Power delay profile (PDP) similarity measurement and reporting

Abstract

A technique for wireless communication is disclosed. In one aspect, a receiving device receives from a network entity a request to report a power delay profile (PDP) similarity measure for a first positioning frequency layer on a first component carrier and a second positioning frequency layer on a second component carrier; determines a first PDP of a first reference signal received on the first positioning frequency layer and a second PDP of a second reference signal received on the second positioning frequency layer; determines a PDP similarity measure based on the first PDP and the second PDP; and transmits the PDP similarity measure to the network entity.

Description

[0001] Public background

[0002] 1. Public domain

[0003] The various aspects of this disclosure generally relate to wireless communications.

[0004] 2. Relevant Technical Descriptions

[0005] Wireless communication systems have undergone several generations of development, including first-generation analog radiotelephone service (1G), second-generation (2G) digital radiotelephone service (including transitional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third-generation (3G) high-speed data radio service with Internet capabilities, and fourth-generation (4G) service (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). Currently, many different types of wireless communication systems are in use, including cellular and Personal Communication Services (PCS) systems. Known examples of cellular systems include cellular analog Advanced Mobile Phone Systems (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), etc.

[0006] The fifth-generation (5G) wireless standard (known as New Radio (NR)) demands higher data transmission speeds, a greater number of connections, better coverage, and other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGC), the 5G standard is designed to provide tens of megabits per second (Mbps) of data rate to each of tens of thousands of users, and 1 gigabits per second (Gbps) to dozens of employees on an office floor. It should support hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections to support large-scale sensor deployments. Therefore, 5G mobile communication should have significantly improved spectral efficiency compared to the current 4G standard. Furthermore, signaling efficiency should be improved and latency significantly reduced compared to the current standard.

[0007] Overview

[0008] The following is a simplified overview relating to one or more aspects disclosed herein. Therefore, this overview should not be considered an exhaustive overview relating to all aspects of the conception, nor should it be considered to identify key or decisive elements relating to all aspects of the conception or to depict the scope associated with any particular aspect. Accordingly, the sole purpose of the following overview is to present, in a simplified form, certain concepts relating to one or more aspects of the mechanism disclosed herein before the detailed description given below.

[0009] In one aspect, a wireless communication method performed by a receiving device includes: receiving from a network entity a request to report a power delay profile (PDP) similarity measure for a first positioning frequency layer on a first component carrier and a second positioning frequency layer on a second component carrier; determining a first PDP of a first reference signal received on the first positioning frequency layer and a second PDP of a second reference signal received on the second positioning frequency layer; determining a PDP similarity measure based on the first PDP and the second PDP; and transmitting the PDP similarity measure to the network entity.

[0010] In one aspect, a receiver device includes: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: receive from a network entity a request for reporting a power delay profile (PDP) similarity metric for a first positioning frequency layer on a first component carrier and a second positioning frequency layer on a second component carrier; determine a first PDP of a first reference signal received on the first positioning frequency layer and a second PDP of a second reference signal received on the second positioning frequency layer; determine a PDP similarity metric based on the first PDP and the second PDP; and transmit the PDP similarity metric to the network entity.

[0011] In one aspect, a receiving device includes means for receiving from a network entity a request to report a power delay profile (PDP) similarity metric for a first positioning frequency layer on a first component carrier and a second positioning frequency layer on a second component carrier; means for determining a first PDP of a first reference signal received on the first positioning frequency layer and a second PDP of a second reference signal received on the second positioning frequency layer; means for determining a PDP similarity metric based on the first PDP and the second PDP; and means for transmitting the PDP similarity metric to the network entity.

[0012] In one aspect, a non-transient computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions includes: an instruction receiving device receiving from a network entity at least one instruction for reporting a power delay profile (PDP) similarity measurement for a first positioning frequency layer on a first component carrier and a second positioning frequency layer on a second component carrier; the instruction receiving device determining at least one instruction for determining a first PDP of a first reference signal received on the first positioning frequency layer and a second PDP of a second reference signal received on the second positioning frequency layer; the instruction receiving device determining at least one instruction for determining a PDP similarity measurement based on the first PDP and the second PDP; and the instruction receiving device transmitting the PDP similarity measurement to the network entity at least one instruction.

[0013] Other objectives and advantages associated with the aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the accompanying drawings and detailed description. Brief description of the attached diagram

[0015] The accompanying drawings are provided to help describe various aspects of this disclosure, and the drawings are provided for illustrative purposes only and not for limiting the aspects.

[0016] Figure 1 Example wireless communication systems based on various aspects of this disclosure are explained.

[0017] Figure 2A and 2B Example wireless network architectures based on various aspects of this disclosure are explained.

[0018] Figures 3A to 3C It is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that can be adopted in user equipment (UE), base stations, and network entities and configured to support communications as taught herein.

[0019] Figures 4A to 4D This is a diagram illustrating example frame structures and channels within these frame structures according to various aspects of this disclosure.

[0020] Figures 5A to 5C Different examples of frequency domain overlap between positioning frequency layers within component carriers according to various aspects of this disclosure are explained.

[0021] Figure 6 An example of downlink positioning reference signal (DLPRS) splicing within the same component carrier according to various aspects of this disclosure is explained.

[0022] Figure 7 Another example of DL PRS splicing within the same component carrier according to various aspects of this disclosure is explained.

[0023] Figure 8 Another example of DL PRS splicing across component carriers according to various aspects of this disclosure is explained.

[0024] Figure 9 This is a diagram illustrating an example multipath channel power delay profile (PDP) according to various aspects of this disclosure.

[0025] Figure 10 Example wireless communication methods based on various aspects of this disclosure are explained.

[0026] Detailed description

[0027] Various aspects of this disclosure are provided below in the description and accompanying drawings of various examples provided for illustrative purposes. Alternative aspects may be designed without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Furthermore, elements well-known in this disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of this disclosure.

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

[0029] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the information and signals described below can be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and arts. For example, the data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referred to throughout the following description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the specific application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, etc.

[0030] Furthermore, many aspects are described in the form of sequences of actions performed by elements of, for example, computing devices. It will be appreciated that the various actions described herein can be performed by special-purpose circuitry (e.g., application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, the sequences of actions described herein can be considered to be fully embodied in any form of non-transient computer-readable storage medium storing a corresponding set of computer instructions that, upon execution, will cause an associated processor of the device to perform the functions described herein. Thus, various aspects of this disclosure can be embodied in several different forms, all of which are contemplated to fall within the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, for each aspect described herein, a corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein as, for example, "logic configured to perform the described actions."

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

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

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

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

[0035] An “RF signal” refers to an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transmits information across the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single “RF signal” or multiple “RF signals” to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of individual RF signals through a multipath channel, a receiver may receive multiple “RF signals” corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same RF signal transmitted on different paths between the transmitter and receiver can be referred to as a “multipath” RF signal.

[0036] Figure 1An example wireless communication system 100 has been described. The wireless communication system 100 (also referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include individual base stations 102 and individual UEs 104. Base station 102 may include macrocell base stations (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low-power cellular base stations). In one aspect, macrocell base stations may include eNBs and / or ng-eNBs (where wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network), or gNBs (where wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network), or a combination of both, and small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0037] Each base station 102 can collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC)) via a backhaul link 122, and connect to one or more location servers 172 (which may be part of the core network 170 or external to it) via the core network 170. Among other functions, base stations 102 can also perform functions related to one or more of the following: transmitting user data, radio channel cryptography and decoding, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, location, and delivery of alarm messages. Base stations 102 can communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., via EPC / 5GC) via a backhaul link 134 (which may be wired or wireless).

[0038] Base station 102 can wirelessly communicate with UE 104. Each base station 102 can provide communication coverage for its respective geographical coverage area 110. In one aspect, one or more cells can be supported by base station 102 in each geographical coverage area 110. A “cell” is a logical communication entity used to communicate with a base station (e.g., on a frequency resource, referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.) and can be associated with an identifier (e.g., Physical Cell Identifier (PCI), Virtual Cell Identifier (VCI), Cell Global Identifier (CGI)) to distinguish cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells can be configured according to different protocol types that can provide access to different types of UEs (e.g., Machine Type Communication (MTC), Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), or others). Since cells are supported by specific base stations, the term “cell” can refer to either or both of the logical communication entity and the base station supporting that logical communication entity, depending on the context. In some contexts, the term "cellular" can also refer to the geographical coverage area (e.g., sector) of a base station, in the sense that the carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within a portion of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0039] While the geographic coverage areas 110 of adjacent macrocell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in handover areas), some geographic coverage areas 110 may substantially overlap with larger geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell (SC) base station 102' may have geographic coverage areas 110' that substantially overlap with the geographic coverage areas 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell and macrocell base stations may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include home eNBs (HeNBs) that can provide service to a restricted group referred to as a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG).

[0040] The communication link 120 between base station 102 and UE 104 may include uplink (also known as reverse link) transmission from UE 104 to base station 102 and / or downlink (also known as forward link) transmission from base station 102 to UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna technologies, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may use one or more carrier frequencies. Carrier allocation may be asymmetric with respect to the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to the downlink compared to the uplink).

[0041] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 communicating with a WLAN station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 in unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in unlicensed spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) or listen-before-speak (LBT) procedure to determine channel availability before communication.

[0042] Small cell base station 102' can operate in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in unlicensed spectrum, small cell base station 102' can employ LTE or NR technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum as used by WLAN AP 150. Small cell base station 102' employing LTE / 5G in unlicensed spectrum can enhance access network coverage and / or increase access network capacity. NR in unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as NR-U. LTE in unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as LTE-U, Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0043] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a millimeter-wave (mmW) base station 180, which can operate in mmW and / or near-mmW frequencies to communicate with the UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that contains radio frequency (RF). EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and wavelengths between 1 mm and 10 mm. Radio waves in this band are referred to as millimeter waves. Near-mmW extends down to a 3 GHz frequency with a 100 mm wavelength. Ultra-high frequency (SHF) bands extend between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, and are also referred to as centimeter waves. Communication using mmW / near-mmW RF bands has high path loss and relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 can utilize beamforming (transmit and / or receive) on the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. Furthermore, it will be appreciated that in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also use mmW or near-mmW and beamforming for transmission. Accordingly, it will be understood that the foregoing explanations are merely illustrative and should not be construed as limiting the aspects disclosed herein.

[0044] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing RF signals in a specific direction. Conventionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectionally). Using transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thus providing the receiving device with a faster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal. To change the directivity of the RF signal during transmission, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of one or more transmitters broadcasting the RF signal. For example, the network node can use an antenna array (referred to as a "phased array" or "antenna array") that generates a beam of RF waves, which can be "guided" to different directions without actually moving the antennas. Specifically, RF currents from the transmitters are fed to the individual antennas with the correct phase relationship so that radio waves from the separate antennas add together in the desired direction to increase radiation, while simultaneously canceling each other out in the undesired direction to suppress radiation.

