Additional path information for environment device sensing in measurement reports

Abstract

Techniques for wireless communications are disclosed. In an aspect, a wireless communication device can transmit a first reference signal. The wireless communication device can receive a second reference signal in response to the first reference signal, the first reference signal and the second reference signal having a same operating frequency. The wireless communication device can determine a first channel impulse response based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal. The wireless communication device can generate a measurement report for output, the measurement report including a reported channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response and indicating a number of propagation paths observable from the second reference signal.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] All aspects of this disclosure relate to wireless technology. Background Technology

[0002] 2. Relevant Technical Descriptions

[0003] Wireless communication systems have evolved through many generations, including first-generation analog radiotelephone service (1G), second-generation (2G) digital radiotelephone service (including transitional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third-generation (3G) high-speed data, wireless services with internet capabilities, and fourth-generation (4G) services (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). Currently, many different types of wireless communication systems are in use, including cellular systems and Personal Communication Services (PCS) systems. Known examples of cellular systems include cellular analog Advanced Mobile Phone Systems (AMPS), as well as digital cellular systems based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and others.

[0004] The fifth-generation (5G) wireless standard, known as New Radio (NR), delivers higher data transfer speeds, more connections, better coverage, and other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGC), the 5G standard is designed to provide higher data rates, more accurate positioning (e.g., based on Positioning Reference Signals (RS-P), such as downlink, uplink, or sidelink Positioning Reference Signals (PRS)), and other technological enhancements compared to previous standards. These enhancements, along with the use of higher frequency bands, advancements in the PRS process and technology, and the high-density deployment of 5G, enable high-accuracy positioning based on 5G. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The following is a simplified summary of the invention relating to one or more aspects disclosed herein. Therefore, this summary should not be considered an exhaustive overview relating to all conceived aspects, nor should it be considered to identify key or decisive elements relating to all conceived aspects or to depict the scope associated with any particular aspect. Thus, the sole purpose of this summary is to present, in a simplified form, certain concepts relating to one or more aspects involving the mechanisms disclosed herein, prior to the detailed description presented below.

[0006] In one aspect, a method of operating a wireless communication device includes: transmitting a first reference signal; receiving a second reference signal in response to the first reference signal, the first reference signal and the second reference signal having the same operating frequency; determining a first channel impulse response based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal; and generating a measurement report for output, the measurement report including a channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response and indicating a plurality of propagation paths observable from the second reference signal.

[0007] In one aspect, a wireless communication device includes: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors being individually or in combination configured to: transmit a first reference signal via the one or more transceivers; receive a second reference signal in response to the first reference signal via the one or more transceivers, the first reference signal and the second reference signal having the same operating frequency; determine a first channel impulse response based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal; and generate a measurement report for output, the measurement report including a channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response and indicating a plurality of propagation paths observable from the second reference signal.

[0008] In one aspect, a wireless communication device includes: components for transmitting a first reference signal; components for receiving a second reference signal in response to the first reference signal, the first reference signal and the second reference signal having the same operating frequency; components for determining a first channel impulse response based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal; and components for generating a measurement report for output, the measurement report including a channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response and indicating a plurality of propagation paths observable from the second reference signal.

[0009] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: transmit a first reference signal; receive a second reference signal in response to the first reference signal, the first reference signal and the second reference signal having the same operating frequency; determine a first channel impulse response based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal; and generate a measurement report for output, the measurement report including a channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response and indicating a plurality of propagation paths observable from the second reference signal.

[0010] Based on the accompanying drawings and detailed description, other objects and advantages associated with the aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Attached Figure Description

[0011] The accompanying drawings are provided to help describe various aspects of this disclosure, and are provided for illustrative purposes only and not to limit the aspects.

[0012] Figure 1 Example wireless communication systems according to various aspects of this disclosure are illustrated.

[0013] Figure 2A , Figure 2B and Figure 2C Example wireless network architectures based on various aspects of this disclosure are illustrated.

[0014] Figure 3 Example environment applications based on various aspects of this disclosure are illustrated.

[0015] Figure 4A , Figure 4B and Figure 4C It is a simplified block diagram of several examples of components that can be used in user equipment (UE), base stations and network entities and configured to support communications as taught herein.

[0016] Figure 5 A simplified block diagram illustrating environmental stations and environmental devices in an environmental system (e.g., an environmental Internet of Things (IoT) system) according to various aspects of this disclosure is shown.

[0017] Figure 6 This is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure according to various aspects of this disclosure.

[0018] Figure 7 Example environmental systems (e.g., environmental IoT systems) for backscatter-based positioning processes are illustrated according to various aspects of this disclosure.

[0019] Figure 8 It is a graph representing the time-varying impulse response of a radio frequency (RF) channel according to various aspects of this disclosure.

[0020] Figures 9A to 9D Four example connectivity topologies for environmental networks and devices are illustrated according to various aspects of this disclosure.

[0021] Figure 10A Example scenarios for environmental devices according to various aspects of this disclosure are illustrated.

[0022] Figure 10B Examples of one-way channel impulse response (CIR) and round-trip CIR corresponding to one or more propagation paths between an environmental station and an environmental device according to various aspects of this disclosure are illustrated.

[0023] Figure 11This is a flowchart illustrating an example process for providing a measurement report, including a report of the channel impulse response, according to various aspects of this disclosure.

[0024] Figure 12 This is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating a wireless communication device according to various aspects of this disclosure. Detailed Implementation

[0025] Various aspects of this disclosure are provided in the following description and accompanying drawings of various examples provided for illustrative purposes. Alternative aspects may be devised without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of this disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of this disclosure.

[0026] Various aspects are involved in wireless communication as a whole. Some aspects are more specifically involved in including additional path information in measurement reports for sensing environmental devices, such as environmental Internet of Things (IoT) devices. In some examples, the wireless communication device (e.g., a reader device) may send an interrogation signal and receive a backscattered response signal from the environmental device, and accordingly determine the round-trip channel impulse response (e.g., with N(N+1) / 2 taps). In some examples, the wireless communication device may further derive and report a unidirectional channel impulse response (e.g., with N taps) based on the round-trip channel impulse response.

[0027] Specific aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be implemented to achieve one or more of the following potential advantages. In some examples, by allowing wireless devices to report unidirectional channel impulse responses, the described techniques can be used to reduce the reporting overhead for reporting additional path information about the propagation channel between the wireless communication device and environmental devices.

[0028] The terms “exemplary” and / or “example” are used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” and / or “example” is not necessarily to be construed as superior to or better than other aspects. Similarly, the term “aspects of this disclosure” does not require that all aspects of this disclosure include the features, advantages, or modes of operation discussed.

[0029] Those skilled in the art will understand that any of the various techniques and skills available can be used to represent the information and signals described below. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the following description can be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the specific application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, and so on.

[0030] Furthermore, many aspects are described according to a sequence of actions to be performed by elements of, for example, a computing device. It will be appreciated that the various actions described herein can be performed by specific circuitry (e.g., an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, the sequence of actions described herein can be considered to be entirely embodied in any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a corresponding set of computer instructions that, when executed, will cause or command the associated processor of the device to perform the functionality described herein. Therefore, various aspects of this disclosure can be embodied in a variety of different forms, all of which are contemplated within the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, for each aspect described herein, any corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein as, for example, "logic configured to perform the described actions."

[0031] As used herein, unless otherwise stated, the terms “User Equipment” (UE) and “Base Station” are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular Radio Access Technology (RAT). In general, a UE can be any wireless communication device used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network (e.g., mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, consumer asset positioning device, wearable device (e.g., smartwatch, glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), vehicle (e.g., car, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.). A UE can be mobile or can (e.g., at certain times) be stationary and can communicate with a Radio Access Network (RAN). As used herein, the term “UE” can be interchangeably referred to as “Access Terminal” or “AT,” “Client Equipment,” “Wireless Equipment,” “Subscriber Equipment,” “Subscriber Terminal,” “Subscriber Station,” “User Terminal” or “UT,” “Mobile Equipment,” “Mobile Terminal,” “Mobile Station,” or variations thereof. Overall, a UE can communicate with a core network via the RAN, and through the core network, a UE can connect to external networks such as the Internet and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for connecting to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible for the UE, such as through wired access networks, wireless local area network (WLAN) networks (e.g., based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, etc.).

[0032] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs to communicate with the UE, depending on the network in which it is deployed, and may alternatively be referred to as an Access Point (AP), Network Node, Node B, Evolved Node B (eNB), Next Generation eNB (ng-eNB), New Radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as gNB or gNodeB), etc. The base station may primarily be used to support the UE's radio access, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the supported UE. In some systems, the base station may only provide edge node signaling functions, while in others, it may provide additional control and / or network management functions. The communication link through which the UE can transmit signals to the base station is called an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., reverse traffic channel, reverse control channel, access channel, etc.). The communication link through which the base station can transmit signals to the UE is called a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., paging channel, control channel, broadcast channel, forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term "traffic channel (TCH)" may refer to an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0033] The term "base station" can refer to a single physical transmit / receive point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be co-located. For example, when the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP can be the antenna of a base station corresponding to a cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. When the term "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP can be the antenna array of the base station (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where the base station employs beamforming). When the term "base station" refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP can be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected via a transmission medium to a common source) or a remote radio headend (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, a non-co-located physical TRP can be the serving base station from which the UE receives measurement reports and a neighboring base station where the UE is measuring its reference radio frequency (RF) signal. Because, as used herein, a TRP is the point by which a base station transmits and receives radio signals, references to transmitting from or receiving at a base station should be understood to refer to a specific TRP of the base station.

[0034] In some specific implementations supporting UE positioning, the base station may not support the UE's radio access (e.g., it may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE), but may instead transmit reference signals to the UE for measurement and / or receive and measure signals transmitted by the UE. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., in the case of transmitting signals to the UE) and / or as a location measurement unit (e.g., in the case of receiving and measuring signals from the UE).

[0035] An “RF signal” refers to an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transmits information across the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may send a single “RF signal” or multiple “RF signals” to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels, a receiver may receive multiple “RF signals” corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between the transmitter and receiver may be referred to as a “multipath” RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a “wireless signal” or simply a “signal” where the context clearly indicates that the term “signal” refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal.

[0036] Figure 1 An example wireless communication system 100 according to various aspects of this disclosure is illustrated. The wireless communication system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 (labeled "BS") and various UEs 104. Base station 102 may include macro cell base stations (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low-power cellular base stations). In one aspect, the macro cell base station may include an eNB and / or an ng-eNB (wherein the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network), or a gNB (wherein the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network), or a combination of both, and the small cell base station may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0037] Base station 102 can collectively form a RAN and interface with core network 170 (e.g., evolved packet core (EPC) or 5G core (5GC)) via backhaul link 122, and interface with one or more location servers 172 (e.g., location management function (LMF) or secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)) via core network 170. Location server 172 can be part of core network 170 or can be external to core network 170. Location server 172 can be integrated with base station 102. UE 104 can communicate with location server 172 directly or indirectly. For example, UE 104 can communicate with location server 172 via base station 102 currently serving UE 104. UE 104 can also communicate with location server 172 via another path, such as via application server (not shown), via another network, such as via wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) (e.g., AP 150 described below), etc. For signaling purposes, communication between UE 104 and location server 172 can be represented as an indirect connection (e.g., via core network 170, etc.) or a direct connection (e.g., as shown via direct connection 128), wherein intermediate nodes (if present) are omitted from the signaling diagram for clarity.

[0038] In addition to other functions, base station 102 may perform functions associated with one or more of the following: transmitting user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of Non-Access Stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN Information Management (RIM), paging, location, and delivery of warning messages. Base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., via EPC / 5GC) on backhaul link 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0039] Base station 102 can wirelessly communicate with UE 104. Each base station in base station 102 can provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, one or more cells can be supported by base station 102 in each geographic coverage area 110. A “cell” is a logical communication entity used to communicate with a base station (e.g., via a frequency resource, which is referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.) and can be associated with an identifier (e.g., Physical Cell Identifier (PCI), Enhanced Cell Identifier (ECI), Virtual Cell Identifier (VCI), Cell Global Identifier (CGI), etc.) used to distinguish cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells can be configured according to different protocol types that can provide access for different types of UEs (e.g., Machine Type Communication (MTC), Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), or other protocol types). Because a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term “cell” can refer to either or both of the logical communication entity and the base station supporting the logical communication entity, depending on the context. Furthermore, since the TRP is typically the physical transmission point of a cell, the terms "cell" and "TRP" can be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term "cell" can also refer to the geographical coverage area of ​​a base station (e.g., a sector), as long as the carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within a portion of the geographical coverage area 110.

[0040] While the geographic coverage areas 110 of adjacent macro cell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in handover areas), some areas within geographic coverage areas 110 may substantially overlap with larger geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' (labeled "SC" for "small cell") may have a geographic coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the geographic coverage areas 110 of one or more macro cell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell base stations and macro cell base stations can be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home eNB (HeNB) that can provide service to a restricted group referred to as a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG).

[0041] The communication link 120 between base station 102 and UE 104 may include uplink (also known as reverse link) transmission from UE 104 to base station 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also known as forward link) transmission from base station 102 to UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna techniques, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may use one or more carrier frequencies. Carrier allocation may be asymmetric for the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to the downlink compared to the uplink).

[0042] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a WLAN access point (AP) 150 that communicates with a wireless local area network (WLAN) station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 in unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in unlicensed spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or WLAN AP 150 may perform a free channel assessment (CCA) or listen-before-talk (LBT) process before communication to determine whether the channel is available.

[0043] Small cell base station 102' can operate in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in unlicensed spectrum, small cell base station 102' can employ LTE or NR technology and use the same 5GHz unlicensed spectrum as WLAN AP 150. Small cell base station 102' employing LTE / 5G in unlicensed spectrum can improve the coverage and / or increase the capacity of the access network. NR in unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as NR-U. LTE in unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as LTE-U, Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), or MULTEFIRE. ® .

[0044] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a millimeter-wave (mmW) base station 180, which can operate at mmW and / or near-mmW frequencies to communicate with the UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that contains radio frequency (RF). EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz, with wavelengths between 1 mm and 10 mm. Radio waves in this band are referred to as millimeter waves. Near-mmW extends down to frequencies of 3 GHz with wavelengths of 100 mm. Ultra-high frequency (SHF) bands extend between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, and are also referred to as centimeter waves. Communication using mmW / near-mmW radio bands has high path loss and relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 can utilize beamforming (transmit and / or receive) on the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. Furthermore, it should be understood that, in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also use mmW or near-mmW and beamforming for transmission. Therefore, it should be understood that the foregoing examples are merely illustrative and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0045] Transmit beamforming is a technique used to focus RF signals in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectionally). Using transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thus providing the receiving device with a faster and stronger RF signal (in terms of data rate). To change the directivity of the RF signal during transmission, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of one or more transmitters broadcasting the RF signal. For example, the network node can use an array of antennas (called a "phased array" or "antenna array") that forms an RF beam that can be "manipulated" to be pointed in different directions without actually moving the antennas. Specifically, RF currents from the transmitters are fed to individual antennas with the correct phase relationship, such that radio waves from the individual antennas add up in the desired direction to increase radiation, while canceling out in the undesired direction to suppress radiation.

