A method and device for estimating arrival time based on non-continuous spectrum

Abstract

A method and apparatus for estimating time of arrival based on a non-continuous spectrum comprises: receiving multiple signals from a transmitter on multiple frequency bands; determining the channel frequency impulse response (CFR) of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals based on the multiple signals; and determining the CFR of the full bandwidth based on the CFR of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals. The full bandwidth includes multiple frequency bands, the frequency domain range of the full bandwidth is the same as the frequency domain range of the multiple signals at the transmitter, and there is an interval frequency band between each two adjacent frequency bands in the multiple frequency bands. The CFR values ​​of the full bandwidth in the multiple frequency bands are the values ​​of the CFRs corresponding to the multiple frequency bands, and the CFR value of the full bandwidth in the interval frequency band is zero. Based on the CFR of the full bandwidth, an estimated time of arrival is determined, and the estimated time of arrival is used to determine the location information of the terminal device. By mapping the CFRs of the multiple frequency bands to the CFR of the full bandwidth, which has the same frequency domain range as the transmitter, the phase relationship between the CFRs of different frequency bands is reconstructed, thereby achieving full-bandwidth coherent TOA estimation.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a method and device for estimating arrival time based on a non-continuous spectrum. Background Art

[0002] Time of arrival (TOA) estimation technology is one of the key technologies for cellular positioning. The terminal device can measure the TOA of downlink reference signals from different network devices and send them to each network device; alternatively, the terminal device can send uplink reference signals to different network devices, and the different network devices measure the TOA of the uplink reference signals. Ultimately, the positional relationship between the terminal device and the different network devices can be obtained, thereby enabling the location of the terminal device. The TOA estimation accuracy determines the positioning accuracy of the terminal device, and the TOA estimation accuracy is limited by the effective bandwidth of the reference signal. For example, the maximum bandwidth of a single carrier in the low-frequency band FR1 of the fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) frequency range (FR) is 100MHz, and the TOA estimation accuracy is limited.

[0003] One approach to overcoming bandwidth limitations is discontinuous spectrum transmission, which involves mapping a fixed-bandwidth reference signal to different frequency bands for transmission. However, improving the gain of TOA estimation using discontinuous spectrum remains a challenge. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The present application provides a method for estimating the time of arrival (TOA) based on a non-continuous spectrum, so as to improve the TOA estimation gain of the non-continuous spectrum.

[0005] In a first aspect, a method for estimating arrival time based on a non-contiguous spectrum is provided. The method can be performed by a receiving end, where the receiving end can be a terminal device and the transmitting end can be a network device; or the receiving end can be a network device and the transmitting end can be a terminal device. The method can be performed by the receiving end or by a component of the receiving end (e.g., a processor, chip, or chip system). The method can be implemented by the following steps: receiving multiple signals from a transmitting end on multiple frequency bands, where the multiple frequency bands correspond one-to-one to the multiple signals; determining, based on the multiple signals, a channel frequency impulse response (CFR) of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; determining, based on the CFRs of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals, a full bandwidth CFR, where the full bandwidth includes the multiple frequency bands, and the frequency domain range of the full bandwidth is the same as the frequency domain range of the multiple signals at the transmitting end; there is an interval frequency band between each two adjacent frequency bands in the multiple frequency bands, the CFR of the full bandwidth in the multiple frequency bands is the value of the CFR corresponding to the multiple frequency bands, and the CFR of the full bandwidth in the interval frequency band is zero; and determining an arrival time estimate based on the full bandwidth CFR, where the arrival time estimate is used to determine the location information of the terminal device. By mapping the CFRs of multiple frequency bands to the full-bandwidth CFRs that share the same frequency domain as the transmitter, the phase relationship between the CFRs of different frequency bands is reconstructed, enabling full-bandwidth coherent TOA estimation. This method effectively avoids frequency-selective channel characteristics and sidelobe interference caused by discontinuous spectrum, achieving full-bandwidth cross-frequency gain. Furthermore, it reduces the frequency domain resources occupied by the signal, improving spectrum efficiency for data transmission.

[0006] In one possible design, determining the channel frequency impulse response (CFR) of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals based on the multiple signals can be achieved by the following steps: determining a coarse delay estimate for the entire bandwidth based on the multiple signals; determining a filtering window based on the coarse delay estimate for the entire bandwidth, and filtering the channel impulse responses for the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals according to the filtering window to obtain multiple filtered channel impulse responses; and performing frequency domain transformation on the multiple filtered channel impulse responses to obtain the CFR of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals. Time domain filtering can effectively filter out non-line of sight (NLoS) paths, reducing the impact of NLoS paths on TOA estimation of line of sight (LoS).

[0007] In one possible design, determining a coarse delay estimate for the entire bandwidth based on the multiple signals can be achieved by the following steps: performing channel estimation on each of the multiple signals to obtain channel impulse responses for the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; performing coarse delay estimation based on the channel impulse responses for the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals to obtain multiple coarse delay estimates, wherein the multiple coarse delay estimates correspond one-to-one with the channel impulse responses for the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; and determining a coarse delay estimate for the entire bandwidth based on the multiple coarse delay estimates. By independently estimating the coarse delay values ​​for multiple frequency bands, channel diversity gain can be obtained, thereby improving the robustness of the coarse delay estimation.

[0008] In one possible design, the full-bandwidth coarse delay estimate is the coarse delay estimate corresponding to one of the multiple frequency bands; alternatively, the full-bandwidth coarse delay estimate is a weighted combination of some or all of the coarse delay estimates corresponding to the multiple frequency bands. Independent coarse delay estimation for multiple frequency bands and selective merging can effectively eliminate coarse experimental estimates with large errors. For similar coarse delay estimates, weighted merging can further improve the accuracy of the coarse estimate.

[0009] In one possible design, determining an arrival time estimate based on the full-bandwidth CFR can be achieved by segmenting the full-bandwidth CFR to obtain multiple subsequences, each of which contains a portion of the CFR for each of the multiple frequency bands; and determining the arrival time estimate based on the multiple subsequences. By segmenting the full-bandwidth CFR sequence, and ensuring that the subsequences cover each frequency band, sudden interference can be effectively avoided, preventing the impact of sudden degraded data on the estimation result.

[0010] In one possible design, determining the arrival time estimate based on the multiple subsequences can be achieved by the following steps: determining the autocorrelation matrix corresponding to each subsequence in the multiple subsequences to obtain multiple autocorrelation matrices corresponding to the multiple subsequences; determining the delay corresponding to the peak point of the channel delay pseudo-spectrum based on the multiple autocorrelation matrices; and determining the arrival time estimate based on the delay.

[0011] In one possible design, the random phase difference between the full-bandwidth CFR value in the first frequency band and the value in the second frequency band is compensated based on the phase correction values ​​of the first frequency band and the second frequency band. This phase compensation can avoid the impact of inherent phase differences between different RF links on TOA estimation.

[0012] In a second aspect, a device is provided, which may be a terminal device, or a device in a terminal device (for example, a chip, or a chip system, or a circuit), or a device that can be used in conjunction with a terminal device. In one design, the device may include a module that performs the method / operation / step / action described in the first aspect, and the module may be a hardware circuit, or software, or a combination of a hardware circuit and software. In one design, the device may include a processing module and a communication module. The processing module is used to call the communication module to perform the functions of receiving and / or sending. The processing module can be further divided into a first processing module and a second processing module. For example:

[0013] A communication module is used to receive multiple signals from a transmitting end on multiple frequency bands, and the multiple frequency bands correspond one-to-one to the multiple signals; a first processing module is used to determine the channel frequency impulse response (CFR) of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals based on the multiple signals; and is used to determine the CFR of the full bandwidth based on the CFR of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals, the full bandwidth includes the multiple frequency bands, and the frequency domain range of the full bandwidth is the same as the frequency domain range of the multiple signals at the transmitting end; there is an interval frequency band between every two adjacent frequency bands in the multiple frequency bands, the value of the CFR of the full bandwidth in the multiple frequency bands is the value of the CFR corresponding to the multiple frequency bands, and the value of the CFR of the full bandwidth in the interval frequency band is zero; a second processing module is used to determine an arrival time estimate based on the CFR of the full bandwidth, and the arrival time estimate is used to determine the location information of the terminal device.

[0014] In one possible design, when determining the channel frequency impulse response CFR of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals based on the multiple signals, the first processing module is used to: determine the coarse delay estimate value of the full bandwidth based on the multiple signals; determine the filtering window based on the coarse delay estimate value of the full bandwidth, and filter the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals according to the filtering window to obtain multiple filtered channel impulse responses; and perform frequency domain transformation on the multiple filtered channel impulse responses to obtain the CFR of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals.

[0015] In one possible design, when determining a coarse delay estimate value for the entire bandwidth based on the multiple signals, the first processing module is used to: perform channel estimation on each of the multiple signals to obtain channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; perform coarse delay estimation based on the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals to obtain multiple coarse delay estimation values, and the multiple coarse delay estimation values ​​correspond one-to-one to the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; and determine the coarse delay estimate value for the entire bandwidth based on the multiple coarse delay estimation values.

[0016] In one possible design, the coarse delay estimate value for the entire bandwidth is the coarse delay estimate value corresponding to one of the multiple frequency bands; or, the coarse delay estimate value for the entire bandwidth is a weighted combination of some or all of the coarse delay estimate values ​​corresponding to the multiple frequency bands.

[0017] In one possible design, when determining the arrival time estimate based on the CFR of the full bandwidth, the second processing module is used to: segment the CFR of the full bandwidth to obtain multiple subsequences, each of the multiple subsequences containing a portion of the CFR of each frequency band in the multiple frequency bands; and determine the arrival time estimate based on the multiple subsequences.

[0018] In one possible design, when determining the arrival time estimate based on the multiple subsequences, the second processing module is used to: determine the autocorrelation matrix corresponding to each subsequence in the multiple subsequences to obtain multiple autocorrelation matrices corresponding to the multiple subsequences; determine the delay corresponding to the peak point of the channel delay pseudo-spectrum based on the multiple autocorrelation matrices; and determine the arrival time estimate based on the delay.