[0045] Transmit beams can be quasi-co-located, meaning they appear to the receiver (e.g., the UE) with identical parameters, regardless of whether the network node's transmit antennas are physically co-located. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships. Specifically, a given type of QCL relationship means that certain parameters of the target reference RF signal on the target beam can be derived from information about the source reference RF signal on the source beam. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of the target reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the target reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of the target reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is of type QCL D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial reception parameters of the target reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0046] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses a receive beam to amplify an RF signal detected on a given channel. For example, a receiver may increase the gain setting of an antenna array and / or adjust the phase setting of the antenna array in a specific direction to amplify the RF signal received from that direction (e.g., increase its gain level). Thus, when a receiver is referred to as beamforming in a certain direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is higher than the beam gain in other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gain of all other receive beams available to the receiver in that direction. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR), etc.) of the RF signal received from that direction.

[0047] The receive beam can be spatially dependent. Spatial dependency means that the parameters of the transmit beam used for the second reference signal can be derived from information about the receive beam of the first reference signal. For example, the UE can use a specific receive beam to receive one or more reference downlink reference signals (e.g., Position Reference Signal (PRS), Tracking Reference Signal (TRS), Phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS), Cell-Specific Reference Signal (CRS), Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), Synchronization Block (SSB), etc.) from the base station. The UE can then form a transmit beam based on the parameters of the receive beam to transmit one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., Uplink Position Reference Signal (UL-PRS), Detection Reference Signal (SRS), Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), PTRS, etc.) to the base station.

[0048] Note that, depending on the entity forming the "downlink" beam, the beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if a base station is forming a downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to a UE, then the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if a UE is forming a downlink beam, then the downlink beam is a receive beam for receiving downlink reference signals. Similarly, depending on the entity forming the "uplink" beam, the beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if a base station is forming an uplink beam, then the uplink beam is an uplink receive beam, while if a UE is forming an uplink beam, then the uplink beam is an uplink transmit beam.

[0049] In 5G, the spectrum in which radio nodes (e.g., base stations 102 / 180, UE 104 / 182) operate is divided into multiple frequency ranges: FR1 (from 450 to 6000 MHz), FR2 (from 24250 to 52600 MHz), FR3 (above 52600 MHz), and FR4 (between FR1 and FR2). In multi-carrier systems (such as 5G), one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as the “primary carrier” or “anchor carrier” or “primary serving cell” or “PCell,” and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as “secondary carriers” or “secondary serving cells” or “SCell.” In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is the carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by UE 104 / 182 and on the cell in which UE 104 / 182 performs an initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all shared control channels as well as UE-specific control channels, and can be a carrier on a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). The secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2), which can be configured once an RRC connection is established between UE 104 and the anchor carrier, and can be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier can be a carrier on an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may contain only the necessary signaling information and signals; for example, UE-specific signaling information and signals may not be present on the secondary carrier, since both the primary uplink and downlink carriers are typically UE-specific. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell can have different downlink primary carriers. The same applies to the uplink primary carrier. The network can change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. For example, this is done to balance the load on different carriers. Since a “serving cell” (whether PCell or SCell) corresponds to the carrier frequency / component carrier that a base station is using for communication, the terms “cell,” “serving cell,” “component carrier,” “carrier frequency,” etc., can be used interchangeably.

[0050] For example, still refer to Figure 1 One of the frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 can be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), and other frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 and / or mmW base station 180 can be secondary carriers ("SCell"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception on multiple carriers allows the UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rates. For example, two 20MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically result in twice the data rate (i.e., 40MHz) compared to the data rate obtained from a single 20MHz carrier.

[0051] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a UE 164, which can communicate with the macrocell base station 102 on the communication link 120 and / or with the mmW base station 180 on the mmW communication link 184. For example, the macrocell base station 102 may support PCell and one or more SCells for the UE 164, and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCells for the UE 164.

[0052] exist Figure 1 In the example, one or more Earth-orbiting Satellite Positioning System (SPS) spacecraft (SV) 112 (e.g., satellites) can be used as any of the explained UEs (for simplicity, in...). Figure 1 The location information of a single UE 104 is a separate source. UE 104 may include one or more dedicated SPS receivers specifically designed to receive SPS signal 124 from SV 112 to derive geographic location information. The SPS typically includes a transmitter system (e.g., SV 112) positioned such that receivers (e.g., UE 104) can determine their location on or above the earth based at least in part on signals received from the transmitter (e.g., SPS signal 124). Such transmitters typically transmit signals marked with a set number of repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) codes. While transmitters are typically located in SV 112, they may sometimes be located at a terrestrial control station, base station 102, and / or other UE 104.

[0053] The use of SPS signal 124 can be amplified by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS), which may be associated with or otherwise enabled to be used in conjunction with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems. For example, SBAS may include augmentation systems that provide integrity information, differential correction, etc., such as Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), European Geostationary Navigation Coverage Service (EGNOS), Multifunctional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), GPS-assisted Geographic Augmentation Navigation or GPS and Geographic Augmentation Navigation System (GAGAN), etc. Thus, as used herein, SPS may include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems and / or augmentation systems, and SPS signal 124 may include SPS, SPS-like systems, and / or other signals associated with one or more such SPS.

[0054] The wireless communication system 100 may further include one or more UEs (such as UE 190) that are indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as “side links”). Figure 1 In the example, UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with a UE 104 connected to a base station 102 (e.g., through which UE 190 indirectly obtains cellular connectivity), and a D2D P2P link 194 with a WLANSTA 152 connected to a WLAN AP 150 (through which UE 190 indirectly obtains WLAN-based Internet connectivity). In one example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 can use any known D2D RAT (such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D)). (etc.) to support.

[0055] Figure 2A Example wireless network architecture 200 is explained. For example, 5GC 210 (also referred to as Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be functionally considered as control plane functions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and user plane functions 212 (e.g., UE gateway functions, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.), which operate collaboratively to form the core network. User plane interface (NG-U) 213 and control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect gNB 222 to 5GC 210, specifically to control plane functions 214 and user plane functions 212. In an additional configuration, ng-eNB 224 can also connect to 5GC 210 via NG-C 215 to control plane function 214 and NG-U 213 to user plane function 212. Furthermore, ng-eNB 224 can communicate directly with gNB 222 via backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, the new RAN 220 may have only one or more gNB 222s, while other configurations include both one or more ng-eNB 224s and one or more gNB 222s. The gNB 222 or ng-eNB 224 can be used with UE 204 (e.g., Figure 1The UE 204 can communicate with any UE depicted herein. Another optional aspect may include a location server 230, which may communicate with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance to the UE 204. The location server 230 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules extending across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each may correspond to a single server. The location server 230 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which can connect to the location server 230 via the core network, the 5GC 210, and / or via the Internet (not described). Furthermore, the location server 230 may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively, may be external to the core network.

[0056] Figure 2B Another example wireless network architecture 250 is described. For example, 5GC 260 can be functionally considered as a control plane function (provided by Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 264) and a user plane function (provided by User Plane Function (UPF) 262), which operate cooperatively to form the core network (i.e., 5GC 260). User plane interface 263 and control plane interface 265 connect ng-eNB 224 to 5GC 260, specifically to UPF 262 and AMF 264, respectively. In an additional configuration, gNB 222 can also connect to 5GC 260 via control plane interface 265 to AMF 264 and user plane interface 263 to UPF 262. Furthermore, ng-eNB 224 can communicate directly with gNB 222 via backhaul connection 223, with or without gNB direct connectivity to 5GC 260. In some configurations, the new RAN 220 may have only one or more gNB 222s, while other configurations include both one or more ng-eNB 224s and one or more gNB 222s. The gNB 222 or ng-eNB 224 can be used with UE 204 (e.g., Figure 1 The base station of the new RAN 220 communicates with the AMF 264 via the N2 interface and with the UPF 262 via the N3 interface.

[0057] The functions of AMF 264 include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transmission of Session Management (SM) messages between UE 204 and Session Management Function (SMF) 266, transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transmission of Short Message Service (SMS) messages between UE 204 and Short Message Service Function (SMSF) (not shown), and Security Anchor Functionality (SEAF). AMF 264 also interacts with Authentication Server Function (AUSF) (not shown) and UE 204, and receives an intermediate key established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case of authentication based on the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), AMF 264 retrieves security material from the AUSSF. The functions of AMF 264 also include Security Context Management (SCM). The SCM receives a key from the SEAF, which is used by the SCM to derive a key that varies depending on the access network. The functionality of AMF 264 also includes: location service management for regulatory services, transmission of location service messages between UE 204 and Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (which acts as location server 230), transmission of location service messages between the new RAN 220 and LMF 270, allocation of EPS bearer identifiers for interoperability with Evolved Packet Systems (EPS), and UE 204 mobility event notification. Additionally, AMF 264 supports functionality in non-3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0058] The functions of UPF 262 include: acting as an anchor point for intra / inter-RAT mobility (where applicable), acting as an external Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session point interconnecting to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., strobing, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, quality of service (QoS) handling for user plane (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in the downlink), uplink traffic verification (Service Data Flow (SDF) to QoS Flow mapping), transport-level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and sending and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node. UPF 262 may also support the transmission of location service messages on the user plane between UE 204 and a location server (such as Secure User Plane Positioning (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP) 272).

[0059] The functions of SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, traffic bootstrapping configuration at UPF 262 for routing traffic to the correct destination, partial control of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface used by SMF 266 to communicate with AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0060] Another optional aspect may include LMF 270, which can communicate with 5GC 260 to provide location assistance to UE 204. LMF 270 can be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules extending across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each can correspond to a single server. LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more location services for UE 204, which can connect to LMF 270 via the core network, 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not explained). SLP 272 supports similar functionality to LMF 270, but while LMF 270 can communicate with AMF 264, the new RAN 220, and UE 204 on the control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols designed to convey signaling messages rather than voice or data), SLP 272 can communicate with UE 204 and external clients on the user plane (e.g., using protocols designed to carry voice and / or data, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP). Figure 2B (Not shown in the image) communicates.

[0061] Figure 3A , 3B The document describes several example components (represented by corresponding boxes) that can be incorporated into UE 302 (which may correspond to any UE described herein), base station 304 (which may correspond to any base station described herein), and network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any network function described herein, including location server 230 and LMF 270) to support file transfer operations as taught herein. It will be appreciated that these components can be implemented in different types of devices (e.g., in ASICs, in system-on-chips (SoCs), etc.) in different implementations. The described components can also be incorporated into other devices in a communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to those described to provide similar functionality. Furthermore, a given device may include one or more of these components. For example, a device may include multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0062] UE 302 and base station 304 each include wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively, providing means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for suppressing transmission, etc.) for communication via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown) (such as NR networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, etc.). WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356, respectively, for communication with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNB, gNB), etc.) on a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., a time / frequency resource set in a specific spectrum) via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.). WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can be configured, according to a specified RAT, in various ways to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.), and conversely, to receive and decode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.). Specifically, WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 each include one or more transmitters 314 and 354 for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358, respectively, and each includes one or more receivers 312 and 352 for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358, respectively.

[0063] In at least some cases, UE 302 and base station 304 also include one or more short-range radio transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. The short-range radio transceivers 320 and 360 may be connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and provide access via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, etc.). A means for communicating with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for suppressing transmission, etc.). Short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be configured, according to a specified RAT, in various ways to transmit and encode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.), and conversely, to receive and decode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.). Specifically, short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 each include one or more transmitters 324 and 364 for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368, respectively, and one or more receivers 322 and 362 for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368, respectively. As a specific example, short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be wireless local area network (WLAN) transceivers, transceiver and / or Z- Transceiver, near field communication (NFC) transceiver, or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceiver.

