds to an even hop count and a second resource set of the two or more resource sets corresponds to an odd hop count.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the resources comprise one or more time resources, one or more frequency resources, one or more spatial resources, or a combination thereof.
9. A method for wireless communications at a relay network node in a wireless communications system, comprising:
selecting, at the relay network node and based at least in part on a hop count between the relay network node and a network node in the wireless communications system, a set of time-frequency resources of a slot structure for transmission of a signal to a second network node in the wireless communications system, the slot structure comprising a first set of resources associated with a first set of even hop counts and a second set of resources associated with a second set of odd hop counts, wherein the hop count is different than a second hop count for a child node of the relay network node; and
transmitting, by the relay network node, the signal over the set of time-frequency resources to the second network node.
10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving a resource configuration from a control node; and
selecting the set of time-frequency resources based at least in part on the resource configuration.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein:
the resource configuration is associated with multiple sets of time-frequency resources, and
the set of time-frequency resources is selected from the multiple sets of time-frequency resources.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the resource configuration further indicates the slot structure for the relay network node based at least in part on the hop count.
13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the network node is a reference node different from the second network node.
14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the hop count comprises a quantity of communication links between the relay network node and the network node.
15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining, based at least in part on the hop count, a resource pattern or the slot structure for the relay network node, downlink resources for the relay network node, uplink resources for the relay network node, a parent network node in communication with the relay network node, a child network node in communication with the relay network node, an access device in communication with the relay network node, or any combination thereof, wherein the slot structure comprises an indication of one or more downlink symbols, uplink symbols, and flexible symbols within a slot.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the resource pattern or the slot structure is determined based at least in part on a mapping rule.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the resource pattern or the slot structure is associated with a semi-static resource allocation.
18. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
transmitting a second signal different from the signal based at least in part on the hop count.
19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the second signal comprises a system information block (SIB).