[0046] Transmit beams can be quasi-co-located, meaning they appear to the receiver (e.g., the UE) as having the same parameters regardless of whether the network node's own transmit antennas are physically co-located. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-located (QCL) relationships. Specifically, a given type of QCL relationship means that certain parameters of a second reference RF signal on a second beam can be derived based on information about the source reference RF signal on the source beam. Therefore, if the source reference RF signal is QCL type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is of type QCL D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial reception parameters of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0047] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses a receive beam to amplify an RF signal detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver may increase the gain setting of an antenna array in a particular direction and / or adjust the phase setting of the antenna array in a particular direction to amplify the RF signal received from that direction (e.g., increase its gain level). Therefore, when a receiver is described as performing beamforming in a certain direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain along other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gain of all other receive beams available to the receiver in that direction. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), etc.) of the RF signal received from that direction.

[0048] The transmit and receive beams can be spatially correlated. Spatial correlation means that parameters for a second beam (e.g., transmit or receive beam) for a second reference signal can be derived based on information about a first beam (e.g., receive or transmit beam) for a first reference signal. For example, a UE can use a specific receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE can then form a transmit beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal (e.g., a sounding reference signal (SRS)) to that base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0049] It is important to note that, depending on the entity forming the "downlink" beam, the beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming a downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to the UE, the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if the UE is forming a downlink beam, the downlink beam is a receive beam for receiving the downlink reference signal. Similarly, depending on the entity forming the "uplink" beam, the beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink receive beam, while if the UE is forming an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink transmit beam.

[0050] The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc., based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been designated as frequency ranges FR1 (410MHz to 7.125GHz) and FR2 (24.25GHz to 52.6GHz). It should be understood that although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6GHz, in various documents and articles, FR1 is often (interchangeably) referred to as the "sub-6GHz" band. A similar naming issue sometimes occurs with FR2, which is often (interchangeably) referred to as the "millimeter wave" band in documents and articles, although this differs from the designation used by the International Telecommunication Union. ® Extremely high frequency (EHF) bands (30 GHz to 300 GHz) are designated as “millimeter wave” bands.

[0051] The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are generally referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR studies have identified the operating bands used for these mid-band frequencies as the frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 GHz to 24.25 GHz). Bands falling within FR3 can inherit FR1 and / or FR2 characteristics, thus effectively extending the features of FR1 and / or FR2 to mid-band frequencies. Furthermore, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operation beyond 52.6 GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as the frequency range designations FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz to 71 GHz), FR4 (52.6 GHz to 114.25 GHz), and FR5 (114.25 GHz to 300 GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0052] In light of the foregoing, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that, as used herein, the term "below 6 GHz" and the like can broadly refer to frequencies less than 6 GHz, within FR1, or including intermediate frequency band frequencies. Furthermore, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that, as used herein, the term "millimeter wave" and the like can broadly refer to frequencies that can include intermediate frequency band frequencies, within FR2, FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1 and / or FR5, or within the EHF band.

[0053] In multi-carrier systems such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as the "primary carrier," "anchor carrier," "primary serving cell," or "PCell," and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as "secondary carriers," "secondary serving cells," or "SCell." In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is the carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) used by UE 104 / 182 and the cell, where UE 104 / 182 performs an initial Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and UE-specific control channels and can be a carrier on a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). The secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that can be configured and used to provide additional radio resources once an RRC connection is established between UE 104 and the anchor carrier. In some cases, the secondary carrier can be a carrier on an unlicensed frequency. Secondary carriers may contain only the necessary signaling information and signals. For example, since the primary uplink and primary downlink carriers are typically UE-specific, the UE-specific signaling information and signals may not be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 within a cell can have different downlink primary carriers. The same applies to the uplink primary carrier. The network can change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers. Since a "serving cell" (whether PCell or SCell) corresponds to the carrier frequency / component carrier through which a base station communicates, the terms "cell," "serving cell," "component carrier," and "carrier frequency" can be used interchangeably.

[0054] For example, still refer to Figure 1One of the frequencies used by macro cell base station 102 can be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), and the other frequencies used by macro cell base station 102 and / or mmW base station 180 can be secondary carriers ("SCell"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception on multiple carriers allows UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rates. For example, compared to the data rate obtained by a single 20MHz carrier, two aggregated 20MHz carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically result in a doubling of the data rate (i.e., 40MHz).

[0055] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a UE 164, which can communicate with the macro cell base station 102 via communication link 120 and / or with the mmW base station 180 via mmW communication link 184. For example, the macro cell base station 102 may support PCells and one or more SCells for the UE 164, and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCells for the UE 164.

[0056] In some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 may be able to communicate via sidelink. A sidelink-capable UE (SL-UE) can communicate with base station 102 via communication link 120 using the Uu interface (i.e., the air interface between the UE and the base station). SL-UEs (e.g., UE 164, UE 182) can also communicate directly with each other via radio sidelink 160 using the PC5 interface (i.e., the air interface between sidelink-capable UEs). Radio sidelink (or simply "sidelink") is an adaptation of core cellular network (e.g., LTE, NR) standards that allows direct communication between two or more UEs without the need for communication through a base station. Sidelink communication can be unicast or multicast and can be used for device-to-device (D2D) media sharing, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communication, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communication, emergency rescue applications, etc. One or more SL-UEs in a group of SL-UEs utilizing sidelink communication may be located within the geographical coverage area 110 of base station 102. Other SL-UEs in this group may be outside the geographical coverage area 110 of base station 102, or may be unable to receive transmissions from base station 102 for other reasons. In some cases, the groups of SL-UEs communicating via sidelink communication may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, where each SL-UE transmits to every other SL-UE in the group. In some cases, base station 102 facilitates the scheduling of resources used for sidelink communication. In other cases, sidelink communication is performed between the individual SL-UEs without involving base station 102.

[0057] On one hand, the sidelink 160 can operate via a wireless communication medium of interest that can be shared with other vehicles and / or infrastructure access points and other RATs for wireless communication. "Medium" can include one or more time, frequency, and / or space communication resources (e.g., covering one or more channels across one or more carriers) associated with wireless communication between one or more transmitter / receiver pairs. On another hand, the medium of interest may correspond to at least a portion of unlicensed frequency bands shared among various RATs. While different licensed frequency bands have been reserved for certain communication systems (e.g., by government entities such as the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), these systems (particularly those employing small cell access points) have recently extended their operation to unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) bands used by Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technologies (most notably the IEEE 802.11x WLAN technology commonly referred to as "Wi-Fi"). Example systems of this type include various variants of CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), and so on.

[0058] It should be noted that, although Figure 1 Only two of these UEs are exemplified as SL-UEs (i.e., UE 164 and UE 182), but any UE exemplified can be an SL-UE. Furthermore, although only UE 182 is described as capable of beamforming, any UE exemplified (including UE 164) can be capable of beamforming. When SL-UEs are capable of beamforming, they can beamform towards each other (i.e., towards other SL-UEs), towards other UEs (e.g., UE 104), towards base stations (e.g., base station 102, base station 180, small cell 102', access point 150), etc. Therefore, in some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 can utilize beamforming via sidelink 160.

[0059] exist Figure 1 In the example, the UE shown (for simplicity, in) Figure 1Any UE (shown as a single UE 104) can receive signal 124 from one or more Earth-orbiting spacecraft (SV) 112 (e.g., satellites). In one aspect, SV 112 may be part of a satellite positioning system that allows UE 104 to use as an independent source of location information. Satellite positioning systems typically include a system of transmitters (e.g., SV 112) positioned such that a receiver (e.g., UE 104) can determine its location on or above the Earth based at least in part on positioning signals (e.g., signal 124) received from the transmitters. Such transmitters typically transmit signals marked with a set number of repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) codes. While typically located in SV 112, transmitters may sometimes be located at ground-based control stations, base stations 102, and / or other UEs 104. UE 104 may include one or more dedicated receivers specifically designed to receive signal 124 in order to derive geographic location information from SV 112.

[0060] In a satellite positioning system, the use of signal 124 can be enhanced by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS), which may be associated with or otherwise made capable of being used with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems. For example, SBAS may include augmentation systems that provide integrity information, differential correction, etc., such as Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), European Geostationary Navigation Overlap Service (EGNOS), Multifunctional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), GPS-assisted geographic augmentation navigation, or GPS and geographic augmentation navigation system (GAGAN). Therefore, as used herein, a satellite positioning system may include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellites associated with such one or more satellite positioning systems.

[0061] On one hand, SV 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). In an NTN, SV 112 connects to an earth station (also referred to as a ground station, NTN gateway, or gateway), which in turn connects to elements in the 5G network, such as a modified base station 102 (without a ground antenna) or a network node in a 5GC. This element, in turn, provides access to other elements in the 5G network and ultimately to entities outside the 5G network, such as internet web servers and other user equipment. Thus, as a replacement or supplement to communication signals from ground base station 102, UE 104 can receive communication signals (e.g., signal 124) from SV 112.

[0062] The wireless communication system 100 may also include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, which are indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as "side links"). Figure 1 In one example, UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of UEs 104 connected to one of the base stations 102 (e.g., UE 190 can indirectly obtain cellular connectivity through this D2D P2P link), and has a D2D P2P link 194 with a WLAN STA 152 connected to a WLAN AP 150 (UE 190 can indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity through this D2D P2P link). In one example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 can utilize any known D2D RAT (such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), Wi-Fi Direct). ® ,Bluetooth ® (etc.) to support.

[0063] Figure 2A An example wireless network architecture 200 is illustrated. For instance, the 5GC 210 (also referred to as the Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be functionally viewed as control plane (C-plane) functions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and user plane (U-plane) functions 212 (e.g., UE gateway functions, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.), which work together to form the core network. The user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and the control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5GC 210, specifically to user plane functions 212 and control plane functions 214, respectively. In an additional configuration, the ng-eNB 224 can also connect to the 5GC 210 via the NG-C 215 to the control plane function 214 and the NG-U 213 to the user plane function 212. Furthermore, the ng-eNB 224 can communicate directly with the gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, the next-generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both ng-eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. Either or both of the gNBs 222 or ng-eNBs 224 can communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0064] Another optional aspect may include a location server 230, which can communicate with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance to the UE 204. The location server 230 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each may correspond to a single server. The location server 230 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which may be connected to the location server 230 via the core network, the 5GC 210, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). Furthermore, the location server 230 may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively, may be located outside the core network (e.g., a third-party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or a service server).

[0065] Figure 2B Another example wireless network architecture 240.5GC 260 is illustrated (which can be used with...). Figure 2AThe 5GC 210 (corresponding to 5GC 210) can be functionally considered as a control plane function provided by the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 264 and a user plane function provided by the User Plane Function (UPF) 262, which work together to form the core network (i.e., 5GC 260). The functions of AMF 264 include: registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transmission of session management (SM) messages between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein) and the Session Management Function (SMF) 266, a transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transmission of short message service (SMS) messages between UE 204 and the Short Message Service Function (SMSF) (not shown), and Secure Anchoring Functionality (SEAF). AMF 264 also interacts with the Authentication Server Function (AUSF) (not shown) and UE 204 and receives an intermediate key established as a result of the UE 204's authentication process. In the case of UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) authentication, AMF 264 retrieves security material from the AMF. AMF 264 also includes Security Context Management (SCM). The SCM receives a key from the SEAF and uses this key to derive an access network-specific key. AMF 264 functionality also includes location service management for regulatory services, transmission of location service messages between UE 204 and Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (which acts as location server 230), transmission of location service messages between NG-RAN 220 and LMF 270, Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer identifier allocation for EPS interoperability, and UE 204 mobility event notification. Furthermore, AMF 264 also supports non-3GPP... ® (Third Generation Partner Program) Access network functionality.

[0066] The functions of UPF 262 include: acting as an anchor point for intra-RAT / inter-RAT mobility (where applicable), acting as an external Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session point interconnecting to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., strobing, redirection, traffic steering), lawful eavesdropping (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, quality of service (QoS) processing for the user plane (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in the downlink), uplink traffic verification (Service Data Flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport-level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and delivering and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node. UPF 262 can also support the delivery of location service messages between UE 204 and location servers (such as SLP 272) on the user plane.

[0067] The functions of SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, service orientation configuration at UPF 262 for routing services to the correct destination, partial control of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which SMF 266 communicates with AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0068] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270, which can communicate with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance to the UE 204. The LMF 270 can be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each can correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which can connect to the LMF 270 via the core network, the 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). SLP 272 can support similar functions to LMF 270, but while LMF 270 can communicate with AMF 264, NG-RAN 220, and UE 204 on the control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols designed to transmit signaling messages rather than voice or data), SLP 272 can communicate with UE 204 and external clients (e.g., third-party server 274) on the user plane (e.g., using protocols designed to carry voice and / or data, such as Transmit Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0069] Another optional aspect may include a third-party server 274, which can communicate with LMF 270, SLP 272, 5GC 260 (e.g., via AMF 264 and / or UPF 262), NG-RAN 220, and / or UE 204 to obtain location information (e.g., location estimation) of UE 204. Therefore, in some cases, the third-party server 274 may be referred to as a Location Services (LCS) client or an external client. The third-party server 274 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each may correspond to a single server.

[0070] User plane interface 263 and control plane interface 265 connect 5GC 260, and specifically connect UPF 262 and AMF 264 to one or more gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 in NG-RAN 220. The interface between gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 and AMF 264 is referred to as the "N2" interface, while the interface between gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 and UPF 262 is referred to as the "N3" interface. The gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 of NG-RAN 220 can communicate directly with each other via backhaul connection 223, referred to as the "Xn-C" interface. One or more of gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 can communicate with one or more UEs 204 via a radio interface referred to as the "Uu" interface.

[0071] The functionality of the gNB 222 is divided among the gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU) 226, one or more gNB Distributed Units (gNB-DU) 228, and one or more gNB Radio Units (gNB-RU) 229. The gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes base station functions other than those specifically allocated to the gNB-DU 228, including user data delivery, mobility control, radio access network sharing, location, session management, etc. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 typically hosts the Radio Resource Control (RRC), Serving Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) protocols of the gNB 222. The gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that typically hosts the Radio Link Control (RLC) and Media Access Control (MAC) layers of the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 can support one or more cells, and a cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. The interface 232 between gNB-CU 226 and one or more gNB-DU 228 is referred to as the "F1" interface. The physical (PHY) layer functionality of gNB 222 is typically managed by one or more independent gNB-RU 229s, which perform functions such as power amplification and signal transmission / reception. The interface between gNB-DU 228 and gNB-RU 229 is referred to as the "Fx" interface. Therefore, UE 204 communicates with gNB-CU 226 via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers, with gNB-DU 228 via the RLC and MAC layers, and with gNB-RU 229 via the PHY layer.

