A repeater, a network node, and methods for handling random access of a wireless communications device

Abstract

A method, performed by a repeater, for handling random access of a wireless communications device to a network node via the repeater in a wireless communications network. The method comprises receiving (802) a first part of a random access preamble from the wireless communications device. The method further comprises obtaining (803) an indication of a receive direction of the first part of the random access preamble. The method further comprises performing, based on the obtained indication of the receive direction, at least one other operation on the at least first part of the random access preamble and / or a second part of the random access preamble.

Description

[0001] A REPEATER, A NETWORK NODE, AND METHODS FOR HANDLING RANDOM ACCESS OF A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS DEVICE

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The embodiments herein relate to a repeater and a network node and methods for handling random access of a wireless communications device in a wireless communications network. A corresponding computer program and a computer program carrier are also disclosed.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] In a typical wireless communication network, wireless devices, also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and / or User Equipments (UE), communicate via a Local Area Network such as a Wi-Fi network or a Radio Access Network (RAN) to one or more core networks (CN). The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into service areas or cell areas. Each service area or cell area may provide radio coverage via a beam or a beam group. Each service area or cell area is typically served by a radio access node such as a radio access node e.g., a Wi-Fi access point or a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be denoted, for example, aNodeB, eNodeB (eNB), or gNB as denoted in 5G. A service area or cell area is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio access node. The radio access node communicates over an air interface operating on radio frequencies with the wireless device within range of the radio access node.

[0006] Specifications for the Evolved Packet System (EPS), also called a Fourth Generation (4G) network, have been completed within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). A Fifth Generation (5G) network also referred to as 5G New Radio (NR) has also been specified and work is now directed to further specifications of the 5G network. This work will continue in the coming 3GPP releases.

[0007] As a reference, the EPS comprises the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), also known as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio access network, and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), also known as System Architecture Evolution (SAE) core network. E- UTRAN / LTE is a variant of a 3GPP radio access network wherein the radio access nodes are directly connected to the EPC core network rather than to RNCs used in 3G networks. In general, in E-UTRAN / LTE the functions of a 3G RNC are distributed between the radio access nodes, e.g. eNodeBs in LTE, and the core network. As such, the RAN of an EPS has an essentially “flat” architecture comprising radio access nodes connected directly to one or more core networks, i.e. they are not connected to RNCs. To compensate for that, the E-UTRAN specification defines a direct interface between the radio access nodes, this interface being denoted the X2 interface.

[0008] Wireless communication systems in 3GPP

[0009] Figure 1 illustrates a simplified wireless communication system. Consider the simplified wireless communication system in Figure 1, with a UE 12, which communicates with one or multiple access nodes 103-104, which in turn is connected to a network node 106. The access nodes 103-104 are part of the radio access network 10.

[0010] For wireless communication systems pursuant to 3GPP Evolved Packet System, (EPS), also referred to as Long Term Evolution, LTE, or 4G, standard specifications, such as specified in 3GPP TS 36.300 and related specifications, the access nodes 103-104 corresponds typically to Evolved NodeBs (eNBs) and the network node 106 corresponds typically to either a Mobility Management Entity (MME) and / or a Serving Gateway (SGW). The eNB is part of the radio access network 10, which in this case is the E-UTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network), while the MME and SGW are both part of the EPC (Evolved Packet Core network). The eNBs are inter-connected via the X2 interface, and connected to EPC via the SI interface, more specifically via Sl-C to the MME and Sl-U to the SGW.

[0011] For wireless communication systems pursuant to 3GPP 5G System, 5GS (also referred to as New Radio, NR, or 5G) standard specifications, such as specified in 3GPP TS 38.300 and related specifications, on the other hand, the access nodes 103-104 corresponds typically to an 5G NodeB (gNB) and the network node 106 corresponds typically to either an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) and / or a User Plane Function (UPF). The gNB is part of the radio access network 10, which in this case is the NG-RAN (Next Generation Radio Access Network), while the AMF and UPF are both part of the 5G Core Network (5GC). The gNBs are interconnected via the Xn interface, and connected to 5GC via the NG interface, more specifically via NG-C to the AMF and NG-U to the UPF.

[0012] To support fast mobility between NR and LTE and avoid change of core network, LTE eNBs may also be connected to the 5G-CN via NG-U / NG-C and support the Xn interface. An eNB connected to 5GC is called a next generation eNB (ng-eNB) and is considered part of the NG- RAN. LTE connected to 5GC will not be discussed further in this document; however, it should be noted that most of the solutions / features described for LTE and NR in this document also apply to LTE connected to 5GC. In this document, when the term LTE is used without further specification it refers to LTE-EPC. To increase the data rate and support the increasing number of UEs, different methods are considered, among which network densification and millimeter wave (mmW) communications are the dominant ones. Network densification refers to the deployment of multiple access points of different types in, e.g., metropolitan areas. Particularly, it is expected that in the future small nodes, such as relays, lABs, repeaters, etc, will be densely deployed to support existing macro base stations (BS) serving UEs.

[0013] During the 3GPP Rel-16 and Rel-17, Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) has been well studied as the main relaying technique in 5G, and the discussions will continue in Rel-18 on Mobile IAB. Here, using a decode-and-forward relaying technique, the IAB may well extend the coverage and / or increase the throughput. However, the IAB may be a relatively complex and expensive node and thereby, depending on the deployment, alternative nodes with low complexity and / or cost for, e.g., blind spot removal may be required. Here, a candidate type of network node is the radio frequency (RF) repeaters which simply amplify -and-forward any signal that they receive. RF repeaters have been considered in 2G, 3G and 4G to supplement the coverage provided by regular full-stack cells. However, an RF repeater lacks in, e.g., accurate beamforming which may limit its efficiency in, for instance, Frequency Range 2 (FR2) of NR, defined as 24250-52600 MHz.

[0014] With this background, a new study-item has been considered in 3GPP Rel-18, started in early 2022, in which the potentials and the challenges of network-controlled repeaters (NCR) will be evaluated. The scope and the features of NCR are still under discussion. Figure 2 gives an example of an NCR deployment where a wireless connection, such as a wireless data connection, between an NCR 20 and a gNB 11 is referred to as backhaul link, whereas a wireless connection between the NCR 20 and a UE 21 is referred to as access link. Figure 2 also shows a control link between the NCR 20 and the gNB 11.

[0015] In one alternative, a network-controlled repeater may be a non-controllable repeater, i.e., it is covering a fixed area, with beamforming capabilities. In this way, the NCR should be considered as a network-controlled “beam bender” when compared to a gNB. That is, it is possible for the gNB to somewhat arbitrarily change direction of the beam at the location of the NCR. As such, the NCR is logically part of the gNB for all management purposes, i.e., it is likely that the network- controlled repeater is deployed by and under the control of the operator. The network-controlled repeater is based on an amplify-and-forward relaying scheme, and it is likely to be limited to single-hop communication in stationary deployments with the focus on FR2.

[0016] The network-controlled repeaters may have any one or more of the following characteristics: • Network-controlled repeaters being inband RF repeaters used for extension of network coverage on FR1 and FR2 bands, while during the study FR2 deployments may be prioritized for both outdoor-to-outdoor and outdoor-to-indoor (021) scenarios.

[0017] • Only single hop stationary network-controlled repeaters

[0018] • transparent to UEs (in the sense that UEs don’t know if they are connected to the gNB directly or via an NCR)

[0019] • maintain the gNB-repeater link and repeater-UE link simultaneously

[0020] The 3GPP study-item concentrates on identifying which side control information, i.e. information transmitted on the side-control link, is required regarding:

[0021] • Beamforming information

[0022] • Timing information to align transmission and / or reception boundaries of network- controlled repeater

[0023] • Information on Time Division Duplexing Uplink and Downlink (UL-DL TDD) configuration

[0024] • ON-OFF information for efficient interference management and improved energy efficiency

[0025] • Power control information for efficient interference management

[0026] Figure 3 illustrates one schematic example of how the NCR 20 may be implemented. In this example, the NCR 20 comprises three building blocks, a Modem module 301, a Controller module 302, and a forwarding module 303 comprising two amplifiers. The forwarding module 303 may also be referred to as a Repeater module 303. The NCR is equipped with an antenna configuration, where a signal is first received in downlink (or uplink), and, e.g., after power amplification, transmitted further respectively in downlink or uplink. Since the Repeater module 303 only amplifies and beamforms the signal, no advanced receiver or transmitter chains are required, which reduces the cost and energy consumption compared to for example a wired Transmission and Reception Point (TRP). In its simplest architecture, different antenna modules 305, 306 are used for the UE and BS sides respectively. A more complex architecture of the NCR 20, including self-interference cancellation, may allow for using the same antenna modules for both sides.

[0027] The Modem module 301 is able and used to exchange control and status signaling with a gNB that is controlling the NCR. For this, the Modem module 301 supports at least a sub-set of UE functions. NCR control and status information is further exchanged between the Modem module 301 and the Controller module 302. The Modem module may be equipped with antennas separated from the antennas used by the Repeater module 303; but in most configurations, the Modem module 301 and Repeater module 303 will share antenna configurations.

[0028] The Controller module 302 is used to control the Repeater module 303, by for example providing beamforming information, power control information etc. The Controller module 302 is connected to a network through the Modem module 301 such that the network may control the Controller module 302 and, in that way, control the Repeater module 303.

