Briefly, in accordance with one or more embodiments, an apparatus of a relay node, RN, comprises radio frequency, RF, circuitry configured to communicate with a user equipment, UE, and a donor Fifth Generation evolved NodeB, DgNB; and one or more baseband processors configured to have a radio link control, RLC, entity to serve the UE, and to process packets transported between the UE and the DgNB, wherein the one or more baseband processors generate one or more F1-Application Protocol, AP, RRC container messages, wherein the F1-AP RRC container messages carry one or more F1-AP messages including an F1 resource coordination message or an F1 setup message, or a combination thereof.