[0072] The deployment of communication systems such as 5G NR systems can be arranged in a variety of ways using various components or parts. In a 5G NR system or network, network nodes, network entities, network mobility elements, RAN nodes, core network nodes, network elements, or network equipment (such as base stations or one or more units (or components) performing base station functions) can be implemented in aggregated or decomposed architectures. For example, base stations (such as Node B (NB), evolved NB (eNB), NR base stations, 5GNB, AP, TRP, cells, etc.) can be implemented as aggregated base stations (also known as standalone base stations or monolithic base stations) or decomposed base stations.

[0073] Aggregated base stations can be configured to utilize a radio protocol stack that is physically or logically integrated within a single RAN node. Decentralized base stations can be configured to utilize a protocol stack that is physically or logically distributed across two or more units, such as one or more central or centralized units (CUs), one or more distributed units (DUs), or one or more radio units (RUs). In some respects, the CU may be implemented within a RAN node, and one or more DUs may co-located with the CU, or alternatively, may be geographically or virtually distributed across one or more other RAN nodes. DUs may be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs. Each of the CUs, DUs, and RUs may also be implemented as a virtual unit, namely a virtual central unit (VCU), a virtual distributed unit (VDU), or a virtual radio unit (VRU).

[0074] Base station type operation or network design can consider the aggregation characteristics of base station functionality. For example, decomposed base stations can be used in Integrated Access Backhaul (IAB) networks, Open Radio Access Networks (O-RAN) (such as those developed by the O-RAN Alliance), and other similar networks. ® This can be used in proposed network configurations or virtualized radio access networks (vRAN, also known as cloud radio access networks (C-RAN)). Decomposition can include distributing functionality across two or more units in various physical locations, as well as virtually distributing the functionality of at least one unit, which allows for flexibility in network design. Various units in a decomposed base station or decomposed RAN architecture can be configured to communicate wirelessly with at least one other unit.

[0075] Figure 2C An example disaggregated base station architecture 250 according to various aspects of this disclosure is illustrated. The disaggregated base station architecture 250 may include one or more central units (CUs) 280 (e.g., gNB-CU 226) that can communicate directly with the core network 267 (e.g., 5GC 210, 5GC 260) via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 267 via one or more disaggregated base station units (such as a near real-time (near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 259 via an E2 link or a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC 257 associated with a Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) framework 255, or both). CUs 280 may communicate with one or more duplex units (DUs) 285 (e.g., gNB-DU 228) via a corresponding midhaul link (e.g., an F1 interface). DUs 285 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 287 (e.g., gNB-RU 229) via a corresponding fronthaul link. RU 287 can communicate with the corresponding UE 204 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, UE 204 can be served by multiple RU 287s simultaneously.

[0076] Each of these units (i.e., CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, and near-RT RIC 259, non-RT RIC 257, and SMO frame 255) may include or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or transmit signals, data, or information (collectively, signals) via wired or wireless transmission media. Each of these units, or an associated processor or controller providing instructions to the communication interfaces of these units, may be configured to communicate with one or more other units via transmission media. For example, these units may include wired interfaces configured to receive signals or transmit signals to one or more other units via wired transmission media. Additionally, these units may include wireless interfaces that may include receivers, transmitters, or transceivers (such as RF transceivers) configured to receive signals or transmit signals to one or more other units, or both, via wireless transmission media.

[0077] In some aspects, the CU 280 can host one or more higher-level control functions. Such control functions may include RRC, PDCP, Serving Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), etc. Each control function can be implemented using an interface configured to communicate signaling with other control functions hosted by the CU 280. The CU 280 can be configured to handle user plane functionality (i.e., Central Unit-User Plane (CU-UP)), control plane functionality (i.e., Central Unit-Control Plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some implementations, the CU 280 can be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. When implemented in an O-RAN configuration, the CU-UP units can communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP units via an interface such as an E1 interface. The CU 280 can be implemented to communicate with the DU 285 for network control and signaling, as needed.

[0078] DU 285 may correspond to a logic unit that includes one or more base station functions for controlling the operation of one or more RU 287s. In some aspects, DU 285 may be at least partially based on functional partitioning (such as that provided by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)). ®The DU285 is functionally partitioned to host one or more of the RLC layer, MAC layer, and one or more high-PHY layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation, and demodulation). In some respects, the DU285 may further host one or more low-PHY layers. Each layer (or module) may be implemented using an interface configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by the DU285 or with control functions hosted by the CU280.

[0079] Lower-layer functionality can be implemented by one or more RU 287s. In some deployments, an RU287 controlled by a DU 285 may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions or low-PHY layer functions (such as performing Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), Inverse FFT (iFFT), digital beamforming, or Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, or both, at least in part based on functional decomposition (such as lower-layer functional decomposition). In such architectures, the RU 287 may be implemented to handle over-the-air (OTA) communications with one or more UE 204s. In some specific implementations, the real-time and non-real-time aspects of control plane and user plane communications with the RU 287 may be controlled by the corresponding DU 285. In some scenarios, this configuration enables the implementation of the DU 285 and CU 280 in cloud-based RAN architectures such as vRAN architectures.

[0080] SMO framework 255 can be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of both non-virtualized and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, SMO framework 255 can be configured to support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements, which can be managed via operation and maintenance interfaces such as the O1 interface. For virtualized network elements, SMO framework 255 can be configured to interact with cloud computing platforms such as Open Cloud (O-Cloud) 269 to perform network element lifecycle management (such as instantiating virtualized network elements) via cloud computing platform interfaces such as the O2 interface. Such virtualized network elements may include, but are not limited to, CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, and near-RT RIC 259. In some implementations, SMO framework 255 can communicate with the hardware aspects of the 4G RAN (such as Open eNB (O-eNB) 261) via the O1 interface. Additionally, in some implementations, SMO framework 255 can communicate directly with one or more RU 287s via the O1 interface. SMO framework 255 may also include a non-RT RIC 257 configured to support the functionality of SMO framework 255.

[0081] The non-RT RIC 257 can be configured to include logical functions enabling non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, including artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) workflows for model training and updates, or policy-based guidance for applications / features in the near-RT RIC 259. The non-RT RIC 257 can be coupled to or communicate with the near-RT RIC 259, such as via an A1 interface. The near-RT RIC 259 can be configured to include logical functions enabling near real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions through an interface such as an E2 interface, connecting one or more CU 280s, one or more DU 285s, or both, and O-eNBs to the near-RT RIC 259.

[0082] In some implementations, to generate AI / ML models to be deployed in the near-RT RIC 259, the non-RT RIC 257 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from an external server. This information can be utilized by the near-RT RIC 259 and may be received from non-network data sources or network functions at the SMO framework 255 or the non-RT RIC 257. In some examples, the non-RT RIC 257 or the near-RT RIC 259 may be configured to tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the non-RT RIC 257 may monitor long-term trends and patterns in performance and employ AI / ML models to perform corrective actions via the SMO framework 255 (such as reconfiguration via O1) or by creating RAN management policies (such as A1 policies).

[0083] Figure 3 Example environment applications based on various aspects of this disclosure are illustrated. For example, Figure 3 The example environment application shown may correspond to a radio frequency identification (RFID) system 300. In some aspects, the RFID system 300 includes an environmental station 310 configured as an RFID reader and environmental devices 324 and 326 configured as RFID tags. In this example, the environmental station 310 can be used to control an access gate 330. In some examples, based on the frequency band of the air interface, RFID technology may be referred to as low-frequency (LF) RFID (e.g., from 30 kHz to 300 kHz), high-frequency (HF) RFID (e.g., from 3 MHz to 30 MHz), or ultra-high-frequency (UHF) RFID (e.g., from 300 MHz to 3 GHz).

[0084] like Figure 3As shown, a person 344 (e.g., an employee) carrying asset 346 (e.g., a suitcase) may wish to enter door 330. Person 344 may carry environmental device 324 (e.g., embedded in an RFID-enabled access card), and asset 346 may have environmental device 326 (e.g., an RFID asset tag) attached thereto. To identify person 344 or asset 346 to grant or deny entry to door 330, environmental station 310 may send an interrogation signal 362. In response to interrogation signal 362, environmental device 324 may send a backscatter response signal 364, and environmental device 326 may send a backscatter response signal 366. The backscatter response signal 364 may be modulated using data stored in and / or generated by environmental device 324 in response to a command encoded in interrogation signal 362. Furthermore, the backscatter response signal 366 may be modulated using data stored in and / or generated by environmental device 326 in response to a command encoded in interrogation signal 362. The environmental station 310 can receive backscatter response signals 364 and 366 and decode these backscatter response signals to obtain the response provided by the environmental devices 324 and 326.

[0085] Figure 3 This illustrates possible applications of environmental technologies. In some aspects, environmental technologies can be applied to, for example, automated checkout, monitoring medication intake in the elderly, vehicle ignition keys, employee attendance systems, and locating or tracking objects. In other aspects, environmental devices can be attached to, embedded in, or integrated with a target or object, including wireless communication devices, containers, goods, identification cards, payment cards, vehicles, or pets.

[0086] In some respects, the environmental station 310 can be configured to communicate with environmental devices 324 and 326 via an air interface based on one or more environmental communication standards or wireless communication standards, such as those set by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International, the DASH7 Consortium, the Electronic Product Code Global (EPCglobal), and / or the 3GPP standards for environmental IoT.

[0087] In some respects, the environmental system can be implemented in an integrated or parallel manner with a wireless communication system (e.g., LTE or 5G NR as described above), and environmental interrogation signals can be transmitted via the radio resources of the wireless communication system.

[0088] Figure 4A , Figure 4B and Figure 4CExamples are shown that can be incorporated into UE 402 (which may correspond to any UE described herein), base station 404 (which may correspond to any base station described herein), and network entity 406 (which may correspond to or embody any network function described herein, including location server 230 and LMF270, or alternatively may be independent of UE 402). Figure 2A and Figure 2B Several example components (represented by corresponding boxes) in the NG-RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure (such as private networks) depicted herein support the operation as described herein. It should be understood that these components may be implemented in different specific implementations in different types of devices (e.g., in ASICs, in System-on-Chip (SoCs), etc.). The illustrated components may also be incorporated into other devices in a communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to those described as providing similar functionality. Furthermore, a given device may contain one or more of these components. For example, a device may include multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0089] UE 402 and base station 404 each include one or more Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) transceivers 410 and 450, which provide components (e.g., components for transmitting, components for receiving, components for measuring, components for tuning, components for blocking transmission, etc.) for communicating via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown), such as NR networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, etc. WWAN transceivers 410 and 450 may each be connected to one or more antennas 416 and 456 for communicating with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNB, gNB), etc.) via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) through a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., a time / frequency resource set in a specific spectrum). WWAN transceivers 410 and 450 can be configured in different ways to transmit and encode signals 418 and 458 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) according to a specified RAT, and conversely, to receive and decode signals 418 and 458 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.). Specifically, WWAN transceivers 410 and 450 each include one or more transmitters 414 and 454 for transmitting and encoding signals 418 and 458, respectively, and one or more receivers 412 and 452 for receiving and decoding signals 418 and 458, respectively.

[0090] In at least some cases, UE 402 and base station 404 each further include one or more short-range radio transceivers 420 and 460, respectively. Short-range radio transceivers 420 and 460 may be connected to one or more antennas 426 and 466, respectively, and provide the capability to communicate over a wireless communication medium of interest via at least one designated RAT (e.g., Wi-Fi, LTE Direct, Bluetooth). ® ZIGBEE ® Z-WAVE ® The short-range transceivers 420 and 460 can be configured in various ways to communicate with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc.) using PC5, Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC), Wireless Access for Vehicle Environments (WAVE), Near Field Communication (NFC), Ultra Wideband (UWB), etc.) and other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc.). These components include (e.g., components for transmitting, components for receiving, components for measuring, components for tuning, components for blocking transmission, etc.). The short-range transceivers 420 and 460 can be configured in different ways to transmit and encode signals 428 and 468 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) according to a specified RAT, and conversely, to receive and decode signals 428 and 468 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.). Specifically, the short-range transceivers 420 and 460 each include one or more transmitters 424 and 464 for transmitting and encoding signals 428 and 468, respectively, and one or more receivers 422 and 462 for receiving and decoding signals 428 and 468, respectively. As specific examples, short-range wireless transceivers 420 and 460 can be Wi-Fi transceivers, Bluetooth transceivers, etc. ® Transceiver, Zigbee ® and / or Z-WAVE ® Transceivers, NFC transceivers, UWB transceivers, or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceivers.

[0091] In at least some cases, UE 402 and base station 404 also include satellite signal interfaces 430 and 470, each including one or more satellite signal receivers 432 and 472, and optionally including one or more satellite signal transmitters 434 and 474, respectively. In some cases, base station 404 may be a terrestrial base station that can communicate with a spacecraft (e.g., spacecraft 112) via satellite signal interface 470. In other cases, base station 404 may be a spacecraft (or other non-terrestrial entity) that uses satellite signal interface 470 to communicate with terrestrial networks and / or other spacecraft.

[0092] Satellite signal receivers 432 and 472 can be connected to one or more antennas 436 and 476, respectively, and can provide components for receiving and / or measuring satellite positioning / communication signals 438 and 478, respectively. When satellite signal receivers 432 and 472 are satellite positioning system receivers, satellite positioning / communication signals 438 and 478 can be Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, BeiDou signals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) signals, etc. When satellite signal receivers 432 and 472 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, satellite positioning / communication signals 438 and 478 can be communication signals originating from a 5G network (e.g., carrying control and / or user data). Satellite signal receivers 432 and 472 can include any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning / communication signals 438 and 478, respectively. Satellite signal receivers 432 and 472 may request appropriate information and operations from other systems, and in at least some cases, use measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithm to perform calculations to determine the locations of UE 402 and base station 404, respectively.

[0093] Optional satellite signal transmitters 434 and 474 (when present) can be connected to one or more antennas 436 and 476, respectively, and can be provided with components for transmitting satellite positioning / communication signals 438 and 478, respectively. When satellite signal transmitter 474 is a satellite positioning system transmitter, the satellite positioning / communication signal 478 can be a GPS signal, GLONASS signal, etc. ® Signals include Galileo signals, BeiDou signals, NAVIC signals, and QZSS signals. When satellite signal transmitters 434 and 474 are NTN transmitters, satellite positioning / communication signals 438 and 478 can be communication signals originating from a 5G network (e.g., carrying control and / or user data). Satellite signal transmitters 434 and 474 can include any suitable hardware and / or software for transmitting satellite positioning / communication signals 438 and 478, respectively. Satellite signal transmitters 434 and 474 can request appropriate information and operations from other systems.

