ROUTING DATA IN AN INTEGRATED ACCESS AND BACKHAUL NETWORK

In an IAB communication system comprising at least two IAB topologies, each comprising a plurality of IAB nodes, a method for processing data packets at an IAB node comprises receiving a data packet including a routing identifier; determining whether the routing identifier is to be updated; in response to determining that the routing identifier is to be updated, identifying, based on header rewriting configuration information and the routing identifier of the received data packet, a new routing identifier and an associated IAB topology; updating the received data packet by updating the routing identifier with the identified new routing identifier; determining, based on routing configuration information associated with the identified IAB topology and the new routing identifier, an egress backhaul link over which the data packet is to be routed to a next IAB node; and transmitting the updated data packet over the egress backhaul link.