WO2020119921A1

WO2020119921A1 - Control of radio communication

Info

Publication number: WO2020119921A1
Application number: PCT/EP2018/084984
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gilberto BERARDINELLI; Frank Frederiksen; Preben Elgaard Mogensen
Original assignee: Nokia Solutions And Networks Oy
Priority date: 2018-12-14
Filing date: 2018-12-14
Publication date: 2020-06-18

Abstract

Control of radio communication. A method includes: controlling (502) control communication of control plane data, the control communication using a first radio technology in a first radio band; and controlling (504) user communication of user plane data, the user communication using a second radio technology in a second radio band, wherein a configuration of the user communication is based on the control plane data.

Description

CONTROL OF RADIO COMMUNICATION

FIELD

Various example embodiments relate to control of radio communication. BACKGROUND

The support of services with diverse requirements in terms of data rate, reliability and latency is a major concern for wireless systems designers. Communication networks will be more heterogeneous concerning cell size, coverage, and operational spectrum. The operation of a radio system operating in a certain (possibly unlicensed) band may be significantly restricted by the specific regulations in that band.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

According to an aspect, there is provided subject matter of independent claims. Dependent claims define some example embodiments.

One or more examples of implementations are set forth in more detail in the accompanying drawings and the description of embodiments.

LIST OF DRAWINGS

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

FIG. 1 illustrates example embodiments of an apparatus;

FIG. 2 illustrates example embodiments of a radio apparatus;

FIG. 3 illustrates example embodiments of a control plane and a user plane; FIG. 4 illustrates example embodiments of a channel configuration; and FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 illustrate example embodiments of a method.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The following embodiments are only examples. Although the specification may refer to“an” embodiment in several locations, this does not necessarily mean that each such reference is to the same embodiment(s), or that the feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments. Furthermore, words "comprising" and "including" should be understood as not limiting the described embodiments to consist of only those features that have been mentioned and such embodiments may contain also features/structures that have not been specifically mentioned.

Reference numbers, both in the description of the example embodiments and in the claims, serve to illustrate the example embodiments with reference to the drawings, without limiting it to these examples only.

In the following, different example embodiments will be described using, as an example of a radio architecture to which the embodiments may be applied, a radio architecture based on a non-cellular radio system at least for the user plane. The control plane may also be transported in the non-cellular radio system, but in some case also in a cellular radio system. For the user plane, an unlicensed radio band or a licensed radio band may be used. For the control plane, an unlicensed radio band or a licensed radio band may be used.

The non-cellular radio system includes, but is not limited to, wireless local area network (WLAN or WiFi), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), light fidelity (Li-Fi), sensor networks, advanced machine-to-machine (M2M) networks, microwave networks, wireless broadcast systems, and other standard/proprietary non- cellular radio systems.

The cellular radio system includes, but is not limited to, LTE-A, new radio (NR, 5G), future cellular technologies (e.g. 6G or the like), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) radio access network (UTRAN or E-UTRAN), long term evolution (LTE, the same as E-UTRA), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), systems using ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, and other standard/proprietary cellular radio systems.

Let us study simultaneously both FIG. 1 , which illustrates example embodiments of an apparatus 100, and FIG. 5, which illustrates example embodiments of a method performed by the apparatus 100.

In an example embodiment, the apparatus 100 is a circuitry.

In an example embodiment, the apparatus 100 is a combination of a processor, memory and software.

In an example embodiment, the apparatus 100 comprises one or more processors 102, and one or more memories 104 including computer program code 106C. The one or more memories 104 and the computer program code 106B, 106C are configured to, with the one or more processors 102, cause the performance of the apparatus 100.

The term 'processor' 102 refers to a device that is capable of processing data. Depending on the processing power needed, the apparatus 100 may comprise several processors 102 such as parallel processors or a multicore processor. When designing the implementation of the processor 102, a person skilled in the art will consider the requirements set for the size and power consumption of the apparatus 100, the necessary processing capacity, production costs, and production volumes, for example. The processor 102 and the memory 104 may be implemented by an electronic circuitry.

A non-exhaustive list of implementation techniques for the processor 102 and the memory 104 includes, but is not limited to: logic components, standard integrated circuits, application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), system-on-a-chip (SoC), application-specific standard products (ASSP), microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, special-purpose computer chips, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), and other suitable electronics structures.