[0094] Base station 404 and network entity 406 each include one or more network transceivers 480 and 490, which provide components (e.g., transmitting components, receiving components, etc.) for communicating with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 404, other network entities 406). For example, base station 404 may use one or more network transceivers 480 to communicate with other base stations 404 or network entities 406 via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. Similarly, network entity 406 may use one or more network transceivers 490 to communicate with one or more base stations 404 via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links, or to communicate with other network entities 406 via one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

[0095] Transceivers can be configured to communicate via wired or wireless links. A transceiver (whether wired or wireless) includes transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 414, 424, 454, 464) and receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 412, 422, 452, 462). In some embodiments, the transceiver may be an integrated device (e.g., implementing transmitter and receiver circuitry in a single device), in some embodiments it may include separate transmitter and receiver circuitry, or in other embodiments it may be implemented in a different manner. The transmitter and receiver circuitry of a wired transceiver (e.g., network transceivers 480 and 490 in some embodiments) may be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. Wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 414, 424, 454, 464) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 416, 426, 456, 466), such as an antenna array, which allows the corresponding device (e.g., UE 402, base station 404) to perform transmit "beamforming," as described herein. Similarly, wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 412, 422, 452, 462) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 416, 426, 456, 466), such as an antenna array, which allows the corresponding device (e.g., UE 402, base station 404) to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter and receiver circuitry may share the same multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 416, 426, 456, 466), such that the corresponding device may perform only receive or only transmit at a given time, rather than both receive and transmit simultaneously. Wireless transceivers (e.g., WWAN transceivers 410 and 450, short-range wireless transceivers 420 and 460) may also include network listening modules (NLMs) for performing various measurements.

[0096] As used herein, various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers 410, 420, 450, and 460 in some specific embodiments, and network transceivers 480 and 490) and wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 480 and 490 in some specific embodiments) may generally be described as "transceiver," "at least one transceiver," or "one or more transceivers." Therefore, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wireless transceiver can be inferred from the type of communication performed. For example, backhaul communication between network devices or servers typically involves signaling via a wired transceiver, while wireless communication between a UE (e.g., UE 402) and a base station (e.g., base station 404) will typically involve signaling transmission via a wireless transceiver.

[0097] UE 402, base station 404, and network entity 406 also include other components that can be used in conjunction with the operation disclosed herein. UE 402, base station 404, and network entity 406 each include one or more processors 442, 484, and 494 for providing functionality related to, for example, wireless communication, and for providing other processing functionality. Thus, processors 442, 484, and 494 may provide components for processing, such as components for determining, components for calculating, components for receiving, components for transmitting, components for indicating, etc. In one aspect, processors 442, 484, and 494 may include, for example, one or more general-purpose processors, multi-core processors, central processing units (CPUs), ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuits, or various combinations thereof.

[0098] UE 402, base station 404, and network entity 406 each include memory circuitry implementing memories 440, 486, and 496 (e.g., each including a memory device) for maintaining information (e.g., information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). Therefore, memories 440, 486, and 496 can provide components for storage, retrieval, maintenance, etc. In some cases, UE 402, base station 404, and network entity 406 may each include environment components 448, 488, and 498. Environment components 448, 488, and 498 may be hardware circuitry that is part of or coupled to processors 442, 484, and 494, respectively, which, when executed, enable UE 402, base station 404, and network entity 406 to perform the functionality described herein. In other aspects, environment components 448, 488, and 498 may be external to processors 442, 484, and 494 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, environmental components 448, 488, and 498 may be memory modules stored in memories 440, 486, and 496, respectively, which enable UE 402, base station 404, and network entity 406 to perform the functionality described herein when executed by processors 442, 484, and 494 (or modem processing system, another processing system, etc.). Figure 4A Possible locations of environment component 448 are illustrated. This environment component may be part of, for example, one or more WWAN transceivers 410, memory 440, one or more processors 442, or any combination thereof, or it may be a standalone component. Figure 4B Possible locations of environment component 488 are illustrated. This environment component may be part of, for example, one or more WWAN transceivers 450, memory 486, one or more processors 484, or any combination thereof, or it may be a standalone component. Figure 4C Possible locations of environment component 498 are illustrated. This environment component may be, for example, part of one or more network transceivers 490, memory 496, one or more processors 494, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component.

[0099] UE 402 may include one or more sensors 444 coupled to one or more processors 442 to provide components for sensing or detecting motion and / or orientation information independent of motion data derived from signals received by one or more WWAN transceivers 410, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 420, and / or satellite signal interfaces 430. By way of example, sensor 444 may include accelerometers (e.g., microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices), gyroscopes, geomagnetic sensors (e.g., compasses), altimeters (e.g., barometric altimeters), and / or any other type of motion detection sensor. Furthermore, sensor 444 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide motion information. For example, sensor 444 may use a combination of multi-axis accelerometers and orientation sensors to provide the ability to calculate positioning in two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate systems.

[0100] In addition, UE 402 includes a user interface 446 that provides components for providing instructions to a user (e.g., audible and / or visual instructions) and / or for receiving user input (e.g., when the user actuates a sensing device such as a keypad, touchscreen, microphone, etc.). Although not shown, base station 404 and network entity 406 may also include user interfaces.

[0101] Referring more specifically to one or more processors 484, in the downlink, IP packets from network entity 406 can be provided to processor 484. One or more processors 484 can implement functionality for the RRC layer, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and Media Access Control (MAC) layer. One or more processors 484 may provide: RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting system information (e.g., Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with the delivery of upper-layer PDUs, error correction via Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC Service Data Units (SDUs), resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority processing, and logical channel priority ordering.

[0102] Transmitter 454 and receiver 452 implement Layer 1 (L1) functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include: error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) decoding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. Transmitter 454 processes the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The decoded and modulated symbols can then be split into parallel streams. Each stream can then be mapped to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarriers, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and / or frequency domains, and then combined using inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a stream of time-domain OFDM symbols. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially pre-decoded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from the channel estimator can be used to determine the decoding and modulation schemes, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimates can be derived from a reference signal transmitted by UE 402 and / or channel condition feedback. Each spatial stream can then be provided to one or more different antennas 456. The transmitter 454 can use the corresponding spatial stream to modulate an RF carrier for transmission.

[0103] At UE 402, receiver 412 receives signals via its corresponding antenna 416. Receiver 412 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides this information to one or more processors 442. Transmitter 414 and receiver 412 implement Layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Receiver 412 can perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for UE 402. If multiple spatial streams are destined for UE 402, they can be combined by receiver 412 into a single OFDM symbol stream. Receiver 412 then uses a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to transform the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain. The frequency domain signal comprises a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, along with the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most probable signal constellation point transmitted by base station 404. These soft decisions can be based on a channel estimate calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally transmitted by base station 404 on the physical channel. Then, data and control signals are provided to one or more processors 442, which implement layer 3 (L3) and layer 2 (L2) functionality.

[0104] In the downlink, one or more processors 442 provide demultiplexing, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, and control signal processing between the transport and logical channels to recover IP packets from the core network. One or more processors 442 are also responsible for error detection.

[0105] Similar to the functionality described in conjunction with downlink transmissions performed by base station 404, one or more processors 442 provide: RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connectivity, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with upper-layer PDU delivery, error correction via ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ), priority processing, and logical channel priority ordering.

[0106] The channel estimate derived by the channel estimator from the reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 404 can be used by the transmitter 414 to select an appropriate decoding and modulation scheme and facilitate spatial processing. The spatial stream generated by the transmitter 414 can be provided to different antennas 416. The transmitter 414 can use the corresponding spatial stream to modulate the RF carrier for transmission.

[0107] Uplink transmissions are processed at base station 404 in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with the receiver function at UE 402. Receiver 452 receives signals via its corresponding antenna 456. Receiver 452 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides this information to one or more processors 484.

[0108] In the uplink, one or more processors 484 provide demultiplexing, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, and control signal processing between the transport channel and the logical channel to recover IP packets from UE 402. IP packets from one or more processors 484 can be provided to the core network. One or more processors 484 are also responsible for error detection.

[0109] For convenience, UE 402, base station 404 and / or network entity 406 are in Figure 4A , Figure 4B and Figure 4CThe document is shown as including various components that can be configured according to the various examples described herein. However, it should be understood that the illustrated components may have different functionalities in different designs. In particular, Figures 4A to 4C Various components are optional in alternative configurations, and various aspects include configurations that can vary due to design choices, cost, equipment usage, or other considerations. For example, in Figure 4A In certain cases, specific implementations of UE 402 may omit WWAN transceiver 410 (e.g., wearable devices, tablets, personal computers (PCs), or laptops may have Wi-Fi and / or Bluetooth). ® The short-range wireless transceiver 420 can be omitted (e.g., cellular only), or the satellite signal interface 430 can be omitted, or the sensor 444 can be omitted, etc. In another example, in Figure 4B In certain cases, specific implementations of base station 404 may omit WWAN transceiver 450 (e.g., a Wi-Fi "hotspot" access point without cellular capabilities), or short-range wireless transceiver 460 (e.g., cellular only), or satellite signal interface 470, etc. For the sake of brevity, examples of various alternative configurations are not provided herein, but will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

[0110] Various components of UE 402, base station 404, and network entity 406 can be communicatively coupled to each other via data buses 408, 482, and 492, respectively. In one aspect, data buses 408, 482, and 492 can form or be part of the communication interfaces of UE 402, base station 404, and network entity 406, respectively. For example, in cases where different logical entities are embodied in the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functionality integrated into the same base station 404), data buses 408, 482, and 492 can provide communication between these logical entities.

[0111] Figure 4A , Figure 4B and Figure 4C The components can be implemented in various ways. In some specific implementations, Figure 4A , Figure 4B and Figure 4CThe components can be implemented in one or more circuits, such as, for example, one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and / or combine at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide that functionality. For example, some or all of the functionalities represented by boxes 410-446 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of UE 402 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionalities represented by boxes 450-488 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of base station 404 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Furthermore, some or all of the functionalities represented by boxes 490-498 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of network entity 406 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). For simplicity, various operations, actions, and / or functions are described herein as being performed "by the UE," "by the base station," "by the network entity," etc. However, as will be understood, such operations, actions and / or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of the UE 402, base station 404, network entity 406, etc., such as processors 442, 484, 494, transceivers 410, 420, 450 and 460, memory 440, 486 and 496, environmental components 448, 488 and 498, etc.

[0112] In some designs, network entity 406 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, network entity 406 may operate differently from the network operator or cellular network infrastructure (e.g., NG RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260). For example, network entity 406 may be a component of a private network that can be configured to communicate with UE 402 via base station 404 or independently of base station 404 (e.g., via a non-cellular communication link such as Wi-Fi).

[0113] Figure 5 A simplified block diagram illustrating an environmental station 510 and environmental device 530 in an environmental system 500 (e.g., an environmental Internet of Things (IoT) system) according to various aspects of this disclosure is shown. In some aspects, the environmental station 510 may be an RFID reader or similar technology, and may correspond to... Figure 3 Environmental station 310 in the middle. In some aspects, environmental device 530 may be an RFID tag or similar technology, and may correspond to Figure 3 Environmental equipment 324 or environmental equipment 326.

[0114] like Figure 5As shown, the environmental station 510 includes an antenna 512 and a transmitter 514 and a receiver 516 electrically coupled to the antenna 512. Furthermore, the environmental device 530 includes an antenna 532 and an antenna impedance adjustment circuit 534 configured to adjust the impedance of the antenna 532. Figure 5 The controller 536 (abbreviated as "Im Ckt") is configured to control the antenna impedance adjustment circuit 534. Figure 5 The abbreviation for "CTRL" is used in the circuit diagram, and the power circuit 538 is configured to provide electrical power to the controller 536 and the antenna impedance adjustment circuit 534. Figure 5 In Chinese, it is abbreviated as "Pwr Ckt".

[0115] In some aspects, the TRP in a wireless communication system can be configured to act as an environment station 510 or in conjunction with such an environment station. In this scenario, environment station 510 may correspond to base station 404; transmitter 514 may correspond to transmitter 454 in WWAN transceiver 450 and / or environment component 488 or transmitter 464 in short-range transceiver 460; receiver 516 may correspond to receiver 452 in WWAN transceiver 450 and / or environment component 488 or receiver 462 in short-range transceiver 460; and antenna 512 may correspond to antenna 456 or antenna 466. In some aspects, the UE in a wireless communication system can be configured to act as an environment station 510 or in conjunction with such an environment station. In this scenario, the environment station 510 may correspond to the UE 402, the transmitter 514 may correspond to the transmitter 414 in the WWAN transceiver 420 and / or the environment component 448 or the transmitter 424 in the short-range radio transceiver 420; the receiver 516 may correspond to the receiver 412 in the WWAN transceiver 420 and / or the environment component 448 or the receiver 422 in the short-range radio transceiver 420; and the antenna 512 may correspond to the antenna 416 or the antenna 426.

[0116] In some aspects, a UE in a wireless communication system may be configured to act as an ambient device 530 or in conjunction with such an ambient device. In this scenario, the ambient device 530 may correspond to the UE 402, the antenna impedance adjustment circuit 534, the controller 536, and the power circuit 538 may correspond to the ambient component 448, and the antenna 532 may correspond to the antenna 416 or the antenna 426.

[0117] In some aspects, during operation, the transmitter 514 of the environmental station 510 may transmit an interrogation signal 552 to the environmental device 530 via antenna 512. In some aspects, the interrogation signal 552 may embed a command from the environmental station 510. This command may provide the environmental device 530 with a time frame for responding to the interrogation signal 552, instructing the environmental device 530 to provide its identification code or other information related to the identity or capabilities of the environmental device 530, or both. When powered on and upon receiving the interrogation signal 552, the environmental device 530 may cause the controller 536 to prepare a response based on the embedded command and, based on the prepared response, control the antenna impedance adjustment circuit 534 to adjust the impedance of the antenna 532. The antenna 532 may reflect the interrogation signal 552 based on the impedance of the antenna 532, and the reflected signal may also be referred to as the backscatter response signal 556. As the impedance of the antenna 532 changes, the amplitude, phase, and / or frequency of the backscatter response signal 556 may change. Therefore, the controller 536 can modulate the backscatter response signal 556 to carry the response by adjusting the impedance of the antenna 532.

[0118] In some aspects, the environmental device 530 may be a passive environmental device. In this scenario, the power circuit 538 may harvest electrical power from the interrogation signal 552 to power the controller 536 and the antenna impedance adjustment circuit 534. In some aspects, the environmental device 530 may be a semi-passive environmental device. In this scenario, the power circuit 538 may power the controller 536 and the antenna impedance adjustment circuit 534 based on power harvested from the interrogation signal 552 or from an onboard battery (not shown) of the environmental device 530. Furthermore, in some examples, the power circuit 538 may perform energy harvesting functionality for detecting the presence or absence of the interrogation signal 552.

[0119] Furthermore, the receiver 516 of the environmental station 510 can receive the backscatter response signal 556 from the environmental device 530 via the antenna 512. The environmental station 510 can decode the backscatter response signal 556 to obtain the response provided by the environmental device 530. In some aspects, the environmental system 500 can be used to measure the distance to the environmental device 530 or estimate the location of the environmental device. In such applications, the environmental station 510 can also measure the time of arrival (ToA) of the backscatter response signal 556 as observed at the environmental station 510.

