Adaptive sensing mechanism for unlicensed networks

1. A method for dynamically adapting an energy detection (ED) threshold for use in an unlicensed network, the method comprising:

determining an ED threshold based on a current state of an unlicensed network; and

using the determined ED threshold for channel sensing, wherein

determining the ED threshold based on the current state of the unlicensed network comprises determining the ED threshold based on Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) values of one or more uplinks for user equipments (UE) being served,

determining the ED threshold based on the SINR values of the one or more uplinks for the UEs being served comprises:

calculating a SINR value as a function of the SINR values of the one or more uplinks for the UEs being served; and

(i) in response to determining that the SINR value of an uplink is lower than a first threshold, decreasing the value of the ED threshold; or

(ii) in response to determining that the SINR value of the uplink is higher than a second threshold, increasing the value of the ED threshold,

using the determined ED threshold for channel sensing comprises signaling the determined ED threshold to another entity for use to detect if a channel is busy or not, and

signaling the ED threshold comprises signaling an index or an offset into a table containing ED values.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the SINR value as a function of the SINR values of the one or more uplinks for the UEs being served comprises calculating the SINR value as a minimum SINR value of the SINR values of the one or more uplinks for the UEs being served.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the SINR value as a function of the SINR values of the one or more uplinks for the UEs being served comprises calculating the SINR value as the linear average of the SINR values of the one or more uplinks for the UEs being served.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the ED threshold based on the current state of the unlicensed network comprises determining the ED threshold based on a declaration or detection of a radio link failure.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein determining the ED threshold based on the declaration or detection of the radio link failure comprises determining the ED threshold based also on a number of Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection re-establishment attempts.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the ED threshold based on the current state of the unlicensed network comprises determining the ED threshold based on a set of one or more statistics from one or more active User Equipments UEs), wherein the set of one or more statistics comprises at least one of:

a successful packet receive ratio;

an obtained Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio, or

a ratio of cancelled uplink transmissions due to a Listen-Before-Talk failure.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the ED threshold based on the current state of the unlicensed network comprises determining the ED threshold based on a determined receiver sensitivity, wherein the receiver sensitivity is determined by measuring a received signal strength corresponding to a lowest successful modulation and coding scheme received from a user equipment over an observation period.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein signaling the ED threshold comprises signaling via an uplink grant.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein signaling the ED threshold comprises signaling via a Group Common Physical Downlink Control Channel.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by a network node.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by User Equipment.

12. An apparatus for dynamically adapting an energy detection (ED) threshold for use in an unlicensed network, the apparatus comprising:

processing circuitry; and

device readable medium storing instructions executable by the processing circuity wherein the apparatus is configured to perform the method of claim 1 .

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the ED threshold based on the current state of the unlicensed network comprises determining the ED threshold based on a collision rate of downlink or/and uplink transmissions observed over a period.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein determining the ED threshold based on the collision rate comprises determining whether a number of negative acknowledgements over the period is greater than a threshold.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein signaling the index or the offset to the another entity comprises sending the index or offset as part of a downlink scheduling assignment or an uplink scheduling assignment.