The term 'memory' 104 refers to a device that is capable of storing data run time (= working memory) or permanently (= non-volatile memory). The working memory and the non-volatile memory may be implemented by a random-access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), static RAM (SRAM), a flash memory, a solid state disk (SSD), PROM (programmable read-only memory), a suitable semiconductor, or any other means of implementing an electrical computer memory.

The computer program code 106A, 106B, 106C may be implemented by software. In an example embodiment, the software may be written by a suitable programming language, and the resulting executable code 106C may be stored on the memory 104 and run by the processor 102.

The one or more memories 102 and the computer program code 106B, 106C are configured to, with the one or more processors 102, cause the apparatus 100 at least to perform an algorithm 106B illustrated in FIG. 5 as the method. As explained above, the functionality of the algorithm 106B may be realized by suitably programmed and executed software or by appropriately designed hardware.

In an example embodiment, the functionality of the apparatus 100 may be designed by a suitable hardware description language (such as Verilog or VHDL), and transformed into a gate-level netlist (describing standard cells and the electrical connections between them), and after further phases the chip implementing the functionality of the processor 102, memory 104 and the code 106C of the apparatus 100 may be fabricated with photo masks describing the circuitry.

In an example embodiment shown in FIG. 1 , the apparatus 100 is a part of a radio apparatus 130.

As shown in FIG.1 , the radio apparatus 130 comprises two separate radio transceivers 108, 1 14, or, alternatively, a single radio transceiver 150.

In an example embodiment, the apparatus 100 comprises means for causing the apparatus 100 to perform the method.

The operations are not strictly in chronological order in FIG. 5, and some of the operations may be performed simultaneously or in an order differing from the given ones. Other functions may also be executed between the operations or within the operations and other data exchanged between the operations. Some of the operations or part of the operations may also be left out or replaced by a corresponding operation or part of the operation. It should be noted that no special order of operations is required, except where necessary due to the logical requirements for the processing order.

The method starts in 500.

In 502, control communication 120 of control plane data 122 is controlled. The control communication 120 is using a first radio technology 110 in a first radio band 112. The control plane data 122 may be transmitted/received with the first radio transceiver 108.

In 504, user communication 124 of user plane data 126 is controlled. The user communication 124 is using a second radio technology 116 in a second radio band 118. The user plane data 126 may be transmitted/received with the second radio transceiver 1 14. Or, the single radio transceiver 150 is used for both transmission/reception of the control plane data 122 and the user plane data 126. A configuration 128 of the user communication 124 is based on the control plane data 122.

Note that the first radio band 112 and the second radio band 1 18 may be different spectrums (different ranges of electromagnetic frequencies), or partly overlapping spectrums or fully overlapping spectrums. In an example embodiment, the first radio band 112 may be a part of the second radio band 118.

The method ends in 508, or, loops 506 back to operation 502, which may be performed if needed, and then to operation 504.

In an example embodiment, the apparatus 100 comprises: a first control circuit configured to control 502 the control communication 120 of the control plane data 122, the control communication 120 using the first radio technology 110 in the first radio band 112; and a second control circuit configured to control 504 the user communication 124 of the user plane data 126, the user communication 124 using the second radio technology 116 in the second radio band 118, wherein the configuration 128 of the user communication 124 is based on the control plane data 122. Naturally, the radio apparatus 130 also comprises the transceiver circuitry configured to implement the data transmission 122, 126.

In an example embodiment of FIG. 1 , a computer-readable medium 140 comprises computer program code 106A, which, when loaded into one or more processors 102 and executed by the one or more processors 102, causes an apparatus to perform the method comprising: controlling 502 the control communication of the control plane data, the control communication using the first radio technology in the first radio band; and controlling 504 the user communication of the user plane data, the user communication using the second radio technology in the second radio band, wherein the configuration of the user communication is based on the control plane data.

FIG. 3 illustrates example embodiments of the control plane 122 and the user plane 126.

In an example embodiment, the means of the apparatus 100 are configured to cause the apparatus 100 to perform an initial access 300 based on the control plane data 122. After this, in a steady state operation 302A, the means of the apparatus 100 are configured to cause the apparatus 100 to perform the controlling of the user communication 124 of the user plane data 126.

In an example embodiment, the means of the apparatus 100 are configured to cause the apparatus 100 to perform maintenance 304 of access parameters based on the control plane data 122, whereupon the steady state operation 302B is continued. Such maintenance 304 may be performed as needed, or in a periodic fashion, for example.