[0019] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which includes a communication interface and a processor, wherein the communication interface is used for the device to communicate with other devices, such as sending and receiving data or signals. Exemplarily, the communication interface can be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module or other type of communication interface, and the other device can be a network device. The processor is used to call a set of programs, instructions or data to execute the method described in the first aspect above. The device may also include a memory for storing programs, instructions or data called by the processor. The memory is coupled to the processor, and when the processor executes the instructions or data stored in the memory, the method described in the first aspect above can be implemented.

[0020] A communication interface is used to receive multiple signals from a transmitting end on multiple frequency bands, where the multiple frequency bands correspond one-to-one to the multiple signals; a processor is specifically used to implement the following operations: based on the multiple signals, determine the channel frequency impulse response (CFR) of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; based on the CFR of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals, determine the CFR of the full bandwidth, where the full bandwidth includes the multiple frequency bands, and the frequency domain range of the full bandwidth is the same as the frequency domain range of the multiple signals at the transmitting end; there is an interval frequency band between every two adjacent frequency bands in the multiple frequency bands, the value of the CFR of the full bandwidth in the multiple frequency bands is the value of the CFR corresponding to the multiple frequency bands, and the value of the CFR of the full bandwidth in the interval frequency band is zero; and based on the CFR of the full bandwidth, determine an arrival time estimate, where the arrival time estimate is used to determine the location information of the terminal device.

[0021] In one possible design, when determining the channel frequency impulse responses CFR of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals based on the multiple signals, the processor is used to: determine a coarse delay estimate of the full bandwidth based on the multiple signals; determine a filtering window based on the coarse delay estimate of the full bandwidth, and filter the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals according to the filtering window to obtain multiple filtered channel impulse responses; and perform frequency domain transformation on the multiple filtered channel impulse responses to obtain the CFR of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals.

[0022] In one possible design, when determining a coarse delay estimate value for the entire bandwidth based on the multiple signals, the processor is used to: perform channel estimation on each of the multiple signals to obtain channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; perform coarse delay estimation based on the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals to obtain multiple coarse delay estimation values, and the multiple coarse delay estimation values ​​correspond one-to-one to the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; and determine the coarse delay estimate value for the entire bandwidth based on the multiple coarse delay estimation values.

[0023] In one possible design, the coarse delay estimate value for the entire bandwidth is the coarse delay estimate value corresponding to one of the multiple frequency bands; or, the coarse delay estimate value for the entire bandwidth is a weighted combination of some or all of the coarse delay estimate values ​​corresponding to the multiple frequency bands.

[0024] In one possible design, when determining an arrival time estimate based on a full-bandwidth CFR, the processor is configured to: segment the full-bandwidth CFR to obtain multiple subsequences, each of the multiple subsequences containing a portion of the CFR for each of the multiple frequency bands; and determine the arrival time estimate based on the multiple subsequences.

[0025] In one possible design, when determining the arrival time estimate based on the multiple subsequences, the processor is used to: determine the autocorrelation matrix corresponding to each subsequence in the multiple subsequences to obtain multiple autocorrelation matrices corresponding to the multiple subsequences; determine the delay corresponding to the peak point of the channel delay pseudo-spectrum based on the multiple autocorrelation matrices; and determine the arrival time estimate based on the delay.

[0026] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which computer-readable instructions are stored. When the computer-readable instructions are run on a computer, the method described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect is executed.

[0027] In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a chip system comprising a processor and further comprising a memory for implementing the method described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect. The chip system may be composed of a chip alone or may include a chip and other discrete components.

[0028] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a system comprising a transmitting end and a receiving end, wherein the receiving end is used to execute the method described in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect.

[0029] In a seventh aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which, when executed on a computer, enables the method described in the first aspect and any possible design of the first aspect to be implemented.

[0030] The beneficial effects of the second to seventh aspects can be referred to the description of the first aspect and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the communication system architecture in an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] Figure 2 This is one of the schematic diagrams of non-continuous spectrum transmission in the embodiment of the present application;

[0033] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of positioning in the embodiment of this application;

[0034] Figure 4 This is a flow chart of a method for estimating arrival time based on a non-continuous spectrum according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0035] Figure 5a This is the second schematic diagram of non-continuous spectrum transmission in the embodiment of the present application;

[0036] Figure 5b This is the third schematic diagram of non-continuous spectrum transmission in the embodiment of the present application;

[0037] Figure 6 This is one of the schematic diagrams of filtering the channel impulse response in an embodiment of the present application;

[0038] Figure 7 This is one of the mapping diagrams of the frequency domain impulse response of the frequency band in the embodiment of the present application;

[0039] Figure 8 This is a second schematic diagram of filtering a channel impulse response in an embodiment of the present application;

[0040] Figure 9 This is a second schematic diagram of mapping the frequency domain impulse response of the frequency band in an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] Figure 10a This is one of the schematic diagrams of dividing the full-bandwidth frequency domain impulse response sequence in an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] Figure 10b This is the second schematic diagram of dividing the full-bandwidth frequency domain impulse response sequence in an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] Figure 11 This is the fourth schematic diagram of non-continuous spectrum transmission in the embodiment of the present application;

[0044] Figure 12 This is the third schematic diagram of mapping the frequency domain impulse response of the frequency band in the embodiment of the present application;

[0045] Figure 13 This is one of the schematic diagrams of the communication device structure in the embodiment of the present application;

[0046] Figure 14 This is the second structural diagram of the communication device in the embodiment of the present application;

[0047] Figure 15 This is the third structural diagram of the communication device in the embodiment of the present application;

[0048] Figure 16 This is a second flow chart of the arrival time estimation method based on non-continuous spectrum in an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] Figure 17 This is the third flow chart of the arrival time estimation method based on non-continuous spectrum in the embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0050] The embodiment of the present application provides a method and device for estimating arrival time based on a non-continuous spectrum. Among them, the method and the device are based on the same technical concept. Since the principles of solving problems by the method and the device are similar, the implementation of the device and the method can refer to each other, and the repeated parts will not be repeated. In the description of the embodiment of the present application, "and / or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. At least one referred to in this application refers to one or more; multiple refers to two or more. In addition, it should be understood that in the description of this application, words such as "first" and "second" are only used to distinguish the purpose of description, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance, nor can they be understood as indicating or implying order.

[0051] The arrival time estimation method based on non-continuous spectrum provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to the fourth generation (4G) communication system, such as the long term evolution (LTE) communication system, and can also be applied to the fifth generation (5G) communication system, such as the 5G new radio (NR) communication system, or to various future communication systems, such as the sixth generation (6G) communication system. The method provided in the embodiment of the present application can also be applied to a Bluetooth system, a WiFi system, a LoRa system or a vehicle network system. The method provided in the embodiment of the present application can also be applied to a satellite communication system, wherein the satellite communication system can be integrated with the above-mentioned communication system.

[0052] In order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, Figure 1 The communication system architecture shown in FIG is used as an example to illustrate the application scenarios used in this application. Figure 1 As shown, the communication system 100 includes a network device 101 and a terminal device 102. The apparatus provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to the network device 101 or to the terminal device 102. It is understandable that Figure 1 Only one possible communication system architecture to which the embodiments of the present application can be applied is shown. In other possible scenarios, the communication system architecture may also include other devices.

[0053] The network device 101 is a node in a radio access network (RAN), which may also be referred to as a base station or a RAN node (or device). Currently, some examples of the network device 101 include: a next generation NodeB (gNB) / NR-NB, a transmission reception point (TRP), an evolved NodeB (eNB), a radio network controller (RNC), a NodeB (NB), a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a home base station (e.g., a home evolved NodeB, or home NodeB, HNB), a base band unit (BBU), or a wireless fidelity (Wifi) access point (AP), satellite equipment, or a network device in a 5G communication system, or a network device in a possible future communication system. The network device 101 may also be another device having network device functions. For example, the network device 101 may also be a device that functions as a network device in device-to-device (D2D) communication, Internet of Vehicles (IoV) communication, or machine communication. The network device 101 may also be a network device in a possible future communication system.

[0054] In some deployments, a gNB may include a centralized unit (CU) and a DU. The gNB may also include a radio unit (RU). The CU implements some gNB functions, while the DU implements some gNB functions. For example, the CU implements radio resource control (RRC) and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer functions, while the DU implements radio link control (RLC), media access control (MAC), and physical (PHY) layer functions. Because RRC layer information ultimately becomes PHY layer information, or is converted from PHY layer information, in this architecture, higher-layer signaling, such as RRC layer signaling or PDCP layer signaling, can also be considered to be sent by the DU, or by both the DU and the RU. It is understood that a network device can be a CU node, a DU node, or a device that includes both a CU node and a DU node. Furthermore, the CU can be classified as a network device in the access network (RAN) or a network device in the core network (CN), without limitation here.

[0055] Terminal device 102, also known as user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), or mobile terminal (MT), provides voice or data connectivity to users and may also be an IoT device. For example, terminal devices include handheld devices and vehicle-mounted devices with wireless connectivity. At present, terminal devices can be: mobile phones, tablet computers, laptops, PDAs, mobile internet devices (MIDs), wearable devices (such as smart watches, smart bracelets, pedometers, etc.), vehicle-mounted devices (such as cars, bicycles, electric vehicles, airplanes, ships, trains, high-speed railways, etc.), virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, smart home devices (such as refrigerators, TVs, air conditioners, electric meters, etc.), intelligent robots, workshop equipment, wireless terminals in unmanned driving, wireless terminals in remote surgery, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, or wireless terminals in smart homes, flight equipment (such as intelligent robots, hot air balloons, drones, airplanes), etc. The terminal device can also be other devices with terminal functions. For example, the terminal device can also be a device that serves as a terminal function in D2D communication. In this application, terminal devices with wireless transceiver functions and chips that can be set in the aforementioned terminal devices are collectively referred to as terminal devices.

[0056] Non-continuous spectrum refers to two or more non-continuous spectrum segments, or two or more non-continuous frequency bands. Non-continuous spectrum transmission refers to the transmission of reference signals on two or more non-continuous spectrum segments. It can also be said that non-continuous spectrum transmission refers to transmission on two or more frequency bands. Multi-segment spectrum can be described as multiple frequency bands, for example, one segment of spectrum can be described as one frequency band, and two segments of spectrum can be described as two frequency bands. Non-continuous spectrum transmission can also be called cross-frequency transmission or multi-band transmission. Figure 2 As shown in the figure, using two non-contiguous spectrum transmissions as an example, the transmitter maps the reference signal onto the two spectrum segments and transmits it. When the transmitter is a network device, the reference signal is a downlink reference signal, and the receiver is a terminal device. When the transmitter is a terminal device, the reference signal is an uplink reference signal, and the receiver is a network device. The center frequencies of the two spectrum segments are fc1 and fc2, respectively. The bandwidths of the two spectrum segments are BW1 and BW2, respectively.

[0057] In the embodiments of the present application, non-contiguous spectrum transmission can transmit reference signals on carrier frequencies that are not in the serving cell. For example, a resource pool of carrier frequencies includes multiple carrier frequencies, and a network device supports some of these carrier frequencies. When transmitting reference signals for positioning, the network device can transmit on carrier frequencies that it supports or on carrier frequencies that it does not support. This is different from carrier aggregation technology.

[0058] In one implementation method 1, a method based on maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) is used to perform TOA estimation in a non-continuous spectrum transmission scenario. Specifically, formula (1) and formula (2) are used to implement TOA estimation.

[0059]

[0060] where r l [n] represents the received reference signal time domain sequence of the lth frequency band, Indicates the delay added to the time domain sequence of the reference signal of the lth frequency band generated locally In the following sequence, * indicates the conjugation operation, N indicates the length of each sub-segment reference sequence, and L indicates the number of frequency bands.

[0061] The TOA estimate can be expressed as:

[0062]

[0063] While Implementation 1 can estimate TOA in non-contiguous spectrum transmission scenarios, it only achieves limited TOA estimation gain compared to single-band transmission in contiguous spectrum. Theoretical analysis shows that TOA estimation accuracy in non-contiguous spectrum transmission scenarios is proportional to the square of the ratio of the frequency band spacing to the signal bandwidth. This method, which uses summation and averaging to achieve TOA estimation in non-contiguous spectrum transmission scenarios, only achieves the diversity gain of multi-band transmission and does not increase the effective bandwidth of the signal, thereby failing to achieve full-bandwidth cross-frequency gain.

[0064] Based on this, an embodiment of the present application provides an arrival time estimation method for a non-continuous spectrum to achieve full-bandwidth cross-frequency gain in a non-continuous spectrum scenario.

[0065] The TOA estimation method for a non-continuous spectrum provided in the embodiment of the present application can be used in positioning technology. In order to better understand the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the positioning technology is first introduced.

[0066] 5G NR defines a variety of positioning methods based on TOA estimation, such as observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA), multiple round trip time (Multi-RTT), downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA), and uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA). The positioning method based on TOA estimation is to locate the position of the terminal device through the TOA estimation value. Taking DL-TDOA positioning as an example, the positioning method based on TOA estimation is described. The positioning method based on TOA estimation includes the terminal device determining its own location information and the core network positioning device determining the location information of the terminal device. Figure 3 As shown, a core network positioning device sends signaling to multiple network devices requesting the terminal device's time-of-arrival (TOA) information. The multiple network devices each send a downlink positioning reference signal (PRS) to the terminal device. The terminal device measures the TOA information based on configuration information and feeds it back to the multiple network devices. The network devices report the TOA information received from the terminal device to the core network positioning device. The core network positioning device calculates the distance to the Earth (TDOA) based on the TOA information between the multiple network devices and the terminal device, and obtains the terminal device's location information based on the known location information of the network devices. Assuming the terminal device has positioning capabilities, the terminal device can request location information and locate its own location information. Specifically, the terminal device requests location information from the network device. The multiple network devices each send a downlink positioning reference signal (PRS) to the terminal device. Based on the downlink PRS, the terminal device measures the TOA of the multiple network devices. Based on the known locations of each network device, the terminal device can determine the terminal device's location information. Alternatively, the terminal device reports the TOA information of each network device to the core network positioning device, which then determines the terminal device's location information.

[0067] In an embodiment of the present application, the core network positioning device may be, for example, a location management function (LMF) in an NR system. For example, under one possible positioning architecture, an access and mobility management function (AMF) receives a service request regarding a terminal device initiated by other network elements in the network, and the AMF sends a positioning request regarding the terminal device to the LMF. The LMF receives the positioning request from the AMF, initiates positioning of the terminal device, and determines the positioning information of the terminal device.

[0068] Based on the above description, if Figure 4 As shown, the embodiment of the present application provides a method for estimating arrival time for a non-contiguous spectrum, the process of which is described below. The method is performed by a receiving end, which can be a terminal device or a network device. When the receiving end is a terminal device, the transmitting end is a network device. When the receiving end is a network device, the transmitting end is a terminal device.

[0069] S401: A transmitting end transmits a plurality of signals on a plurality of frequency bands, and a receiving end receives the plurality of signals from the transmitting end on the plurality of frequency bands, wherein the plurality of frequency bands corresponds to the plurality of signals on a one-to-one basis.

[0070] For example, the multiple frequency bands are two frequency bands, including a first frequency band and a second frequency band. The transmitting end transmits a first signal in the first frequency band and transmits a second signal in the second frequency band. The receiving end receives the first signal in the first frequency band and receives the second signal in the second frequency band.

[0071] For another example, the multiple frequency bands are three frequency bands, including a first frequency band, a second frequency band, and a third frequency band. The transmitting end transmits a first signal on the first frequency band, transmits a second signal on the second frequency band, and transmits a third signal on the third frequency band. The receiving end receives the first signal on the first frequency band, receives the second signal on the second frequency band, and receives the third signal on the third frequency band.

[0072] In the embodiment of the present application, the signal may be a reference signal used for positioning, for example, a downlink PRS or an uplink sounding reference signal (SRS).

[0073] S402: The receiving end determines, based on the multiple signals, a channel frequency impulse response (CFR) of frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals.

[0074] For example, the multiple frequency bands are two frequency bands. Based on the first signal, a first CFR of the first frequency band corresponding to the first signal is determined; based on the second signal, a second CFR of the second frequency band corresponding to the second signal is determined.

[0075] For example, the multiple frequency bands are three frequency bands. Based on the first signal, a first CFR of the first frequency band corresponding to the first signal is determined; based on the second signal, a second CFR of the second frequency band corresponding to the second signal is determined; based on the third signal, a third CFR of the third frequency band corresponding to the third signal is determined.

[0076] S403: The receiving end determines a CFR of the full bandwidth based on the CFRs of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals.

[0077] Among them, the full bandwidth includes multiple frequency bands, and the frequency domain range of the full bandwidth is the same as the frequency domain range of multiple signals at the transmitting end; there is an interval frequency band between every two adjacent frequency bands in the multiple frequency bands, and the CFR value of the full bandwidth in the multiple frequency bands is the CFR value corresponding to the multiple frequency bands, and the CFR value of the full bandwidth in the interval frequency band is zero.

[0078] S404: The receiving end determines an estimated arrival time based on the CFR of the full bandwidth. The estimated arrival time is used to determine the location information of the terminal device.

[0079] Figure 4 This embodiment maps the CFRs of multiple frequency bands to the full-bandwidth CFRs that share the same frequency domain as the transmitter, reconstructing the phase relationship between the CFRs across frequency bands and achieving full-bandwidth coherent TOA estimation. This method effectively avoids frequency-selective channel characteristics and sidelobe interference caused by discontinuous spectrum, achieving full-bandwidth cross-frequency gain.

[0080] Below Figure 4 Some possible implementations of the embodiments are described.

[0081] First, full bandwidth is introduced.

[0082] Take the non-contiguous spectrum of two frequency bands as an example, Figure 5a As shown, the transmitting end sends reference signals on the first frequency band and the second frequency band respectively, and the reference signal is PRS as an example. The bandwidth of the first frequency band is represented by BW1, and the bandwidth of the second frequency band is represented by BW2. There is an interval frequency band between the first frequency band and the second frequency band, and the interval frequency band is represented by BW gap The transmitter does not send PRS on the interval frequency band. The center frequency of the first frequency band is represented by f c1 Indicates that the center frequency of the second frequency band is f c2 The frequency domain starting position or frequency domain starting point of the first frequency band is represented by f 1，low Indicates that the frequency domain end position or frequency domain end point of the second frequency band is f 2，high In other words, f 1，low f c1 The lowest frequency point of the reference signal at the center frequency, f 2，high f c2The highest frequency point of the reference signal at the center frequency. The full bandwidth includes the first frequency band and the second frequency band. The frequency domain starting position or frequency domain starting point of the full bandwidth is f 1，low The frequency domain end position or frequency domain end point of the full bandwidth is f 2，high The frequency domain range of full bandwidth is f 1，low to f 2，high The full bandwidth can be defined as f 2，high -f 1，low .