[0029] Both, the Modem module 301 and the Controller module 302, may be assumed to be part of building up a Mobile Termination (MT) module in the network-controlled repeater. However, the controller module 302 may also be separate. The MT module manages control signaling and the forwarding module 303 manages the forwarding.

[0030] An amplify -and-forward operation of the Repeater module 303 is controlled by the Controller module 302. The Controller module 302 may also be directly responsible for the beamforming control on the service antenna side, i.e., to / from served UEs. In an alternative, the beamforming on the service antenna side is operated by the Repeater module 303 under control of the Control module 302. On the BS antenna side, i.e., to / from the controlling gNB, the Modem module 301 may be directly responsible for the beamforming control. In an alternative, the beamforming on the service antenna side is operated by the Repeater module 303 under control of the Control module 302 and / or the Modem module 302.

[0031] In one configuration, the Modem module 301 and the Repeater module 303 do not only share an antenna configuration but also parts of the (analog) transmitter and / or receiver, such as power transmit amplifier and / or receiver amplifiers and / or filters. The shared parts of the transmitter and / or receiver may be purely analog but it is possible to have digital components too.

[0032] The Modem module 301 and the Repeater module 303 may be operating at the same or different frequencies. For example, the Repeater module 303 may operate at a high frequency band, such as FR2, and the Modem module may be operating at a low frequency band, such as Frequency Range 1 (FR1) of NR defined as 410-7125 MHz.

[0033] NR Initial Access

[0034] Before a UE may communicate within a network according to standardized protocols, it carries out cell search to find, synchronize and identify a cell. Then, it may acquire basic system information and perform a random access procedure to establish a connection to the cell.

[0035] NR cell search and system information acquisition In NR, the combination of synchronization signals (SS) and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) is referred to as a SS / PBCH block (SSB). Similar to LTE, a pair of SS, primary synchronization signal (PSS) and secondary synchronization signal (SSS), is periodically transmitted on downlink from each cell to allow a UE to initially access to the network. By detecting SS, a UE may obtain the physical cell identity (PCI), achieve downlink synchronization in both time and frequency, and acquire the timing for PBCH. PBCH carries a master information block (MIB), which contains a minimum system information that a UE needs to acquire system information block 1 (SIB1). SIB1 carries the remaining minimum system information (RMSI) that is needed for a UE to be able to perform the subsequent random -access procedure.

[0036] The SSB periodicity, i.e., how often the gNB transmit SSBs for UEs to perform for example initial access, may take different values (i.e., 5 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, 160 ms). This SSB periodicity may be reconfigured by RRC. But it may also be hard coded. For initial access, a UE assumes a SSB periodicity of 20 ms. Within one SSB period, the SSBs may be transmitted in a burst confined in one half frame (i.e., 5 ms). The maximum number (L) of SSBs in one burst is determined by the sub-carrier spacing. For example, (15, 30, 60 kHz for FR1, 60 / 120 kHz for FR2) For frequency range from 6GHz to 52.6GHz, L may be as large as 64.

[0037] NR 4-step random access procedure

[0038] A 4-step random access produce, also referred to as Type-1 random access procedure in 3GPP TS 38.213, is illustrated in Figure 4. In a first step the UE 21 initiates the random-access procedure by transmitting in UpLink (UL) a random -access preamble (Msgl) on a physical random -access channel (PRACH) to the gNB 11. After detecting the Msgl, the gNB 11 responds by transmitting in DownLink (DL) a random-access response (RAR) on a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), also called Msg2. In the third step, after successfully decoding Msg2, the UE continues the procedure by transmitting in UL a PUSCH (Msg3) for terminal identification and Radio Resource Connection (RRC) establishment request. In the last step of the procedure, the gNB transmits in DL a PDSCH (Msg4) for contention resolution.

[0039] Multiple UEs may select the same random-access preamble and transmit the preamble on the same PRACH time / frequency resource. This preamble collision is called contention. One of the main purposes of applying Step 3 and Step 4 is to resolve such potential contention.

[0040] NR 2-step random access procedure A 2-step random access produce, also referred to as Type-2 random access procedure in 3GPP TS 38.213, is illustrated in Figure 5.

[0041] In a first step, a UE 21 sends a message A (MsgA) including a random access preamble together with higher layer data such as RRC connection request and optionally with some small payload on PUS CH.

[0042] After detecting the MsgA, a gNB 11 sends the RAR, also called message B (msgB) in Figure 5. The message B may include UE identifier assignment, timing advance information, and contention resolution message etc.

[0043] PRACH configuration

[0044] PRACH stands for Physical Random-Access Channel and it is the channel on which the first message is transmitted, e.g., Msgl if the 4-step RACH is used, or MgsA if the 2-step RACH is used, from the UE, which may be an IAB-MT, to the gNB.

[0045] Prior to initiation of the physical random-access procedure, Layer 1 receives the following information from the higher layers:

[0046] Configuration of PRACH transmission parameters (PRACH preamble format, time resources, and frequency resources for PRACH transmission).

[0047] Parameters for determining the root sequences and their cyclic shifts in the PRACH preamble sequence set (index to logical root sequence table, cyclic shift (CS N), and set type (unrestricted, restricted set A, or restricted set B)).

[0048] The network configures the set of random-access preamble sequences the UE is allowed to use, generated from one or several root Zadoff-Chu sequences. The set of up to 64 preamble sequences in a cell is found by including, in the order of increasing cyclic shift, all the available cyclic shifts of a root Zadoff-Chu sequence with the logical index where the logical index is broadcasted as part of the System Information. Additional preamble sequences, in case the configured number of allowed preamble sequences cannot be generated from a single root Zadoff- Chu sequence, are obtained from the root sequences with the consecutive logical indexes until all the preamble sequences are found. The cell common RACH configuration is broadcasted in SIB1 to the UEs, as is detailed in 3GPP TS 38.331.

[0049] NR Multi-beam operation

[0050] Beam indication In NR, several signals may be transmited from different antenna ports of a same base station. These signals may have the same large-scale properties such as Doppler shift / spread, average delay spread, or average delay. These antenna ports are then said to be quasi co-located (QCL).

[0051] If the UE knows that two of its antenna ports are QCL with respect to a certain parameter (e.g., Doppler spread), the UE may estimate that parameter based on one of the antenna ports and apply that estimate for receiving a signal on another antenna port.

[0052] For example, there may be a QCL relation between a Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) for a Tracking Reference Signal (TRS) and the PDSCH DeModulation Reference Signal (DMRS). When the UE receives the PDSCH DMRS it may apply the relation and thereby use the measurements already made on the TRS to assist the DMRS reception.

[0053] Information about what assumptions may be made regarding QCL is signaled to the UE from the network. In NR, four types of QCL relations between a transmited source Reference Signal (RS) and transmited target RS have been defined:

[0054] Type A: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}

[0055] Type B: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}

[0056] Type C: {average delay, Doppler shift}

[0057] Type D: {Spatial Rx parameter}

[0058] QCL type D was introduced in NR to facilitate beam management with analog beamforming and is known as spatial QCL. There is currently no strict definition of spatial QCL, but the understanding is that if transmissions from two antenna ports are spatially QCL, the UE may use the same receive (RX) beam to receive them. This is helpful for a UE that uses analog beamforming to receive signals, since the UE needs to adjust its RX beam in some direction prior to receiving a certain signal. If the UE knows that the signal is spatially QCL with some other signal it has received earlier, then it may use the same RX beam to also receive this signal.

[0059] In NR, the spatial QCL relation for a DL or UL signal / channel may be indicated to the UE by using a “beam indication”. The “beam indication” is used to help the UE to find a suitable RX beam for DL reception, and / or a suitable TX beam for UL transmission. In NR, the “beam indication” for DL is conveyed to the UE by indicating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state to the UE, while in UL the “beam indication” may be conveyed by indicating a DL-RS or UL-RS as spatial relation (in NR Rel-15 / 16) or a TCI state (in NR Rel-17). Currently, RACH resources are reserved for each RS that prior art network-controlled repeaters forward. This is a problem since a lot of network resources which will not be used are reserved.

[0060] SUMMARY

[0061] An object of embodiments herein may be to obviate some of the problems related to network-controlled repeaters. More specifically, an object of embodiments herein may be to obviate some of the problems related to beamforming of a network-controlled repeater. Even more specifically, an object of embodiments herein may be to obviate some of the problems related to access-side beamforming of the network-controlled repeater.

[0062] Currently, network-controlled repeaters are based on analog receive-amplify-transmit circuitry using analog beamforming with no capabilities to extract information from the forwarded signal. As a consequence, the repeater is not able, by itself, to determine the direction from a UE attempting to access the network and RACH resources must be reserved for each RS that the repeater forwards. Hence, there is a need for a repeater node that is capable of determining the direction of a UE transmission, and thereby allow the repeater to be configured with one RACH resource for multiple RSs, thereby reducing overhead and increasing network performance.

[0063] According to an aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a method, performed by a repeater, such as a network-controlled repeater. The method is for handling random access of a wireless communications device to a network node via the repeater in a wireless communications network.

[0064] The method comprises receiving a first part of a random access preamble from the wireless communications device.