FIG. 2 illustrates example embodiments of the radio apparatus 130.

Let us consider for instance a use case which is considered very relevant in the wireless communication community: a wireless system that supports closed loop control in industrial automation and operates in the unlicensed spectrum. A controller 130A communicates with a plurality of sensor/actuator units 130B, 220.

In such system, the user plane uplink is represented by the periodic transmissions 126A of measurements performed by a sensor 210 of the sensor/actuator unit 130B to the controller 130A, while the user plane downlink is represented by commands 126B issued by the controller 130A to an actuator 212 of the sensor/actuator unit 130B. As shown, the controller 130A may include a process controller 200. The user plane communication 126A, 126B is periodic according to a predefined cycle time. The system design uses a frame structure where periodic time resources are allocated to the uplink and the downlink. Note that multiple links may be frequency multiplexed in the same time slot.

The control plane uplink 122A and downlink 122B take care of allocating beforehand in a static or semi-static manner the time resources to be used, and eventually modifying transmission parameters such as frequency chunk to be used, or modulation and coding scheme. The overall control overhead is rather limited for this type of system when it is operating in its steady state. A signalling exchange happens indeed in the initial connection establishment phase, or in case some relevant communication parameters need to be modified for the sake of efficiency improvement. No dynamic scheduling or fast link adaptation is expected to be used in such system.

FIG. 4 illustrates example embodiments of a channel configuration.

It is assumed that the user plane 126 runs in ultra-wideband (UWB) transmission mode.

Unlicensed spectrum has advantages in terms of flexibility and rapid installation, as it may provide ubiquitous connectivity at low cost. However, operations in the unlicensed spectrum are prone to interference among coexisting radio systems. For this reason, unlicensed bands are subject to regional regulations which set restrictions in terms of channel access, channel occupancy and transmit power. The overall rationale behind such regulations is to enable a fair access and avoid greedy behaviours by systems operating over shared resources. Examples of regulation mechanisms are the following:

- Maximum output power or power spectral density;

- Maximum duty cycle, defined as the fraction of time spent by actual transmission with respect to the overall time;

- Listen before talk (LBT) procedure: a device may access the channel after a listening phase where it acknowledges that no other transmissions are happening;

- Maximum dwell time in a certain frequency channel, in systems where frequency hopping is demanded.

Such regulation mechanisms are typically band-specific. For example, the LBT procedure is compulsory in the 5 GHz band for normal data communication, while the maximum duty cycle is used at the 868 MHz bandwidth for low power wide area networks.

Mechanisms such as LBT have a good match for best effort traffic in local area networks, where the potential delays due to the channel access procedure have no major impact on the performance. The duty cycle restriction has instead a good match with periodic type of traffic, provided that the traffic period does not exceed the maximum value set by the regulations.

However, there are no established solutions for combining different technologies operating in the unlicensed spectra for the sake of limiting the impact of the regulation mechanisms.

FCC and the ITU define UWB as an antenna transmission for which the emitted signal bandwidth exceeds the lesser of 500 MHz or 20% of the arithmetic centre frequency. Such large transmission bandwidth translates to very short transmission intervals, and therefore to the support of short control cycles. UWB allows for unlicensed access in a large spectrum range (3.1 to 10.6 GHz), but with tight restrictions in terms of power spectral density in order not to harm coexisting incumbent systems. For instance, for indoor applications the FCC imposes a maximum mean EIRP of -41.3 dBm/MHz and a peak EIRP of 0 dBm/50 MHz over the entire 3.1-10.6 GHz range.

Coping with both mean and peak EIRP requirements translate to a maximum duty cycle which is dependent on the instantaneous output power. For example, a 10% duty cycle leads to a maximum transmit power of -4 dBm, while a 1% duty cycle leads to a maximum power of ~5.9 dBm when operating over a 528 MHz instantaneous bandwidth. The cycle time has then an impact on the communication range, i.e. fast cycles are only possible for a short communication range given the reduced output power. Still, the maximum duty cycle regulation mechanism has a good match for deterministic periodic data transmission.