[0083] Take the non-continuous spectrum of three frequency bands as an example, Figure 5b As shown, the transmitting end sends reference signals on the first frequency band, the second frequency band and the third frequency band respectively. The reference signal takes PRS as an example. The bandwidth of the first frequency band is represented by BW1, the bandwidth of the second frequency band is represented by BW2, and the bandwidth of the third frequency band is represented by BW3. There is an interval frequency band between the first frequency band and the second frequency band, and there is an interval frequency band between the second frequency band and the third frequency band. The interval frequency band is represented by BW gap The transmitter does not send PRS on the interval frequency band. The center frequency of the first frequency band is represented by f c1 Indicates that the center frequency of the second frequency band is f c2 Indicates that the center frequency of the third frequency band is f c3 The frequency domain starting position or frequency domain starting point of the first frequency band is represented by f 1，low Indicates that the frequency domain end position or frequency domain end point of the third frequency band is f 3，high In other words, f 1，low f c1 The lowest frequency point of the reference signal at the center frequency, f 3，high f c3 The highest frequency point of the reference signal at the center frequency point. The full bandwidth includes the first frequency band, the second frequency band, and the third frequency band. The frequency domain starting position or frequency domain starting point of the full bandwidth is f 1，low The frequency domain end position or frequency domain end point of the full bandwidth is f 3，high The frequency domain range of full bandwidth is f 1，low to f 3，high The full bandwidth can be defined as f 3，high -f 1，low .

[0084] When the receiving end is a terminal device, the terminal device determines the multiple frequency bands on which the network device sends signals based on the configuration information of the core network positioning device, which may be, for example, LMF. The terminal device receives signals on the multiple frequency bands based on the configuration information.

[0085] When the receiving end is a network device, before the network device receives the signal, the LMF sends configuration information to multiple network devices. The configuration information includes the configuration of the terminal device to send uplink reference signals (such as SRS). The network device receives signals on multiple frequency bands based on the configuration information received from the LMF.

[0086] The receiving end receives multiple signals through multiple independent RF channels. For example, taking a non-contiguous spectrum with two frequency bands as an example, the transmitting end transmits a first signal and a second signal in a first frequency band and a second frequency band, respectively, and the receiving end receives the first signal and the second signal through two independent RF channels. For another example, taking a non-contiguous spectrum with three frequency bands as an example, the transmitting end transmits a first signal, a second signal, and a third signal in a first frequency band, a second frequency band, and a third frequency band, respectively, and the receiving end receives the first signal, the second signal, and the third signal through three independent RF channels, respectively.

[0087] In S402, the receiving end determines the CFRs of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals, which can be achieved in the following manner.

[0088] 1) Determine a coarse delay estimate for the entire bandwidth based on multiple signals.

[0089] A method for determining a coarse delay estimate for the full bandwidth may, for example, include: performing channel estimation on multiple signals separately to obtain channel impulse responses (CIRs) of frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; performing coarse delay estimation based on the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals to obtain multiple coarse delay estimation values, wherein the multiple coarse delay estimation values ​​correspond one-to-one to the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; and determining a coarse delay estimate for the full bandwidth based on the multiple coarse delay estimation values.

[0090] Among them, the multiple signals received by the receiving end are baseband signals, and the receiving end performs signal estimation on the multiple received baseband signals respectively. The channel estimation method can adopt any method, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present application. The receiving end obtains the channel impulse responses of multiple frequency bands corresponding to the multiple baseband signals. The receiving end performs coarse delay estimation on the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals respectively, and the coarse delay estimation can adopt the peak search method. The receiving end determines the coarse delay estimation value of the full bandwidth based on the multiple coarse delay estimation values, and can adopt the selective merging method or the weighted merging method. For example, the receiving end adopts the selective merging method to determine the coarse delay estimation value corresponding to one of the multiple frequency bands as the coarse delay estimation value of the full bandwidth. For example, taking the non-continuous spectrum of two frequency bands as an example, the coarse delay estimation value for the full bandwidth can be the coarse delay estimation value corresponding to the first frequency band or the coarse delay estimation value corresponding to the second frequency band. Taking the non-continuous spectrum of three frequency bands as an example, the coarse delay estimate for the full bandwidth can be the coarse delay estimate corresponding to the first frequency band, the coarse delay estimate corresponding to the second frequency band, or the coarse delay estimate corresponding to the third frequency band. The receiving end adopts a weighted merging method to perform weighted merging based on the coarse delay estimates corresponding to multiple frequency bands to obtain the coarse delay estimate for the full bandwidth. That is, the coarse delay estimate corresponding to each frequency band is multiplied by a weighting factor, and the product of the coarse delay estimate corresponding to each frequency band and the weighting factor is summed to obtain the coarse delay estimate for the full bandwidth. Of course, weighted merging can be performed based on some of the coarse delay estimates corresponding to multiple frequency bands to obtain the coarse delay estimate for the full bandwidth. Still taking the non-continuous spectrum of two frequency bands as an example, the coarse delay estimate for the full bandwidth is the weighted combined value of the coarse delay estimate corresponding to the first frequency band and the coarse delay estimate corresponding to the second frequency band. Taking the non-continuous spectrum of three frequency bands as an example, the coarse delay estimation value of the full bandwidth is a weighted combination of the coarse delay estimation value corresponding to the first frequency band, the coarse delay estimation value corresponding to the second frequency band, and the coarse delay estimation value corresponding to the third frequency band; the coarse delay estimation value of the full bandwidth can also be a weighted combination of the coarse delay estimation value corresponding to the first frequency band and the coarse delay estimation value corresponding to the second frequency band; the coarse delay estimation value of the full bandwidth can also be a weighted combination of the coarse delay estimation value corresponding to the first frequency band and the coarse delay estimation value corresponding to the third frequency band; the coarse delay estimation value of the full bandwidth can also be a weighted combination of the coarse delay estimation value corresponding to the second frequency band and the coarse delay estimation value corresponding to the third frequency band.

[0091] 2) A filtering window is determined based on a coarse delay estimate of the full bandwidth, and channel impulse responses of frequency bands corresponding to multiple signals are filtered respectively according to the filtering window to obtain multiple filtered channel impulse responses.

[0092] The filter window is [coarse delay estimate of full bandwidth - offset value, coarse delay estimate of full bandwidth + offset value]. The offset value is half of the filter window. The offset value can be selected according to different situations and different systems.

[0093] 3) Performing frequency domain transformation on the filtered multiple channel impulse responses respectively to obtain channel frequency impulse responses CFR of frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals.

[0094] The CFRs of the frequency bands corresponding to multiple signals are all baseband signals with a center frequency of zero. The receiver determines the CFR of the full bandwidth based on these CFRs. The receiver maps the CFRs of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals to the corresponding virtual frequency bands within the full baseband bandwidth. After the transmitter sends multiple signals and the receiver receives them, it processes the signals to obtain a full-bandwidth baseband signal with a center frequency of zero. The full baseband bandwidth refers to the full bandwidth of the baseband signal.

[0095] Specifically, the frequency domain range of the full baseband bandwidth is referred to as the full bandwidth frequency domain range. This frequency domain range is the same as the frequency domain range of multiple signals at the transmitter. The full bandwidth includes multiple frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals, with interval bands between each two adjacent frequency bands. The receiver maps the CFRs corresponding to the multiple frequency bands onto the multiple frequency bands of the full bandwidth and sets the values ​​of the interval bands to zero.

[0096] Taking two frequency bands as an example, the full bandwidth frequency domain ranges from the lowest frequency point of the first frequency band to the highest frequency point of the second frequency band. From low to high, the full bandwidth includes: the first frequency band, the interval band between the first and second frequency bands, and the second frequency band. The full bandwidth CFR value in the first frequency band is the CFR value corresponding to the first frequency band, the full bandwidth CFR value in the interval band is zero, and the full bandwidth CFR value in the second frequency band is the CFR value corresponding to the second frequency band.

[0097] Taking three frequency bands as an example, the frequency domain of the full bandwidth ranges from the lowest frequency point of the first frequency band to the highest frequency point of the third frequency band. From low to high, the full bandwidth includes: the first frequency band, the first interval frequency band between the first and second frequency bands, the second frequency band, the second interval frequency band between the second and third frequency bands, and the third frequency band. The CFR of the full bandwidth in the first frequency band is the value of the CFR corresponding to the first frequency band, the CFR of the full bandwidth in the first interval frequency band is zero, the CFR of the full bandwidth in the second frequency band is the value of the CFR corresponding to the second frequency band, the CFR of the full bandwidth in the second interval frequency band is zero, and the CFR of the full bandwidth in the third frequency band is the value of the CFR corresponding to the third frequency band.

[0098] The following takes two frequency bands and a terminal as an example to further explain the process of determining the CFR of the full bandwidth.

[0099] The network device sends a positioning reference signal PRS on the first frequency band and the second frequency band respectively, and the terminal device receives the positioning reference signal PRS on the first frequency band and the second frequency band respectively. The transmission of PRS is as follows: Figure 5a As shown. PRS is respectively c1 , f c2 The center frequency is the frequency band B1 and B2 with bandwidths BW1 and BW2 respectively. The full bandwidth is defined as Full_BW = f 2,high -f 1,low .f 1,low Indicates f c1 The lowest frequency of the PRS is the center frequency. 2,high Indicates f c2 The highest frequency of the PRS is the center frequency.

[0100] The terminal device determines the CFR of the first frequency band and the second frequency band based on the two signals received in the first frequency band and the second frequency band. The terminal device can obtain the CFR of the network device at the frequency point f according to the configuration information of the LMF. c1 , f c2 PRS of two frequency bands are sent. The terminal device uses two independent RF channels to receive PRS, and the received PRS baseband signals are represented as y1(t) and y2(t) respectively. The terminal device performs channel estimation based on y1(t) and y2(t) respectively, and obtains the channel impulse responses h1(t) and h2(t) of the first frequency band and the second frequency band respectively. The terminal device performs coarse delay estimation based on h1(t) and h2(t) respectively, and obtains coarse delay estimation values ​​T1 and T2. The coarse delay estimation can use the peak search method, that is, T1 = arg max t {|h1(t)|},T2=argmax t {|h2(t)|}. The terminal device combines the coarse delay values ​​T1 and T2 to obtain the coarse delay estimate value T for the full bandwidth (Full_BW). cor . You can use the selection merging method, T cor is T1 or T2. A weighted merging method can also be used, for example, T cor =T1*C1+T2*C2. C1 and C2 are weighting factors of T1 and T2 respectively. Figure 6 As shown, the terminal device filters h1(t) and h2(t) to obtain the filtered channel impulse responses respectively. and The filter window used in the filter is based on T cor For example, the filter window Window=[T cor -D ext ,T cor +D ext ], Dext Represents half of the filter window. Figure 6 As shown, the channel impulse response reflects the result of channel estimation, the amplitude represents the attenuation value of the channel, and the interval between the two points on the horizontal axis is the absolute time, which is related to the bandwidth. The larger the bandwidth of the positioning reference signal, the smaller the interval, the more accurate the estimated time peak, and the smaller the positioning error. In this embodiment of the application, by mapping the CFR of multiple frequency bands with smaller bandwidths to the CFR of the full bandwidth, a more accurate arrival time estimate can be obtained using the full bandwidth. The filter window is a value selected near the peak for precise estimation.

[0101] The terminal device will filter the channel impulse response and Transformed to the frequency domain, the channel frequency impulse responses CFR1 and CFR2 of the first and second frequency bands are obtained. CFR1 and CFR2 are both baseband sequences with a center frequency of zero. The terminal device maps CFR1 and CFR2 to the corresponding virtual frequency bands B1 and B2 within the baseband full bandwidth Full_BW, respectively. The mapping diagram is shown in Figure 7 The value of the full bandwidth CFR at B1 is CFR1, the value of the full bandwidth CFR at the interval frequency band between B1 and B2 is zero, and the value of the full bandwidth CFR at B2 is CFR2.

[0102] Assume that the index corresponding to B1 is The index corresponding to B2 is Full bandwidth CFR sequence

[0103] The following takes three frequency bands and a terminal as an example to further explain the process of determining the CFR of the full bandwidth.

[0104] The network device sends the positioning reference signal PRS on the first frequency band, the second frequency band and the third frequency band respectively, and the terminal device receives the positioning reference signal PRS on the first frequency band, the second frequency band and the third frequency band respectively. The transmission of PRS is as follows: Figure 5b As shown. PRS is respectively c1 , f c2 , f c3 The center frequency is the frequency band B1, B2 and B3, with bandwidths BW1, BW2 and BW3 respectively. The full bandwidth is defined as Full_BW = f 3,high -f 1,low .f 1,low Indicates f c1 The lowest frequency of the PRS is the center frequency. 3,high Indicates f c3 The highest frequency of the PRS is the center frequency.

[0105] The terminal device determines the CFR of the first frequency band and the second frequency band based on the three signals received in the first frequency band, the second frequency band and the third frequency band. The terminal device can obtain the CFR of the network device at the frequency point f according to the configuration information of the LMF. c1 , f c2 and f c3 PRS of three frequency bands are sent. The terminal device uses three independent RF channels to receive PRS, and the received PRS baseband signals are represented as y1(t), y2(t) and y3(t), respectively. The terminal device performs channel estimation based on y1(t), y2(t) and y3(t), and obtains the channel impulse responses h1(t), h2(t) and h3(t) of the first frequency band, the second frequency band and the third frequency band, respectively. The terminal device performs coarse delay estimation based on h1(t), h2(t) and h3(t), and obtains coarse delay estimation values ​​T1, T2 and T3. The coarse delay estimation can use the peak search method, that is, T1 = arg max t {|h1(t)|},T2=arg max t {|h2(t)|}, T3=argmax t {|h3(t)|}. The terminal device combines the coarse delay values ​​T1, T2 and T3 to obtain the coarse delay estimate value T for the full bandwidth (Full_BW). cor . You can use the selection merging method, T cor is any one of T1, T2 or T3. A weighted combination method can also be used, for example, T cor =T1*C1+T2*C2+T3*C3. C1, C2 and C3 are weighting factors of T1, T2 and T3 respectively. Figure 8 As shown, the terminal device filters h1(t), h2(t) and h3(t) to obtain the filtered channel impulse responses respectively. and The filter window used in the filter is based on T cor For example, the filter window Window=[T cor -D ext ,T cor +D ext ], D ext Represents half of the filtering window. The terminal device will filter the channel impulse response and Transformed to the frequency domain, the channel frequency impulse responses CFR1, CFR2, and CFR3 of the first, second, and third frequency bands are obtained. CFR1, CFR2, and CFR3 are all baseband signals with a center frequency of zero. The terminal device maps CFR1, CFR2, and CFR3 to the corresponding virtual frequency bands B1, B2, and B3 within the baseband full bandwidth Full_BW, respectively. The mapping diagram is shown in the figure below. Figure 9 The value of the full bandwidth CFR at B1 is CFR1, the value of the full bandwidth CFR at the interval frequency band between B1 and B2 is zero, the value of the full bandwidth CFR at B2 is CFR2, the value of the full bandwidth CFR at the interval frequency band between B2 and B3 is zero, and the value of the full bandwidth CFR at B3 is CFR3.

[0106] Assume that the index corresponding to B1 is The index corresponding to B2 is The index corresponding to B3 is Full bandwidth CFR sequence

[0107] The full-bandwidth CFR information has the characteristic of a non-continuous spectrum. After determining the full-bandwidth CFR, the receiver determines an estimated arrival time based on the full-bandwidth CFR.

[0108] Optionally, the receiving end can compensate for the random phase difference between different frequency bands based on the phase correction values ​​of multiple frequency bands. For example, the multiple frequency bands are a first frequency band and a second frequency band, and the receiving end compensates for the random phase difference between the value of the CFR of the full bandwidth in the first frequency band and the value in the second frequency band based on the phase correction values ​​of the first frequency band and the second frequency band. For another example, the multiple frequency bands are a first frequency band, a second frequency band, and a third frequency band, and the receiving end compensates for the random phase difference between the value of the CFR of the full bandwidth in the first frequency band and the value in the second frequency band based on the phase correction values ​​of the first frequency band and the second frequency band; and the receiving end compensates for the random phase difference between the value of the CFR of the full bandwidth in the second frequency band and the value in the third frequency band based on the phase correction values ​​of the second frequency band and the third frequency band; and the receiving end compensates for the random phase difference between the value of the CFR of the full bandwidth in the first frequency band and the value in the third frequency band based on the phase correction values ​​of the first frequency band and the third frequency band.

[0109] The receiving end can segment the full-bandwidth CFR to obtain multiple subsequences and determine the arrival time estimate based on the multiple subsequences. For example, the receiving end can perform comb-like segmentation on the full-bandwidth CFR to obtain multiple subsequences. Each of the multiple subsequences contains a portion of the CFR for each of the multiple frequency bands.

[0110] Taking two frequency bands as an example, the sequence of full bandwidth CFR like Figure 10a As shown, R g (k) is divided into m subsequences in a comb-like manner, that is, a value is taken every fixed interval m to form a subsequence. The i-th subsequence can be expressed as R i (k): = R g (i:m:end). Figure 10aA schematic diagram is presented for dividing the full-bandwidth CFR into three subsequences. Assuming m is 3, the full-bandwidth CFR sequence is represented by (1, 2, 3, ..., 15, 16), where (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) are the sequence indices corresponding to virtual frequency band B1, (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16) are the sequence indices corresponding to virtual frequency band B2, and the intermediate subsequences (7, 8, 9, 10) are interval frequency bands, each with a CFR of zero. The full-bandwidth CFR value in virtual frequency band B1 is the value of CFR1 for the first frequency band, and the full-bandwidth CFR value in virtual frequency band B2 is the value of CFR2 for the second frequency band. Using a fixed spacing m, where m = 3, three subsequences are formed: R1(k), R2(k), and R3(k). Among them, R1(k) includes (1, 4, 11, 14), R2(k) includes (2, 5, 12, 15), and R3(k) includes (3, 6, 13, 16).

[0111] Taking three frequency bands as an example, the sequence of CFR of full bandwidth is like Figure 10b As shown, R g (k) is divided into m subsequences in a comb-like manner, that is, every fixed interval m is taken to form a subsequence, and the i-th subsequence can be expressed as R i (k): = R g (i:m:end). Figure 10b A schematic diagram of dividing the full-bandwidth CFR into three subsequences is given. m is 3. Assume that the sequence of the full-bandwidth CFR is represented by (1, 2, 3, ..., 15, 16), where (1, 2, 3) are the sequence indices corresponding to virtual frequency band B1, (7, 8, 9) are the sequence indices corresponding to virtual frequency band B2, (4, 5, 6) are the interval frequency bands between virtual frequency bands B1 and B2, and (10) is the interval frequency band between virtual frequency bands B2 and B3. The CFR of the interval frequency band is zero. The value of the full-bandwidth CFR in virtual frequency band B1 is the value of CFR1 of the first frequency band, the value of the full-bandwidth CFR in virtual frequency band B2 is the value of CFR2 of the second frequency band, and the value of the full-bandwidth CFR in virtual frequency band B3 is the value of CFR3 of the third frequency band. According to the fixed interval m, m = 3, three subsequences are formed, namely R1(k), R2(k) and R3(k). Among them, R1(k) includes (1, 7, 11, 14), R2(k) includes (2, 8, 12, 15), and R3(k) includes (3, 9, 13, 16).

[0112] The receiver determines the arrival time estimate based on the full-bandwidth CFR, which can be considered a precise delay estimation process. Precise delay estimation can be based on existing technologies, such as the Smooth MUSIC algorithm.

[0113] Specifically, based on multiple subsequences obtained by segmenting the full-bandwidth CFR, the autocorrelation matrix corresponding to each of the multiple subsequences is determined to obtain multiple autocorrelation matrices corresponding to the multiple subsequences. Based on the multiple autocorrelation matrices, the delay corresponding to the peak point of the channel delay pseudo-spectrum is determined, and the arrival time estimate is determined based on the delay. For example, for each subsequence in the m subsequences, the autocorrelation matrix is ​​calculated to obtain the autocorrelation matrix RHH i , add and average all the autocorrelation matrices to get RHH. Based on RHH, calculate the channel delay pseudo spectrum, and determine the precise delay estimate T according to the delay corresponding to the pseudo spectrum peak point. acu .

[0114] The receiving end further determines the location information of the terminal device based on the estimated arrival time. Alternatively, the receiving end further reports the estimated arrival time to a core network positioning device. The core network positioning device collects the estimated arrival time values ​​between the terminal device and multiple network devices, and estimates the location of the terminal device based on the known locations of the network devices to obtain the terminal device's location information.

[0115] In order to have a further understanding of the method provided in the embodiments of the present application, the method provided in the embodiments of the present application is further described in detail below with specific examples.

[0116] Assume that the terminal device is the receiving end and receives the positioning reference signal PRS from the network device. Figure 11As shown, the network device transmits PRS1 and PRS2 in the first and second frequency bands, respectively. The center frequencies of the first and second frequency bands are 2 GHz and 2.4 GHz, respectively, and the bandwidths of both are 100 MHz. The frequency domain of the first frequency band ranges from 1.95 GHz to 2.05 GHz, and the frequency domain of the second frequency band ranges from 2.35 GHz to 2.45 GHz. The terminal device receives signals PRS1 and PRS2 in two 100 MHz frequency bands. Based on the first and second frequency bands, it can be assumed that the network device transmits signals in the first and second frequency bands across the full bandwidth, with no signals transmitted in the intermediate frequency bands between 2.05 GHz and 2.35 GHz. The full bandwidth starts at 1.95 GHz and ends at 2.45 GHz, with the full bandwidth ranging from 1.95 GHz to 2.45 GHz. However, it should be understood that network devices may not have the ability to transmit with a 500MHz bandwidth. For example, if a network device has a 100MHz bandwidth transmission capability and transmits 100MHz signals on the first and second frequency bands, respectively, these signals can be mapped to the full 500MHz bandwidth. In this way, it can be assumed that the network device has a 500MHz bandwidth transmission capability and simultaneously transmits two 100MHz signals on a 500MHz bandwidth with a center frequency of approximately 2.2GHz, each 250MHz apart. This allows for time of arrival estimation based on signals with a wider bandwidth, improving positioning accuracy. Correspondingly, a terminal device may not have the ability to receive with a 500MHz bandwidth. In practice, the terminal device only needs to have a 100MHz bandwidth reception capability. Receiving 100MHz signals on the first and second frequency bands can be equivalently considered as receiving signals on the full 500MHz bandwidth. However, signals are received on the first and second frequency bands of the 500MHz bandwidth, respectively, and no signals are received on the intervening frequency band. Therefore, time of arrival estimation can be performed based on the 500MHz bandwidth signal, improving positioning accuracy.

[0117] A terminal device receives PRS1 and PRS2 in a first frequency band and a second frequency band, respectively, via two independent RF channels. The terminal device performs channel estimation based on PRS1 and PRS2 to obtain channel impulse responses for the corresponding frequency bands, which are recorded as first channel impulse responses and second channel impulse responses. The terminal device performs coarse delay estimation based on the first channel impulse response and the second channel impulse response to obtain a first coarse delay estimate value and a second coarse delay estimate value. The terminal device combines the first coarse delay estimate value and the second coarse delay estimate value to obtain a full-bandwidth coarse delay estimate value. The terminal device filters the first channel impulse response and the second channel impulse response based on the full-bandwidth coarse delay estimate value, and performs Fourier transform on the filtered first and second channel impulse responses to obtain a first frequency impulse response for the channel corresponding to the first frequency band and a second frequency impulse response for the channel corresponding to the second frequency band. The first frequency impulse response and the second frequency impulse response obtained by the terminal device are obtained by performing coarse delay estimation on PRS1 and PRS2, respectively. To obtain a full-bandwidth TOA estimation gain, the first and second frequency impulse responses need to be mapped to the full bandwidth to obtain a full-bandwidth frequency impulse response.

[0118] like Figure 12 As shown, the first frequency impulse response and the second frequency impulse response are both baseband signals with a center frequency of zero. The first frequency impulse response and the second frequency impulse response are mapped to the corresponding first virtual frequency band and second virtual frequency band positions within the full baseband bandwidth to obtain a full-bandwidth frequency impulse response. The full-bandwidth frequency impulse response can be understood as the frequency impulse response obtained after coarse delay estimation, assuming that the network device simultaneously transmits signals at positions 1.95GHz to 2.05GHz and 2.35GHz to 2.45GHz in a 500MHz bandwidth with a center frequency of 2.2GHz.

[0119] It should be noted that the examples in the various application scenarios of this application only represent some possible implementation methods and are intended to better understand and illustrate the method of this application. Those skilled in the art can derive some examples of evolving forms based on the reference signal indication method provided in the application.

[0120] In the embodiments provided in the present application, the methods provided in the embodiments of the present application are introduced from the perspectives of network devices, terminals, and the interaction between network devices and terminals. In order to implement the various functions in the methods provided in the embodiments of the present application, the network devices and terminals may include hardware structures and / or software modules to implement the above functions in the form of hardware structures, software modules, or hardware structures plus software modules. Whether a function in the above functions is executed in the form of hardware structures, software modules, or hardware structures plus software modules depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0121] like Figure 13 As shown, based on the same technical concept, an embodiment of the present application also provides a device 1300, which can be a terminal device or a network device, or a device in a terminal device or a network device, or a device that can be used in combination with a terminal device or a network device. In one design, the device 1300 may include a module that corresponds one-to-one to the method / operation / step / action performed by the terminal device or the network device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. The module may be a hardware circuit, or software, or a combination of a hardware circuit and software. In one design, the device may include a processing module 1301 and a communication module 1302. The processing module 1301 is used to call the communication module 1302 to perform the functions of receiving and / or sending. The processing module 1301 can be further divided into a first processing module 1301-1 and a second processing module 1301-2.

[0122] The communication module 1302 is configured to receive multiple signals from a transmitting end on multiple frequency bands, where the multiple frequency bands correspond one-to-one to the multiple signals.

[0123] A first processing module 1301-1 is configured to determine, based on the multiple signals, a channel frequency impulse response (CFR) of frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; and to determine a CFR of a full bandwidth based on the CFRs of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals, wherein the full bandwidth includes the multiple frequency bands, and a frequency domain range of the full bandwidth is the same as a frequency domain range of the multiple signals at the transmitting end; there is an interval frequency band between every two adjacent frequency bands in the multiple frequency bands, and the CFR of the full bandwidth in the multiple frequency bands is the value of the CFR corresponding to the multiple frequency bands, and the CFR of the full bandwidth in the interval frequency band is zero;

[0124] The second processing module 1301 - 2 is configured to determine an estimated time of arrival based on the CFR of the full bandwidth, where the estimated time of arrival is used to determine location information of the terminal device.

[0125] The communication module 1302 is further configured to execute other receiving or sending steps or operations performed by the receiving end in the above-described method embodiment. The first processing module 1301-1 and the second processing module 1301-2 are further configured to execute other corresponding steps or operations performed by the receiving end in the above-described method embodiment, in addition to sending and receiving, which are not further described here.

[0126] The division of modules in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative and is merely a logical functional division. In actual implementation, other division methods may be used. Furthermore, the functional modules in the various embodiments of the present application may be integrated into a single processor, or may exist physically separately, or two or more modules may be integrated into a single module. The aforementioned integrated modules may be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional modules.

[0127] like Figure 14 The figure shows a communication device 1400 provided in an embodiment of the present application, which is used to implement the functions of the receiving end in the above-mentioned method. When the receiving end is a network device, the communication device can be the network device, a device within the network device, or a device that can be used in conjunction with the network device. When the receiving end is a terminal device, the communication device can be the terminal device, a device within the terminal device, or a device that can be used in conjunction with the terminal device. The communication device can be a chip system. In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system can be composed of a chip, or it can include a chip and other discrete components. The communication device 1400 includes at least one processor 1420, which is used to implement the functions of the receiving end (including the terminal device or network device) in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application. The communication device 1400 may also include a communication interface 1410. In the embodiment of the present application, the communication interface can be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module, or other type of communication interface, which is used to communicate with other devices via a transmission medium. For example, the communication interface 1410 is used for the device in the communication device 1400 to communicate with other devices.

[0128] Exemplarily, the communication interface 1410 is configured to receive multiple signals from a transmitter on multiple frequency bands, where the multiple frequency bands correspond one-to-one to the multiple signals.

[0129] Processor 1420 is configured to call a set of programs or instructions to perform the following operations:

[0130] Based on multiple signals, determine the channel frequency impulse response CFR of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; and determine the CFR of the full bandwidth based on the CFR of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals, the full bandwidth includes multiple frequency bands, and the frequency domain range of the full bandwidth is the same as the frequency domain range of the multiple signals at the transmitting end; there is an interval frequency band between every two adjacent frequency bands in the multiple frequency bands, and the value of the CFR of the full bandwidth in the multiple frequency bands is the value of the CFR corresponding to the multiple frequency bands, and the value of the CFR of the full bandwidth in the interval frequency band is zero; and determine the arrival time estimate based on the CFR of the full bandwidth, and the arrival time estimate is used to determine the location information of the terminal device.

[0131] Optionally, when determining, based on multiple signals, a channel frequency impulse response CFR of a frequency band corresponding to the multiple signals, the processor 1420 is configured to:

[0132] Determining a coarse delay estimate across the entire bandwidth based on the multiple signals;

[0133] Determining a filtering window based on a coarse delay estimate of the full bandwidth, and filtering the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals according to the filtering window to obtain multiple filtered channel impulse responses;

[0134] Frequency domain transformation is performed on the filtered multiple channel impulse responses to obtain CFRs of frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals.

[0135] Optionally, when determining a full-bandwidth coarse delay estimate based on multiple signals, the processor 1420 is configured to:

[0136] Perform channel estimation on multiple signals respectively to obtain channel impulse responses of frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals;

[0137] Based on the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals, coarse delay estimation is performed respectively to obtain multiple coarse delay estimation values, and the multiple coarse delay estimation values ​​have a one-to-one correspondence with the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals.

[0138] A coarse delay estimate for the entire bandwidth is determined based on the multiple coarse delay estimates.

[0139] Optionally, the coarse delay estimate value for the full bandwidth is the coarse delay estimate value corresponding to one of the multiple frequency bands; or, the coarse delay estimate value for the full bandwidth is a weighted combination of some or all of the coarse delay estimate values ​​corresponding to the multiple frequency bands.

[0140] Optionally, when determining the arrival time estimate based on the full bandwidth CFR, the processor 1420 is configured to:

[0141] The full-bandwidth CFR is segmented to obtain multiple subsequences, each of the multiple subsequences containing a portion of the CFR of each frequency band in the multiple frequency bands;

[0142] Based on the plurality of subsequences, an arrival time estimate is determined.

[0143] Optionally, when determining the estimated arrival time based on multiple subsequences, the processor 1420 is configured to:

[0144] Determine an autocorrelation matrix corresponding to each subsequence in the plurality of subsequences, and obtain a plurality of autocorrelation matrices corresponding to the plurality of subsequences;

[0145] Determining the delay corresponding to the peak point of the channel delay pseudo-spectrum according to the multiple autocorrelation matrices;

[0146] Determine an arrival time estimate based on the delay.

[0147] Optionally, the communication device 1400 has at least one memory 1430, which is used to store programs or instructions called by the processor 1420 and can also store data. The memory 1430 is coupled to the processor 1420. The coupling in the embodiment of the present application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms, and is used for information exchange between devices, units or modules. The processor 1420 may operate in conjunction with the memory 1430. The processor 1420 may execute program instructions stored in the memory 1430. At least one of the at least one memory may be included in the processor.

[0148] The specific connection medium between the communication interface 1410, the processor 1420 and the memory 1430 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. Figure 14 The memory 1430, the processor 1420 and the communication interface 1410 are connected via a bus 1440. Figure 14 The connections between the other components are shown in bold lines, which are only for illustration and are not intended to be limiting. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, Figure 14 Only one thick line is used in the diagram, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

[0149] When the communication device 1300 and the communication device 1400 are specifically chips or chip systems, the communication module 1302 and the communication interface 1410 may output or receive baseband signals. When the communication device 1300 and the communication device 1400 are specifically devices, the communication module 1302 and the communication interface 1410 may output or receive radio frequency signals. In the embodiments of the present application, the processor may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component, and may implement or execute the various methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc. The steps of the method disclosed in conjunction with the embodiments of the present application may be directly embodied as being executed by a hardware processor, or may be executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor.

[0150] In an embodiment of the present application, the memory 1430 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), or may be a volatile memory (volatile memory), such as a random-access memory (RAM). A memory is any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory in the embodiment of the present application may also be a circuit or any other device that can implement a storage function, for storing program instructions and / or data.

[0151] Based on the above description, in one embodiment, the embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device 1500 for implementing the functions of the receiving end in the above method. The communication device 1500 can be implemented by the communication device 1300, or it can be implemented by the communication device 1400. The communication device 1500 includes a hardware processing module 1501, a baseband digital signal processing (digital signal processing, DSP) algorithm module 1502 and a communication interface 1503. The communication interface 1503 can be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module or other type of communication interface for communicating with other devices through a transmission medium. For example, the communication interface 1503 is used for the device in the communication device 1500 to communicate with other devices.

[0152] The communication interface 1503 is configured to receive multiple signals from a transmitting end on multiple frequency bands, where the multiple frequency bands correspond one to one to the multiple signals.

[0153] The hardware processing module 1501 is used to determine the channel frequency impulse response (CFR) of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals based on the multiple signals; and to determine the CFR of the full bandwidth based on the CFR of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals, where the full bandwidth includes multiple frequency bands, and the frequency domain range of the full bandwidth is the same as the frequency domain range of the multiple signals at the transmitting end; there is an interval frequency band between every two adjacent frequency bands in the multiple frequency bands, and the value of the CFR of the full bandwidth in the multiple frequency bands is the value of the CFR corresponding to the multiple frequency bands, and the value of the CFR of the full bandwidth in the interval frequency band is zero.

[0154] The hardware processing module 1501 sends the full-bandwidth CFR to the baseband DSP algorithm module 1502. The baseband DSP algorithm module 1502 is configured to determine an estimated time of arrival based on the full-bandwidth CFR from the hardware processing module 1501.

[0155] Optionally, when determining, based on multiple signals, the channel frequency impulse response CFR of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals, the hardware processing module 1501 is configured to:

[0156] Determining a coarse delay estimate across the entire bandwidth based on the multiple signals;

[0157] Determining a filtering window based on a coarse delay estimate of the full bandwidth, and filtering the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals according to the filtering window to obtain multiple filtered channel impulse responses;

[0158] Frequency domain transformation is performed on the filtered multiple channel impulse responses to obtain CFRs of frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals.

[0159] Optionally, when determining a full-bandwidth coarse delay estimate based on multiple signals, the hardware processing module 1501 is configured to:

[0160] Perform channel estimation on multiple signals respectively to obtain channel impulse responses of frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals;

[0161] Based on the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals, coarse delay estimation is performed respectively to obtain multiple coarse delay estimation values, and the multiple coarse delay estimation values ​​have a one-to-one correspondence with the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals.

[0162] A coarse delay estimate for the entire bandwidth is determined based on the multiple coarse delay estimates.

[0163] Optionally, the coarse delay estimate value for the full bandwidth is the coarse delay estimate value corresponding to one of the multiple frequency bands; or, the coarse delay estimate value for the full bandwidth is a weighted combination of some or all of the coarse delay estimate values ​​corresponding to the multiple frequency bands.

[0164] Optionally, when determining the arrival time estimate based on the full bandwidth CFR, the baseband DSP algorithm module 1502:

[0165] The full-bandwidth CFR is segmented to obtain multiple subsequences, each of the multiple subsequences containing a portion of the CFR of each frequency band in the multiple frequency bands;

[0166] Based on the plurality of subsequences, an arrival time estimate is determined.

[0167] Optionally, when determining the estimated arrival time based on multiple subsequences, the baseband DSP algorithm module 1502:

[0168] Determine an autocorrelation matrix corresponding to each subsequence in the plurality of subsequences, and obtain a plurality of autocorrelation matrices corresponding to the plurality of subsequences;

[0169] Determining the delay corresponding to the peak point of the channel delay pseudo-spectrum according to the multiple autocorrelation matrices;

[0170] Determine an arrival time estimate based on the delay.

[0171] Optionally, the communication device 1500 includes at least one memory 1504, which is used to store programs or instructions called by the hardware processing module 1501 and the baseband DSP algorithm module 1502, and can also store data. The memory 1504 is coupled to the hardware processing module 1501 and the baseband DSP algorithm module 1502. The coupling in the embodiment of the present application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms, and is used for information exchange between devices, units or modules. The hardware processing module 1501 and the baseband DSP algorithm module 1502 may operate in conjunction with the memory 1504. The hardware processing module 1501 and the baseband DSP algorithm module 1502 may execute program instructions stored in the memory 1504. At least one of the at least one memory may be included in the hardware processing module 1501 and the baseband DSP algorithm module 1502.

[0172] The specific connection medium between the communication interface 1503, the hardware processing module 1501, the baseband DSP algorithm module 1502 and the memory 1504 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. Figure 15 The memory 1504, the hardware processing module 1501, the baseband DSP algorithm module 1502 and the communication interface 1503 are connected via a bus 1505. Figure 15 The connections between the other components are shown in bold lines, which are only for illustration and are not intended to be limiting. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, Figure 15 Only one thick line is used in the diagram, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

[0173] In this embodiment of the present application, hardware processing module 1501 solidifies a portion of the receiving end's modules through hardware programming. Hardware processing module 1501 is a dedicated, solidified chip, rather than a general-purpose chip, thereby improving computational efficiency and reducing latency and power consumption. Baseband DSP algorithm module 1502 is a software-programmable chip that can be programmed to implement different algorithmic functions, rather than being a solidified chip dedicated to performing specific functions.

[0174] In an embodiment of the present application, the memory 1504 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), etc., or a volatile memory (volatile memory), such as a random-access memory (RAM). The memory is any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory in the embodiment of the present application may also be a circuit or any other device that can implement a storage function, for storing program instructions and / or data.

[0175] based on Figure 15 The communication device shown in FIG. 1 and the flow chart of the method provided in the embodiment of the present application are as follows: Figure 16 and Figure 17 As shown, taking two frequency bands as an example, the specific method can refer to the above method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

[0176] Part or all of the operations and functions performed by the receiving end described in the above method embodiments of the present application can be completed by using a chip or an integrated circuit.

[0177] In order to achieve the above Figure 13 、 Figure 14 or Figure 15 In order to realize the functions of the communication device, the embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, including a processor, for supporting the communication device to realize the functions involved in the terminal or network device in the above method embodiment. In one possible design, the chip is connected to a memory or the chip includes a memory, and the memory is used to store the necessary program instructions and data for the communication device. It should be noted that when the chip realizes Figure 15 When the functions of the communication device are described, the chip may further include a first chip and a second chip, the first chip corresponding to the hardware processing module 1501 , and the second chip corresponding to the baseband DSP algorithm module 1502 .

[0178] An embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, wherein the computer program includes instructions for executing the above method embodiment.

[0179] The embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product including instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enables the above method embodiment to be implemented.

[0180] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present application can be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present application can adopt the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment in combination with software and hardware. Moreover, the present application can adopt the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to magnetic disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) that contain computer-usable program code.

[0181] The present application is described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to the embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that each process and / or box in the flowchart and / or block diagram, as well as the combination of the processes and / or boxes in the flowchart and / or block diagram, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device generate instructions for implementing the steps in the process. Figure 1 a process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A device that provides the functions specified in a block or multiple blocks.

[0182] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to work in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer readable memory produce an article of manufacture comprising an instruction device, which implements the process Figure 1 a process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 The function specified in one or more boxes.

[0183] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operational steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, thereby providing the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device for implementing the process. Figure 1 a process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A step that specifies a function in one or more boxes.

[0184] Although the preferred embodiments of the present application have been described, those skilled in the art may make additional changes and modifications to these embodiments once they have learned the basic creative concept. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to be interpreted as including the preferred embodiments and all changes and modifications that fall within the scope of the present application.

[0185] Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various changes and modifications to the embodiments of the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the embodiments of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application also intends to include such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A method for estimating arrival time based on non-continuous spectrum, characterized in that: include: receiving a plurality of signals from a transmitting end on a plurality of frequency bands, the plurality of frequency bands corresponding one-to-one to the plurality of signals; Determining, based on the multiple signals, a channel frequency impulse response (CFR) of a frequency band corresponding to the multiple signals; Determining a CFR of a full bandwidth based on CFRs of frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals, where the full bandwidth includes the multiple frequency bands, and a frequency domain range of the full bandwidth is the same as a frequency domain range of the multiple signals at the transmitting end; there is an interval frequency band between every two adjacent frequency bands in the multiple frequency bands, and the CFR of the full bandwidth in the multiple frequency bands is the value of the CFR corresponding to the multiple frequency bands, and the CFR of the full bandwidth in the interval frequency band is zero; Determining an estimated time of arrival based on the full bandwidth CFR, wherein the estimated time of arrival is used to determine location information of the terminal device; The determining of an estimated arrival time based on the CFR of the full bandwidth includes: Performing comb division on the full-bandwidth CFR to obtain a plurality of subsequences, each of the plurality of subsequences including a portion of the CFR of each frequency band in the plurality of frequency bands; The arrival time estimate is determined based on the plurality of subsequences.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein Determining, based on the multiple signals, a channel frequency impulse response (CFR) of a frequency band corresponding to the multiple signals includes: determining a coarse delay estimate for the full bandwidth based on the plurality of signals; Determining a filtering window based on the coarse delay estimate of the full bandwidth, and filtering the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals according to the filtering window to obtain multiple filtered channel impulse responses; Frequency domain transformation is performed on the filtered multiple channel impulse responses to obtain CFRs of frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein Determining a coarse delay estimate for the full bandwidth based on the multiple signals includes: performing channel estimation on each of the multiple signals to obtain channel impulse responses of frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; performing coarse delay estimation based on the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals, respectively, to obtain a plurality of coarse delay estimation values, wherein the plurality of coarse delay estimation values ​​correspond one-to-one to the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; The full-bandwidth coarse delay estimate is determined based on the multiple coarse delay estimates.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein: The coarse delay estimation value of the full bandwidth is a coarse delay estimation value corresponding to one of the multiple frequency bands; or, the coarse delay estimation value of the full bandwidth is a weighted combination of some or all of the coarse delay estimation values ​​corresponding to the multiple frequency bands.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein Determining the arrival time estimate based on the plurality of subsequences includes: Determine an autocorrelation matrix corresponding to each subsequence in the multiple subsequences to obtain multiple autocorrelation matrices corresponding to the multiple subsequences; determine a delay corresponding to a peak point of a channel delay pseudospectrum based on the multiple autocorrelation matrices; The arrival time estimate is determined based on the time delay.

6. A communication device, characterized in that: include: a communication module, configured to receive a plurality of signals from a transmitting end on a plurality of frequency bands, the plurality of frequency bands corresponding one-to-one to the plurality of signals; A first processing module, configured to determine, based on the multiple signals, a channel frequency impulse response (CFR) of a frequency band corresponding to the multiple signals; and determining a CFR of the full bandwidth based on the CFRs of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals, wherein the full bandwidth includes the multiple frequency bands, the frequency domain range of the full bandwidth is the same as the frequency domain range of the multiple signals at the transmitting end; there is an interval frequency band between every two adjacent frequency bands in the multiple frequency bands, the CFR values ​​of the full bandwidth in the multiple frequency bands are the values ​​of the CFRs corresponding to the multiple frequency bands, and the CFR value of the full bandwidth in the interval frequency band is zero; A second processing module is configured to determine an estimated time of arrival based on the CFR of the full bandwidth, wherein the estimated time of arrival is used to determine location information of the terminal device; When determining an estimated arrival time based on the full bandwidth CFR, the second processing module is configured to: Performing comb division on the full-bandwidth CFR to obtain a plurality of subsequences, each of the plurality of subsequences including a portion of the CFR of each frequency band in the plurality of frequency bands; The arrival time estimate is determined based on the plurality of subsequences.

7. The device according to claim 6, characterized in that When determining, based on the multiple signals, a channel frequency impulse response CFR of a frequency band corresponding to the multiple signals, the first processing module is configured to: determining a coarse delay estimate for the full bandwidth based on the plurality of signals; Determining a filtering window based on the coarse delay estimate of the full bandwidth, and filtering the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals according to the filtering window to obtain multiple filtered channel impulse responses; Frequency domain transformation is performed on the filtered multiple channel impulse responses to obtain CFRs of frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals.

8. The device according to claim 7, wherein When determining the full-bandwidth coarse delay estimate based on the multiple signals, the first processing module is configured to: performing channel estimation on each of the multiple signals to obtain channel impulse responses of frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; performing coarse delay estimation based on the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals, respectively, to obtain a plurality of coarse delay estimation values, wherein the plurality of coarse delay estimation values ​​correspond one-to-one to the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; The full-bandwidth coarse delay estimate is determined based on the multiple coarse delay estimates.

9. The device according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that The coarse delay estimation value of the full bandwidth is a coarse delay estimation value corresponding to one of the multiple frequency bands; or, the coarse delay estimation value of the full bandwidth is a weighted combination of some or all of the coarse delay estimation values ​​corresponding to the multiple frequency bands.

10. The device according to claim 6, wherein When determining the estimated arrival time based on the multiple subsequences, the second processing module is configured to: Determine an autocorrelation matrix corresponding to each subsequence in the plurality of subsequences, to obtain a plurality of autocorrelation matrices corresponding to the plurality of subsequences; Determining, according to the multiple autocorrelation matrices, a delay corresponding to a peak point of a channel delay pseudo-spectrum; The arrival time estimate is determined based on the time delay.

11. A communication device, characterized in that: It includes a processor and a communication interface, wherein: The communication interface is configured to receive a plurality of signals from a transmitting end on a plurality of frequency bands, wherein the plurality of frequency bands correspond one-to-one to the plurality of signals; The processor is configured to call a set of programs or instructions to perform the following operations: Used to determine, based on the multiple signals, the channel frequency impulse response (CFR) of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; and used to determine the CFR of the full bandwidth based on the CFR of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals, wherein the full bandwidth includes the multiple frequency bands, and the frequency domain range of the full bandwidth is the same as the frequency domain range of the multiple signals at the transmitting end; there is an interval frequency band between every two adjacent frequency bands in the multiple frequency bands, and the CFR of the full bandwidth in the multiple frequency bands is the value of the CFR corresponding to the multiple frequency bands, and the CFR of the full bandwidth is zero in the interval frequency band; and used to determine an arrival time estimate based on the CFR of the full bandwidth, wherein the arrival time estimate is used to determine the location information of the terminal device; When determining an arrival time estimate based on the full bandwidth CFR, the processor is configured to: Segmenting the full-bandwidth CFR to obtain a plurality of subsequences, each of the plurality of subsequences comprising a portion of the CFR of each frequency band in the plurality of frequency bands; The arrival time estimate is determined based on the plurality of subsequences.

12. The device according to claim 11, wherein When determining, based on the multiple signals, a channel frequency impulse response CFR of a frequency band corresponding to the multiple signals, the processor is configured to: determining a coarse delay estimate for the full bandwidth based on the plurality of signals; Determining a filtering window based on the coarse delay estimate of the full bandwidth, and filtering the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals according to the filtering window to obtain multiple filtered channel impulse responses; Frequency domain transformation is performed on the filtered multiple channel impulse responses to obtain CFRs of frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals.

13. The device according to claim 12, wherein When determining the full-bandwidth coarse delay estimate based on the multiple signals, the processor is configured to: performing channel estimation on each of the multiple signals to obtain channel impulse responses of frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; performing coarse delay estimation based on the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals, respectively, to obtain a plurality of coarse delay estimation values, wherein the plurality of coarse delay estimation values ​​correspond one-to-one to the channel impulse responses of the frequency bands corresponding to the multiple signals; The full-bandwidth coarse delay estimate is determined based on the multiple coarse delay estimates.

14. The device according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that The coarse delay estimation value of the full bandwidth is a coarse delay estimation value corresponding to one of the multiple frequency bands; or, the coarse delay estimation value of the full bandwidth is a weighted combination of some or all of the coarse delay estimation values ​​corresponding to the multiple frequency bands.

15. The device according to claim 11, wherein When determining the estimated time of arrival based on the plurality of subsequences, the processor is configured to: Determine an autocorrelation matrix corresponding to each subsequence in the plurality of subsequences, to obtain a plurality of autocorrelation matrices corresponding to the plurality of subsequences; Determining, according to the multiple autocorrelation matrices, a delay corresponding to a peak point of a channel delay pseudo-spectrum; The arrival time estimate is determined based on the time delay.

16. The device according to any one of claims 11 to 13 or 15, characterized in that The system further includes a memory for storing programs or instructions called by the processor.

17. A chip, characterized in that: The chip is connected to a memory or includes the memory, and is configured to read and execute a software program stored in the memory to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

18. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The computer storage medium stores computer-readable instructions, and when the computer-readable instructions are executed on the communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 is implemented.

19. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product stores computer-readable instructions, and when the computer-readable instructions are executed on a communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 is implemented.

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