[0065] The method further comprises obtaining an indication of a receive direction of the first part of the random access preamble.

[0066] The method further comprises performing, based on the obtained indication of the receive direction, at least one other operation on the at least first part of the random access preamble and / or a second part of the random access preamble.

[0067] According to a second aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a repeater, such as a network-controlled repeater. The repeater is adapted to handle random access of a wireless communications device to a network node via the repeater in a wireless communications network. The network-controlled repeater is further adapted to perform the method according to the first aspect above. According to a third aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a method, performed by a network node, for configuring random access of a wireless communications device to the network node via a repeater in a wireless communications network.

[0068] The method comprises receiving, random access metadata from the repeater. The random access metadata comprises one or more properties of a random access preamble from the wireless communications device.

[0069] The method further comprises configuring random access of the wireless communications device to the network node via the repeater based on the received one or more properties of the random access preamble.

[0070] According to a fourth aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a network node. The network node is adapted to configure random access of a wireless communications device to the network node via a repeater in a wireless communications network.

[0071] The network node is further adapted to perform the method according to the third aspect above.

[0072] According to a further aspect, the object is achieved by a carrier comprising the computer program of the aspect above, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, an electromagnetic signal, a magnetic signal, an electric signal, a radio signal, a microwave signal, or a computer-readable storage medium.

[0073] The network-controlled repeater determines an indication of a receive direction of the first part of the random access preamble.

[0074] Since the further random access process is based on the indication of the receive direction of the first part of the random access preamble the repeater may be configured with fewer RACH resources, such as one RACH resource, for multiple RSs, thereby reducing overhead and increasing network performance.

[0075] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0076] In the figures, features that appear in some embodiments or are optional are indicated by dashed lines.

[0077] The various aspects of embodiments disclosed herein, including particular features and advantages thereof, will be readily understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 illustrates a simplified wireless communication system,

[0078] Figure 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating communication between a UE and gNB via a network-controlled repeater,

[0079] Figure 3 is a block diagram schematically illustrating building blocks of a network- controlled repeater, and communication with a network,

[0080] Figure 4 is a signaling diagram illustrating a four-step random access procedure for initial access,

[0081] Figure 5 is a signaling diagram illustrating a two-step random access procedure for initial access,

[0082] Figure 6 is a block diagram schematically illustrating embodiments of a wireless communications network,

[0083] Figure 7 is a block diagram schematically illustrating embodiments of a repeater,

[0084] Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a network-controlled repeater for handling random access according to embodiments herein,

[0085] Figure 9 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a network node for handling random access according to embodiments herein,

[0086] Figure 10 is a signaling diagram illustrating a method for handling random access according to embodiments herein,

[0087] Figure 11 is a schematic block diagram illustrating embodiments of a network-controlled repeater,

[0088] Figure 12 is a schematic block diagram illustrating embodiments of a network node,

[0089] Figure 13 schematically illustrates a telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer.

[0090] Figure 14 is a generalized block diagram of a host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection.

[0091] Figures 15 to 18 are flowcharts illustrating methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment.

[0092] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0093] As mentioned above, there are challenges and issues with network-controlled repeaters. Specifically, RACH resources are reserved for each RS that prior art network-controlled repeaters forward.

[0094] An object of embodiments herein is therefore to improve methods for RA performed via network-controlled repeaters. Embodiments herein relate to communication networks in general, and specifically to wireless communication networks. Figure 6 is a schematic overview depicting a wireless communications network 100 wherein embodiments herein may be implemented. The wireless communications network 100 comprises one or more RANs and one or more CNs. The wireless communications network 100 may use a number of different technologies, such as Wi-Fi, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, 5G, New Radio (NR), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Global System for Mobile communications / enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution (GSM / EDGE), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), or Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), just to mention a few possible implementations. Embodiments herein relate to recent technology trends that are of particular interest in a 5G and / or future 6G context. However, embodiments are also applicable in further development of the existing wireless communication systems such as e.g. WCDMA and LTE.

[0095] Network nodes, such as a network node 111, operate in the wireless communications network 100. The network node 111 may for example be radio access node. The radio access node provides radio coverage over a geographical area, a service area referred to as a cell 115, which may also be referred to as a beam or a beam group of a first radio access technology (RAT), such as 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi or similar. In a scenario in which embodiments disclosed herein may be useful a coverage hole 116 may exist within the cell 115. The coverage hole 116 may be a region where the received signal level of the serving cell, such as the cell 115, and any other neighbor is below the levels required to maintain a service under a minimum level of quality and robust radio performance. In particular, coverage holes may be caused by the attenuation caused by physical obstacles, such as new buildings, and hills, unsuitable antenna parameters, a hardware fault, or inadequate RF planning. Further, a repeated-extended cell part of the cell 115 is totally within the cell 115. A person skilled in the art would recognize that a repeater-extended cell part of that cell may alternatively be disjoint from or partially overlapping the cell 115 (not shown). The network node 111 may be a NR-RAN node, transmission and reception point e.g. a base station, a radio access node such as a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point or an Access Point Station (AP STA), an access controller, a base station, e.g. a radio base station such as a NodeB, an evolved Node B (eNB, eNode B), a gNB, a base transceiver station, a radio remote unit, an Access Point Base Station, a base station router, a transmission arrangement of a radio base station, a stand-alone access point or any other network unit capable of communicating with a wireless device within the service area depending e.g. on the radio access technology and terminology used. The network node 111 may be a serving radio access node. A gNB may comprise a gNB Centralized Unit (gNB-CU) and a gNB Distributed Unit (gNB- DU). The gNB-CU may provide support for higher layers of a communication protocol such as RRC etc, while the gNB-DU may provide protocols for Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical (PHY) layers.

[0096] A number of wireless communications devices operate in the wireless communication network 100, such as a wireless communications device 121.

[0097] The wireless communications device 121 may be a mobile station, a non-access point (non- AP) STA, a STA, a user equipment and / or a wireless terminal, that communicate via one or more Access Networks (AN), e.g. RAN, e.g. via the network node 111 to one or more core networks (CN) e.g. comprising a first CN node 131, for example implementing an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF).

[0098] It should be understood by the skilled in the art that “UE” is a non-limiting term which means any terminal, wireless communication terminal, user equipment, Machine Type Communication (MTC) device, Device to Device (D2D) terminal, or node e.g. smart phone, laptop, mobile phone, sensor, relay, mobile tablets or even a small base station communicating within a cell.

[0099] The network node 111 communicates with the wireless communications device 121 with Downlink (DE) transmissions to the wireless communications device 121 and UL transmissions from the wireless communications device 121.

[0100] In a scenario in which embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented the wireless communications network 100 also comprises a repeater 110. The repeater 110 may be a network- controlled repeater. In embodiments herein the network node 111 communicates with the wireless communications device 121 via the repeater 110.

[0101] Some embodiments of the repeater will now be described in relation to Figure 7. The repeater 110 may comprise base-station side antennas 130 and UE side antennas 140. A mobile termination (MT) module 150 of the repeater 110 may be connected to the base-station side antennas 130 and may include a modem 151, communicating with the network node 111 and a controller 152, controlling the base-station side beamforming. However, the controller 152 may also be separate from the MT module 150. A forwarding module 160 of the repeater 110 is connected to both the base-station side antennas 130 and the UE-side antennas 140 and may include analog circuitry for signal amplification in both UL and DL directions. The forwarding module 160 may further include a digital signal processing (DSP) module or similar computing device that is capable of performing digital signal decomposition of a received signal on the UE side antennas 140. One or both of the controller module 152 and the DSP module may reside in the MT module 150 or forwarding module 160 or both of the repeater 110. For example, the modem 151 may comprise the DSP.

[0102] A first wireless connection 123-A between the repeater 110 and the network node 111 is referred to as backhaul link, a second wireless connection 123-B between the repeater 110 and the network node 111 is referred to as side-control link. A third wireless connection 124 between the repeater 110 and the wireless communications device 121 is referred to as an access link.

[0103] Embodiments herein disclose methods and apparatuses for controlling access side beamforming of the repeater 110. The beamforming may be controlled for random access of the wireless communications device 121. Random access is used for the wireless communications device 121 to establish UL sync with the network 100. When RA is performed a first time in an initial access phase, the network node 111 needs to learn about a preamble selected by the wireless communications device 121 and a receive spatial filter, i.e., a receive direction. The random access preamble is a signature for the wireless communications device 121 when requesting access to the network 100. For example, a cell may be configured with a maximum of 64 preambles. When the wireless communications device 121 performs initial access to the network 100, it may select any one of the 64 preambles. If there is a collision with another wireless communications device, the network 100 may solve the collision by assigning one of the wireless communications devices with another preamble. The other preamble is another vacant preamble of the cell, such as one of said 64 preambles different from the selected one.

[0104] When the wireless communications device 121 is already connected to the network 100, RA may still be excused when there is a need for UL sync. In this case, the network 100 already knows about the preamble associated to the wireless communications device 121. However due to the mobility of the wireless communications device 121, the spatial filter may change from the latest RA. If the spatial filter is changed, there is a need to provide the network node 111 with information about the new spatial filter, while if the spatial filter is not changed, the repeater node 110 does not need to provide the information about the spatial filter to the network node 111.

[0105] In embodiments herein the repeater 110 receives a random access preamble from wireless communications device 121, performs spatial decomposition on the received random access preamble and configures the repeater 110, e.g., by configuring the forwarding module 160, to forward from a decomposed direction derived from the received random access preamble, to the network node 111 to which the repeater 110 is associated. Exemplifying methods according to embodiments herein will now be described with reference to a flow chart in Figure 8. The flow chart illustrates a method, performed by the repeater 110, for configuring random access of the wireless communications device 121 to a network node 111 via the repeater 110 in the wireless communications network 100. As mentioned above, the repeater 110 may be associated with the network node 111, e.g., it may be a network- controlled repeater controlled by the network node 111. The repeater may operate according to a configuration by the gNB. action 801

[0106] In some embodiments, prior to receiving the first part of the random access preamble from the wireless communications device 121, the repeater 110 may provide a repeater capability report to the network node 111. The repeater capability report may comprise an indication of a capability of the repeater 110 to obtain an indication of a receive direction of a random access preamble.

[0107] The repeater capability report may further comprise an indication of a time delay caused by obtaining the indication of the receive direction. Such a time delay may be deterministic, which means that it may be determined beforehand. The time delay may comprise a time needed to switch beam hardware, a time needed to decode signaling from the network 100, etc. The time delay may be given by: a repeater node capability report to the network node 111, a minimum requirement by specification, or gNB signaling to the repeater 110.

[0108] The time delay may be a maximum allowed time delay or a minimum required time delay. The actual time delay caused by obtaining the indication of the receive direction may then be within a range given by the minimum and maximum delay, e.g., 0 - 4 slots. If the network node 111 knows about the maximum or minimum requirement or both, it may facilitate the beam control accordingly. action 802

[0109] The repeater 110 receives a first part of a random access preamble from the wireless communications device 121. To receive the first part of the random access preamble the repeater 110 may try to detect preamble energy from a plurality of directions.

[0110] In embodiments herein the random access preamble may comprise a set of random access preambles. In some cases, multiple PRACHs are repeated sequentially.

[0111] The preamble may be received using analog or digital beamforming. The preamble has certain properties, e.g.,

[0112] • has an index among a set of preambles as defined by a specification and / or configuration,

[0113] • is received at a certain time, and is received from a certain direction, as determined by analog beam or digital precoder used for receiving the signal. action 803

[0114] The repeater 110 obtains an indication of a receive direction of the first part of the random access preamble. The indication of the receive direction may be obtained by spatially decomposing the first part of the random access preamble. The receive direction may also be referred to as a spatial receive filter.

[0115] The obtained indication of the receive direction of the first part of the random access preamble may be any one or more of: a beam index, a Transmission Configuration Indicator, TCI, state, a reference signal identifier, a set of antenna ports, a phase of a phased array, a precoder, a digital beam, a codebook index, a set of antenna weights.

[0116] TCI state, antenna ports, codebook index and antenna weights may be used for communication between the network node 111 and the wireless communications device 121.

[0117] TCI state, antenna ports, codebook index and antenna weights may be used by the repeater 110 for beam indication on the backhaul link 123-B. Beam index may be used for the access link 124.

[0118] The indication of the receive direction, such as a precoder, may be determined from correlating the received signal with a specified and / or configured set of reference preamble signals that are used by the cell at the given reception (PRACH) instant.

[0119] The direction may be determined from the configured analog precoder used for reception, alternatively, from a spatial signal decomposition of the received signal such that its spatial receive precoder may be determined. Alternatively or additionally, the direction may be determined by an AI / ML network, trained to determine reception directions for a specific location of the repeater 110. The spatial decomposition may be associated with a reference such as a preamble index, UE index, codebook index, reception time / frequency resource etc.

[0120] The method further comprises performing, based on the obtained indication of the receive direction, at least one other operation on the at least first part of the random access preamble and / or a received second part of the random access preamble. The operation may be related to the random access of the wireless communications device 121. Receiving the second part of the random access preamble may be performed based on the obtained indication of the receive direction, e.g., by receiving the second part of the random access preamble in the determined receive direction. action 804 In some embodiments herein performing the at least one other operation based on the obtained indication of the receive direction comprises decoding the received first or second part or both of the random access preamble based on the obtained indication of the receive direction of the first part of the random access preamble.

[0121] Before knowing the receive direction, preamble correlation may be performed per antenna element since it is not known yet how to properly combine the antenna elements. The respective correlates w.r.t. antenna elements and preamble index may then be used for spatial decomposition. Here, there will be a result for all tested antenna and preamble combinations, but most will be too weak, e.g., with negligible singular values, to be relevant. One, or a few at most, preambles will result in a spatial decomposition with sufficient energy to rise above a noise floor. action 805

[0122] The method may further comprise obtaining one or more properties of the random access preamble based on decoding the received first part and / or the second part of the random access preamble.

[0123] The one or more properties of the random access preamble may be any one or more of: a time of receipt of the random access preamble and a random access preamble index identifying the random access preamble among a set of random access preambles which the wireless communications device 121 is configured to use. The reception time may be determined, e.g., by correlating different time segments of the received signal with a specified and / or configured set of reference preamble signals.

[0124] The reception time may be determined in relation to a reference time used by the repeater 110, in turn determined by DL reference signals, e.g., SSBs, received from the gNB.

[0125] The random access preamble index has been chosen by the wireless communications device 121.

[0126] In some embodiments herein the random access metadata may further comprise at least one of the indication of the receive direction, a further indication of the receive direction derived from the indication of the receive direction or an indication of the wireless communications device 121. The further indication of the receive direction may for example be a codebook index or a precoder or one or more eigenvalues or eigenvectors while the indication of the receive direction may be a spatial filter.

[0127] The indication of the wireless communications device 121 may be the random access preamble index. In some other embodiments the repeater 110 and the network node 111 may keep a list of available temporary IDs for wireless communications devices that may be used as the indication of the wireless communications device 121 until an actual ID is determined, e.g., at a later point in the initial access process. The repeater 110 may label the received PRACH with one of the available temporary IDs. When the actual UE ID is discovered, it may replace the temporary one. For example, in Msgl, the UE may send a Random Access Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RA-RNTI) as a “UE ID”. The gNB may associate the UE with this RA-RNTI. For example, the gNB may send information dedicated to this UE, scrambled with this RA-RNTI. The UE may find information intended to it by using this RA-RNTI. The repeater 110 may also decode the RA-RNTI and forward it to the network node 111. action 806a

[0128] The method may further comprise transmitting random access metadata to the network node 111. The random access metadata comprises at least one of the one or more properties of the random access preamble obtained above in action 805.

[0129] Transmitting the random access metadata to the network node 111 may be performed over a control link 123 -A for controlling the repeater 110. The control link 123 -A may be a bidirectional link in the sense that it is capable of conveying information in both directions. Transmitting the random access metadata may be based on Uplink Control Information (UCI), MAC Control Element (CE) or RRC.

[0130] The transmitting may further take place in a preconfigured and dedicated UL resource. The dedicated UL resource may be in the control channel, such as the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), or in the data channel, such as PUSCH, or in a new type of UL signal or channel. The resource may furthermore be associated with a resource associated to the preamble, e.g., a PRACH resource in case of a PRACH preamble. action 806b

[0131] In some embodiments herein performing the at least one other operation on the second part of the random access preamble comprises forwarding a second part of the random access preamble to the network node 111. As mentioned above in relation to action 802, to receive the first part of the random access preamble the repeater 110 may try to detect preamble energy from the plurality of directions. When the repeater 110 detects energy in a certain direction, it may focus on that direction and forward the signal from that direction to the network node 111.

[0132] Forwarding the second part of the random access preamble to the network node 111 may be performed over the backhaul link 123-B. action 807 The method may further comprise, upon forwarding the second part of the random access preamble to the network node 111 or upon transmitting the random access metadata: receiving a repeater configuration for transmission of communication to the wireless communications device 121 from the network node 111.

[0133] The repeater configuration may comprise any one or more of: an indication of a beam for forwarding the communication to the wireless communications device 121, and the indication of the wireless communications device 121. The indication of the beam for forwarding the communication may include a beam index or TCI state for the repeater 110 to use at the given time when the network node 111 provides an RA response (such as Msg2) to the wireless communications device 121. In case the repeater 110 only provided a preamble index to the network node 111, it may correspondingly receive an indication of said preamble index.

[0134] In 3GPP terminology, dynamic signaling from the gNB to the UE is often referred to gNB indication to UE. Dynamic signaling is typically via Downlink control information (DCI). A higher layer message from the gNB to the UE, like RRC signaling is typically called configurations. A UE may be provided by a set of configurations via RRC, then DCI is used to indicate which configuration will be applied. action 808

[0135] Upon receiving the repeater configuration, the repeater 110 may forward communication from the network node 111 to the wireless communications device 121 according to the received repeater configuration.

[0136] Forwarding the communication to the wireless communications device 121 may further be based on the obtained indication of the receive direction of the first part of the random access preamble.

[0137] In some embodiments forwarding the communication to the wireless communications device 121 comprises forwarding a random access response (Msg2) from the network node 111 to the wireless communications device 121.