As shown in FIG. 3, the control overhead in such a system is rather reduced, since control signalling is only used for connection establishment and for eventual updates of communication parameters such as resource index or modulation and coding scheme to be used. The exchange of such control information is not time critical and can tolerate a non-deterministic delay. In that respect, the control plane 122 has a good match with the unlicensed 5 GHz band whose regulation mechanism is based on the LBT (listen before talk) principle. In this way, control channels do not take away resources that may be used for sensor/actuator data. Further, they do not further increase the duty cycle: this allows avoiding to further reduce the output power.

For this specific example embodiment, the decoupling of the control plane 122 and the user plane 126 has also the following additional benefits:

- The 5 GHz band is also a part of the UWB spectrum. This allows devices to operate with the single radio transceiver 150. The UWB resources which overlap with the 5 GHz channel dedicated to the control plane 122 may be punctured for data transmission. UWB with OFDM operates with a significantly larger subcarrier spacing than in LTE, for example. In case of a ~4 MHz UWB subcarrier spacing, and a ~20 MHz channel in the 5GHz band, only ~5 UWB subcarriers need to be punctured.

- The higher power tolerated by regulations in the 5 GHz band translates to a higher reliability.

Let us consider the wireless system for the closed loop control in industrial automation introduced in FIG. 2.

An example of operations carried out by a certain sensor/actuator unit 130B is shown in FIG. 4.

The frame structure includes uplink frames 400, downlink frames 402, uplink frames 404, downlink frames 406, etc.

The first slot 410 in the uplink subframe 40 (and subsequently the first slot 414 of the following uplink subframe 404, etc.) is assigned to the certain sensor/actuator unit 130B, which periodically reports measurements. The first slot 412 of the downlink subframe 402 (and subsequently the first slot 416 of the following downlink subframe 406, etc.) is assigned for transmission to the sensor/actuator unit 130B from the controller 130A, which exploits the command generated upon processing of the measurements reported by the sensor/actuator unit 130B. Such UL/DL data communication happens periodically in UWB transmission mode. The sensor/actuator unit 130B uses the time which is not dedicated to its measurement transmission for listening for eventual control messages 426 of the control plane 122 in the 5 GHz band. Note that the user plane 126 may be unidirectional in this example embodiment, i.e., the sensor/actuator unit 130B is not expected to listen to the corresponding DL slots 412, 416 dedicated to communication to the sensor/actuator unit 130B. In case such sensor/actuator unit 130B also needs to transmit control information of the control plane 122 in the 5 GHz carrier, e.g. for requesting a different frequency chunk for its transmission, it needs to run the LBT procedure 418 first to verify whether concurrent transmissions are happening. In the presented example, the LBT 418 fails at the first attempt due to eventual concurrent transmissions; after deferring 420 the transmission, the sensor/actuator unit 130B repeats the procedure later 422, this time with success, resulting in the control plane data transmission in the slots 424.

In an example embodiment of the invention, the sensor/actuator unit 130B may also listen to the respective DL/UL slot in UWB mode. Such slot may contain a flag 430 which instructs the sensor/actuator unit 130B on whether some control information is to be transmitted to it in the slots 426 of the 5 GHz carrier. This allows avoiding consuming energy in listening continuously to the 5 GHz carrier.

The described example embodiment uses UWB and 5 GHz band. The same principle may be extended to different bands. For example, a certain radio system may operate its user plane 126 in the large unlicensed 60 GHz band, thus benefiting from the large amount of available resources, while the control plane 122 may run over a licensed or unlicensed band in the centimetre-wave spectrum region (e.g. 2.4 GHz band), thus benefiting from improved coverage and overcoming the directional deafness of mm-wave transmission.

Let us study FIG. 6 illustrating various example embodiments, which may be applied to the example embodiments described so far.

In an example embodiment shown also in FIG. 4, the means of the apparatus 100 are configured to cause the apparatus 100 to allocate 616 timeslots 410, 412, 414, 416 for the the user communication beforehand based on the control plane data 122.

In an example embodiment shown also in FIG. 4, the means of the apparatus 100 are configured to cause the apparatus 100 to synchronize 622 the control communication 120 with the user communication 124 using time division duplexing TDD 622 so that the user communication 124 is using one or more timeslots 410, 412, 414, 416 and the control communication 120 is using one or more unused timeslots 424, 426. In this way, the control plane 122 and the user plane 126 are decoupled by means of TDD over different radio technologies. TDD also allows mapping the control plane 122 and the user plane 126 to different radio technologies operating over the same spectrum, or over partially overlapping spectra, or also over non-overlapping spectra.