[0064] A transceiver circuit system including at least one transmitter and at least one receiver may, in some implementations, include integrated devices (e.g., transmitter and receiver circuitry implemented as a single communication device), in some implementations, include separate transmitter and receiver devices, or in other implementations, may be implemented in a different manner. In one aspect, the transmitter may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, which allows the corresponding device to perform transmit "beamforming," as described herein. Similarly, the receiver may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, which allows the corresponding device to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In another aspect, the transmitter and receiver may share the same multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366) such that the corresponding device can only receive or transmit at a given time, rather than both simultaneously. The wireless communication equipment of UE 302 and / or base station 304 (e.g., one or both of transceivers 310 and 320 and / or one or both of transceivers 350 and 360) may also include a network eavesdropping module (NLM) for performing various measurements, etc.

[0065] In at least some cases, UE 302 and base station 304 also include Satellite Positioning System (SPS) receivers 330 and 370. SPS receivers 330 and 370 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and may provide means for receiving and / or measuring SPS signals 338 and 378, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, BeiDou signals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. SPS receivers 330 and 370 request information and operations from other systems as appropriate and perform necessary calculations to determine the positioning of UE 302 and base station 304 using measurements obtained by any suitable SPS algorithm.

[0066] Base station 304 and network entity 306 each include at least one network interface 380 and 390, providing means for communicating with other network entities (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, etc.). For example, network interfaces 380 and 390 (e.g., one or more network access ports) may be configured to communicate with one or more network entities via a wired or wireless backhaul connection. In some aspects, network interfaces 380 and 390 may be implemented as transceivers configured to support wired or wireless signal communication. This communication may involve, for example, sending and receiving messages, parameters, and / or other types of information.

[0067] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 also include other components that can be used in conjunction with operations disclosed herein. UE 302 includes a processor circuitry implemented with a processing system 332 for providing, for example, functionality related to wireless positioning, and for providing other processing functionality. Base station 304 includes a processing system 384 for providing, for example, functionality related to wireless positioning as disclosed herein, and for providing other processing functionality. Network entity 306 includes a processing system 394 for providing, for example, functionality related to wireless positioning as disclosed herein, and for providing other processing functionality. Processing systems 332, 384, and 394 can therefore provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means for indicating, etc. In one aspect, processing systems 332, 384, and 394 may include, for example, one or more processors, such as one or more general-purpose processors, multi-core processors, ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuitry, or various combinations thereof.

[0068] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 include memory circuitry that implements memory components 340, 386, and 396 (e.g., each including a memory device) for maintaining information (e.g., information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). Memory components 340, 386, and 396 can thus provide means for storage, means for retrieval, means for maintenance, etc. In some cases, UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may include positioning components 342, 388, and 398, respectively. Positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be hardware circuitry that is part of or coupled to processing systems 332, 384, and 394, which, when executed, cause UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. In other respects, positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be external to processing systems 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules stored in memory components 340, 386, and 396, respectively, which, when executed by processing systems 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.), enable UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. Figure 3A The possible locations of the positioning component 342 are described. The positioning component 342 may be part of the WWAN transceiver 310, memory component 332, processing system 384, or any combination thereof, or may be a self-contained component. Figure 3B The possible locations of the positioning component 388 are described. The positioning component 388 may be part of a WWAN transceiver 350, a memory component 386, a processing system 384, or any combination thereof, or it may be a self-contained component. Figure 3C The possible locations of the positioning component 398 are described. The positioning component 398 may be part of (a) network interface 390, memory component 396, processing system 394, or any combination thereof, or may be a self-contained component.

[0069] UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to processing system 332 to provide means for sensing or detecting motion and / or orientation information independent of motion data derived from signals received by WWAN transceiver 310, short-range wireless transceiver 320, and / or SPS receiver 330. As an example, sensor 344 may include accelerometers (e.g., microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices), gyroscopes, geomagnetic sensors (e.g., compasses), altimeters (e.g., barometric altimeters), and / or any other type of motion detection sensor. Furthermore, sensor 344 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide motion information. For example, sensor 344 may use a combination of multi-axis accelerometers and orientation sensors to provide the ability to calculate positioning in 2D and / or 3D coordinate systems.

[0070] Additionally, UE 302 includes a user interface 346, which provides means for providing instructions to the user (e.g., audible and / or visual instructions) and / or for receiving user input (e.g., when the user actuates a sensing device (such as a keypad, touchscreen, microphone, etc.)). Although not shown, base station 304 and network entity 306 may also include user interfaces.

[0071] Referring more specifically to processing system 384, in the downlink, IP packets from network entity 306 can be provided to processing system 384. Processing system 384 can implement functionality for the RRC layer, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and Media Access Control (MAC) layer. The processing system 384 can provide RRC layer functionality associated with broadcast system information (e.g., Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration of UE measurement reports; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, security (cryptography, cryptographic decoding, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with upper-layer PDU delivery, error correction via Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC Service Data Units (SDUs), resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel priority ordering.

[0072] Transmitter 354 and receiver 352 implement Layer 1 (L1) functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer-1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) decoding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. Transmitter 354 processes the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The decoded and modulated symbols can then be split into parallel streams. Each stream can then be mapped to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., a pilot) in the time and / or frequency domains, and subsequently combined using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time-domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially precoded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from the channel estimator can be used to determine the coding and modulation schemes, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimates can be derived from reference signals transmitted by UE 302 and / or channel condition feedback. Each spatial stream can then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. Transmitter 354 can use the corresponding spatial stream to modulate an RF carrier for transmission.

[0073] At UE 302, receiver 312 receives signals via its corresponding antenna 316. Receiver 312 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides this information to processing system 332. Transmitter 314 and receiver 312 implement Layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Receiver 312 can perform spatial processing on this information to recover any spatial stream destined for UE 302. If multiple spatial streams are destined for UE 302, they can be combined by receiver 312 into a single OFDM symbol stream. Receiver 312 then uses a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to transform the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain. The frequency domain signal consists of a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. Symbols on each subcarrier, along with a reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the signal constellation points most likely to be transmitted by base station 304. These soft decisions can be based on a channel estimate calculated by a channel estimator. These soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the original data and control signals transmitted by base station 304 on the physical channel. These data and control signals are then provided to processing system 332, which implements Layer 3 (L3) and Layer 2 (L2) functionality.

[0074] In the uplink, processing system 332 provides demultiplexing, packet reassembly, cipher decoding, header decompression, and control signal processing between the transport and logical channels to recover IP packets from the core network. Processing system 332 is also responsible for error detection.

[0075] Similar to the functionality described in conjunction with downlink transmissions performed by base station 304, processing system 332 provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) capture, RRC connectivity, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression and security (cryptography, cryptographic decoding, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with upper-layer PDU delivery, error correction via ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel priority ordering.

[0076] The channel estimate derived by the channel estimator from the reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 304 can be used by the transmitter 314 to select an appropriate coding and modulation scheme and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial stream generated by the transmitter 314 can be provided to different antennas 316. The transmitter 314 can use the corresponding spatial stream to modulate the RF carrier for transmission.

[0077] Uplink transmissions are processed at base station 304 in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with the receiver function at UE 302. Receiver 352 receives signals via its corresponding antenna 356. Receiver 352 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides this information to processing system 384.

[0078] In the uplink, processing system 384 provides demultiplexing, packet reassembly, cipher decoding, header decompression, and control signal processing between the transport and logical channels to recover IP packets from UE 302. IP packets from processing system 384 can then be provided to the core network. Processing system 384 is also responsible for error detection.

[0079] For convenience, UE 302, base station 304 and / or network entity 306 are in Figures 3A to 3C The box is shown as including various components that can be configured according to the various examples described herein. However, it will be understood that the illustrated box may have different functionalities in different designs.

[0080] Various components of UE 302, base station 304 and network entity 306 can communicate with each other on data buses 334, 382 and 392 respectively. Figures 3A-3C The components can be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, Figures 3A-3C The components can be implemented in one or more circuits (for example, such as one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs, which may include one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and / or incorporate at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by that circuit to provide this functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310 to 346 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of UE 302 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriately configuring the processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350 to 388 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of base station 304 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriately configuring the processor components). Furthermore, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390 to 398 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of network entity 306 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriately configuring the processor components). For simplicity, various operations, actions, and / or functions are described herein as being performed "by the UE," "by the base station," "by the network entity," etc. However, as will be appreciated, such operations, actions, and / or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of the UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc., such as processing systems 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, memory components 340, 386, and 396, positioning components 342, 388, and 398, etc.

[0081] NR supports several cellular network-based positioning technologies, including downlink-based positioning methods, uplink-based positioning methods, and downlink-and-uplink-based positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include: Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) in LTE, Downlink Time Difference of Arrival (DL-TDOA) in NR, and Downlink Angle of Departure (DL-AoD) in NR. In OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedures, the UE measures the difference between the times of arrival (ToA) of reference signals (e.g., PRS, TRS, CSI-RS, SSB, etc.) received from paired base stations (referred to as Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) or Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) measurements) and reports these differences to the positioning entity. More specifically, the UE receives identifiers (IDs) of a reference base station (e.g., serving base station) and multiple non-reference base stations in auxiliary data. The UE then measures the RSTD between the reference base station and each non-reference base station. Based on the known locations of the base stations involved and the RSTD measurements, the positioning entity can estimate the UE's location. For DL-AoD positioning, base station measurements are used to estimate the location of the UE by taking the angle of the downlink transmit beam used to communicate with the UE and other channel properties (e.g., signal strength).

[0082] Uplink-based positioning methods include uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) and uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA). UL-TDOA is similar to DL-TDOA, but it is based on uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS) transmitted by the UE. For UL-AoA positioning, the base station measures the angle of the uplink received beam used to communicate with the UE and other channel properties (e.g., gain level) to estimate the UE's location.

[0083] Downlink and uplink-based positioning methods include Enhanced Cellular ID (E-CID) positioning and Multiple Round Trip (RTT) positioning (also known as "Multi-Cell RTT"). In an RTT procedure, the initiator (base station or UE) transmits an RTT measurement signal (e.g., PRS or SRS) to the responder (UE or base station), which then transmits an RTT response signal (e.g., SRS or PRS) back to the initiator. The RTT response signal includes the difference between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal and the transmission time of the RTT response signal (referred to as the receive-to-transmit (Rx-Tx) measurement). The initiator calculates the difference between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal and the ToA of the RTT response signal (referred to as the "Tx-Rx" measurement). The propagation time between the initiator and the responder (also known as "time of flight") can be calculated from the Tx-Rx and Rx-Tx measurements. Based on the propagation time and the known speed of light, the distance between the initiator and the responder can be determined. For multi-RTT positioning, the UE executes RTT procedures with multiple base stations so that the UE's location can be triangulated based on the known locations of each base station. RTT and multi-RTT methods can be combined with other positioning technologies (such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD) to improve location accuracy.

[0084] The E-CID positioning method is based on Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, timing advance (TA), and the identifiers, estimated timings, and signal strengths of detected neighboring base stations. The UE's location is then estimated based on this information and the known locations of the base stations.

[0085] To assist in the positioning operation, a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide auxiliary data to the UE. For example, auxiliary data may include: the identifier of the base station (or the cell / TRP of the base station) from which the reference signal is measured, reference signal configuration parameters (e.g., the number of consecutive positioning subframes, the periodicity of the positioning subframes, the silence sequence, the frequency hopping sequence, the reference signal identifier, the reference signal bandwidth, etc.), and / or other parameters applicable to a particular positioning method. Alternatively, auxiliary data may be derived directly from the base station itself (e.g., in periodically broadcast overhead messages, etc.). In some cases, the UE may be able to detect neighboring network nodes without using auxiliary data.

[0086] In the case of OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedures, auxiliary data may further include the expected RSTD value and associated uncertainty, or a search window around the expected RSTD. In some cases, the expected RSTD value may range from + / - 500 microseconds (μs). In some cases, when any resources used for positioning measurements are in FR1, the expected RSTD uncertainty may range from + / - 32 μs. In other cases, when all resources used for positioning measurements are in FR2, the expected RSTD uncertainty may range from + / - 8 μs.

[0087] Location estimation can be referred to by other names, such as location estimate, location, positioning, location lock, lock, etc. Location estimation can be geodetic and include coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possible elevation), or it can be municipal and include street addresses, postal addresses, or some other verbal description of location. Location estimation can be further defined relative to some other known location or in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possible elevation). Location estimation can include expected errors or uncertainties (e.g., by including the area or volume that the location is expected to be included with a specified or default confidence level).

[0088] Various frame structures can be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (e.g., base stations and UEs). Figure 4A Figure 400 illustrates an example of a downlink frame structure according to various aspects of this disclosure. Figure 4B Figure 430 illustrates an example of a channel within a downlink frame structure according to various aspects of this disclosure. Figure 4C Figure 450 is an example illustrating an uplink frame structure according to various aspects of this disclosure. Figure 4D Figure 470 illustrates an example of a channel within an uplink frame structure according to various aspects of this disclosure. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels.

[0089] LTE, and in some cases NR, utilizes OFDM on the downlink and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. However, unlike LTE, NR also has the option to use OFDM on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are often referred to as frequency modulation, frequency slots, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. Generally, modulation symbols are transmitted in the frequency domain for OFDM and in the time domain for SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers can be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) can depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the subcarrier spacing can be 15 kHz, and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) can be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Therefore, for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz, the nominal FFT size can be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048, respectively. The system bandwidth can also be divided into subbands. For example, a subband can cover 1.08MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20MHz, there can be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands, respectively.

[0090] LTE supports single-parameter design (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR supports multiple parameter designs (μ), for example, subcarrier spacings of 15kHz (μ=0), 30kHz (μ=1), 60kHz (μ=2), 120kHz (μ=3), and 240kHz (μ=4) or larger can be available. Within each subcarrier spacing, there are 14 symbols per time slot. For a 15kHz SCS (μ=0), there is one time slot per subframe, 10 time slots per frame, a time slot duration of 1 millisecond (ms), a symbol duration of 66.7 microseconds (μs), and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 4K FFT size is 50. For a 30kHz SCS (μ=1), there are two time slots per subframe, 20 time slots per frame, a time slot duration of 0.5ms, a symbol duration of 33.3μs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 4K FFT size of 100. For a 60kHz SCS (μ=2), there are four time slots per subframe, 40 time slots per frame, a time slot duration of 0.25ms, a symbol duration of 16.7μs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 4K FFT size of 200. For a 120kHz SCS (μ=3), there are eight time slots per subframe, 80 time slots per frame, a time slot duration of 0.125ms, a symbol duration of 8.33μs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 4K FFT size of 400. For a 240kHz SCS (μ=4), there are 16 time slots per subframe and 160 time slots per frame. The time slot duration is 0.0625ms, the symbol duration is 4.17μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 800.

[0091] exist Figures 4A to 4D In the example, a 15kHz parameter design is used. Therefore, in the time domain, a 10ms frame is divided into 10 equal-sized subframes, each 1ms in size, and each subframe includes one time slot. Figures 4A to 4D In the diagram, time is represented horizontally (on the X-axis), where time increases from left to right, while frequency is represented vertically (on the Y-axis), where frequency increases (or decreases) from bottom to top.

[0092] A resource grid can be used to represent time slots, each time slot comprising one or more concurrent resource blocks (RBs) (also known as physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into multiple resource elements (REs). An RE corresponds to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. Figures 4A to 4DIn the parameter design, for a normal cyclic prefix, the RB can contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and 7 consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 84 REs. For an extended cyclic prefix, the RB can contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and 6 consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0093] Some REs carry downlink reference (pilot) signals (DL-RS). DL-RS may include PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, etc. Figure 4A Example locations of REs carrying PRS (labeled "R") are explained.

[0094] The set of resource elements (REs) used for PRS transmission is called a "PRS resource". The resource element set can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and 'N' (such as one or more) consecutive symbols within a time slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol in the time domain, the PRS resource occupies a consecutive PRB in the frequency domain.

[0095] The transmission of PRS resources within a given PRB has a specific comb tooth size (also known as "comb tooth density"). The comb tooth size 'N' represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency / frequency modulation spacing) within each symbol of the PRS resource configuration. Specifically, for a comb tooth size 'N', the PRS is transmitted in every Nth subcarrier of a symbol in the PRB. For example, for comb tooth-4, for each symbol of the PRS resource configuration, the RE corresponding to every fourth subcarrier (such as subcarriers 0, 4, 8) is used to transmit the PRS resource. Currently, comb tooth sizes of comb tooth-2, comb tooth-4, comb tooth-6, and comb tooth-12 are supported by DL-PRS. Figure 4A An example PRS resource configuration for comb tooth 6 (which spans 6 symbols) is explained. That is, the position of the shaded RE (marked as "R") indicates the PRS resource configuration for comb tooth 6.

[0096] Currently, DL-PRS resources can span 2, 4, 6, or 12 consecutive symbols within a single time slot using a full-frequency interleaved mode. DL-PRS resources can be configured in any downlink or flexible (FL) symbol configured by a higher layer within a time slot. For all REs of a given DL-PRS resource, there may be a constant energy per resource element (EPRE). The following are the symbol-by-symbol frequency offsets for comb sizes 2, 4, 6, and 12 symbols. 2-symbol comb-2: {0,1}; 4-symbol comb-2: {0,1,0,1}; 6-symbol comb-2: {0,1,0,1,0,1}; 12-symbol comb-2: {0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1}; 4-symbol comb-4: {0,2,1,3}; 12-symbol comb-4: { 0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3}; 6-code comb-6: {0,3,1,4,2,5}; 12-code comb-6: {0,3,1,4,2,5,0,3,1,4,2,5}; and 12-code comb-12: {0,6,3,9,1,7,4,10,2,8,5,11}.

[0097] A “PRS resource set” is a collection of PRS resources used to transmit PRS signals, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource identifier (ID). Furthermore, PRS resources within a PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. A PRS resource set is identified by its PRS resource set ID and associated with a specific TRP (identified by its TRP ID). Additionally, PRS resources within a PRS resource set share the same periodicity, a common silent mode configuration, and the same repetition factor (such as “PRS-ResourceRepetitionFactor”) across time slots. Periodicity is the time from the first repetition of a first PRS resource in a first PRS instance to the same first repetition of the same first PRS resource in the next PRS instance. The periodicity can have a length chosen from the following: 2^μ*{4,5,8,10,16,20,32,40,64,80,160,320,640,1280,2560,5120,10240} time slots, where μ=0,1,2,3. The repetition factor can have a length chosen from {1,2,4,6,8,16,32} time slots.

[0098] In a PRS resource set, a PRS resource ID is associated with a single beam (or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (where a TRP can transmit one or more beams). That is, each PRS resource in a PRS resource set can be transmitted on a different beam, and thus, a "PRS resource" (or simply a "resource") can also be referred to as a "beam". Note that this does not imply whether the UE is aware of the TRP and beam transmitting the PRS.

[0099] A “PRS instance” or “PRS timing” is an instance of a periodically repeating time window (such as a group of one or more consecutive time slots) in which a PRS is expected to be transmitted. A PRS timing may also be referred to as a “PRS positioning timing,” “PRS positioning instance,” “positioning timing,” “positioning instance,” “positioning repetition,” or simply “timing,” “instance,” or “repetition.”

[0100] A “positioning frequency layer” (also simply “frequency layer”) is a collection of one or more PRS resource sets with identical values ​​for certain parameters across one or more TRPs. Specifically, the collection of PRS resource sets has the same subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix (CP) type (meaning all parameter designs supported by PDSCH are also supported by PRS), the same point A, the same downlink PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size. The point A parameter uses the value of the parameter “ARFCN-ValueNR” (where “ARFCN” stands for “Absolute Radio Channel Number”) and is an identifier / code specifying a pair of physical radio channels used for transmission and reception. The downlink PRS bandwidth can have a granularity of 4 PRBs, with a minimum of 24 PRBs and a maximum of 272 PRBs. Currently, up to four frequency layers have been defined, and up to two PRS resource sets can be configured per frequency layer per TRP.

[0101] The concept of a frequency layer is somewhat similar to that of component carriers and bandwidth portions (BWPs), but the difference is that component carriers and BWPs are used by a single base station (or macrocell base station and small cell base station) to transmit data channels, while a frequency layer is used by several (often three or more) base stations to transmit PRS (Positioning Signals). A UE can indicate the number of frequency layers it can support when sending its positioning capabilities to the network (such as during an LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) session). For example, a UE can indicate whether it can support one or four positioning frequency layers.

[0102] Figure 4BExamples of various channels within the downlink time slot of a radio frame are explained. In NR, the channel bandwidth, or system bandwidth, is divided into multiple BWPs. A BWP is a set of adjacent PRBs selected from a subset of shared RBs designed for a given carrier with given parameters. Generally, a maximum of four BWPs can be specified in both the downlink and uplink. That is, a UE can be configured to have up to four BWPs in the downlink and up to four BWPs in the uplink. Only one BWP (uplink or downlink) can be active at a given time, meaning that the UE can only receive or transmit on one BWP at a time. In the downlink, the bandwidth of each BWP should be equal to or greater than the bandwidth of the SSB, but it may or may not contain an SSB.

[0103] Reference Figure 4B The Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS) is used by the UE to determine subframe / symbol timing and physical layer identity. The Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS) is used by the UE to determine the physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine the PCI. Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the location of the aforementioned DL-RS. The Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) carrying the MIB can be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form the SSB (also known as SS / PBCH). The MIB provides the number of RBs in the downlink system bandwidth and the System Frame Number (SFN). The Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information (such as System Information Blocks (SIBs)) not transmitted through the PBCH, and paging messages.

[0104] The Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) carries downlink control information (DCI) within one or more Control Channel Elements (CCEs). Each CCE includes one or more RE Group (REG) bundles (which can span multiple symbols in the time domain). Each REG bundle includes one or more REGs, and each REG corresponds to 12 resource elements (one resource block) in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain. The physical resource set used to carry the PDCCH / DCI is called the Control Resource Set (CORESET) in NR. In NR, the PDCCH is confined to a single CORESET and transmitted along with its own DMRS. This enables UE-specific beamforming for the PDCCH.

[0105] exist Figure 4BIn the example, each BWP has one CORESET, and this CORESET spans three symbols in the time domain (although it can be only one or two symbols). Unlike the LTE control channel, which occupies the entire system bandwidth, in NR, the PDCCH channel is localized to a specific region in the frequency domain (i.e., the CORESET). Therefore, Figure 4B The frequency components of the PDCCH shown are interpreted in the frequency domain as fewer than a single BWP. Note that although the interpreted CORESETs are contiguous in the frequency domain, they do not need to be contiguous. Additionally, a CORESET can span fewer than three symbols in the time domain.

[0106] The DCI within the PDCCH carries information about uplink resource allocation (persistent and non-persistent) and a description of the downlink data transmitted to the UE (referred to as uplink grant and downlink grant, respectively). More specifically, the DCI indicates the resources scheduled for downlink data channels (e.g., PDSCH) and uplink data channels (e.g., PUSCH). Multiple (e.g., up to eight) DCIs can be configured in the PDCCH, and these DCIs can have one of several formats. For example, different DCI formats exist for uplink scheduling, downlink scheduling, uplink transmit power control (TPC), etc. The PDCCH can be transmitted by 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs to accommodate different DCI payload sizes or coding rates.

[0107] like Figure 4C As explained, some REs (denoted as "R") carry DMRS for channel estimation at the receiver (e.g., a base station, another UE, etc.). The UE may, for example, additionally transmit SRS in the last symbol of the time slot. The SRS may have a comb structure, and the UE may transmit the SRS on one of the comb teeth. Figure 4C In the example, the SRS described is a comb tooth-2 on a symbol. The SRS can be used by the base station to obtain Channel State Information (CSI) for each UE. CSI describes how the RF signal propagates from the UE to the base station and represents the combined effects of scattering, fading, and power attenuation over distance. The system uses SRS for resource scheduling, link adaptation, massive MIMO, beam management, etc.

[0108] Currently, SRS resources with comb tooth sizes of 2, 4, or 8 can span 1, 2, 4, 8, or 12 consecutive symbols within a time slot. The following are the symbol-by-symbol frequency offsets for the currently supported SRS comb tooth patterns. 1-bit comb tooth-2: {0}; 2-bit comb tooth-2: {0,1}; 4-bit comb tooth-2: {0,1,0,1}; 4-bit comb tooth-4: {0,2,1,3}; 8-bit comb tooth-4: {0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3}; 12-bit comb tooth-4: {0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3}; 4-bit comb tooth-8: {0,4,2,6}; 8-bit comb tooth-8: {0,4,2,6,1,5,3,7}; and 12-bit comb tooth-8: {0,4,2,6,1,5,3,7,0,4,2,6}.

[0109] The set of resource elements used for SRS transmission is called an "SRS resource" and is identified by the parameter "SRS-ResourceId (SRS-ResourceId)". The resource element set can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and N (e.g., one or more) consecutive symbols within a time slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol, an SRS resource occupies a consecutive PRB. An "SRS resource set" is a group of SRS resources used for SRS signal transmission and is identified by the SRS resource set ID ("SRS-ResourceSetId").

[0110] Generally, the UE transmits the SRS so that the receiving base station (serving base station or neighboring base station) can measure the channel quality between the UE and the base station. However, the SRS can also be used as an uplink positioning reference signal for uplink positioning procedures (such as UL-TDOA, multiple RTT, DL-AoA, etc.).

[0111] Several enhancements to the previously defined SRS have been proposed for “SRS for Positioning” (also known as “UL-PRS”), such as new interleaving patterns within SRS resources (other than a single symbol / comb-2), new comb types for SRS, new sequences of SRS, larger sets of SRS resources per component carrier, and larger numbers of SRS resources per component carrier. Additionally, the parameters “SpatialRelationInfo” and “PathLossReference” are configured based on downlink reference signals or SSBs from adjacent TRPs. Furthermore, an SRS resource can be transmitted outside the active BWP, and an SRS resource can span multiple component carriers. Moreover, SRS can be configured in RRC connected states and transmitted only within the active BWP. Furthermore, frequency hopping, repetition factors, single antenna ports, and new SRS lengths (e.g., 8 and 12 symbols) may not be present. It is also possible to have open-loop power control but no closed-loop power control, and to use comb-8 (i.e., SRS transmitted every eighth subcarrier in the same symbol). Finally, the UE can transmit from multiple SRS resources through the same transmit beam for UL-AoA. All of these are features outside the current SRS framework, which is configured via higher-layer RRC signaling (and potentially triggered or activated via MAC control elements (CE) or DCI).

[0112] Figure 4D Examples of various channels within uplink slots of a frame according to various aspects of this disclosure are described. A Random Access Channel (RACH) (also referred to as a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH)) may be configured based on the PRACH within one or more slots of the frame. A PRACH may include six consecutive RB pairs within a slot. The PRACH allows the UE to perform initial system access and achieve uplink synchronization. A Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) may be located at the edge of the uplink system bandwidth. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, CSI reports, channel quality indicators (CQI), precoding matrix indicators (PMI), rank indicators (RI), and HARQ ACK / NACK feedback. A Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) carries data and may additionally be used to carry buffer status reports (BSR), power clearance reports (PHR), and / or UCI.

[0113] Note that the terms "location reference signal" and "PRS" generally refer to specific reference signals used for positioning in NR and LTE systems. However, as used herein, the terms "location reference signal" and "PRS" can also refer to any type of reference signal that can be used for positioning, such as, but not limited to, PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, SRS, UL-PRS, etc., as defined in LTE and NR. Additionally, the terms "location reference signal" and "PRS" can refer to downlink or uplink positioning reference signals, unless otherwise indicated by the context. If further distinction is needed regarding the type of PRS, downlink positioning reference signals may be referred to as "DL-PRS," while uplink positioning reference signals (e.g., positioning SRS, PTRS) may be referred to as "UL-PRS." Furthermore, for signals that can be transmitted in both uplink and downlink (e.g., DMRS, PTRS), these signals may be prefixed with "UL" or "DL" to distinguish direction. For example, "UL-DMRS" can be distinguished from "DL-DMRS."

[0114] Various enhancements have been proposed for downlink reference signals (e.g., PRS) and uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS). For example, it has been proposed to cluster multiple downlink positioning frequency layers in the same or different frequency bands to improve positioning performance for intra-band and inter-band scenarios. Such clustering proposals are expected to take into account at least the following factors: (1) the scenario and performance benefits of clustering multiple downlink positioning frequency layers, (2) the impact of channel spacing, timing offset, phase offset, frequency error, and power imbalance between component carriers on positioning performance in intra-band contiguous, non-contiguous, and inter-band scenarios, and (3) UE complexity.

[0115] Support for simultaneous UE transmission and base station reception for SRS used for positioning across multiple component carriers and multiple time slots has also been proposed. Such simultaneous transmission proposals are expected to take into account (1) the enhanced scenario and performance benefits, and (2) the impact of channel spacing, timing advance and timing offset, phase offset, frequency error and power imbalance across time slots or component carriers on positioning performance in in-band contiguous, non-contiguous and inter-band scenarios.

[0116] A reference signal (e.g., PRS or SRS) can be clustered across multiple positioning frequency layers (or other portions of bandwidth) in the frequency domain (referred to as frequency domain stitching) and across multiple time slots (or other portions of time) in the time domain (referred to as time domain stitching). In frequency domain stitching, the reference signal (e.g., PRS or SRS) is transmitted (by the base station or UE) on multiple preferably adjacent positioning frequency layers, and the receiver (UR or base station) measures the reference signal across multiple (adjacent) positioning frequency layers. By traversing multiple positioning frequency layers, the effective bandwidth of the reference signal is increased, resulting in improved measurement accuracy at the receiver. When implementing time domain and / or frequency domain stitching, the reference signal should preferably be transmitted on multiple time slots and / or positioning frequency layers so that the receiver can make certain assumptions about the reference signal transmitted within the multiple time slots and / or positioning frequency layers (e.g., QCL type, same antenna port, etc.).

[0117] Figures 5A to 5C Different examples of frequency domain overlap between positioning frequency layers within component carriers according to various aspects of this disclosure are explained. Figures 5A to 5C In each of these diagrams, time is represented horizontally and frequency is represented vertically. Each box represents a downlink positioning frequency layer (DL PFL) within a component carrier (CC), and each diagram illustrates different frequency domain overlap scenarios between two DL PFLs 510-1 and 510-2 (labeled "DL PFL1" and "DL PFL2" respectively). The transmitting party (e.g., a base station) can transmit downlink reference signals (e.g., DL PRS) within each illustrated DL PFL 510, and the receiving party (e.g., a UE) can receive / measure the transmitted reference signals across DL PFLs 510. Therefore, in the time domain, each box may correspond to a PRS timing (e.g., one or more symbols, time slots, subframes, frames, etc.).

[0118] Reference Figure 5A Figure 500 illustrates an example scenario where DL PFLs 510-1 and 510-2 are adjacent in the frequency domain and do not overlap. (Refer to...) Figure 5B Figure 530 illustrates an example scenario where DL PFLs 510-1 and 510-2 are adjacent in the frequency domain and at least partially overlap each other in the same frequency domain. (Refer to...) Figure 5C Figure 550 illustrates an example scenario where DL PFLs 510-1 and 510-2 are not adjacent in the frequency domain, resulting in a gap between them.

[0119] Note that, although Figures 5A to 5CTwo DL PFL 510s per component carrier have been explained, but as will be understood, there may be more than two DL PFL 510s per component carrier. Furthermore, although the DL PFL 510s are explained as having the same length in the time domain, this may not always be the case.

[0120] Figure 6 Examples of DL PRS splicing within the same component carrier according to various aspects of this disclosure are explained. Figure 6 In this diagram, time is represented horizontally and frequency is represented vertically. Each box in Figure 600 represents the downlink positioning frequency layer (DL PFL) within a component carrier (CC). Figure 6 In the example, there are two DL PFLs, 610-1 and 610-2, respectively labeled "DL PFL1" and "DL PFL2". The transmitting party (e.g., a base station) can transmit a downlink reference signal (e.g., DL PRS) within each of the illustrated DL PFLs 610, and the receiving party (e.g., a UE) can receive / measure the transmitted reference signal across DL PFLs 610.

[0121] Figure 600 illustrates a scenario where DL PFL 610s are contiguous in the frequency domain and interleaved in the time domain. The combined length of the DL PFL 610s in the time domain corresponds to a PRS timing, and therefore each box can represent a portion of a PRS timing (e.g., a quarter). When the PRS timing is a slot length, each box can represent a time period less than a slot. This type of PRS splicing is called "sub-slot splicing." Because the DL PFL 610s are not contiguous in the time domain, this type of PRS splicing allows for improved multiplexing with other high-priority channels (e.g., Ultra-Reliable Low Latency (URLLC) traffic, SSB, etc.).

[0122] Note that, although Figure 6 Two DL PFL 610s per component carrier have been explained, but as will be understood, there may be more than two DL PFL 610s per component carrier. Furthermore, although the DL PFL 610s are explained as having the same length in the time domain, this may not always be the case.

[0123] Figure 7 Another example of DL PRS splicing within the same component carrier according to various aspects of this disclosure is explained. Figure 7 In this diagram, time is represented horizontally and frequency is represented vertically. Each box in Figure 700 represents the downlink positioning frequency layer (DL PFL) within a component carrier (CC). Figure 7In the example, there are two DL PFLs, 710-1 and 710-2, respectively labeled "DL PFL1" and "DL PFL2". The transmitting party (e.g., a base station) can transmit downlink reference signals (e.g., DL PRS) within each of the interpreted DL PFLs 710, and the receiving party (e.g., a UE) can receive / measure the transmitted reference signals across DL PFLs 710. Therefore, in the time domain, each block can correspond to a PRS timing (e.g., one or more symbols, time slots, subframes, frames, etc.).

[0124] As illustrated in Figure 600, Figure 700 illustrates a scenario where the DL PFL 710s are adjacent in the frequency domain and interleaved in the time domain. However, unlike... Figure 6 In the example, the PRS timing corresponding to DL PFL 710 is not divided into sub-parts. Therefore, when the PRS timing is the length of a slot, this type of PRS splicing is called "slot-level splicing". As... Figure 6 The PRS splicing example, because the DL PFL 710 is not contiguous in the time domain, this type of PRS splicing allows for improved multiplexing with other high-priority channels (e.g., URLLC traffic, SSB, etc.).

[0125] Note that, although Figure 7 Two DL PFL 710s per component carrier have been explained, but as will be understood, there may be more than two DL PFL 710s per component carrier. Furthermore, although the DL PFL 710s are explained as having the same length in the time domain, this may not always be the case.

[0126] Figure 8 Another example of cross-component carrier DL PRS stitching according to various aspects of this disclosure is explained. Figure 8 In this diagram, time is represented horizontally and frequency is represented vertically. Each box in Figure 800 represents the downlink positioning frequency layer (DL PFL) within a component carrier (CC). Figure 8 In the example, there are two DL PFLs, 810-1 and 810-2, respectively labeled "DL PFL1" and "DL PFL2". The transmitting party (e.g., a base station) can transmit downlink reference signals (e.g., DL PRS) within each of the interpreted DL PFLs 810, and the receiving party (e.g., a UE) can receive / measure the transmitted reference signals across DL PFLs 810. Therefore, in the time domain, each block can correspond to a PRS timing (e.g., one or more symbols, time slots, subframes, frames, etc.).

[0127] Figure 800 illustrates a scenario where the DL PFL 810 is on different component carriers labeled "CC1" and "CC2". These two component carriers can be in the same frequency band or different frequency bands. For example, one component carrier can be in the FR1 band and the other component carrier can be in the FR2 band, or both can be in different FR1 or FR2 bands, or both can be in the same FR1 or FR2 band.

[0128] Note that, although Figure 8 Two DL PFL 810s per component carrier have been explained, but as will be understood, there may be more than two DL PFL 810s per component carrier. Furthermore, although the DL PFL 810s are explained as having the same length in the time domain, this may not always be the case.

[0129] One problem with the DL PFL 810 across different component carriers is the potential phase shift or phase difference between component carriers. Phase shift is the phase difference or phase difference between two waveforms (e.g., the DL PRS waveform). Therefore, for example, the phase of the DL PRS waveform in DL PFL 810-2 may differ slightly from the phase of the DL PRS waveform in DL PFL 810-1. Mathematically, the channel on which the first PRS is transmitted can be represented as h(f,t1), where f represents frequency, t1 represents time, and h represents a channel dependent on frequency f and time t1. The channel on which a related PRS (e.g., a PRS to be concatenated with the first PRS) is transmitted can be represented as h(f,t1)·e^jθ, where e^jθ represents the phase shift or phase difference between the channel on which the first PRS is transmitted and the channel on which the related PRS is transmitted.

[0130] Phase shift can occur in both in-band and inter-band PRS (i.e., PRS on component carriers within the same frequency band or PRS on component carriers across multiple frequency bands). The frequency offset between component carriers becomes a phase ramp over time. The slope of this ramp is equal to the frequency offset between the two component carriers. Phase shift is particularly noticeable when two signals (waveforms) are combined through physical processes (such as through the receiver's analog front end). However, phase shift can be caused by the architecture of both the transmitter and receiver. For example, any change in the RF chain can cause discontinuities in the PRS phase. Phase shift between waveforms of PRS transmitted on multiple component carriers can lead to additional measurement errors in measurement estimation procedures (e.g., ToA estimation procedures), which reduces positioning accuracy.

[0131] Figures 5A to 8The PRS stitching mode explained in the text assumes that combining DL PRS across two frequency components leads to improved measurement performance. For several algorithms considered for bandwidth stitching, there is an implicit assumption that the power delay profiles (PDPs) between the two component carriers are very similar. (Bandwidth stitching between component carriers with dissimilar PDPs is challenging).

[0132] Note that although DL PRS splicing has been described above, the same technique can be applied to uplink reference signal (e.g., SRS) splicing.

[0133] Figure 9 This is a diagram 900 illustrating a PDP of an example multipath channel between a receiving device (e.g., either the UE or base station described herein) and a transmitting device (e.g., either the UE or base station described herein) according to various aspects of this disclosure. The PDP represents the strength of the RF signal (e.g., PRS, SRS, etc.) received through the multipath channel, varying due to time delay (the time difference between multipath arrivals). Therefore, the horizontal axis is a unit of time (e.g., milliseconds) and the vertical axis is a unit of signal strength (e.g., decibels). Note that a multipath channel is a channel between the transmitting and receiving parties on which RF signals follow multiple paths or multipaths due to the transmission of the RF signal across multiple beams and / or the propagation characteristics of the RF signal (e.g., reflection, refraction, etc.).

[0134] exist Figure 9 In the example, the receiver detects / measures multiple (four) clusters of channel taps. Each channel tap represents a multipath that the RF signal follows between the transmitter and receiver. That is, a channel tap represents the arrival of the RF signal on a multipath. Each cluster of channel taps indicates that the corresponding multipath follows substantially the same path. Different clusters may exist because the RF signals are transmitted on different transmit beams (and therefore at different angles), or because of the propagation characteristics of the RF signals (e.g., they may follow different paths due to reflections), or both.

[0135] All clusters of channel taps for a given RF signal represent a multipath channel (or simply a channel) between the transmitter and receiver. Figure 9 Under the described channel conditions, the receiver receives a first cluster of two RF signals at the channel tap at time T1, a second cluster of five RF signals at the channel tap at time T2, a third cluster of five RF signals at the channel tap at time T3, and a fourth cluster of four RF signals at the channel tap at time T4. Figure 9In the example, since the first RF signal cluster arrives first at time T1, it is assumed to correspond to the RF signal transmitted on the transmit beam aligned with the line-of-sight (LOS) or shortest path. The third cluster at time T3 contains the strongest RF signal and could correspond to, for example, the RF signal transmitted on the transmit beam aligned with the non-line-of-sight (NLOS) path. Note that although... Figure 9 Clusters with two to five channel taps have been described, but as will be understood, these clusters may have more or fewer channel taps than the number described.

[0136] It can be assumed that for component carriers in nearby frequencies, the PDPs of two component carriers with the same bandwidth will be substantially identical (and therefore usable for combining / aggregating PRS). For widely separated frequencies, the PDPs will differ due to variations in signal reflectivity and refraction characteristics of any obstacles. However, the boundary between similar and dissimilar PDPs is undefined and depends on the scenario and comparison criteria.

[0137] Traditional relationships between signals (e.g., QCL type A, QCL type B, and QCL type C) may be insufficient to capture PDP similarity. For example, QCL type A captures delay spread, Doppler shift, Doppler spread, and average delay, but may not be adequately optimized to capture PDP differences. Therefore, this disclosure proposes new measurements and procedures to enable the network and / or UE to determine whether two given PDPs are sufficiently similar for PRS / SRS splicing purposes.

[0138] On one hand, a new similarity metric is defined between the PDPs calculated on different component carriers. In the first phase, for a pair of component carriers with different bandwidths, the receiver (e.g., UE or base station) can subsample the component carrier with the larger bandwidth and determine the PDP of that component carrier at the bandwidth of the component carrier with the smaller bandwidth. The receiver can also determine the PDP of the smaller bandwidth component carrier.

[0139] In the second stage, the receiver can use various metrics to compare the two PDPs. For example, the receiver can use cosine similarity to compare the two PDPs. Cosine similarity is a measure of the similarity between two non-zero vectors (e.g., two PDPs). Specifically, it is defined as equal to the cosine of the angle between the two vectors. Cosine similarity is an indicator of orientation rather than magnitude, meaning that two vectors with the same orientation have a cosine similarity of 1, two vectors oriented at 90° relative to each other have a cosine similarity of 0, and two completely opposite vectors have a cosine similarity of -1, regardless of their magnitude.

[0140] Alternatively or additionally, as another metric for comparing two PDPs, the receiver may calculate the norm of the difference between the two PDPs. A norm is a function that transforms a real or complex vector space (PDP) into non-negative real numbers. In some ways, a norm behaves like a distance from the origin: it scales, obeys a form of triangle inequality, and is zero only at the origin. Various types of norms exist, such as the 1-norm, 2-norm, p-norm, infinity norm, etc.

[0141] Alternatively or additionally, as another metric for comparing two PDPs, the receiver can project both PDPs into a latent space (e.g., using machine learning techniques such as neural networks) and compute the distance between the latent representations. The latent space is an abstract, multidimensional space containing feature values ​​that cannot be directly interpreted but encode meaningful internal representations of externally observed events. Projecting the PDPs into the latent space allows the receiver to compress each PDP individually, rather than operating on the entire PDP.

[0142] Alternatively or additionally, as another metric for comparing two PDPs, the receiver may compare the delay domain and the amplitude / power domain separately. For example, the receiver may first compare the two PDPs in the time domain (delay domain), and then, if they are sufficiently similar in the time domain (e.g., within a certain threshold), the receiver may compare the power domains of the two PDPs.

[0143] In some cases, the receiver may process only a subset of each PDP, such as the first path, the first 'N' paths, etc. This can be beneficial because even if the multipaths differ in later paths, this is unlikely to be significant if the first few paths are sufficiently similar.

[0144] Once the receiver has compared two PDPs on different component carriers, it can quantize (or discretize) the comparison output to a certain difference level (e.g., absolute value, integer scale value, etc.) and then report the difference level between the two PDPs. The receiver can report this difference level to a positioning entity, such as a location server (where the receiver is a UE or a base station) or the UE's serving base station (where the receiver is a UE) for UE-assisted positioning, or to the UE (where the receiver is a base station) for UE-based positioning.

[0145] To account for the timing difference between the two component carriers, the receiver can shift one PDP to better match the other PDP. The receiver can then report the best match and the shift amount.

[0146] On the one hand, the receiver can report the difference level between the two PDPs periodically or on demand (i.e., when requested). The difference level between the two PDPs can be reported together with the positioning measurements of the PRS on the PFL associated with the PDP (e.g., ToA, AoA, Rx-Tx, etc.).

[0147] In an alternative or additional aspect for determining the level of difference between two PDPs on two different component carriers, a new QCL type (e.g., "QCL Type E") can be defined between two resources (e.g., PRS or SRS resources) to indicate that they have the same (or sufficiently similar) PDPs. The QCL type should indicate that the two resources (two PFLs on two different component carriers) have the same (or sufficiently similar) delay spread. Note that using an average delay may not be useful because the two component carriers may not be time-aligned. Additionally, Doppler correlation is not relevant because the comparison is between two given signal instances across frequencies.

[0148] On one hand, for downlink transmissions, the network (e.g., a serving base station or location server) can instruct the UE to calculate the PDP of two resources (e.g., PRS resources) on two different PFLs on two different component carriers. The network can query the UE to see if these two resources are QCL type E and the UE can report the difference level between the PDPs of these two resources, or simply indicate whether these two resources are QCL type E in binary form. Alternatively, the UE can simply report the PDPs and the network can determine whether these two resources are QCL type E. The UE can be configured to report this information periodically, semi-periodically, or aperiodically (on demand). If these two resources are QCL type E, the network can configure the UE to use PRS stitching on these resources and report positioning measurements (e.g., ToA, angle, Rx-Tx, etc.) on the clustered PRS. The network can also indicate to other UEs that these two resources are QCL type E.

[0149] For uplink transmissions, the network (e.g., serving base station or location server) can configure the UE to transmit SRS (or other uplink reference signals) on two different PFLs on two different component carriers. The UE's serving base station or neighboring base station can calculate the PDP of these two SRSs and report the comparison output to the location server. That is, the base station can report the level of difference between the PDPs or whether the resources on which SRS have been transmitted / received are QCL type 4. Alternatively, the base station can only report the PDPs and the location server can calculate the level of difference and / or QCL type determination.

[0150] Note that although the PFL has been broadly described above as being on different component carriers, this may not necessarily be the case. Instead, the PFL can be on the same component carrier.

[0151] Figure 10 An example wireless communication method 1000 according to various aspects of this disclosure has been described. In one aspect, method 1000 may be performed by a receiving device (e.g., a UE or a base station).

[0152] At 1010, the receiving device receives from a network entity (e.g., a base station, where the receiving device is a UE, or a location server) a request to report a PDP similarity measurement for a first positioning frequency layer on a first component carrier and a second positioning frequency layer on a second component carrier. In one aspect, when the receiving device is a UE, operation 1010 may be performed by a WWAN transceiver 310, a short-range radio transceiver 320, a processing system 332, a memory component 340, and / or a positioning component 342, any or all of which can be considered means for performing the operation. In another aspect, when the receiving device is a base station, operation 1010 may be performed by a WWAN transceiver 350, a short-range radio transceiver 360, a processing system 384, a memory component 386, and / or a positioning component 388, any or all of which can be considered means for performing the operation.

[0153] At 1020, the receiving device determines the first PDP of the first reference signal received on the first positioning frequency layer and the second PDP of the second reference signal received on the second positioning frequency layer. In one aspect, when the receiving device is a UE, operation 1020 can be performed by a WWAN transceiver 310, a short-range radio transceiver 320, a processing system 332, a memory component 340, and / or a positioning component 342, any or all of these components can be considered as means for performing the operation. In another aspect, when the receiving device is a base station, operation 1020 can be performed by a WWAN transceiver 350, a short-range radio transceiver 360, a processing system 384, a memory component 386, and / or a positioning component 388, any or all of these components can be considered as means for performing the operation.

[0154] At 1030, the receiving device determines a PDP similarity metric based on the first PDP and the second PDP. In one aspect, when the receiving device is a UE, operation 1030 can be performed by a WWAN transceiver 310, a short-range radio transceiver 320, a processing system 332, a memory component 340, and / or a positioning component 342, any one or all of these components can be considered as means for performing the operation. In another aspect, when the receiving device is a base station, operation 1030 can be performed by a WWAN transceiver 350, a short-range radio transceiver 360, a processing system 384, a memory component 386, and / or a positioning component 388, any one or all of these components can be considered as means for performing the operation.

[0155] At 1040, the receiving device transmits the PDP similarity metric to the network entity. In one aspect, when the receiving device is a UE, operation 1040 can be performed by a WWAN transceiver 310, a short-range radio transceiver 320, a processing system 332, a memory component 340, and / or a positioning component 342, any one or all of these components can be considered as means for performing the operation. In another aspect, when the receiving device is a base station, operation 1040 can be performed by a WWAN transceiver 350, a short-range radio transceiver 360, a processing system 384, a memory component 386, and / or a positioning component 388, any one or all of these components can be considered as means for performing the operation.

[0156] As will be understood, the technical advantage of Method 1000 is improved positioning performance.

[0157] In the detailed description above, it can be seen that different features are grouped together in the examples. This manner of disclosure should not be construed as an intention to have more features than those explicitly mentioned in each clause. Rather, aspects of this disclosure may include fewer features than those of the individual example clauses disclosed. Therefore, the appended clauses should thus be considered as incorporated into this description, where each clause may be a separate example. Although each dependent clause may refer in its respective clause to a specific combination with one of the other clauses, the aspects of that dependent clause are not limited to that specific combination. It will be appreciated that other example clauses may also include combinations of aspects of the dependent clause with the subject matter of any other dependent or independent clause, or any feature combined with other dependent and independent clauses. The aspects disclosed herein expressly include these combinations unless explicitly stated or readily inferred that a particular combination is not intended (e.g., contradictory aspects, such as defining an element as both an insulator and a conductor). Furthermore, it is intended that aspects of a clause may be included in any other independent clause, even if that clause is not directly subordinate to that independent clause.

[0158] Examples of implementations are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0159] Clause 1. A wireless communication method performed by a receiving device, comprising: receiving from a network entity a request to report a power delay profile (PDP) similarity metric for a first positioning frequency layer on a first component carrier and a second positioning frequency layer on a second component carrier; determining a first PDP of a first reference signal received on the first positioning frequency layer and a second PDP of a second reference signal received on the second positioning frequency layer; determining a PDP similarity metric based on the first PDP and the second PDP; and transmitting the PDP similarity metric to the network.

[0160] Clause 2. The method as described in Clause 1, wherein the first component carrier and the second component carrier are the same component carrier.

[0161] Clause 3. The method as described in Clause 1, wherein the first component carrier and the second component carrier are different component carriers.

[0162] Clause 4. The method as described in any of Clauses 1 to 3, wherein: the receiving device is a user equipment (UE), the first reference signal is a first downlink positioning reference signal (PRS), the second reference signal is a second downlink PRS, and the network entity is a serving base station or a location server.

[0163] Clause 5. The method as described in any of Clauses 1 to 3, wherein: the receiving device is a base station, the first reference signal is a first detection reference signal (SRS), the second reference signal is a second SRS, and the network entity is a location server or user equipment from which it receives the first reference signal and the second reference signal.

[0164] Clause 6. The method of any of Clauses 1 to 5, wherein determining the PDP similarity metric comprises: determining a cosine similarity between the first PDP and the second PDP; and setting a value for the PDP similarity metric based on the cosine similarity.

[0165] Clause 7. The method of any of Clauses 1 to 6, wherein determining the PDP similarity measure comprises: determining a norm of the difference between the first PDP and the second PDP; and setting a value of the PDP similarity measure based on the norm.

[0166] Clause 8. The method as described in Clause 7, wherein the norm includes: p-norm, 1-norm, 2-norm, or infinity norm.

[0167] Clause 9. The method of any of Clauses 1 to 8, wherein determining the PDP similarity metric comprises: determining a first latent representation of the first PDP and a second latent representation of the second PDP; determining a distance between the first latent representation and the second latent representation; and setting a value of the PDP similarity metric based on the distance between the first latent representation and the second latent representation.

[0168] Clause 10. The method as described in Clause 9, wherein the first latent representation and the second latent representation are determined by a neural network.

[0169] Clause 11. The method of any of Clauses 1 to 10, wherein determining the PDP similarity metric comprises: comparing the time-domain representation of the first PDP with the time-domain representation of the second PDP; and determining whether the time-domain representation of the first PDP is within a first threshold of the time-domain representation of the second PDP.

[0170] Clause 12. The method of Clause 11, wherein determining the PDP similarity metric further comprises: comparing the frequency domain representation of the first PDP with the frequency domain representation of the second PDP based on the fact that the time domain representation of the first PDP is within a first threshold of the time domain representation of the second PDP; and determining whether the frequency domain representation of the first PDP is within a second threshold of the frequency domain representation of the second PDP.

[0171] Clause 13. The method of Clause 12, wherein determining the PDP similarity measure further comprises: setting a value of the PDP similarity measure to indicate that the first positioning frequency layer and the second positioning frequency layer are similar based on the fact that the frequency domain representation of the first PDP is within a second threshold of the frequency domain representation of the second PDP; and setting a value of the PDP similarity measure to indicate that the first positioning frequency layer and the second positioning frequency layer are not similar based on the fact that the frequency domain representation of the first PDP is not within the second threshold of the frequency domain representation of the second PDP.

[0172] Clause 14. The method of any of Clauses 11 to 13, wherein determining the PDP similarity measure further comprises: setting a value of the PDP similarity measure to indicate that the first positioning frequency layer and the second positioning frequency layer are not similar, based on the fact that the temporal representation of the first PDP is not within the first threshold of the temporal representation of the second PDP.

[0173] Clause 15. The method of any of Clauses 1 to 14, wherein the first component carrier has a larger bandwidth than the second component carrier, the method further comprising: subsampling the first component carrier to determine the first PDP at the bandwidth of the second component carrier.

[0174] Clause 16. The method of any of Clauses 1 to 15 further comprises: using only a subset of the first PDP and the second PDP to determine the PDP similarity measure.

[0175] Clause 17. The method of any of Clauses 1 to 16 further comprises: shifting the first PDP or the second PDP to take into account the timing difference between the first component carrier and the second component carrier.

[0176] Clause 18. The method of any of Clauses 1 to 17, wherein the PDP similarity measure indicates the level of difference between the first PDP and the second PDP.

[0177] Clause 19. The method of any of Clauses 1 to 18, wherein the PDP similarity metric indicates whether the first reference signal and the second reference signal have a quasi-co-position (QCL) relationship.

[0178] Clause 20. The method as described in Clause 19, wherein the QCL relationship indicates that the first reference signal and the second reference signal have the same delay spread.

[0179] Clause 21. The method of any of Clauses 1 to 20, wherein the receiving device transmits the PDP similarity metric periodically, semi-periodically, or on demand.

[0180] Clause 22. The method described in any of Clauses 1 to 21, wherein the network entity is a location server.

[0181] Clause 23. The method of any of Clauses 1 to 22 further comprises: aggregating measurements of the first reference signal and the second reference signal in the time domain, the frequency domain, or both; and reporting the measurements to the network entity.

[0182] Clause 24. A computer device including a memory and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the memory and the at least one processor being configured to perform the method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 23.

[0183] Clause 25. A receiving device comprising means for performing the method described in any one of Clauses 1 to 23.

[0184] Clause 26. A non-transient computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, said computer-executable instructions including at least one instruction for causing a receiving device to perform the method described in any one of Clauses 1 to 23.

[0185] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that information and signals can be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and skills. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referred to throughout the above description can be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or light particles, or any combination thereof.

[0186] Furthermore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithmic steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability between hardware and software, the various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps are described above in a generalized manner in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality in different ways for each specific application, but such implementation decisions should not be construed as departing from the scope of this disclosure.

[0187] The various illustrative logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein can be implemented or executed using a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in alternatives, it may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor can also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors cooperating with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0188] The methods, sequences, and / or algorithms described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of both. The software module may reside in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disks, removable disks, CD-ROMs, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. Example storage media are coupled to a processor so that the processor can read and write information from / to the storage medium. In alternatives, the storage medium may be integrated into the processor. The processor and storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., a UE). In alternatives, the processor and storage medium may reside as discrete components in the user terminal.

[0189] In one or more examples, the described functionality may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functionality may be stored or transmitted as one or more instructions or codes on or through a computer-readable medium. A computer-readable medium includes both computer storage media and communication media, including any medium that facilitates the transfer of a computer program from one location to another. A storage medium may be any available medium accessible to a computer. By way of example and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disc storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and is accessible to a computer. Similarly, any connection is also legitimately referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then such coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. As used in this article, disks and discs include compact discs (CDs), laser discs, optical discs, digital multi-purpose discs (DVDs), floppy disks, and Blu-ray discs. Disks typically reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically using lasers. Combinations of these should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0190] While the foregoing disclosure has illustrated illustrative aspects of this disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope of this disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps, and / or actions in the method claims according to the aspects of this disclosure described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, although elements of this disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, pluralism is also contemplated unless explicitly stated to be limited to the singular.

Claims

1. A wireless communication method performed by a receiving device, comprising: Receive a request from a network entity for reporting a power delay profile (PDP) similarity metric for a first positioning frequency layer on a first component carrier and a second positioning frequency layer on a second component carrier; Determine the first PDP of the first reference signal received at the first positioning frequency layer and the second PDP of the second reference signal received at the second positioning frequency layer; The PDP similarity measure is determined based on the first PDP and the second PDP; as well as The PDP similarity metric is transmitted to the network entity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first component carrier and the second component carrier are the same component carrier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first component carrier and the second component carrier are different component carriers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein: The receiving device is a user equipment (UE). The first reference signal is the first downlink positioning reference signal (PRS). The second reference signal is the second downlink PRS, and The network entity is a serving base station or a location server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein: The receiving device is a base station. The first reference signal is the first probe reference signal (SRS). The second reference signal is the second SRS, and The network entity is a location server or user equipment from which the first reference signal and the second reference signal are received.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the PDP similarity metric comprises: Determine the cosine similarity between the first PDP and the second PDP; as well as The value of the PDP similarity metric is set based on the cosine similarity.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the PDP similarity metric comprises: Determine the norm of the difference between the first PDP and the second PDP; as well as The value of the PDP similarity metric is set based on the norm.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the norm comprises: p-norm, 1-norm, 2-norm, or Infinite norm.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the PDP similarity metric comprises: Determine a first potential representation of the first PDP and a second potential representation of the second PDP; Determine the distance between the first latent representation and the second latent representation; as well as The value of the PDP similarity metric is set based on the distance between the first latent representation and the second latent representation.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first latent representation and the second latent representation are determined by a neural network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the PDP similarity metric comprises: Compare the time-domain representation of the first PDP with the time-domain representation of the second PDP; as well as Determine whether the time-domain representation of the first PDP is within a first threshold of the time-domain representation of the second PDP.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the PDP similarity metric further comprises: Based on the fact that the time-domain representation of the first PDP is within the first threshold of the time-domain representation of the second PDP, the frequency-domain representation of the first PDP is compared with the frequency-domain representation of the second PDP. as well as Determine whether the frequency domain representation of the first PDP is within a second threshold of the frequency domain representation of the second PDP.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining the PDP similarity metric further comprises: Based on the frequency domain representation of the first PDP being within the second threshold of the frequency domain representation of the second PDP, the value of the PDP similarity metric is set to indicate that the first positioning frequency layer and the second positioning frequency layer are similar. as well as Based on the fact that the frequency domain representation of the first PDP is not within the second threshold of the frequency domain representation of the second PDP, the value of the PDP similarity metric is set to indicate that the first positioning frequency layer and the second positioning frequency layer are not similar.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the PDP similarity metric further comprises: Based on the fact that the temporal representation of the first PDP is not within the first threshold of the temporal representation of the second PDP, the value of the PDP similarity metric is set to indicate that the first positioning frequency layer and the second positioning frequency layer are not similar.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first component carrier has a larger bandwidth than the second component carrier, the method further comprising: The first component carrier is subsampled to determine the first PDP at the bandwidth of the second component carrier.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising: The PDP similarity metric is determined using only a subset of the first PDP and the second PDP.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising: The first PDP or the second PDP is shifted to account for the timing difference between the first component carrier and the second component carrier.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the PDP similarity metric indicates the level of difference between the first PDP and the second PDP.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the PDP similarity metric indicates whether the first reference signal and the second reference signal have a quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the QCL relationship indicates that the first reference signal and the second reference signal have the same delay spread.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving device transmits the PDP similarity metric periodically, semi-periodically, or on demand.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the network entity is a location server.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising: Measurements of the first reference signal and the second reference signal are concentrated in the time domain, frequency domain, or both; as well as Report the measurement to the network entity.

24. A receiving device, comprising: Memory; At least one transceiver; as well as At least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: Receive a request from a network entity for reporting a power delay profile (PDP) similarity metric for a first positioning frequency layer on a first component carrier and a second positioning frequency layer on a second component carrier; Determine the first PDP of the first reference signal received at the first positioning frequency layer and the second PDP of the second reference signal received at the second positioning frequency layer; The PDP similarity measure is determined based on the first PDP and the second PDP; as well as The PDP similarity metric is transmitted to the network entity.

25. The receiving device of claim 24, wherein the first component carrier and the second component carrier are the same component carrier.

26. The receiving device of claim 24, wherein the first component carrier and the second component carrier are different component carriers.

27. The receiving device as claimed in claim 24, wherein: The receiving device is a user equipment (UE). The first reference signal is the first downlink positioning reference signal (PRS). The second reference signal is the second downlink PRS, and The network entity is a serving base station or a location server.

28. The receiving device as claimed in claim 24, wherein: The receiving device is a base station. The first reference signal is the first probe reference signal (SRS). The second reference signal is the second SRS, and The network entity is a location server or user equipment from which the first reference signal and the second reference signal are received.

29. The receiving device of claim 24, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the PDP similarity metric, the at least one processor is configured to: Determine the cosine similarity between the first PDP and the second PDP; and The value of the PDP similarity metric is set based on the cosine similarity.

30. The receiving device of claim 24, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the PDP similarity metric, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: Determine the norm of the difference between the first PDP and the second PDP; and The value of the PDP similarity metric is set based on the norm.

31. The receiving device of claim 30, wherein the norm includes: p-norm, 1-norm, 2-norm, or Infinite norm.

32. The receiving device of claim 24, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the PDP similarity metric, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: Determine a first potential representation of the first PDP and a second potential representation of the second PDP; Determine the distance between the first latent representation and the second latent representation; and The value of the PDP similarity metric is set based on the distance between the first latent representation and the second latent representation.

33. The receiving device of claim 32, wherein the first latent representation and the second latent representation are determined by a neural network.

34. The receiving device of claim 24, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the PDP similarity metric, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: Compare the time-domain representation of the first PDP with the time-domain representation of the second PDP; and Determine whether the time-domain representation of the first PDP is within a first threshold of the time-domain representation of the second PDP.

35. The receiving device of claim 34, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the PDP similarity metric, the at least one processor is configured to: Based on the fact that the time-domain representation of the first PDP is within the first threshold of the time-domain representation of the second PDP, the frequency-domain representation of the first PDP is compared with the frequency-domain representation of the second PDP; and Determine whether the frequency domain representation of the first PDP is within a second threshold of the frequency domain representation of the second PDP.

36. The receiving device of claim 35, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the PDP similarity metric, the at least one processor is configured to: Based on the fact that the frequency domain representation of the first PDP is within the second threshold of the frequency domain representation of the second PDP, the value of the PDP similarity metric is set to indicate that the first positioning frequency layer and the second positioning frequency layer are similar; and Based on the fact that the frequency domain representation of the first PDP is not within the second threshold of the frequency domain representation of the second PDP, the value of the PDP similarity metric is set to indicate that the first positioning frequency layer and the second positioning frequency layer are not similar.

37. The receiving device of claim 34, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the PDP similarity metric, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: Based on the fact that the temporal representation of the first PDP is not within the first threshold of the temporal representation of the second PDP, the value of the PDP similarity metric is set to indicate that the first positioning frequency layer and the second positioning frequency layer are not similar.

38. The receiving device as claimed in claim 24, wherein: The first component carrier has a larger bandwidth than the second component carrier. The receiving device subsamples the first component carrier to determine the first PDP at the bandwidth of the second component carrier.

39. The receiving device of claim 24, wherein the receiving device uses only a subset of the first PDP and the second PDP to determine the PDP similarity metric.

40. The receiving device of claim 24, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: The first PDP or the second PDP is shifted to account for the timing difference between the first component carrier and the second component carrier.

41. The receiving device of claim 24, wherein the PDP similarity metric indicates the level of difference between the first PDP and the second PDP.

42. The receiver device of claim 24, wherein the PDP similarity metric indicates whether the first reference signal and the second reference signal have a quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship.

43. The receiver device of claim 42, wherein the QCL relationship indicates that the first reference signal and the second reference signal have the same delay spread.

44. The receiving device of claim 24, wherein the receiving device transmits the PDP similarity metric periodically, semi-periodically, or on demand.

45. The receiving device of claim 24, wherein the network entity is a location server.

46. ​​The receiving device of claim 24, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: Integrating measurements of the first reference signal and the second reference signal in the time domain, frequency domain, or both; and Report the measurement to the network entity.

47. A receiving device, comprising: A means for receiving from a network entity a request for reporting a power delay profile (PDP) similarity metric for a first positioning frequency layer on a first component carrier and a second positioning frequency layer on a second component carrier; A means for determining a first PDP of a first reference signal received on the first positioning frequency layer and a second PDP of a second reference signal received on the second positioning frequency layer; A means for determining a PDP similarity metric based on the first PDP and the second PDP; as well as A means for transmitting the PDP similarity metric to the network entity.

48. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions comprising: The instruction receiving device receives from the network entity at least one instruction for a request to report a power delay profile (PDP) similarity measurement for a first positioning frequency layer on a first component carrier and a second positioning frequency layer on a second component carrier. The instruction instructs the receiving device to determine at least one instruction for determining a first PDP of a first reference signal received on the first positioning frequency layer and a second PDP of a second reference signal received on the second positioning frequency layer; The receiving device is instructed to determine at least one PDP similarity metric based on the first PDP and the second PDP; as well as The receiving device is instructed to transmit at least one instruction for the PDP similarity metric to the network entity.

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