[0138] Forwarding communication between the network node 111 and the wireless communications device 121 may comprise forwarding, between the wireless communications device 121 and the network node 111, any one or more of: a. further random access signals, such as Msg B / Msg 3 / Msg 4; b. further uplink signals, such as UL signals on PUCCH / PUSCH; c. uplink measurement reference signals, such as Sounding Reference Signals (SRS); and d. further downlink signals, e.g., PDCCH / PDSCH. Exemplifying methods according to embodiments herein will now be described with reference to a flow chart in Figure 9. The flow chart illustrates a method, performed by the network node 111 for configuring random access of the wireless communications device 121 to the network node 111 via the repeater 110 in the wireless communications network 100.

[0139] The method actions of Figure 9 are not necessarily performed in the described order but may be performed in any suitable order. action 901

[0140] In some embodiments herein the network node 111 receives a repeater capability report from the repeater 110, the report comprising an indication of a capability of the repeater 110 to obtain an indication of a receive direction of the random access preamble.

[0141] The repeater capability report may further comprise an indication of a time delay caused by obtaining the indication of the receive direction. action 902

[0142] The network node 111 may obtain, e.g. determine, a semi-static or semi-persistent configuration of the repeater 110 based on the received indication of the capability to obtain the indication of the receive direction. In some embodiments the repeater capability report further comprises an indication of a time delay caused by obtaining the indication of the receive direction. For example, if the repeater 110 is capable of simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple beams, then cell common signals, such as SSB or PRACH may be configured with less time-frequency resources, several beams may be configured with the same time-frequency resources.

[0143] If the repeater 110 is not capable of simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple beams, the cell common signals may need more time-frequency resources. Cell common signals are typically semi-statically configured.

[0144] In some embodiments herein the semi-static configuration of the repeater 110 comprises an indication of uplink resources for transmission of the random access preamble by the wireless communications device 121. The uplink resources may be time and frequency resources.

[0145] The semi-static configuration of the repeater 110 may further comprise an indication of associated downlink resources for transmission to the wireless communications device 121 of a configuration of the uplink resources for transmission of the random access preamble.

[0146] In some embodiments herein obtaining the semi-static configuration of the repeater 110 comprises obtaining a number of the uplink resources for transmission of the random access preamble based on the received indication of the capability to obtain the indication of the receive direction.

[0147] Obtaining the semi-static configuration of the repeater 110 may further comprise obtaining the number of the uplink resources for transmission of the random access preamble to be fewer than the associated downlink resources comprising the configuration of the uplink resources based on the received indication of the capability to obtain the indication of the receive direction.

[0148] For example, the semi-static configuration may include a set of periodic slots or symbols in which reference signals such as SSBs, CSI-RS etc. may be transmitted. Since the repeater 110 may be capable of spatial signal decomposition, fewer PRACH time / frequency occasions may be configured since each RS instant does not require its own PRACH instant. action 903

[0149] The network node 111 may transmit the semi-static configuration of the repeater 110 to the repeater 110. The comprised number of the uplink resources for transmission of the random access preamble may be fewer than the comprised associated downlink resources for the configuration of the uplink resources. For example, a cell common RACH configuration may be broadcasted in SIB1 to the wireless communications device 121. action 904

[0150] To further configure random access of the wireless communications device 121 to the network node 111 via the repeater 110 the network node 111 obtains one or more properties of the random access preamble. The network node 111 may obtain the one or more properties of the random access preamble in different ways. A first way of obtaining the one or more properties of the random access preamble is described by action 904a below. A second way of obtaining the one or more properties of the random access preamble is described by action 904b in combination with action 904c below. action 904a

[0151] The network node 111 may receive, random access metadata from the repeater 110, wherein the random access metadata comprises the one or more properties of the random access preamble from the wireless communications device 121.

[0152] The one or more properties of the random access preamble may be any one or more of: a time of receipt of the random access preamble and a random access preamble index identifying the random access preamble among a set of random access preambles which the wireless communications device 121 is configured to use. action 904b

[0153] As an alternative to action 904a, or in addition to action 904a, the network node 111 may receive the second part of the random access preamble from the wireless communications device 121. In some embodiments herein the network node 111 doesn’t receive the first part of the random access preamble. action 904c

[0154] In some embodiments herein the network node 111 obtains one or more properties of the random access preamble from the wireless communications device 121 by decoding the received second part of the random access preamble. That is, the network node 111 may obtain the one or more properties of the random access preamble without decoding the first part of the random access preamble. action 905

[0155] The network node 111 configures random access of the wireless communications device 121 to the network node 111 via the repeater 110. The network node 111 may configure the random access based on the received one or more properties of the random access preamble. As an alternative, or in addition to configuring the random access based on the received one or more properties of the random access preamble, the network node 111 may configure random access of the wireless communications device 121 to the network node 111 via the repeater 110 based on the obtained one or more properties of the random access preamble.

[0156] Configuring communication between the wireless communications device 121 and the network node 111 based on the decoded random access preamble may further be based on an association between the random access preamble and an indication of the wireless communications device 121. action 906

[0157] In some embodiments herein the network node 111 obtains a repeater configuration for transmission of communication to the wireless communications device 121 based on the received or obtained one or more properties of the random access preamble, wherein the repeater configuration comprises an indication of an uplink timing advance to use for transmission of communication to the wireless communications device 121.

[0158] The repeater configuration may comprise an indication of a beam to use for transmission of communication to the wireless communications device 121. Alternatively, the repeater configuration may include a UE index, for example for the case where the repeater 110 itself keeps track of the beams for communication with the wireless communications device 121.

[0159] The indication of the beam to use for the transmission of communication to the wireless communications device 121, e.g., the spatial decomposition, may be defined by an associated reference. The reference may be determined either a. explicitly, from the received configuration (e.g., RA preamble index, UE index, ...), or b. implicitly, from reception properties of the received configuration (e.g., configuration reception time in relation to RA preamble reception time etc.) action 907

[0160] The network node 111 may transmit the repeater configuration to the repeater 110, e.g., via a MAC CE.

[0161] Further detailed example embodiments

[0162] Exemplifying methods according to embodiments herein will now be described with reference to a signaling diagram in Figure 10. The signaling diagram illustrates a method, performed by the wireless communications device 121, the repeater 110 and the network node 111 for configuring random access of the wireless communications device 121 to the network node 111 via the repeater 110. action 1000

[0163] In an optional action, the repeater 110 provides a capability report to the network node 111. The capability report may include:

[0164] • repeater capabilities of the repeater 110, e.g., capability to repeat, sub-bands partitioning

[0165] • BS and UE side antenna configurations,

[0166] • beamforming capabilities, such as beam arrangement capabilities and beam expansion capabilities,

[0167] • ON / OFF capabilities,

[0168] • power control capabilities, • minimum control signal decoding latency, i.e., when a configuration is applied in relation to when it is received,

[0169] • maximum number of supported access side TCIs, etc.

[0170] • Comprised here may also be a subset of normal UE capabilities, such as MIMO capabilities, applicable to the repeater.

[0171] • Also comprised in the report may be a capability to perform digital beamforming or spatial signal decomposition on the UE side, such that the repeater independently may determine the direction from which a signal is transmitted. Additionally or alternatively, the delay of the spatial decomposition may be provided to the network node 111. action 310

[0172] In an optional action, the network node 111, based on the received repeater capability report, determines the semi-static configuration for the repeater. action 1010

[0173] In an optional action, the network node 111 configures the repeater according to the determined semi-static or semi-persistent configuration. Thus, the repeater 110 receives a configuration from the network node 111, including, e.g., a beam-time configuration, e.g., what beam is applied at which time instant, ON / OFF configuration, power control configuration, control signal decoding latency, activated access side TCI state(s) etc., in addition to a subset of normal UE configuration parameters that may be applicable to the repeater 110. Additionally, the repeater may be provided with a PRACH configuration, including PRACH locations and preambles used throughout the cell 115. The network node 111 may determine the PRACH configuration (e.g., ssb-perRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB) based on the received capability report from the repeater 110 or from obtaining the corresponding information by Operations, Administration and Maintenance (0AM). The PRACH configuration information on e.g., PRACH locations and preambles may be used by the repeater 110 to, for example, detect the Msgl / MsgA from the wireless communications device 121. action 1020

[0174] In an optional action, the repeater 110 applies the received configuration. action 1030

[0175] In an optional action, the network node 111 transmits a reference signal via the repeater 110 to the wireless communications device 121. Thus, the repeater 110 forwards the reference signal from the network node 111 to the wireless communications device 121. The reference signal may be an SSB, CSI-RS or some other DL reference signal. action 1040

[0176] Typically following the forwarded RS with some configured delay according to the PRACH configuration, the repeater 110 receives a signal / response from the wireless communications device 121. This may be a random access preamble (e.g.., Msgl / MsgA) that is transmitted during initial access when the wireless communications device 121 needs access to the network 100.

[0177] Action 1050

[0178] The repeater performs a spatial signal decomposition on at least the initial parts of a received signal and is thereby able to determine properties related to the direction from which the signal was transmitted. Such a signal may be, e.g., a PRACH preamble. From broadcasted system information (SI), the wireless communications device 121 may know about the PRACH time resource. The wireless communications device 121 may then send the PRACH at the configured time resource. At the same time resource, the repeater 110 and the network node 111 may check if there is any PRACH from some wireless communications device 121. Spatial signal decomposition may be performed by any one or a combination of: singular value decomposition, eigenvalue decomposition, spatial FFT decomposition, analog beam sweep. As a result of the determination of the spatial properties of the repeater 110, a beam index, TCI state, a phase of a phased array or a digital precoder may be determined to be used for receiving the following parts of the signal or receiving further signals from the wireless communications device 121. The decompositions may further be performed blindly, i.e., without knowing the actual signal and only considering the direction of general signal energy. This may be performed sample-by-sample in the time domain, and a final spatial decomposition may then be a function of the sample-by-sample decompositions. Alternatively, for PRACH preambles, the decomposition may be performed considering each of the PRACH preambles that are configured for the given PRACH instant. As mentioned above, before knowing the receive direction, preamble correlation may be performed per antenna element since it is not known yet how to properly combine the antenna elements. The respective correlates w.r.t. antenna elements and preamble index may then be used for spatial decomposition. Here, there will be a result for all tested antenna and preamble combinations, but most will be too weak, e.g., with negligible singular values, to be relevant. One, or a few at most, preambles will result in a spatial decomposition with sufficient energy to rise above a noise floor.

[0179] In that case, the signal decomposition is then performed on the resulting correlates of the respective preamble. The spatial decomposition information may include beamforming information about e.g.,

[0180] • Repeater UL reception from the wireless communications device 121, i.e., the indication of the receive direction, and / or

[0181] • Repeater DL reception from a controlling network node, such as the network node 111.

[0182] In some cases, the repeater 110 may have a preferred backhaul / access beam pair due to e.g., network interference issue. Hence, the repeater 110 may inform the controlling network node 111 about the beam information related to both UL and DL communication of the PRACH messages.

[0183] In a related optional action, the repeater 110 determines the number of directions that are comprised in the spatial signal decomposition. If more than one direction is determined, and particularly if the decomposition is performed in real time and the signal of the decomposed direction is forwarded directly to the network node 111, the repeater 110 may furthermore need to select in which one of the determined directions to forward. The selection may be based on, e.g., which direction is received first, which direction is received strongest or based on the preamble index.

[0184] Action 1060

[0185] In a further optional action, upon determining the spatial properties of the received signal, such as the received RA preamble, the repeater 110 configures reception of further parts of the signal or further signals in relation to the determined spatial properties of the received signal. For example, an analog beam may be configured that matches the determined direction from which the received signal originated based on beam index or TCI state, or a digital precoder is configured that matches the determined digital precoder of the received signal, or a phase is configured that matches the determined phase of the phased array. The determined digital precoder may be from an infinite set, while the configured digital precoder is from a finite set.

[0186] Action 1070

[0187] The repeater 110 transmits random access information from the wireless communications device 121 to the network node 111. This may be done by either

[0188] 1. forwarding the remaining received signal information following configuration, or

[0189] 2. transmitting all of the signal slightly delayed (due to the computation of the spatial decomposition), or

[0190] 3. decoding the signal and transmitting the decoded information and / or spatial information to the network node 111 in the side-control channel. Decoded information may be, e.g., the RA preamble index of the signal and reception timing of the preamble, in relation to, e.g., the repeater’s DL or UL timing. A combination of the two may also be used such that the remaining parts of the signal is forwarded by the repeater 110 (e.g. by the forwarding module 160) and the corresponding beam information used by the repeater 110 is provided in a side-control channel by the repeater-MT 150 to the network node 111. The beamforming information may comprise of spatial information e.g.,

[0191] • Repeater node UL reception from the wireless communications device 121, and / or

[0192] • Repeater node DL reception from the controlling network node 111.

[0193] For example, in the detection of Msgl / MsgA from the wireless communications device 121, the network node 111 may exploit the UL reception spatial information forwarded by the repeater 110. For example, when the network node 111 wants to communicate with the wireless communications device 121 via the repeater 110, at a certain time resource, the network node 111 may configure the repeater 110 to use a beam corresponding to the UL reception spatial information, such as spatial receiving direction, at that time resource.

[0194] Thus, the network node 111 receives the random access information of the wireless communications device 121 from the repeater 110. The information may be the random access preamble forwarded by the repeater-Fwd and / or a random access preamble index and / or reception timing information received on the repeater side-control channel from the repeater-MT.

[0195] Action 350

[0196] In an optional action, the network node 111 may determine a dynamic indication for the repeater 110 to use in order for the network node 111 to transmit a random access response (Msg2) to the wireless communications device 121 via the repeater 110. This indication may include an indication of what beam / TCI / phase / precoder to use at the RAR instant. Alternatively, or additionally, if only the network node 111 knows the random access preamble index, it may include a reference to that, such that the repeater itself may determine the beam to use.

[0197] Action 1080

[0198] In a further optional action, the network node 111 transmits the determined dynamic indication and the repeater 110 receives the dynamic indication from the network node 111. The dynamic indication may be related to addressing the wireless communications device 121. The indication may include a beam index or TCI state for the repeater to use at the given time when the network node 111 provides a RA response (Msg2) to the wireless communications device 121. In case the repeater 110 only provided a preamble index to the network node 111, it may correspondingly receive an indication of said preamble index, from which the repeater 110 itself may determine which beam index, TCI state, phase or digital precoder to use for the wireless communications device 121.

[0199] The spatial decomposition for configuration may be determined by its associated reference. The reference may be determined either c. Explicitly, from the received configuration (RA preamble index, UE index, . . . ) d. Implicitly, from reception properties of the received configuration (e.g., configuration reception time in relation to RA preamble reception time etc.)

[0200] Action 1090

[0201] In a yet further optional action, the repeater applies the received dynamic indication.

[0202] Action 1100

[0203] In a yet further optional action, the network node 111 transmits the random access response (Msg2) via the repeater to the wireless communications device 121. In case the network node 111 has only received metadata and timing of the RAR via the repeater’s side-control channel, the network node 111 may determine a suitable timing advance based on the previously received timing information. Thus, the repeater forwards the Msg2 from the network node 111 to the wireless communications device 121.

[0204] Figure 11 shows an example of the repeater 110 and Figure 12 shows an example of the network node 121. The repeater 110 may be configured to perform the method actions of Figure 8 and some of the method actions of Figure 10. The network node 121 may be configured to perform the method actions of Figure 9 and some of the method actions of Figure 10 above.

[0205] The repeater 110 is adapted to handle random access of a wireless communications device 121 to a network node 111 via the repeater 110 in a wireless communications network 100. The repeater 110 is adapted to receive a first part of a random access preamble from the wireless communications device 121.

[0206] The repeater 110 is further adapted to obtain an indication of a receive direction of the first part of the random access preamble.

[0207] The repeater 110 is further adapted to perform, based on the obtained indication of the receive direction, at least one other operation on the at least first part of the random access preamble and / or a second part of the random access preamble. The repeater 110 may be further adapted to perform the at least one other operation by being adapted to decode the received first and / or second part of the random access preamble.

[0208] Then the repeater 110 may be further adapted to obtain one or more properties of the random access preamble based on the decoding the received first part and / or the second part of the random access preamble and to transmit random access metadata to the network node 111, wherein the random access metadata comprises at least one of the one or more properties of the random access preamble.

[0209] In some embodiments the repeater 110 is adapted to transmit the random access metadata to the network node 111 over a control link for controlling the repeater 110.

[0210] The repeater 110 may be further adapted to forward a second part of the random access preamble to the network node 111.

[0211] In some embodiments the repeater 110 is adapted to receive a repeater configuration for transmission of communication to the wireless communications device 121 from the network node 111 and to forward communication from the network node 111 to the wireless communications device 121 according to the received repeater configuration.

[0212] The repeater 110 may be adapted to forward the communication to the wireless communications device 121 further based on the obtained indication of the receive direction of the first part of the random access preamble.

[0213] In some embodiments the repeater 110 is adapted to forward the communication to the wireless communications device 121 by being adapted to forward a random access response from the network node 111 to the wireless communications device 121.

[0214] The repeater 110 may be adapted to provide the repeater capability report to the network node 111, prior to receiving the first part of the random access preamble from the wireless communications device 121.

[0215] The network node 111 is adapted for configuring random access of a wireless communications device 121 to the network node 111 via a repeater 110 controlled by the network node 111 in a wireless communications network 100.

[0216] The network node 111 is further adapted to receive random access metadata from the repeater 110, wherein the random access metadata comprises any one or more properties of a random access preamble from the wireless communications device 121. The network node 111 is further adapted to configure random access of the wireless communications device 121 to the network node 111 via the repeater 110 based on the received one or more properties of the random access preamble.

[0217] In some embodiments the network node 111 is adapted to receive a second part of a random access preamble from the wireless communications device 121.

[0218] Then the network node 111 is further adapted to obtain one or more properties of the random access preamble from the wireless communications device 121 by decoding the received second part of the random access preamble without decoding a first part of the random access preamble and adapted to configure random access of the wireless communications device 121 to the network node 111 via the repeater 110 based on the obtained one or more properties of the random access preamble.

[0219] The network node 111 may be further adapted to configure communication between the wireless communications device 121 and the network node 111 based on the decoded random access preamble further based on an association between the random access preamble and an indication of the wireless communications device 121.

[0220] In some embodiments the network node 111 is adapted to obtain a repeater configuration, comprising an indication of an uplink timing advance to use for transmission of communication to the wireless communications device 121, for transmission of communication to the wireless communications device 121 based on the received or obtained one or more properties of the random access preamble. Then the network node 111 is adapted to transmit the repeater configuration to the repeater 110.

[0221] The network node 111 may be further adapted to receive a repeater capability report from the repeater 110, the report comprising an indication of a capability of the repeater 110 to obtain an indication of a receive direction of the random access preamble. Then the network node 111 may be further adapted to obtain a semi-static configuration of the repeater 110 based on the received indication of the capability to obtain the indication of the receive direction.

[0222] The network node 111 may be further adapted to obtain the semi-static configuration of the repeater 110 by being adapted to obtain a number of the uplink resources for transmission of the random access preamble based on the received indication of the capability to obtain the indication of the receive direction. The network node 111 may be further adapted to obtain the semi-static configuration of the repeater 110 by being adapted to the number of the uplink resources for transmission of the random access preamble to be fewer than the associated downlink resources comprising the configuration of the uplink resources based on the received indication of the capability to obtain the indication of the receive direction.

[0223] In some embodiments the network node 111 is adapted to transmit the semi-static configuration of the repeater 110 to the repeater 110.

[0224] The repeater 110 and the network node 121 may comprise a respective input and output interface, IF, 1106, 1206 configured to communicate with each other, see Figures 11-12. The input and output interface may comprise a wireless receiver (not shown) and a wireless transmitter (not shown).

[0225] The embodiments herein may be implemented through a respective processor or one or more processors, such as the respective processor 1104, and 1204, of a processing circuitry in the repeater 110, and the network node 121 and depicted in Figures 11-12 together with computer program code for performing the functions and actions of the embodiments herein. The program code mentioned above may also be provided as a computer program product, for instance in the form of a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing the embodiments herein when being loaded into the respective repeater 110, and the network node 121. One such carrier may be in the form of a CD ROM disc. It is however feasible with other data carriers such as a memory stick. The computer program code may furthermore be provided as pure program code on a server and downloaded to the respective repeater 110, and the network node 121.

[0226] The repeater 110, and the network node 121 may further comprise a respective memory 1102, and 1202 comprising one or more memory units. The memory comprises instructions executable by the processor in the repeater 110, and the network node 121 respectively.

[0227] Each respective memory 1102 and 1202 is arranged to be used to store e.g. information, data, configurations, and applications to perform the methods herein when being executed in the respective repeater 110, and the network node 121.

[0228] In some embodiments, a respective computer program 1103 and 1203 comprises instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor of the respective repeater 110, and the network node 121 to perform the actions above. The respective computer program 1103 and 1203 may be loaded into the respective memory 1102, and 1202.

[0229] In some embodiments, a respective carrier 1105 and 1205 comprises the respective computer program, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, an electromagnetic signal, a magnetic signal, an electric signal, a radio signal, a microwave signal, or a computer-readable storage medium.

[0230] Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the units described above may refer to a combination of analog and digital circuits, and / or one or more processors configured with software and / or firmware, e.g. stored in the respective repeater 110 and network node 121, that when executed by the respective one or more processors such as the processors described above. One or more of these processors, as well as the other digital hardware, may be included in a single Application-Specific Integrated Circuitry ASIC), or several processors and various digital hardware may be distributed among several separate components, whether individually packaged or assembled into a system-on-a-chip (SoC).

[0231] With reference to Figure 13, in accordance with an embodiment, a communication system includes a telecommunication network 3210, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises an access network 3211, such as a radio access network, and a core network 3214. The access network 3211 comprises a plurality of base stations 3212a, 3212b, 3212c, such as AP STAs NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 3213a, 3213b, 3213c. Each base station 3212a, 3212b, 3212c is connectable to the core network 3214 over a wired or wireless connection 3215. A first user equipment (UE) such as a Non-AP STA 3291 located in coverage area 3213c is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station 3212c. A second UE 3292 such as a Non-AP STA in coverage area 3213a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station 3212a. While a plurality of UEs 3291, 3292 are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole UE is in the coverage area or where a sole UE is connecting to the corresponding base station 3212.

[0232] The telecommunication network 3210 is itself connected to a host computer 3230, which may be embodied in the hardware and / or software of a standalone server, a cloud- implemented server, a distributed server or as processing resources in a server farm. The host computer 3230 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The connections 3221, 3222 between the telecommunication network 3210 and the host computer 3230 may extend directly from the core network 3214 to the host computer 3230 or may go via an optional intermediate network 3220. The intermediate network 3220 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; the intermediate network 3220, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, the intermediate network 3220 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).

[0233] The communication system of Figure 13 as a whole enables connectivity between one of the connected UEs 3291, 3292 such as e.g. the UE 121, and the host computer 3230. The connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection 3250. The host computer 3230 and the connected UEs 3291, 3292 are configured to communicate data and / or signaling via the OTT connection 3250, using the access network 3211, the core network 3214, any intermediate network 3220 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. The OTT connection 3250 may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which the OTT connection 3250 passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, a base station 3212 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from a host computer 3230 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE 3291. Similarly, the base station 3212 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE 3291 towards the host computer 3230.

[0234] Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE, base station and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to Figure 14. In a communication system 3300, a host computer 3310 comprises hardware 3315 including a communication interface 3316 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system 3300. The host computer 3310 further comprises processing circuitry 3318, which may have storage and / or processing capabilities. In particular, the processing circuitry 3318 may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The host computer 3310 further comprises software 3311, which is stored in or accessible by the host computer 3310 and executable by the processing circuitry 3318. The software 3311 includes a host application 3312. The host application 3312 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as a UE 3330 connecting via an OTT connection 3350 terminating at the UE 3330 and the host computer 3310. In providing the service to the remote user, the host application 3312 may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 3350. The communication system 3300 further includes a base station 3320 provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware 3325 enabling it to communicate with the host computer 3310 and with the UE 3330. The hardware 3325 may include a communication interface 3326 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system 3300, as well as a radio interface 3327 for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection 3370 with a UE 3330 located in a coverage area (not shown in Figure 14) served by the base station 3320. The communication interface 3326 may be configured to facilitate a connection 3360 to the host computer 3310. The connection 3360 may be direct or it may pass through a core network (not shown in Figure 14) of the telecommunication system and / or through one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. In the embodiment shown, the hardware 3325 of the base station 3320 further includes processing circuitry 3328, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The base station 3320 further has software 3321 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

[0235] The communication system 3300 further includes the UE 3330 already referred to. Its hardware 3335 may include a radio interface 3337 configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection 3370 with a base station serving a coverage area in which the UE 3330 is currently located. The hardware 3335 of the UE 3330 further includes processing circuitry 3338, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The UE 3330 further comprises software 3331, which is stored in or accessible by the UE 3330 and executable by the processing circuitry 3338. The software 3331 includes a client application 3332. The client application 3332 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the UE 3330, with the support of the host computer 3310. In the host computer 3310, an executing host application 3312 may communicate with the executing client application 3332 via the OTT connection 3350 terminating at the UE 3330 and the host computer 3310. In providing the service to the user, the client application 3332 may receive request data from the host application 3312 and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 3350 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application 3332 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.

[0236] It is noted that the host computer 3310, base station 3320 and UE 3330 illustrated in Figure 14 may be identical to the host computer 3230, one of the base stations 3212a, 3212b, 3212c and one of the UEs 3291, 3292 of Figure 13, respectively. This is to say, the inner workings of these entities may be as shown in Figure 14 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of Figure 13.

[0237] In Figure 14, the OTT connection 3350 has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host computer 3310 and the use equipment 3330 via the base station 3320, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices. Network infrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured to hide from the UE 3330 or from the service provider operating the host computer 3310, or both. While the OTT connection 3350 is active, the network infrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamically changes the routing (e.g., on the basis of load balancing consideration or reconfiguration of the network).

[0238] The wireless connection 3370 between the UE 3330 and the base station 3320 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 3330 using the OTT connection 3350, in which the wireless connection 3370 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the data rate, latency, power consumption and thereby provide benefits such as reduced user waiting time, relaxed restriction on file size, better responsiveness, extended battery lifetime.

[0239] A measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 3350 between the host computer 3310 and UE 3330, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and / or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 3350 may be implemented in the software 3311 of the host computer 3310 or in the software 3331 of the UE 3330, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which the OTT connection 3350 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software 3311, 3331 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 3350 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect the base station 3320, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to the base station 3320. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating the host computer’s 3310 measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. The measurements may be implemented in that the software 3311, 3331 causes messages to be transmited, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 3350 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.

[0240] FIGURE 15 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station such as a AP STA, and a UE such as a Non-AP STA which may be those described with reference to Figure 13 and Figure 14. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 15 will be included in this section. In a first action 3410 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional subaction 3411 of the first action 3410, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In a second action 3420, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. In an optional third action 3430, the base station transmits to the UE the user data which was carried in the transmission that the host computer initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In an optional fourth action 3440, the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.

[0241] FIGURE 16 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station such as a AP STA, and a UE such as a Non-AP STA which may be those described with reference to Figure 13 and Figure 14. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 16 will be included in this section. In a first action 3510 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional subaction (not shown) the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In a second action 3520, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. The transmission may pass via the base station, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In an optional third action 3530, the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.

[0242] FIGURE 17 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station such as a AP STA, and a UE such as a Non-AP STA which may be those described with reference to Figure 13 and Figure 14. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 17 will be included in this section. In an optional first action 3610 of the method, the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in an optional second action 3620, the UE provides user data. In an optional subaction 3621 of the second action 3620, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application. In a further optional subaction 3611 of the first action 3610, the UE executes a client application which provides the user data in reaction to the received input data provided by the host computer. In providing the user data, the executed client application may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE initiates, in an optional third subaction 3630, transmission of the user data to the host computer. In a fourth action 3640 of the method, the host computer receives the user data transmitted from the UE, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.

[0243] FIGURE 18 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station such as a AP STA, and a UE such as a Non-AP STA which may be those described with reference to Figures 32 and 33. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 18 will be included in this section. In an optional first action 3710 of the method, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. In an optional second action 3720, the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In a third action 3730, the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

[0244] It should be emphasized that the term “comprises / comprising” when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, or components, but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components, or groups thereof..

[0245] The embodiments herein are not limited to the above described preferred embodiments. Various alternatives, modifications and equivalents may be used.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method, performed by a repeater ( 110), for handling random access of a wireless communications device (121) to a network node (111) via the repeater (110) in a wireless communications network (100), the method comprises:- receiving (802) a first part of a random access preamble from the wireless communications device (121);- obtaining (803) an indication of a receive direction of the first part of the random access preamble; and- performing, based on the obtained indication of the receive direction, at least one other operation on the at least first part of the random access preamble and / or a second part of the random access preamble.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein performing the at least one other operation comprises decoding (804) the received first and / or second part of the random access preamble, the method further comprising obtaining (805) one or more properties of the random access preamble based on the decoding the received first part and / or the second part of the random access preamble and transmitting (806a) random access metadata to the network node (111), wherein the random access metadata comprises at least one of the one or more properties of the random access preamble.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the one or more properties of the random access preamble is any one or more of: a time of receipt of the random access preamble and a random access preamble index identifying the random access preamble among a set of random access preambles which the wireless communications device (121) is configured to use.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the random access metadata further comprises at least one of the indication of the receive direction, a further indication of the receive direction derived from the indication of the receive direction or an indication of the wireless communications device (121).

5. The method according to any of the claims 2-4, wherein transmitting (806a) the random access metadata to the network node (111) is performed over a control link for controlling the repeater (HO).

6. The method according to any of the claims 1-5, wherein performing the at least one other operation on the second part of the random access preamble comprises forwarding (806b) a second part of the random access preamble to the network node (111).

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the forwarding (806b) the second part of the random access preamble to the network node (111) is performed over a backhaul link (123- UL).

8. The method according to any of the claims 2-7, further comprising, upon forwarding (806b) the second part of the random access preamble to the network node (111) or upon transmitting (806a) the random access metadata: receiving (807) a repeater configuration for transmission of communication to the wireless communications device (121) from the network node (111); and- forwarding (808) communication from the network node (111) to the wireless communications device (121) according to the received repeater configuration.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the repeater configuration comprises any one or more of: an indication of a beam for forwarding the communication to the wireless communications device (121), and the indication of the wireless communications device (121).

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein forwarding (808) the communication to the wireless communications device (121) is further based on the obtained indication of the receive direction of the first part of the random access preamble.

11. The method according to any of the claims 8-10, wherein forwarding (808) the communication to the wireless communications device (121) comprises: forwarding a random access response from the network node (111) to the wireless communications device (121).

12. The method according to any of the claims 1-11, further comprising, prior to receiving the first part of the random access preamble from the wireless communications device ( 2 ), providing (801) a repeater capability report to the network node (111) comprising an indication of a capability of the repeater (110) to obtain the indication of the receive direction of the random access preamble.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the repeater capability report further comprises an indication of a time delay caused by obtaining the indication of the receive direction.

14. The method according to any of the claims 1-13 wherein the obtained indication of the receive direction of the first part of the random access preamble is any one or more of: a beam index, a Transmission Configuration Indicator, TCI, state, a reference signal identifier, a set of antenna ports, a phase of a phased array, a precoder, a digital beam, a codebook index, a set of antenna weights.

15. The method according to any of the claims 8-14, wherein forwarding (808) communication between the network node (111) and the wireless communications device (121) comprises forwarding, between the wireless communications device (121) and the network node (111), any one or more of: a. further random access signals; b. further uplink signals; c. uplink measurement reference signals; and d. further downlink signals.

16. A method, performed by a network node (111), for configuring random access of a wireless communications device (121) to the network node (111) via a repeater (110) in a wireless communications network (100), the method comprises:- receiving (904a), random access metadata from the repeater (110), wherein the random access metadata comprises one or more properties of a random access preamble from the wireless communications device (121); and configuring (905) random access of the wireless communications device (121) to the network node (111) via the repeater (110) based on the received one or more properties of the random access preamble.

17. A method, performed by a network node (111), for configuring random access of a wireless communications device (121) to the network node (111) via a repeater (110) in a wireless communications network (100), the method comprises: receiving (904b), a second part of a random access preamble from the wireless communications device (121); obtaining one or more properties of the random access preamble from the wireless communications device (121) by decoding (904c) the received second part of the random access preamble without decoding a first part of the random access preamble; andconfiguring (905) random access of the wireless communications device (121) to the network node (111) via the repeater (110) based on the obtained one or more properties of the random access preamble.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein configuring (905) communication between the wireless communications device (121) and the network node (111) based on the decoded random access preamble is further based on an association between the random access preamble and an indication of the wireless communications device (121).

19. The method according to any of the claims 16 to 18, further comprising: obtaining (905) a repeater configuration for transmission of communication to the wireless communications device (121) based on the received or obtained one or more properties of the random access preamble, wherein the repeater configuration comprises an indication of an uplink timing advance to use for transmission of communication to the wireless communications device (121), and transmitting (906) the repeater configuration to the repeater (110).

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the repeater configuration comprises an indication of a beam to use for transmission of communication to the wireless communications device (121).

21. The method according to any of the claims 16-20, further comprising: receiving (901) a repeater capability report from the repeater (110), the report comprising an indication of a capability of the repeater (110) to obtain an indication of a receive direction of the random access preamble; and obtaining (902) a semi-static configuration of the repeater (110) based on the received indication of the capability to obtain the indication of the receive direction.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the repeater capability report further comprises an indication of a time delay caused by obtaining the indication of the receive direction.

23. The method according to any of the claims 21-22, wherein the semi-static configuration of the repeater (110) comprises: 1) an indication of uplink resources for transmission of the random access preamble by the wireless communications device (121) and 2) an indication of associated downlink resources for transmission to the wireless communications device (121) ofa configuration of the uplink resources for transmission of the random access preamble, wherein obtaining the semi-static configuration of the repeater (110) comprises obtaining a number of the uplink resources for transmission of the random access preamble based on the received indication of the capability to obtain the indication of the receive direction.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein obtaining the semi-static configuration of the repeater (110) comprises obtaining the number of the uplink resources for transmission of the random access preamble to be fewer than the associated downlink resources comprising the configuration of the uplink resources based on the received indication of the capability to obtain the indication of the receive direction.

25. The method according to any of the claims 23-24, further comprising transmitting (903) the semi-static configuration of the repeater (110) to the repeater (110), wherein the comprised number of the uplink resources for transmission of the random access preamble are fewer than the comprised associated downlink resources for the configuration of the uplink resources.

26. The method according to any of the claims 16-25, wherein the one or more properties of the random access preamble is any one or more of: a time of receipt of the random access preamble and a random access preamble index identifying the random access preamble among a set of random access preambles which the wireless communications device (121) is configured to use.

27. A repeater (110) adapted to handle random access of a wireless communications device (121) to a network node (111) via the repeater (110) in a wireless communications network (100), the repeater (110) is further adapted to: receive a first part of a random access preamble from the wireless communications device (121); obtain an indication of a receive direction of the first part of the random access preamble; and perform, based on the obtained indication of the receive direction, at least one other operation on the at least first part of the random access preamble and / or a second part of the random access preamble.

28. The repeater (110) according to claim 25, further adapted to perform the method according to any of the claims 2-15.

29. A network node (111) adapted for configuring random access of a wireless communications device (121) to the network node (111) via a repeater (110) controlled by the network node (111) in a wireless communications network (100), the network node (111) is further adapted to:- receive random access metadata from the repeater (110), wherein the random access metadata comprises any one or more properties of a random access preamble from the wireless communications device (121); and configure random access of the wireless communications device (121) to the network node (111) via the repeater (110) based on the received one or more properties of the random access preamble.

30. The network node (111) according to claim 29, further adapted to perform the method according to any of the claims 17-26.

31. A computer program (1003), comprising computer readable code units which when executed on a processor (1004) of a repeater (110) causes the repeater (110) to perform the method according to any one of claims 1-15.

32. A computer program (1103), comprising computer readable code units which when executed on a processor (1104) of a network node (111) causes the network node (111) to perform the method according to any one of claims 16-26.

33. A carrier (1005, 1105) comprising the computer program (1003, 1103) according to claim 31 or 32, wherein the carrier (1005, 1105) is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal and a computer readable medium.

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