In case such radio technologies operate over unlicensed bands, the control plane 122 and the user plane 126 may benefit from different regulatory domains. This is to be applied to systems whose control plane 122 and user plane 126 have different characteristics in terms of flexibility, periodicity, and reliability.

In an example embodiment, the means of the apparatus 100 are configured to cause the apparatus 100 to perform a first regulatory interference mitigation procedure 600 for the control communication 120, and to perform a second regulatory interference mitigation procedure 612 for the user communication 124. The first regulatory interference mitigation procedure 600 is different from the second regulatory interference mitigation procedure 612.

In an example embodiment, the means of the apparatus 100 are configured to cause the apparatus 100 to perform a listen before talk procedure 602 as the first regulatory interference mitigation procedure 600, and, if no other transmissions are happening based on the listen before talk procedure 602, to trigger transmission of the control plane data 120.

In an example embodiment, the means of the apparatus 100 are configured to cause the apparatus 100 to perform a maximum duty cycle regulation mechanism 614 as the second regulatory interference mitigation procedure 612.

In an example embodiment, the means of the apparatus 100 are configured to cause the apparatus 100 to perform the control communication 120 with non-deterministic delay 604 using the first regulatory interference mitigation procedure 600, and to perform the user communication 124 with deterministic delay periodically 616 using the second regulatory interference mitigation procedure 612.

In an example embodiment, the first radio band 112 is a part of the second radio band 118, and the means of the apparatus 100 are configured to cause the apparatus 100 to use a single radio transceiver 150 for both the control communication 120 and the user communication 124.

In an example embodiment, the means of the apparatus 100 are configured to cause the apparatus 100 to detect reception of a flag 430 in the user plane data 126, and in response to the detection of the flag 430, start reception of the control plane data 122.

In an example embodiment, the means of the apparatus 100 are configured to cause the apparatus 100:

- to control 502 the control communication 120 by triggering transmission of the control plane data 122 using the first radio technology 110 in the the first radio band 112, and/or by detecting reception of the control plane data 122 using the first radio technology 110 in the first radio band 112, and

- to control 504 the user communication 124 by triggering transmission of the user plane data 126 using the second radio technology 116 in the second radio band 118, and/or by detecting reception of the user plane data 126 using the second radio technology 116 in the second radio band 118.

In effect, this means that the user apparatus 100 is operable both in the downlink and in the uplink. Using mobile network terminology, a first instance of the apparatus 100 may be located in a network apparatus (i.e., in the network side), such as a base station (controller) apparatus, and a plurality of further instances of the apparatus 100 may be located in a plurality of user apparatuses (i.e., in the user side), such as a user equipment. Let us consider FIG. 2: the controller 130A implements the role of the network apparatus, and the sensor/actuator units 130B, 220 each implement the role of the user apparatus.

Even though the invention has been described with reference to one or more example embodiments according to the accompanying drawings, it is clear that the invention is not restricted thereto but can be modified in several ways within the scope of the appended claims. All words and expressions should be interpreted broadly, and they are intended to illustrate, not to restrict, the example embodiments. It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that, as technology advances, the inventive concept can be implemented in various ways.

Claims

1. An apparatus (100) comprising means for causing the apparatus at least to perform:

controlling (502) control communication (120) of control plane data (122), the control communication (120) using a first radio technology (1 10) in a first radio band (112); and

controlling (504) user communication (124) of user plane data (126), the user communication (124) using a second radio technology (116) in a second radio band (118), wherein a configuration (128) of the user communication (124) is based on the control plane data (122).

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the means are configured to cause the apparatus to perform an initial access (300) based on the control plane data (122), and to perform maintenance (304) of access parameters based on the control plane data (122).

3. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the means are configured to cause the apparatus to allocate (616) timeslots (410, 412, 414, 416) for the the user communication beforehand based on the control plane data (122).

4. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the means are configured to cause the apparatus to synchronize (622) the control communication (120) with the user communication (124) using time division duplexing (622) so that the user communication (124) is using one or more timeslots (410, 412, 414, 416) and the control communication (120) is using one or more unused timeslots (424, 426).

5. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the means are configured to cause the apparatus to perform a first regulatory interference mitigation procedure (600) for the control communication (120), and to perform a second regulatory interference mitigation procedure (612) for the user communication (124), wherein the first regulatory interference mitigation procedure (600) is different from the second regulatory interference mitigation procedure (612).