[0120] In some aspects, environment station 510 can transmit interrogation signal 552 and receive backscatter response signal 556 in full-duplex (FDX) mode. In some aspects, environment station 510 can transmit interrogation signal 552 and receive backscatter response signal 556 in half-duplex (HDX) mode. In some aspects, for backscatter-based operation, environment station 510 can continue to transmit interrogation signal 552 in either FDX or HDX mode, regardless of whether interrogation signal 552 actually carries an embedded command / message (e.g., continuing to transmit the carrier of interrogation signal 552 without being modulated to carry any embedded command / message).

[0121] In some aspects, since the environmental system 500 can be implemented integratedly or in parallel with a wireless communication system (e.g., LTE or 5G NR as described above), an RFID interrogation signal 552 can be transmitted via the radio resources of the wireless communication system. In some aspects, the environmental system 500 can be used to perform a positioning process (also referred to as a backscatter-based positioning process) of the environmental device 530 based on a backscatter response signal from the environmental device 530, wherein the environmental system 500 can transmit a positioning reference signal as an interrogation signal, or transmit the interrogation signal via the radio resources of the positioning reference signal of the wireless communication system. In some examples, the positioning reference signal (or the corresponding radio resources) can be a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS), a sidelink positioning reference signal (SL-PRS), or a sounding reference signal (SRS) (or the corresponding radio resources).

[0122] Various frame structures can be used to support downlink and uplink transmission between network nodes (e.g., base stations and UEs). Figure 6 Figure 600 illustrates an example frame structure according to various aspects of this disclosure. The frame structure may be a downlink or uplink frame structure. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels.

[0123] LTE (and in some cases NR) uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. However, unlike LTE, NR also has the option to use OFDM on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are often referred to as tones, frequency slots, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated using data. Generally, modulation symbols are transmitted using OFDM in the frequency domain and SC-FDM in the time domain. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers can be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) can depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the subcarrier spacing can be 15 kHz, and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) can be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Therefore, for system bandwidths of 1.25 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, or 20 MHz, the nominal Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) size can be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048, respectively. The system bandwidth can also be divided into subbands. For example, a subband can cover 1.08 MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and for system bandwidths of 1.25 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, or 20 MHz, there can be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands, respectively.

[0124] LTE supports a single set of parameters (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR can support multiple sets of parameters (µ), for example, subcarrier spacings of 15kHz (µ=0), 30kHz (µ=1), 60kHz (µ=2), 120kHz (µ=3), and 240kHz (µ=4) or larger can be available. Within each subcarrier spacing, there are 14 symbols per time slot. For a 15kHz SCS (µ=0), there is one time slot per subframe, 10 time slots per frame, a time slot duration of 1 millisecond (ms), a symbol duration of 66.7 microseconds (µs), and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 4K FFT size. For a 30kHz SCS (µ=1), there are two time slots per subframe, 20 time slots per frame, a time slot duration of 0.5ms, a symbol duration of 33.3µs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 4K FFT size. For a 60kHz SCS (µ=2), there are four time slots per subframe, 40 time slots per frame, a time slot duration of 0.25ms, a symbol duration of 16.7µs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 4K FFT size. For a 120kHz SCS (µ=3), there are eight time slots per subframe, 80 time slots per frame, a time slot duration of 0.125ms, a symbol duration of 8.33µs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 4K FFT size. For a 240kHz SCS (µ=4), there are 16 time slots per subframe, 160 time slots per frame, a time slot duration of 0.0625ms, a symbol duration of 4.17µs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 4K FFT size.

[0125] exist Figure 6 In the example, a parameter set of 15kHz is used. Therefore, in the time domain, a 10ms frame is divided into 10 equal-sized subframes, each 1ms long, and each subframe includes one time slot. Figure 6 In the diagram, time is represented horizontally (on the X-axis), with time increasing from left to right, while frequency is represented vertically (on the Y-axis), with frequency increasing (or decreasing) from bottom to top.

[0126] A resource grid can be used to represent time slots, each of which includes one or more time-concurrent resource blocks (RBs) (also known as physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into multiple resource elements (REs). An RE corresponds to a symbol length in the time domain and a subcarrier in the frequency domain. Figure 6In the parameter set, for a normal cyclic prefix, the RB can contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and seven consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 84 REs. For an extended cyclic prefix, the RB can contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and six consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0127] Some REs may carry reference (pilot) signals (RS). These reference signals may include positioning reference signals (PRS), tracking reference signals (TRS), phase tracking reference signals (PTRS), cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), demodulation reference signals (DMRS), primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), synchronization signal blocks (SSB), sounding reference signals (SRS), etc., depending on whether the illustrated frame structure is used for uplink or downlink communication. Figure 6 An example location (labeled "R") of an RE carrying a reference signal is shown.

[0128] The set of resource elements (REs) used for PRS transmission is called a "PRS resource". The set of resource elements can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and span "N" (such as one or more) consecutive symbols within a time slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol in the time domain, the PRS resource occupies a consecutive PRB in the frequency domain.

[0129] The transmission of PRS resources within a given PRB has a specific comb size (also known as "comb density"). The comb size "N" represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency / tone spacing) within each symbol of the PRS resource configuration. Specifically, for a comb size "N", the PRS is transmitted in every Nth subcarrier of a symbol within the PRB. For example, for comb size-4, for each symbol of the PRS resource configuration, the RE corresponding to every fourth subcarrier (such as subcarrier 0, 4, 8) is used to transmit the PRS resource. Currently, for DL-PRS, comb sizes-2, comb size-4, comb size-6, and comb size-12 are supported. Figure 6 An example PRS resource configuration for Comb-4 (which spans four symbols) is shown. That is, the location of the shaded RE (marked as "R") indicates the Comb-4 PRS resource configuration.

[0130] Currently, DL-PRS resources can span 2, 4, 6, or 12 consecutive symbols within a time slot using a full-frequency-domain interleaved mode. DL-PRS resources can be configured in any downlink or flexible (FL) symbol configured by a higher layer within a time slot. For all REs of a given DL-PRS resource, there may be a constant energy per resource element (EPRE). The following are the per-symbol frequency offsets for comb sizes 2, 4, 6, and 12 on 2, 4, 6, and 12 symbols. 2-symbol comb-2: {0, 1}; 4-symbol comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1}; 6-symbol comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1}; 12-symbol comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1}; 4-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3} (as in...). Figure 6 (In the examples); 12-symbol comb-4: {0,2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3}; 6-symbol comb-6: {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}; 12-symbol comb-6: {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5, 0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}; and 12-symbol comb-12: {0, 6, 3, 9, 1, 7, 4, 10, 2, 8, 5, 11}.

[0131] A “PRS resource set” is a collection of PRS resources used to transmit PRS signals, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. Furthermore, the PRS resources in the PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and associated with a specific TRP (identified by the TRP ID). Additionally, the PRS resources in the PRS resource set have the same periodicity, common silent mode configuration, and the same repetition factor (such as “PRS-ResourceRepetitionFactor”) across time slots. Periodicity is the time from the first repetition of the first PRS resource in the first PRS instance to the same first repetition of the same first PRS resource in the next PRS instance. Periodicity can have a length selected from the following: The time slots are {4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, 5120, 10240}, where µ = 0, 1, 2, 3. The repetition factor can have a length selected from {1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32} time slots.

[0132] In a PRS resource set, a PRS resource ID is associated with a single beam (or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (where one TRP can transmit one or more beams). That is, each PRS resource in a PRS resource set can be transmitted on a different beam, and therefore, a "PRS resource" (or simply "resource") can also be referred to as a "beam." It should be noted that this does not imply whether the UE knows the TRP and beam on which it transmits the PRS.

[0133] A “PRS instance” or “PRS timing” is an instance of a periodically repeating time window (such as a group of one or more consecutive time slots) in which a PRS is expected to be sent. A PRS timing may also be referred to as a “PRS positioning timing,” “PRS positioning instance,” “positioning timing,” “positioning instance,” “positioning repetition,” or simply “timing,” “instance,” or “repetition.”

[0134] A “positioning frequency layer” (also simply “frequency layer”) is a collection of one or more PRS resource sets with identical values ​​for certain parameters across one or more TRPs. Specifically, the collection of PRS resource sets has the same subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix (CP) type (meaning that all parameter sets supported for the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) are also supported by the PRS), the same point A, the same downlink PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size. The point A parameter takes the value of the parameter “ARFCN-ValueNR” (where “ARFCN” stands for “Absolute Radio Channel Number”) and is an identifier / code specifying a pair of physical radio channels used for transmission and reception. The downlink PRS bandwidth can have a granularity of four PRBs, with a minimum of 24 PRBs and a maximum of 272 PRBs. Currently, up to four frequency layers have been defined, and up to two PRS resource sets can be configured per frequency layer per TRP.

[0135] The concept of a frequency layer is somewhat similar to that of component carriers and bandwidth portions (BWPs), but the difference is that component carriers and BWPs are used by a single base station (or macrocell base station and small cell base station) to transmit data channels, while a frequency layer is used by several (usually three or more) base stations to transmit PRS. A UE can indicate the number of frequency layers it can support when transmitting its positioning capabilities to the network (such as during an LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) session). For example, a UE can indicate whether it can support one or four positioning frequency layers.

[0136] It should be noted that the terms "location reference signal" and "PRS" generally refer to specific reference signals used for positioning in NR and LTE systems. However, as used herein, the terms "location reference signal" and "PRS" can also refer to any type of reference signal that can be used for positioning, such as, but not limited to, PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, SRS, UL-PRS, etc., as defined in LTE and NR. Furthermore, the terms "location reference signal" and "PRS" can refer to downlink positioning reference signals, uplink positioning reference signals, or sidelink positioning reference signals, unless otherwise indicated by the context. If further distinction is required regarding the type of PRS, downlink positioning reference signals can be referred to as "DL-PRS," uplink positioning reference signals (e.g., positioning SRS, i.e., PTRS) as "UL-PRS," and sidelink positioning reference signals as "SL-PRS." Furthermore, for signals that can be transmitted in the downlink, uplink, and / or sidelink (e.g., DMRS), these signals may be preceded by "DL", "UL", or "SL" to distinguish the direction. For example, "UL-DMRS" may be different from "DL-DMRS".

[0137] Figure 7 An example environmental system 700 (e.g., an environmental IoT system) for a backscatter-based positioning process is illustrated according to various aspects of this disclosure. Environmental system 700 includes an environmental device 710, and the positioning of this environmental device is determined based on a backscatter-based positioning process. Environmental system 700 includes one or more receiving environmental stations 722, 724, 726, and 728. Environmental system 700 also includes a transmitting environmental station 730. In some examples, environmental station 730 may also be configured as a receiving environmental station. In some aspects, environmental system 700 may include one or more transmitting environmental stations.

[0138] In some aspects, environmental device 710 can be a standalone environmental device, or it can be a device configured to act as an environmental device. In some aspects, environmental device 710 can correspond to Figure 3 or Figure 5 The environmental equipment described herein. In some respects, environmental stations 722, 724, 726, 728, and 730 may correspond to... Figure 3 or Figure 5 The environment stations described herein. In some respects, each of the environment stations 722, 724, 726, 728 and 730 may be a UE (such as any UE described above) or a TRP (such as any TRP or base station described above) of a wireless communication network.

[0139] In some aspects, to perform a backscatter-based positioning process, environmental station 730 may send an interrogation signal 742 (e.g., a carrier wave modulated or unmodulated to carry embedded commands or messages) to environmental device 710. In some aspects, the interrogation signal 742 may be a positioning reference signal of a wireless communication network, such as DL-PRS, SL-PRS, or SRS. In response to the interrogation signal 742, environmental device 710 may send a backscatter response signal by reflecting (also referred to as backscattering in this disclosure) the interrogation signal 742. The backscatter response signal may be observed at environmental stations 722, 724, 726, 728, and 730, and Figure 7 The received backscatter response signals are labeled as 752, 754, 756, 758 and 762.

[0140] In some respects, environmental stations 722, 724, 726, 728, and 730 can record the arrival times of the received backscatter response signals 752, 754, 756, 758, and 762. Based on the measured reception times and the transmission time of the interrogation signal 742 at environmental station 730, the combined propagation times (denoted as τ1, τ2, τ3, τ4, and τ0) of the interrogation signal 742 and the received backscatter response signals 752, 754, 756, 758, and 762 can satisfy the following expressions:

[0141] ,

[0142] ,

[0143] ,

[0144] ,

[0145] ,and

[0146] .

[0147] τ tx-TAG This represents the propagation time from the transmitting environmental station 730 to the environmental device 710. τ TAG-rx0 This represents the propagation time from environmental device 710 to transmitting environmental station 730. τ TAG-rx1 τ represents the propagation time from environmental device 710 to receiving environmental station 722. TAG-rx2 τ represents the propagation time from environmental device 710 to receiving environmental station 724. TAG-rx3 τ represents the propagation time from environmental device 710 to receiving environmental station 726. TAG-rx4 This indicates the propagation time from environmental device 710 to receiving environmental station 728.

[0148] In some aspects, the estimated location of environmental device 710 can be determined based on the time-of-arrival (ToA) positioning method, using τ1, τ2, τ3, τ4, and τ0. In some examples, the time-of-arrival values ​​may correspond to the propagation time values ​​from environmental device 710 to the corresponding environmental stations 722, 724, 726, 728, and 730, and may have the following relationship: The estimated distance between environmental device 710 and the corresponding environmental stations 722, 724, 726, 728 and 730 can be calculated by multiplying the arrival time value by the speed of the RF wave (e.g., the speed of light). Furthermore, based on the estimated distance and location information of environmental stations 722, 724, 726, 728 and 730, the estimated location of the environmental device can be derived.

[0149] In some aspects, the estimated location of environmental device 710 can be determined based on the Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) positioning method, using τ1, τ2, τ3, τ4, and τ0. In some examples, the propagation time difference between any two of environmental stations 722, 724, 726, 728, and 730 can be expressed by the following expression: , where i and j represent the corresponding two of environmental stations 722, 724, 726, 728 and 730. The estimated curve through environmental device 710 can be determined based on the product of the propagation time difference and the speed of the RF wave (e.g., the speed of light), and the estimated location of environmental device 710 can be derived based on the cross-section of the estimated curve.

[0150] In some respects, the estimated distance between environmental device 710 and environmental station 730 can also be determined based on round-trip time (RTT) positioning methods, based on τ0.

[0151] Figure 7 A non-limiting example of a backscatter-based localization process is shown. This process includes a transmitting environment station that also acts as a receiving environment station, and four other receiving environment stations. In some examples of performing a particular backscatter-based localization process, the transmitting environment station may be configured not to act as a receiving environment station. Furthermore, in some examples of performing a particular backscatter-based localization process, the number of transmitting or receiving environment stations may be [not specified]. Figure 7 The examples shown are different.

[0152] Figure 8This is a diagram 800 illustrating an example channel estimation of a multipath channel between a receiver device (e.g., any of the UEs or base stations described herein) and a transmitter device (e.g., any other of the UEs or base stations described herein) according to various aspects of this disclosure. The channel estimation expresses the strength of a radio frequency (RF) signal (e.g., a positioning reference signal (PRS)) received through the multipath channel as a function of time delay and may be referred to as the channel energy response (CER), channel impulse response (CIR), or power delay distribution (PDP) of the channel. Therefore, the horizontal axis represents time (e.g., milliseconds), and the vertical axis represents signal strength (e.g., decibels). It should be noted that a multipath channel is a channel between a transmitter and a receiver where the RF signal follows multiple paths or multipaths due to transmission on multiple beams and / or due to the propagation characteristics of the RF signal (e.g., reflection, refraction, etc.).

[0153] exist Figure 8 In the example, the receiver detects / measures multiple (four) channel taps of the RF signal. Each channel tap is a cluster of one or more rays and corresponds to the multipath followed by the RF signal between the transmitter and receiver. Therefore, the channel tap represents the arrival time and signal strength of the RF signal on the multipath. Multiple channel taps may exist because the RF signal is transmitted on different transmit beams (and therefore at different angles), or due to the propagation characteristics of the RF signal (e.g., it may follow different paths due to reflection), or both. Note that although... Figure 8 Channel taps with two to five rays are illustrated, but as will be understood, channel taps may have more or fewer rays than the illustrated number.

[0154] exist Figure 8 In the example, the channel tap detected at time T3 includes a stronger ray compared to the channel tap detected at time T1. This could be due to an obstacle on the LOS path between the transmitter and receiver. Alternatively or additionally, there may be a strong reflector along the NLOS path corresponding to the channel tap detected at time T3.

[0155] Given Figure 5 , Figure 7 and Figure 8 In some respects, since the transmitting environment station can also be configured as a receiving environment station, such an environment station (e.g., environment station 510 or environment station 730) can determine the channel impulse response corresponding to the combination of the first propagation channel from the environment station to the environment device and the second propagation channel from the environment device to the environment station based on the interrogation signal and the backscatter response signal. Furthermore, given that... Figure 8The environment (e.g., environmental station 510 or environmental station 730) can not only record and / or report the ToA timing of the estimated LOS path corresponding to the backscattered response signal, but also record and / or report the timing differences of various estimated NLOS paths relative to the LOS path. In some aspects, the timing differences and / or other properties of the NLOS path observable from the backscattered response signal can be reported in the measurement report as additional path information in the form of CIR, PDP, or delay distribution (DP).

[0156] Figures 9A to 9D Four example connectivity topologies for use in environmental networks and devices are illustrated according to various aspects of this disclosure. In some aspects, Figures 9A to 9D The environmental devices illustrated herein may be provided with carriers (e.g., modulated or unmodulated to carry embedded messages) from other nodes inside or outside the illustrated example topology. In some aspects, the links in each example topology may be bidirectional or unidirectional. In some aspects, Figures 9A to 9D Each entity exemplified in the example may represent one or more of the exemplified entities.

[0157] like Figure 9A As shown, the environmental device 910 can communicate directly and bidirectionally with the base station 920 based on environmental communication (e.g., as...). Figure 3 , Figure 5 and Figure 7 (As illustrated, this is a non-limiting example). Communication between base station 920 and environmental equipment 910 may include environmental data and / or signaling. In some aspects, Figure 9A The example topology illustrated herein may include the following possibilities: the illustration of base station 920 may represent two different base stations, including a transmitting base station for transmitting to environmental device 910 and a receiving base station for receiving from environmental device 910.

[0158] like Figure 9B As shown, environmental device 910 can communicate bidirectionally with intermediate node 930 based on environmental communication, and intermediate node 930 can communicate with base station 920 based on wired or wireless communication (e.g., Uu interface). In this example topology, intermediate node 930 can be a relay, integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, UE (also referred to as intermediate UE), repeater, etc., capable of environmental communication. In some aspects, intermediate node 930 can transmit environmental data and / or signaling between base station 920 and environmental device 910.

[0159] like Figure 9CAs shown, environmental device 910 can send data / signaling to base station 920 and receive data / signaling from auxiliary node 940; alternatively, environmental device 910 can receive data / signaling from base station 920 and send data / signaling to auxiliary node 940. In this example topology, auxiliary node 940 can be a relay, IAB node, UE, repeater, etc., capable of environmental communication. In some aspects, auxiliary node 940 can communicate with base station 920 based on wired or wireless communication (e.g., Uu interface).

[0160] like Figure 9D As shown, the environmental device 910 can communicate bidirectionally with the UE 950. In some aspects, the communication between the UE 950 and the environmental device 910 may include environmental data and / or signaling.

[0161] In some respects, Figure 9A and Figure 9C Base station 920 and Figure 9B Any of the intermediate nodes 930 can record and report ToA information and additional path information from the backscattered response signal from the environmental device 910, in order to collect information for improving the localization of the environmental device 910 or for localization analysis based on artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) (e.g., for ML modeling or as input to an ML model). In some respects, the additional path information can be reported in the form of CIR, PDP, or delay distribution (DP).

[0162] Figure 10A An example scenario 1000 for an environmental device 1010 according to various aspects of this disclosure is illustrated. Example scenario 1000 is used as a non-limiting example to explain the recording and reporting of additional paths observed from backscattered response signals from the environmental device. In some aspects, example scenario 1000 includes an environmental device 1010, a management device 1020, and a reader device 1030. In this example, reader device 1030 may act as a monobase reader, transmitting an interrogation signal (e.g., a first reference signal 1042) and receiving a backscattered response signal (e.g., a second reference signal 1048). In some aspects, reader device 1030 and management device 1020 may communicate with each other via a communication path 1050, which may be based on wired or wireless communication.

[0163] In some respects, example scenario 1000 can correspond to Figure 9B The connectivity topology shown includes an environment device 1010 that may correspond to an environment device 910, a reader device 1030 that may correspond to an intermediate node 930, and a management device 1020 that may correspond to a base station 920 (or the corresponding TRP). In some aspects, example scenario 1000 may correspond to... Figure 9AThe connectivity topology shown herein includes an environment device 1010 that may correspond to an environment device 910, a reader device 1030 that may correspond to a base station 920 (or the corresponding TRP), and a management device 1020 that may correspond to... Figure 9A Location servers not described in the text.

[0164] Figure 10B Examples of unidirectional channel impulse responses 1060 and round-trip channel impulse responses 1070 corresponding to one or more propagation paths between an ambient station (e.g., reader device 1030) and an ambient device (e.g., ambient device 1010) according to various aspects of this disclosure are illustrated. In some aspects, in scenario 1000, the first reference signal 1042 and the second reference signal 1048 may have the same operating frequency. Therefore, the channel impulse response corresponding to the first propagation channel from reader device 1030 to ambient device 1010 and the channel impulse response corresponding to the second propagation channel from ambient device 1010 to reader device 1030 may be the same. In some aspects, when reference signals 1042 and 1048 have the same operating frequency, the channel impulse response between ambient device 1010 and reader device 1030 can be described as having channel reciprocity.

[0165] exist Figure 10B In this context, the one-way channel impulse response 1060 can represent the channel impulse response of the first propagation channel or the channel impulse response of the second propagation channel, without considering any errors and mismatches caused by the reader device 1030 and / or the ambient device 1010 itself. In this example, the channel impulse response of the first propagation channel from the reader device 1030 to the ambient device 1010 can be referred to as the incident channel impulse response and can be represented as h inc (t), the channel impulse response of the second propagation channel from environmental device 1010 to reader device 1030 can be called the backscatter channel impulse response, and can be expressed as h bck (t).

[0166] exist Figure 10B In this context, the round-trip channel impulse response 1070 can be the incident channel impulse response h. inc (t) and backscattering channel impulse response h bck The superposition of (t) (denoted as h) sup (t)). In some respects, the superimposed channel impulse response h sup (t) can be the incident channel impulse response h inc (t) and backscattering channel impulse response h bck The convolution of (t). That is, h sup (t) =h inc (t) h bck(t). Furthermore, based on channel reciprocity, h inc (t) = h bck (t), and h sup (t) = h bck (t) h bck (t), or h sup (t) = h inc (t) h inc (t).

[0167] In some respects, the backscatter channel impulse response h bck (t) can have an expression based on the sum of multiple taps, where each tap represents a signal arriving at different times along different paths. For example, h bck (t) can have the following expressions:

[0168] ,

[0169] Where N is h bck The number of taps (or paths, also referred to in this disclosure) of (t), h i It is the gain of the i-th tap (which can be a complex number), and τ i It is the time delay of the i-th tap. Therefore, h sup (t) can have the following expressions:

[0170] ,and

[0171] .

[0172] For example, such as Figure 10A As shown, the one-way channel impulse response 1060 can correspond to h bck (t) = h0δ(t-τ0) + h1δ(t-τ1) + h2δ(t-τ2), where the number of taps or paths N is 3. For example... Figure 10B As shown, the round-trip channel impulse response 1070 can therefore correspond to h sup (t) = h0 2 δ(t-2τ0) + 2h0h1δ(t-(τ0+τ1)) + 2h0h2δ(t-(τ0+τ2)) + h1 2 δ(t-2τ1) + 2h1h2δ(t-(τ1+τ2)) + h2 2 δ(t-2τ2).

[0173] In some respects, as a generalization of the example presented above, if the backscattered channel impulse response h bck(t) has N taps (or paths), then the superimposed channel impulse response h sup (t) can have N(N+1) / 2 taps (or paths). In some respects, although the superimposed channel impulse response h is reported in the measurement report... sup All N(N+1) / 2 taps of (t) might be a valid option, but N(N+1) / 2 taps can indeed include a lot of redundant information, which can be further simplified based on the channel reciprocity property. In some respects, transmitting a one-way channel impulse response (e.g., the incident channel impulse response h) inc (t) or backscattered channel impulse response h bck N taps of (t) may be sufficient to cover the round-trip channel impulse response (e.g., the superimposed channel impulse response h). sup It has N(N+1) / 2 taps of information for (t) but with lower overhead.

[0174] In some respects, since the reader device 1030 may only have information about the relationship between the received backscatter response signal (e.g., the second reference signal 1048) and the transmitted interrogation signal (e.g., the first reference signal 1042), the reader device 1030 may, in any case, first have to derive the round-trip channel impulse response (e.g., the superimposed channel impulse response h) based on the first reference signal 1042 and the second reference signal 1048. sup (t)). In some respects, the reader device 1030 may be able and / or instructed to further process the round-trip channel impulse response to determine the unidirectional channel impulse response (e.g., the incident channel impulse response h) according to the equation illustrated above. inc (t) or backscattered channel impulse response h bck (t)). Subsequently, the reader device 1030 may include a one-way channel impulse response (i.e., N taps) in the measurement report instead of a round-trip channel impulse response (i.e., N(N+1) / 2 taps) in order to reduce reporting overhead.

[0175] Figure 11 This is a process flowchart 1100 illustrating an example process for providing a measurement report including a reported channel impulse response according to various aspects of this disclosure. In some aspects, process flowchart 1100 may correspond to scenario 1000 and may be exemplified as follows: Figure 10AThe interaction between the environmental device 1010, the reader device 1030, and the management device 1020 is illustrated. As presented above, in one example, the reader device 1030 may correspond to an intermediate node (such as any UE, or a relay, IAB node, or repeater), and the management device 1020 may correspond to a base station (such as any of the base stations or TRPs described herein). Furthermore, in another example, the reader device 1030 may correspond to a base station (such as any of the base stations or TRPs described herein), and the management device 1020 may correspond to a location server (such as any of the location servers, LMFs, SLPs, proprietary servers, or any servers described herein).

[0176] like Figure 11 As shown, at stage 1102, management device 1020 may transmit a capability request message to reader device 1030. In some aspects, the capability request message may include a capability query regarding whether reader device 1030 is capable of determining a one-way channel impulse response based on the round-trip channel impulse response. As illustrated above, the one-way channel impulse response may correspond to a first propagation channel from reader device 1030 to ambient device 1010 or a second propagation channel from ambient device 1010 to reader device 1030.

[0177] At stage 1104, reader device 1030 may send a capability response to management device 1020 in response to a capability query from stage 1102. In some aspects, the capability response may indicate whether reader device 1030 is able to determine a one-way channel impulse response based on the round-trip channel impulse response (based on hardware limitations, software limitations, hardware configuration, software configuration, and / or management configuration).

[0178] At stage 1110, management device 1020 may send a measurement configuration message to reader device 1030. In some aspects, the measurement configuration message may indicate that the channel impulse response to be included in the measurement report can be a round-trip channel impulse response (e.g., with N(N+1) / 2 taps) corresponding to a combination of the first and second propagation channels, or it can be a one-way channel impulse response (e.g., with N taps) corresponding to either the first or second propagation channel. In some aspects, management device 1020 may determine whether reader device 1030 should provide a round-trip channel impulse response or a one-way channel impulse response based on the capability response from stage 1104. In some aspects, management device 1020 may send the measurement configuration message without based on the capability response, and stages 1102 and 1104 may be omitted.

[0179] In some aspects, the measurement configuration message may include configurations associated with one or more environmental devices communicatively coupled to the reader device 1030. In some aspects, the measurement configuration message may be a separate message dedicated to providing measurement configurations associated with one or more environmental devices. In some aspects, the measurement configuration message may be part of a measurement configuration that includes information for configuring measurements performed by the reader device 1030 itself.

[0180] At stage 1122, reader device 1030 may send a first reference signal to environmental device 1010. In some aspects, the first reference signal may be a PRS, SRS, or a dedicated reference signal used for backscatter-based positioning procedures.

[0181] At stage 1124, reader device 1030 may receive a second reference signal in response to the first reference signal. In some aspects, the second reference signal is a backscatter response signal transmitted by ambient device 1010 based on backscattering the first reference signal from stage 1122. In some aspects, the first and second reference signals may have the same operating frequency, making channel reciprocity applicable.

[0182] At stage 1130, reader device 1030 may determine a first channel impulse response based on a first reference signal and a second reference signal. In some aspects, the first channel impulse response may be a round-trip channel impulse response and may correspond to a combination of a first propagation channel from reader device 1030 to ambient device 1010 and a second propagation channel from ambient device 1010 to reader device 1030.

[0183] Subsequently, reader device 1030 may generate a measurement report for output, wherein the measurement report may include a channel impulse response based on a first channel impulse response and indicating multiple propagation paths observable from a second reference signal. Processes following stage 1130 may include two alternative methods for preparing and reporting the measurement report, as illustrated in blocks 1140 and 1150.

[0184] At block 1140, if reader device 1030 cannot derive a one-way channel impulse response (i.e., a second channel impulse response) based on the round-trip channel impulse response (i.e., the first channel impulse response), or if management device 1020 so instructs reader device 1030 according to the measurement configuration message from phase 1110, the measurement report may include the first channel impulse response as the reported channel impulse response. At phase 1142, reader device 1030 may send a measurement report reporting the round-trip channel impulse response to management device 1020. At phase 1144, management device 1020 may determine the one-way channel impulse response (i.e., the second channel impulse response) based on the round-trip channel impulse response (i.e., the first channel impulse response).

[0185] At block 1150, if reader device 1030 is able to derive a one-way channel impulse response (i.e., a second channel impulse response) based on the round-trip channel impulse response (i.e., the first channel impulse response), or if reader device 1030 is able to, and is so instructed by management device 1020 according to the measurement configuration message from stage 1110, then reader device 1030 may determine 1152 the one-way channel impulse response (i.e., the second channel impulse response) based on the round-trip channel impulse response (i.e., the first channel impulse response). Reader device 1030 may send a measurement report to management device 1020 at stage 1154, which may include the second channel impulse response as the reported channel impulse response.

[0186] In some aspects, the channel impulse response included in the measurement report can be reported based on the reporting format specified in the communication standard for reporting additional path information. In some aspects, the channel impulse response included in the measurement report can be reported based on a newly designed (or dedicated) reporting format different from the reporting format used for reporting additional path information. In some aspects, each tap (or path) of the reported channel impulse response can be complex. In some aspects, the reported channel impulse response can be reported as including attributes such as, for each tap or path, time values ​​(e.g., indicating the time difference with the estimated LOS path), two tap values ​​(e.g., indicating the amplitude and phase, gain or phase, or real and imaginary parts of each tap), or any subset of these attributes.

[0187] In some aspects, the measurement report may include an indicator that indicates whether the reported channel impulse response is a one-way impulse response corresponding to a first propagation channel or a second propagation channel (e.g., an indicator with a value of "1") or a round-trip channel impulse response corresponding to a combination of the first and second propagation channels (e.g., an indicator with a value of "0").

[0188] In some respects, as illustrated above, the determination of the second channel impulse response can be based on equation h.sup (t) = h bck (t) h bck (t), where h sup (t) can represent the first channel impulse response (e.g., the superimposed channel impulse response), and h bck (t) can represent the second channel impulse response (e.g., the backscatter channel impulse response). In some aspects, the second channel impulse response can be determined based on a deconvolution process. In some aspects, the deconvolution process may include a successive tap cancellation process.

[0189] In some respects, the environmental device 1010 (and / or the reader device 1030) may cause some errors and mismatches to the incident channel impulse response and the backscattered channel impulse response, such as increasing group delay or introducing some frequency selectivity. In some respects of this scenario, the reader device 1030 may attempt to compensate for these errors and mismatches when determining the unidirectional channel impulse response based on the round-trip channel impulse response.

[0190] For example, the second channel impulse response can be determined based on equation h. sup (t) = h bck (t) h bck (t) + e(t), where e(t) represents the estimated effect of frequency shift, delay, or both caused by environmental device 1010. In some aspects, reader device 1030 may determine the second channel impulse response (e.g., backscatter channel impulse response) based on mathematical estimation, compensation, and minimization of the factor e(t).

[0191] In some respects, the steps illustrated in process flowchart 1100 are applicable to reader device 1030 and ambient device 1010 operating in both FDX and HDX modes. In some respects, reader device 1030 operating in HDX mode may further report additional taps / paths and / or measurements at stage 1154, which are included in the round-trip channel impulse response but are not considered or included as part of the unidirectional channel impulse response.

[0192] Figure 12 This is a flowchart illustrating a method 1200 for operating a wireless communication device according to various aspects of the present disclosure. In some aspects, the wireless communication device in method 1200 may correspond to... Figure 10A and Figure 11 The reader device 1030 in the middle. In some aspects, the reader device 1030 may correspond to Figure 9AThe base station 920 (such as the base station described herein or any of the TRPs); and method 1200 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 450, one or more network transceivers 480, one or more processors 484, memory 486 and / or environment components 488, any or all of which may be considered as components for performing one or more of the following operations of method 1200. In some aspects, reader device 1030 may correspond to Figure 9B The intermediate node 930 (such as any UE, or relay, IAB node or repeater); and method 1200 may be executed by one or more WWAN transceivers 410, one or more processors 442, memory 440 and / or environment components 448, any or all of which may be considered as components for performing one or more of the following operations of method 1200.

[0193] At operation 1210, the wireless communication device (e.g., reader device 1030) may transmit a first reference signal. In some aspects, operation 1210 may correspond to Figure 11 Phase 1122. In some aspects, the first reference signal may be a PRS, SRS, or a dedicated reference signal for a backscatter-based positioning process. In some aspects, operation 1210 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 450, one or more processors 484, memory 486, and / or environment components 488, any or all of which may be considered as components for performing operation 1210. In some aspects, operation 1210 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 410, one or more processors 442, memory 440, and / or environment components 448, any or all of which may be considered as components for performing operation 1210.

[0194] At operation 1220, the wireless communication device can receive a second reference signal in response to the first reference signal. In some aspects, the first reference signal and the second reference signal may have the same operating frequency. In some aspects, operation 1220 may correspond to... Figure 11In stage 1124. In some aspects, the first reference signal may be sent to an environmental device (e.g., environmental device 1010), and the second reference signal may originate from the environmental device. In some aspects, the second reference signal may be a backscatter response signal sent by the environmental device 1010 based on backscattering the first reference signal. In some aspects, operation 1220 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 450, one or more processors 484, memory 486, and / or environmental components 488, any one or all of which may be considered as components for performing operation 1220. In some aspects, operation 1220 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 410, one or more processors 442, memory 440, and / or environmental components 448, any one or all of which may be considered as components for performing operation 1220.

[0195] At operation 1230, the wireless communication device may determine a first channel impulse response (e.g., a round-trip pulse channel impulse response or a superimposed pulse channel impulse response illustrated above) based on a first reference signal and a second reference signal. In some aspects, operation 1230 may correspond to Figure 11 Phase 1130. In some aspects, the first channel impulse response may correspond to a combination of a first propagation channel from the wireless communication device to the environmental device and a second propagation channel from the environmental device to the wireless communication device. In some aspects, operation 1230 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 450, one or more processors 484, memory 486, and / or environmental components 488, any or all of which may be considered as components for performing operation 1230. In some aspects, operation 1230 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 410, one or more processors 442, memory 440, and / or environmental components 448, any or all of which may be considered as components for performing operation 1230.

[0196] At operation 1240, the wireless communication device can generate a measurement report for output, which includes a channel impulse response based on a first channel impulse response and indicating multiple propagation paths observable from a second reference signal. In some aspects, operation 1240 may correspond to Figure 11 Box 1140 or box 1150 in the diagram. In some aspects, operation 1240 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 450, one or more processors 484, memory 486, and / or environment components 488, any one or all of which may be considered as components for performing operation 1240. In some aspects, operation 1240 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 410, one or more processors 442, memory 440, and / or environment components 448, any one or all of which may be considered as components for performing operation 1240.

[0197] In some aspects, as illustrated based on box 1140, the measurement report may include a first channel impulse response as the reported channel impulse response. In some aspects, the measurement report may include an indicator indicating that the reported channel impulse response is a round-trip channel impulse response corresponding to a combination of a first propagation channel and a second propagation channel.

[0198] In some aspects, as illustrated based on block 1150, method 1200 may further include determining a second channel impulse response based on a first channel impulse response, wherein the second channel impulse response may be a unidirectional channel impulse response corresponding to a first propagation channel or a second propagation channel. In some aspects, the measurement report includes the second channel impulse response as the reported channel impulse response. In some aspects, the measurement report includes an indicator indicating that the reported channel impulse response is a unidirectional channel impulse response corresponding to a first propagation channel or a second propagation channel.

[0199] In some respects, the determination of the second channel impulse response can be based on equation h. sup (t) = h bck (t) h bck (t), where h sup (t) represents the first channel impulse response, and h bck (t) represents the second channel impulse response. In some respects, the second channel impulse response can be determined based on the deconvolution process.

[0200] In some respects, the determination of the second channel impulse response can be based on equation h. sup (t) = h bck (t) h bck (t) + e(t), where h sup (t) represents the first channel impulse response, h bck e(t) represents the second channel impulse response, and e(t) represents the estimated effect of frequency shift, delay, or both caused by environmental devices.

[0201] In some aspects, method 1200 may include receiving a measurement configuration message from a management device before sending a measurement report, the measurement configuration message indicating that the channel impulse response of the report included in the measurement report is (i) a round-trip channel impulse response corresponding to a combination of a first propagation channel and a second propagation channel, or (ii) a one-way channel impulse response corresponding to either the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel. In some aspects, method 1200 may include sending the measurement report to the management device based on the measurement configuration message.

[0202] In some aspects, method 1200 may include receiving from a management device a capability query regarding whether a wireless communication device is capable of determining a second channel impulse response based on a first channel impulse response, wherein the second channel impulse response is a unidirectional channel impulse response corresponding to either a first propagation channel or a second propagation channel. In some aspects, method 1200 may include sending a capability response to the management device in response to the capability query.

[0203] As will be understood, the technical advantage of method 1200 is that it allows a wireless communication device (e.g., reader device 1030) to report additional path information about the propagation channel between the wireless communication device and an environmental device based on a unidirectional channel impulse response (e.g., with N(N+1) / 2 taps) extracted from the round-trip channel impulse response (e.g., with N(N+1) / 2 taps). Therefore, reporting the unidirectional channel impulse response reduces reporting overhead compared to reporting the round-trip channel impulse response in a measurement report.

[0204] As can be seen in the detailed description above, different features are grouped together in the examples. This manner of disclosure should not be construed as an intention to have more features than those explicitly mentioned in each clause. Rather, the various aspects of this disclosure may include fewer features than those in the individual example clauses disclosed. Therefore, the following clauses should be regarded accordingly as incorporated into the description, where each clause may serve as a separate example. Although each dependent clause may refer in the clause to a specific combination with one of the other clauses, the aspect of that dependent clause is not limited to that specific combination. It should be understood that other example clauses may also include combinations of aspects of a dependent clause with the subject matter of any other dependent or independent clause, or combinations of any feature with other dependent and independent clauses. The various aspects disclosed herein explicitly include these combinations unless explicitly stated or readily inferred that a particular combination is not intended for use (e.g., contradictory aspects, such as defining an element as both an electrical insulator and an electrical conductor). Furthermore, it is contemplated that aspects of a clause may be included in any other independent clause, even if that clause does not directly depend on the independent clause.

[0205] Specific implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0206] Clause 1. A method of operating a wireless communication device, the method comprising: transmitting a first reference signal; receiving a second reference signal in response to the first reference signal, the first reference signal and the second reference signal having the same operating frequency; determining a first channel impulse response based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal; and generating a measurement report for output, the measurement report including a channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response and indicating a plurality of propagation paths observable from the second reference signal.

[0207] Clause 2. The method according to Clause 1, wherein: the first channel impulse response is a round-trip channel impulse response corresponding to a combination of a first propagation channel from the wireless communication device to the ambient device and a second propagation channel from the ambient device to the wireless communication device.

[0208] Clause 3. The method according to Clause 2, wherein the measurement report includes the first channel impulse response as the channel impulse response of the report.

[0209] Clause 4. The method according to Clause 3, wherein the measurement report includes an indicator indicating that the channel impulse response of the report is the round-trip channel impulse response.

[0210] Clause 5. The method according to Clause 2, the method further comprising: determining a second channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response, the second channel impulse response being a unidirectional channel impulse response corresponding to the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel, wherein the measurement report includes the second channel impulse response as the channel impulse response of the report.

[0211] Clause 6. The method according to Clause 5, wherein the measurement report includes an indicator indicating that the channel impulse response of the report is the one-way channel impulse response.

[0212] Clause 7. The method according to any one of Clauses 5 to 6, wherein the determination of the second channel impulse response is based on the following equation: h sup (t) = h bck (t) h bck (t), where h sup (t) represents the impulse response of the first channel, and h bck (t) represents the impulse response of the second channel.

[0213] Clause 8. The method according to Clause 7, wherein the second channel impulse response is determined based on a deconvolution process.

[0214] Clause 9. The method according to any one of Clauses 5 to 6, wherein the determination of the second channel impulse response is based on the following equation: h sup (t) = h bck (t) h bck (t) + e(t), where h sup (t) represents the impulse response of the first channel, h bck e(t) represents the second channel impulse response, and e(t) represents the estimated effect of frequency shift, delay, or both caused by the environmental device.

[0215] Clause 10. The method according to any one of Clauses 2 to 9, further comprising: receiving a measurement configuration message from a management device before sending the measurement report, the measurement configuration message indicating that the channel impulse response of the report included in the measurement report is: the round-trip channel impulse response corresponding to the combination of the first propagation channel and the second propagation channel, or the one-way channel impulse response corresponding to the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel; and sending the measurement report to the management device based on the measurement configuration message.

[0216] Clause 11. The method according to any one of Clauses 2 to 10, the method further comprising: receiving from a management device a capability query regarding whether the wireless communication device is capable of determining a second channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response, the second channel impulse response being a unidirectional channel impulse response corresponding to the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel; and sending a capability response to the management device in response to the capability query.

[0217] Clause 12. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 11, wherein: the first reference signal is transmitted to an environmental device, and the second reference signal is received from the environmental device based on backscattering of the first reference signal.

[0218] Clause 13. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 12, wherein: the wireless communication device is an intermediate user equipment (UE) and configured to send the measurement report to a base station, or the wireless communication device is a transmit-receive point (TRP) and configured to send the measurement report to a location server.

[0219] Clause 14. A wireless communication device comprising: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors being individually or in combination configured to: transmit a first reference signal via the one or more transceivers; receive a second reference signal responsive to the first reference signal via the one or more transceivers, the first reference signal and the second reference signal having the same operating frequency; determine a first channel impulse response based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal; and generate a measurement report for output, the measurement report including a channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response and indicating a plurality of propagation paths observable from the second reference signal.

[0220] Clause 15. The wireless communication device according to Clause 14, wherein: the first channel impulse response is a round-trip channel impulse response corresponding to a combination of a first propagation channel from the wireless communication device to an ambient device and a second propagation channel from the ambient device to the wireless communication device.

[0221] Clause 16. The wireless communication device according to Clause 15, wherein the measurement report includes the first channel impulse response as the channel impulse response of the report.

[0222] Clause 17. The wireless communication device according to Clause 16, wherein the measurement report includes an indicator indicating that the channel impulse response of the report is the round-trip channel impulse response.

[0223] Clause 18. The wireless communication device according to Clause 15, wherein the one or more processors are individually or in combination further configured to: determine a second channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response, the second channel impulse response being a unidirectional channel impulse response corresponding to the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel, wherein the measurement report includes the second channel impulse response as the channel impulse response of the report.

[0224] Clause 19. The wireless communication device according to Clause 18, wherein the measurement report includes an indicator indicating that the channel impulse response of the report is the one-way channel impulse response.

[0225] Clause 20. The wireless communication device according to any one of Clauses 18 to 19, wherein the second channel impulse response is determined based on the following equation: h sup (t) = h bck (t) h bck (t), where h sup (t) represents the impulse response of the first channel, and h bck (t) represents the impulse response of the second channel.

[0226] Clause 21. The wireless communication device according to Clause 20, wherein the second channel impulse response is determined based on a deconvolution process.

[0227] Clause 22. The wireless communication device according to any one of Clauses 18 to 19, wherein the second channel impulse response is determined based on the following equation: h sup (t) = h bck (t) h bck (t) + e(t), where h sup (t) represents the impulse response of the first channel, h bcke(t) represents the second channel impulse response, and e(t) represents the estimated effect of frequency shift, delay, or both caused by the environmental device.

[0228] Clause 23. A wireless communication device according to any one of Clauses 15 to 22, wherein the one or more processors are further configured individually or in combination to: receive a measurement configuration message from a management device via the one or more transceivers before transmitting the measurement report, the measurement configuration message indicating that the channel impulse response of the report included in the measurement report is: the round-trip channel impulse response corresponding to the combination of the first propagation channel and the second propagation channel, or the one-way channel impulse response corresponding to the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel; and transmit the measurement report to the management device via the one or more transceivers based on the measurement configuration message.

[0229] Clause 24. The wireless communication device according to any one of Clauses 15 to 23, wherein the one or more processors are further configured individually or in combination to: receive from a management device via the one or more transceivers a capability query regarding whether the wireless communication device is capable of determining a second channel impulse response based on a first channel impulse response, the second channel impulse response being a unidirectional channel impulse response corresponding to the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel; and transmit a capability response to the management device via the one or more transceivers in response to the capability query.

[0230] Clause 25. A wireless communication device according to any one of Clauses 14 to 24, wherein: the first reference signal is transmitted to an ambient device, and the second reference signal is derived from the ambient device based on backscattering of the first reference signal.

[0231] Clause 26. A wireless communication device according to any one of Clauses 14 to 25, wherein: the wireless communication device is an intermediate user equipment (UE) and configured to send the measurement report to a base station, or the wireless communication device is a transmit-receive point (TRP) and configured to send the measurement report to a location server.

[0232] Clause 27. A wireless communication device comprising: means for transmitting a first reference signal; means for receiving a second reference signal responsive to the first reference signal, the first reference signal and the second reference signal having the same operating frequency; means for determining a first channel impulse response based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal; and means for generating a measurement report for output, the measurement report including a channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response and indicating a plurality of propagation paths observable from the second reference signal.

[0233] Clause 28. The wireless communication device according to Clause 27, wherein: the first channel impulse response is a round-trip channel impulse response corresponding to a combination of a first propagation channel from the wireless communication device to an ambient device and a second propagation channel from the ambient device to the wireless communication device.

[0234] Clause 29. The wireless communication device according to Clause 28, wherein the measurement report includes the first channel impulse response as the channel impulse response of the report.

[0235] Clause 30. The wireless communication device according to Clause 29, wherein the measurement report includes an indicator indicating that the channel impulse response of the report is the round-trip channel impulse response.

[0236] Clause 31. The wireless communication device according to Clause 28, the wireless communication device further comprising: a component for determining a second channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response, the second channel impulse response being a unidirectional channel impulse response corresponding to the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel, wherein the measurement report includes the second channel impulse response as the channel impulse response of the report.

[0237] Clause 32. The wireless communication device according to Clause 31, wherein the measurement report includes an indicator indicating that the channel impulse response of the report is the one-way channel impulse response.

[0238] Clause 33. The wireless communication device according to any one of Clauses 31 to 32, wherein the second channel impulse response is determined based on the following equation: h sup (t) = h bck (t) h bck (t), where h sup (t) represents the impulse response of the first channel, and h bck (t) represents the impulse response of the second channel.

[0239] Clause 34. The wireless communication device according to Clause 33, wherein the second channel impulse response is determined based on a deconvolution process.

[0240] Clause 35. The wireless communication device according to any one of Clauses 31 to 32, wherein the second channel impulse response is determined based on the following equation: h sup (t) = h bck (t) h bck (t) + e(t), where h sup(t) represents the impulse response of the first channel, h bck e(t) represents the second channel impulse response, and e(t) represents the estimated effect of frequency shift, delay, or both caused by the environmental device.

[0241] Clause 36. The wireless communication device according to any one of Clauses 28 to 35, further comprising: a component for receiving a measurement configuration message from a management device before transmitting the measurement report, the measurement configuration message indicating that the channel impulse response of the report included in the measurement report is: the round-trip channel impulse response corresponding to the combination of the first propagation channel and the second propagation channel, or the one-way channel impulse response corresponding to the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel; and a component for transmitting the measurement report to the management device based on the measurement configuration message.

[0242] Clause 37. The wireless communication device according to any one of Clauses 28 to 36, the wireless communication device further comprising: means for receiving from a management device a capability query regarding whether the wireless communication device is capable of determining a second channel impulse response based on a first channel impulse response, the second channel impulse response being a unidirectional channel impulse response corresponding to the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel; and means for sending a capability response to the management device in response to the capability query.

[0243] Clause 38. A wireless communication device according to any one of Clauses 27 to 37, wherein: the first reference signal is transmitted to an ambient device, and the second reference signal is received from the ambient device based on backscattering of the first reference signal.

[0244] Clause 39. A wireless communication device according to any one of Clauses 27 to 38, wherein: the wireless communication device is an intermediate user equipment (UE) and configured to send the measurement report to a base station, or the wireless communication device is a transmit-receive point (TRP) and configured to send the measurement report to a location server.

[0245] Clause 40. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: transmit a first reference signal; receive a second reference signal in response to the first reference signal, the first reference signal and the second reference signal having the same operating frequency; determine a first channel impulse response based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal; and generate a measurement report for output, the measurement report including a channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response and indicating a plurality of propagation paths observable from the second reference signal.

[0246] Clause 41. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to Clause 40, wherein: the first channel impulse response is a round-trip channel impulse response corresponding to a combination of a first propagation channel from the wireless communication device to an ambient device and a second propagation channel from the ambient device to the wireless communication device.

[0247] Clause 42. The non-transitory computer-readable medium pursuant to Clause 41, wherein the measurement report includes the first channel impulse response as the channel impulse response of the report.

[0248] Clause 43. The non-transitory computer-readable medium pursuant to Clause 42, wherein the measurement report includes an indicator indicating that the channel impulse response of the report is the round-trip channel impulse response.

[0249] Clause 44. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to Clause 41 further includes computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: determine a second channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response, the second channel impulse response being a unidirectional channel impulse response corresponding to the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel, wherein the measurement report includes the second channel impulse response as the channel impulse response of the report.

[0250] Clause 45. The non-transitory computer-readable medium pursuant to Clause 44, wherein the measurement report includes an indicator indicating that the channel impulse response of the report is the one-way channel impulse response.

[0251] Clause 46. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 44 to 45, wherein the second channel impulse response is determined based on the following equation: h sup (t) = h bck (t) h bck (t), where h sup(t) represents the impulse response of the first channel, and h bck (t) represents the impulse response of the second channel.

[0252] Clause 47. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Clause 46, wherein the second channel impulse response is determined based on a deconvolution process.

[0253] Clause 48. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 44 to 45, wherein the second channel impulse response is determined based on the following equation: h sup (t) = h bck (t) h bck (t) + e(t), where h sup (t) represents the impulse response of the first channel, h bck e(t) represents the second channel impulse response, and e(t) represents the estimated effect of frequency shift, delay, or both caused by the environmental device.

[0254] Clause 49. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 41 to 48, the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: receive a measurement configuration message from a management device before transmitting the measurement report, the measurement configuration message indicating that the channel impulse response of the report included in the measurement report is: the round-trip channel impulse response corresponding to the combination of the first propagation channel and the second propagation channel, or the one-way channel impulse response corresponding to the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel; and transmit the measurement report to the management device based on the measurement configuration message.

[0255] Clause 50. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 41 to 49, the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: receive from a management device a capability query regarding whether the wireless communication device is capable of determining a second channel impulse response based on a first channel impulse response, the second channel impulse response being a unidirectional channel impulse response corresponding to either the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel; and send a capability response to the management device in response to the capability query.

[0256] Clause 51. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 40 to 50, wherein: the first reference signal is transmitted to an ambient device, and the second reference signal is received from the ambient device based on backscattering of the first reference signal.

[0257] Clause 52. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 40 to 51, wherein: the wireless communication device is an intermediate user equipment (UE) and configured to transmit the measurement report to a base station, or the wireless communication device is a transmit-receive point (TRP) and configured to transmit the measurement report to a location server.

[0258] Those skilled in the art will understand that information and signals can be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and arts. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the above description can be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof.

[0259] Furthermore, those skilled in the art will understand that the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability between hardware and software, various exemplary components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above in general terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality in different ways for each specific application, but such specific implementation decisions should not be construed as departing from the scope of this disclosure.

[0260] The various exemplary logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed using a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic components, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in alternative embodiments, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors combined with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0261] The methods, sequences, and / or algorithms described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or a combination of both. The software module may reside in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disks, removable disks, CD-ROMs, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. Example storage media are coupled to a processor such that the processor can read information from and write information to the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be integral with the processor. The processor and storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., a UE). Alternatively, the processor and storage medium may reside as discrete components in the user terminal.

[0262] In one or more examples, the described functionality may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functionality may be stored as one or more instructions or code on or transmitted via a computer-readable medium. A computer-readable medium includes both computer storage media and communication media, including any medium that facilitates the transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage medium may be any available medium accessible to a computer. By way of example and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disc storage devices, disk storage devices or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and is accessible to a computer. Furthermore, any connection is appropriately referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included within the definition of a medium. As used herein, disks and optical discs include: compact optical discs (CDs), laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs (DVDs), floppy disks, and Blu-ray discs. Disks typically reproduce data magnetically, while optical discs reproduce data optically using lasers. Combinations of these should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0263] While the foregoing disclosure illustrates exemplary aspects of this disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the scope of this disclosure as defined by the appended claims. For example, the functions, steps, and / or actions of the method claims according to aspects of this disclosure described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, no component, function, action, or instruction described or claimed herein should be construed as critical or essential unless explicitly stated otherwise. Additionally, as used herein, the terms “set,” “group,” etc., are intended to include one or more of the stated elements. Furthermore, as used herein, the terms “having,” “comprising,” “including,” etc., do not exclude the presence of one or more additional elements (e.g., element “having” A may also have B). Furthermore, the phrase “based on” is intended to mean “at least partially based on” unless otherwise explicitly stated. Furthermore, as used herein, the term “or” is intended to be open-ended when used in a series and is interchangeable with “and / or” unless otherwise explicitly stated (e.g., if used in conjunction with “any” or “only one”), or these alternatives are mutually exclusive (e.g., “one or more” should not be interpreted as “one and more”). Additionally, although components, functions, actions, and instructions may be described or claimed in the singular, plural forms may also be considered unless explicitly stated to be limited to the singular. Therefore, as used herein, the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” and “described” are intended to include one or more of the stated elements. Additionally, as used herein, the terms “at least one” and “one or more” include “one” component, function, action, or instruction that performs or is capable of performing the described or claimed functionality, and also include “two or more” components, functions, actions, or instructions that perform or are capable of performing the described or claimed functionality in combination.

Claims

1. A method for operating a wireless communication device, the method comprising: Send the first reference signal; Receive a second reference signal in response to the first reference signal, wherein the first reference signal and the second reference signal have the same operating frequency; The first channel impulse response is determined based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal; as well as A measurement report is generated for output, the measurement report including a channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response and indicating multiple propagation paths that can be observed from the second reference signal.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first channel impulse response is a round-trip channel impulse response corresponding to a combination of a first propagation channel from the wireless communication device to the ambient device and a second propagation channel from the ambient device to the wireless communication device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the measurement report includes the first channel impulse response as the channel impulse response of the report.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the measurement report includes an indicator indicating that the channel impulse response of the report is the round-trip channel impulse response.

5. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: The second channel impulse response is determined based on the first channel impulse response, and the second channel impulse response is a unidirectional channel impulse response corresponding to either the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel. The measurement report includes the second channel impulse response as the channel impulse response of the report.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the measurement report includes an indicator indicating that the channel impulse response of the report is the one-way channel impulse response.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the second channel impulse response is determined based on the following equation: h sup h(t) = h bck (t) h bck (t), where h sup (t) represents the impulse response of the first channel, and h bck (t) represents the impulse response of the second channel.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second channel impulse response is determined based on a deconvolution process.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the second channel impulse response is determined based on the following equation: h sup h(t) = bck h(t) h bck (t) + e(t), where h sup (t) represents the impulse response of the first channel. h bck (t) represents the impulse response of the second channel, and e(t) represents the estimated effect of frequency shift, delay, or both caused by the environmental equipment.

10. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: Before sending the measurement report, a measurement configuration message is received from the management device, the measurement configuration message indicating that the channel impulse response of the report included in the measurement report is: The round-trip channel impulse response corresponding to the combination of the first propagation channel and the second propagation channel, or The one-way channel impulse response corresponding to the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel; as well as The measurement report is sent to the management device based on the measurement configuration message.

11. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: The system receives a query from the management device regarding the ability of the wireless communication device to determine a second channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response, wherein the second channel impulse response is a unidirectional channel impulse response corresponding to either the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel. as well as In response to the capability query, a capability response is sent to the management device.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first reference signal is sent to the environmental device, and The second reference signal is derived from the environmental device based on backscattering of the first reference signal.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The wireless communication device is an intermediate user equipment (UE) and is configured to send the measurement report to the base station, or The wireless communication device is a transmit-receive point (TRP) and is configured to send the measurement report to the location server.

14. A wireless communication device, the wireless communication device comprising: One or more memory units; One or more transceivers; and One or more processors, communicatively coupled to one or more memories and one or more transceivers, wherein the one or more processors are configured individually or in combination to: A first reference signal is transmitted via the one or more transceivers; A second reference signal in response to the first reference signal is received via the one or more transceivers, wherein the first reference signal and the second reference signal have the same operating frequency; The first channel impulse response is determined based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal; as well as A measurement report is generated for output, the measurement report including a channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response and indicating multiple propagation paths that can be observed from the second reference signal.

15. The wireless communication device according to claim 14, wherein: The first channel impulse response is a round-trip channel impulse response corresponding to a combination of a first propagation channel from the wireless communication device to the ambient device and a second propagation channel from the ambient device to the wireless communication device.

16. The wireless communication device of claim 15, wherein the measurement report includes the first channel impulse response as the channel impulse response of the report.

17. The wireless communication device of claim 15, wherein the one or more processors are further configured individually or in combination to: The second channel impulse response is determined based on the first channel impulse response, and the second channel impulse response is a unidirectional channel impulse response corresponding to either the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel. The measurement report includes the second channel impulse response as the channel impulse response of the report.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by a wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: Send the first reference signal; Receive a second reference signal in response to the first reference signal, wherein the first reference signal and the second reference signal have the same operating frequency; The first channel impulse response is determined based on the first reference signal and the second reference signal; as well as A measurement report is generated for output, the measurement report including a channel impulse response based on the first channel impulse response and indicating multiple propagation paths that can be observed from the second reference signal.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 18, wherein: The first channel impulse response is a round-trip channel impulse response corresponding to a combination of a first propagation channel from the wireless communication device to the ambient device and a second propagation channel from the ambient device to the wireless communication device.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to: The second channel impulse response is determined based on the first channel impulse response, and the second channel impulse response is a unidirectional channel impulse response corresponding to either the first propagation channel or the second propagation channel. The measurement report includes the second channel impulse response as the channel impulse response of the report.

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