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the means are configured to cause the apparatus to perform a listen before talk procedure (602) as the first regulatory interference mitigation procedure (600), and, if no other transmissions are happening based on the listen before talk procedure (602), to trigger transmission of the control plane data (120).

7. The apparatus of claim 5 or 6, wherein the means are configured to cause the apparatus to perform a maximum duty cycle regulation mechanism (614) as the second regulatory interference mitigation procedure (612).

8. The apparatus of any preceding claim 5 to 7, wherein the means are configured to cause the apparatus to perform the control communication (120) with non- deterministic delay (604) using the first regulatory interference mitigation procedure (600), and to perform the user communication (124) with deterministic delay periodically (616) using the second regulatory interference mitigation procedure (612).

9. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the first radio band (112) is a part of the second radio band (1 18), and the means are configured to cause the apparatus to use a single radio transceiver (150) for both the control communication (120) and the user communication (124).

10. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the means are configured to cause the apparatus to detect reception of a flag (430) in the user plane data (126), and in response to the detection of the flag (430), start reception of the control plane data (122).

1 1. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the means are configured to cause the apparatus to control (502) the control communication (120) by triggering transmission of the control plane data (122) using the first radio technology (110) in the the first radio band (1 12), and/or by detecting reception of the control plane data (122) using the first radio technology (110) in the first radio band (112), and to control (504) the user communication (124) by triggering transmission of the user plane data (126) using the second radio technology (1 16) in the second radio band (118), and/or by detecting reception of the user plane data (126) using the second radio technology (1 16) in the second radio band (118).

12. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the means comprise one or more processors (102), and one or more memories (104) including computer program code (106C), and wherein the one or more memories (104) and the computer program code (106B, 106C) are configured to, with the one or more processors (102), cause the performance of the apparatus.

13. A method comprising:

controlling (502) control communication of control plane data, the control communication using a first radio technology in a first radio band; and

controlling (504) user communication of user plane data, the user communication using a second radio technology in a second radio band, wherein a configuration of the user communication is based on the control plane data.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

performing (300) an initial access based on the control plane data; and performing (304) maintenance of access parameters based on the control plane data.

15. The method of any preceding claim 13 to 14, further comprising: allocating (616) timeslots for the user communication beforehand based on the control plane data.

16. The method of any preceding claim 13 to 15, further comprising: synchronizing (622) the control communication with the user communication using time division duplexing so that the user communication is using one or more timeslots and the control communication is using one or more unused timeslots.

17. The method of any preceding claim 13 to 16, further comprising: performing (600) a first regulatory interference mitigation procedure for the control communication; and

performing (612) a second regulatory interference mitigation procedure for the user communication, wherein the first regulatory interference mitigation procedure is different from the second regulatory interference mitigation procedure.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

performing (602) a listen before talk procedure as the first regulatory interference mitigation procedure; and

if no other transmissions are happening based on the listen before talk procedure, triggering transmission of the control plane data.

19. The method of claim 17 or 18, further comprising:

performing (614) a maximum duty cycle regulation mechanism as the second regulatory interference mitigation procedure.

20. The method of any preceding claim 17 to 19, further comprising: performing (604) the control communication with non-deterministic delay using the first regulatory interference mitigation procedure; and

performing (616) the user communication with deterministic delay periodically using the second regulatory interference mitigation procedure.

21. The method of any preceding claim 13 to 20, wherein the first radio band is a part of the second radio band, and the method further comprises:

using a single radio transceiver for both the control communication and the user communication.

22. The method of any preceding claim 13 to 21 , further comprising: detecting reception of a flag in the user plane data; and

in response to the detection of the flag, starting reception of the control plane data.

23. The method of any preceding claim 13 to 22, further comprising: controlling (502) the control communication by triggering (606) transmission of the control plane data using the first radio technology in the the first radio band, and/or by detecting (608) reception of the control plane data using the first radio technology in the first radio band; and

controlling (504) the user communication by triggering (618) transmission of the user plane data using the second radio technology in the second radio band, and/or by detecting (620) reception of the user plane data using the second radio technology in the second radio band.

24. A computer-readable medium (140) comprising computer program code (106A), which, when loaded into one or more processors (102) and executed by the one or more processors (102), causes an apparatus to perform a method comprising: