Signaling timing error group updates for positioning

Abstract

A technique for signaling a timing error group (TEG) update for positioning is provided. An example for providing reference signal measurements using a mobile device includes: measuring one or more reference signals; determining a timing error change associated with the one or more reference signal measurements; and transmitting the one or more reference signal measurements and an indication of the timing error change.

Description

[0001] background

[0002] Wireless communication systems have evolved over several generations, including first generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including transitional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third generation (3G) high-speed data wireless service with Internet capabilities, fourth generation (4G) service (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax), fifth generation (5G) service, etc. There are many different types of wireless communication systems in use today, including cellular and personal communications service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), global system for mobile access (GSM) TDMA variants, etc.

[0003] The fifth generation (5G) mobile standard requires higher data transmission speeds, a greater number of connections and better coverage, among other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide tens of megabits per second data rates to each of tens of thousands of users, and 1 gigabit per second data rates to dozens of employees in an office floor. Hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported to support large sensor deployments. Therefore, the spectrum efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly improved compared to the current 4G standard. In addition, signaling efficiency should be improved and waiting time should be significantly reduced compared to the current standard.

[0004] Obtaining the location of a mobile device accessing a wireless network can be useful for many applications, including, for example, emergency calls, personal navigation, consumer asset tracking, locating friends or family, etc. Existing positioning methods include methods based on measuring radio signals transmitted from various devices or entities, including satellite vehicles (SVs) and terrestrial radio sources in wireless networks, such as base stations and access points. It is expected that standardization for 5G wireless networks will include support for various positioning methods, which can utilize reference signals transmitted by base stations for positioning determination in a manner similar to the way LTE wireless networks currently utilize positioning reference signals (PRS) and / or cell-specific reference signals (CRS). Timing errors associated with the processing of such reference signals may affect the accuracy of the resulting position estimate.

[0005] Overview

[0006] An example of providing reference signal measurement values ​​using a mobile device according to the present disclosure includes: measuring one or more reference signals; determining a timing error change associated with the one or more reference signal measurement values; and transmitting the one or more reference signal measurement values ​​and an indication of the timing error change.

[0007] Implementations of such methods may include one or more of the following features. The timing error change may be based at least in part on the orientation of the mobile device relative to a transmission path of at least one of the one or more reference signals. The timing error change may be based at least in part on a temperature of the mobile device. The one or more reference signal measurements may be transmitted in a report, and the indication of the timing error change may include a flip bit in the report. The indication of the timing error change may include a counter value in the report. The indication of the timing error change may include a flip bit for each of the one or more reference signal measurements. The indication of the timing error change may include a counter value for each of the one or more reference signal measurements. The indication of the timing error change may include a counter value for each of the one or more reference signal measurements. The indication of the timing error change may include a timing error group identification value for each of the one or more reference signal measurements. The one or more reference signal measurements and the indication of the timing error change may be transmitted to a location server. The one or more reference signal measurements and the indication of the timing error change may be transmitted to a user equipment. The one or more reference signal measurements and the indication of the timing error change may be communicated via a sidelink communication protocol.

[0008] An example method for determining the position of a station according to the present disclosure includes: obtaining multiple reference signal measurement values ​​and timing error group information from the station; determining at least a first subset of the multiple reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error group information, wherein each reference signal measurement value of the multiple reference signal measurement values ​​in the first subset of the multiple reference signal measurement values ​​has a first timing error value; and determining the position of the station based at least in part on the first subset of the multiple reference signal measurement values.

[0009] Implementation of such a method may include one or more of the following features. A plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​may be transmitted in a report, and the timing error group information includes a rollover bit in the report. The timing error group information may include a counter value in the report. The timing error group information may include a rollover bit for each of the plurality of reference signal measurement values. The timing error group information may include a counter value for each of the plurality of reference signal measurement values. The timing error group information may include a timing error group identification value for each of the plurality of reference signal measurement values. The plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​and the timing error group information may be received from a user equipment. The plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​and the timing error group information may be received via a sidelink communication protocol. The method may further include: determining at least a second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error group information, such that each of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​in the second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​is based on a second timing error value; and determining the position of the station based at least in part on the second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values.

[0010] An example device according to the present disclosure includes: a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver and configured to: measure one or more reference signals; determine a timing error change associated with the one or more reference signal measurement values; and transmit the one or more reference signal measurement values ​​and an indication of the timing error change.

[0011] Implementation of such an apparatus may include one or more of the following features. The at least one processor may be further configured to determine the orientation of the apparatus relative to a transmission path of at least one of the one or more reference signals, such that the timing error change is based at least in part on the orientation of the apparatus. The apparatus may include at least one temperature sensor, and the at least one processor may be configured to determine the timing error change based at least in part on measurements obtained using the at least one temperature sensor. The one or more reference signal measurements may be transmitted in a report, and the indication of the timing error change includes at least one of the following: a report flip bit, a report counter value, a measurement flip bit, and a measurement counter value in the report. The at least one processor may be further configured to transmit the one or more reference signal measurements and the indication of the timing error change via a side link communication protocol.

[0012] An example device according to the present disclosure includes: a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver and configured to: obtain a plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​and timing error group information from a station; determine at least a first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error group information, wherein each of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​in the first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​has a first timing error value; and determine a position of the station based at least in part on the first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values.

[0013] Implementations of such apparatus may include one or more of the following features. The plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​may be transmitted in a report, and the timing error group information includes at least one of the following: a report flip bit, a report counter value, a measurement flip bit, and a measurement counter value in the report. The at least one processor may be further configured to: receive the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​and the timing error group information via a sidelink communication protocol. The at least one processor may be further configured to: determine at least a second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error group information, such that each of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​in the second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​is based on a second timing error value; and determine the location of the station based at least in part on the second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values.

[0014] An example device for providing reference signal measurement values ​​using a mobile device according to the present disclosure includes: a device for measuring one or more reference signals; a device for determining a timing error change associated with the one or more reference signal measurement values; and a device for transmitting the one or more reference signal measurement values ​​and an indication of the timing error change.

[0015] An example device for determining the position of a station according to the present disclosure includes: a device for obtaining multiple reference signal measurement values ​​and timing error group information from the station; a device for determining at least a first subset of the multiple reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error group information, wherein each of the multiple reference signal measurement values ​​in the first subset of the multiple reference signal measurement values ​​has a first timing error value; and a device for determining the position of the station based at least in part on the first subset of the multiple reference signal measurement values.

[0016] An example non-transitory processor-readable storage medium including processor-readable instructions configured to cause one or more processors to provide reference signal measurement values ​​with a mobile device according to the present disclosure includes: code for measuring one or more reference signals; code for determining a timing error change associated with the one or more reference signal measurement values; and code for transmitting the one or more reference signal measurement values ​​and an indication of the timing error change.

[0017] An example non-transitory processor-readable storage medium including processor-readable instructions configured to cause one or more processors to determine a location of a station according to the present disclosure includes: code for obtaining a plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​and timing error group information from the station; code for determining at least a first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error group information, wherein each of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​in the first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​has a first timing error value; and code for determining the location of the station based at least in part on the first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values.

[0018] The items and / or technologies described herein can provide one or more of the following capabilities and other capabilities not mentioned. A station (such as a user equipment or a base station) can transmit and receive a reference signal to determine the location of the station. The flight time and other timing measurements associated with the reference signal can be used to determine the distance between two or more stations. In operation, the timing error associated with the transmission and reception chain of the station may affect the accuracy of the calculated position estimate. The timing error can be classified into a timing error group (TEG), and the delay time of the TEG can be used in the positioning calculation. The positioning calculation can be measured using multiple reference signals, and the change in the delay time of the TEG group may affect the accuracy of the resulting position estimate. The current state of the station may affect the time delay of the received and / or transmitted reference signal. The station can be configured to provide TEG update information with reference signal measurements. The positioning entity can separate the reference signal measurements using the TEG update information so that the measurements with similar TEG delays are grouped together for processing. The position estimate derived from the group of reference signal measurement values ​​with similar TEG time delay values ​​may be more accurate than the position estimate derived from the reference signal measurement values ​​obtained using different TEG time delay values. Other capabilities may be provided, and not every implementation according to the present disclosure will necessarily provide any, much less all, of the capabilities discussed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] Figure 1 is a simplified diagram of an example wireless communication system.

[0021] Figure 2 yes Figure 10046] A block diagram of components of an example user equipment is shown in FIG.

[0022] Figure 3 yes Figure 1 A block diagram of components of an example transmit / receive point is shown in FIG.

[0023] Figure 4 yes Figure 1 A block diagram of the components of the example server shown in .

[0024] Figure 5 is a diagram of an example downlink positioning reference signal.

[0025] Figure 6 is a diagram of an example sidelink positioning reference signal.

[0026] Figure 7 is a message flow diagram of an example effect of group delay error within a wireless transceiver.

[0027] Figure 8 is an example timing error group (TEG) with an example of timing errors within a TEG.

[0028] Fig. 9 is a message flow of an example reference signal positioning procedure.

[0029] Fig.10 is an example reference signal measurement report with a timing error group update information element.

[0030] Fig.11 is a flow chart of a method for providing reference signal measurements.

[0031] Fig.12 is a flow chart of a method for determining the location of a station.

[0032] Detailed Description

[0033] Techniques for signaling timing error group (TEG) updates for positioning are discussed herein. Ground time-of-flight positioning techniques, such as round trip timing (RTT) and time of arrival (ToA), for example, may depend on the accuracy of timing measurements associated with the transmission and reception of reference signals between two or more stations. Even small timing problems may result in very large errors in the corresponding positioning estimate. For example, a time measurement error as small as 100 nanoseconds may result in a positioning error of 30 meters. Physical and electrical constraints in a station, such as a user equipment (UE) or a base station (e.g., a transmit / receive point (TRP)), may introduce timing errors associated with the transmission and reception of reference signals. For example, from a signal transmission perspective, there may be a time delay between the time when a digital signal is generated at the baseband and the time when an RF signal is transmitted from a Tx (transmit) antenna. In terrestrial positioning applications, a station (e.g., a UE, a TRP, etc.) may implement internal calibration and / or compensation of Tx time delays for transmission of reference signals. For example, a downlink positioning reference signal (DL PRS) and / or an uplink positioning reference signal (UL PRS) / sounding reference signal (SRS) may include calibration and / or compensation of relative time delays between different RF chains in the same station. The compensation may also take into account the offset of the Tx antenna phase center from the physical antenna center. The calibration / compensation may not be perfect. The remaining Tx time delay after calibration or the uncalibrated Tx time delay is defined as the Tx timing error.

[0034] From the perspective of signal reception, there may be a time delay between the time when the RF signal arrives at the Rx (receive) antenna and the time when the signal is digitized and time-stamped at the baseband. In ground positioning applications, a station (e.g., UE, TRP) may implement internal calibration and / or compensation of the Rx time delay before the measurement obtained from the reference signal (e.g., DL PRS / SRS) is reported. In one example, the measurement report may include calibration and / or compensation of the relative time delay between different RF chains in the same station. The compensation may also take into account the offset of the Rx antenna phase center from the physical antenna center. However, the RX calibration may not be perfect. The remaining Rx time delay or uncalibrated Rx time delay after calibration is defined as the Rx timing error.

[0035] The timing error group (TEG) information described herein may be based on TX and RX timing errors associated with one or more reference signal resources (such as DLPRS resources, UL PRS / SRS resources, and sidelink (SL) PRS resources). A TEG may be associated with one or more different uplink, downlink, and / or sidelink signals, and may include TX and RX timing error values ​​within a certain margin. In operation, the actual time delay associated with the TEG may vary within the margin. That is, a specific TEG may cover a range of time delays. For example, physical changes in a device (such as the relative orientation of the received or transmitted signal) or thermal characteristics (e.g., temperature / clock drift) may affect the actual timing error. Since the positioning entity can perform multiple measurements using the TEG group information, changes in the delay time within the TEG group (e.g., changes within the TEG) may reduce the accuracy of the resulting position estimate. For example, a station may provide a measurement report based on a first TEG (e.g., TEG1) that may have an average delay of 1 nanosecond (ns). The station may then provide a second measurement report based on TEG1, but the actual delay in the second report may have an average delay of 2ns due to variations in thermal characteristics or other physical factors. Both the first and second reports rely on TEG1 as a constant value, but if the measurements from the first and second reports are combined, the intra-TEG variation (i.e., from 1ns to 2ns) may affect the resulting position estimate.

[0036] In one embodiment, the station may be configured to provide a signal for updating the positioning entity of the change in the TEG. The positioning entity may then utilize the update signal to select a subset of the received measurements with the same delay value in the TEG. For example, the measurement report may include a flip bit to indicate that the TEG delay is the same across reports before the flip bit changes state (e.g., is flipped). The measurement report may include a counter or timer information element for confirming that no delay change in the TEG occurs. In one example, the measurement value in the measurement report may include an information element indicating a change in the TEG, so that the measurement obtained before the change in the TEG can be grouped as a first subset, and the measurement obtained after the change in the TEG can be grouped as a second subset. Other combinations of report-based and measurement-based information elements may also be used to update the positioning entity of the change in the delay associated with the TEG. These are examples, and other examples of information elements may be implemented.

[0037] The present description may refer to a sequence of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. Each action described herein can be performed by a dedicated circuit (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of the two. The sequence of actions described herein may be implemented in a non-transient computer readable medium having stored thereon a corresponding set of computer instructions that, upon execution, will cause an associated processor to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the various aspects described herein may be implemented in a number of different forms, all of which fall within the scope of the present disclosure, including the claimed subject matter.

[0038] As used herein, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not dedicated to or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT), unless otherwise specified. In general, such UE can be any wireless communication device (e.g., mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, consumer asset tracking device, Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate on a wireless communication network. The UE can be mobile or can be stationary (e.g., at certain times) and can communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" can be interchangeably referred to as an "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber equipment", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or UT, "mobile terminal", "mobile station", or variations thereof. In general, the 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 WiFi network (eg, based on IEEE 802.11, etc.), and the like.

[0039] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs when in communication with a UE, depending on the network in which the base station is deployed, and may be referred to alternatively as an access point (AP), a network node, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a general NodeB (gNodeB, gNB), etc. In addition, in some systems, a base station may provide pure edge node signaling functions, while in other systems, the base station may provide additional control and / or network management functions.

[0040] The UE may be implemented by any of several types of devices, including but not limited to a printed circuit (PC) card, a compact flash device, an external or internal modem, a wireless or wired phone, a smart phone, a tablet device, a consumer asset tracking device, an asset tag, etc. The communication link by which the UE can send signals to the RAN is referred to as an uplink channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). The communication link by which the RAN can send signals to the UE is referred to as a downlink or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a 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.

[0041] As used herein, depending on the context, the term "cell" or "sector" may correspond to one of multiple cells of a base station or to the base station itself. The term "cell" may refer to a logical communication entity used to communicate with a base station (e.g., on a carrier) and may be associated with an identifier to distinguish adjacent cells operating via the same or different carriers (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID)). In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types that may provide access to different types of devices (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other protocol types). In some examples, the term "cell" may refer to a portion of a geographic coverage area (e.g., a sector) on which the logical entity operates.

[0042] refer to Figure 1, an example of a communication system 100 includes UE 105, UE 106, a radio access network (RAN) 135 (here, a fifth generation (5G) next generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN)), and a 5G core network (5GC) 140. UE 105 and / or UE 106 may be, for example, an IoT device, a location tracker device, a cellular phone, a vehicle (e.g., a car, truck, bus, ship, etc.), or other device. A 5G network may also be referred to as a new radio (NR) network; NG-RAN 135 may be referred to as a 5G RAN or an NR RAN; and 5GC 140 may be referred to as an NG core network (NGC). Standardization of NG-RAN and 5GC is being conducted in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Accordingly, NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140 may follow current or future standards from 3GPP for 5G support. RAN 135 may be another type of RAN, for example, a 3G RAN, a 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) RAN, etc. UE 106 may be similarly configured and coupled to UE 105 to send and / or receive signals to and / or from similar other entities in system 100, but for simplicity of the drawings, the UE 106 is not shown in FIG. Figure 1 105. Similarly, for simplicity, the discussion focuses on the UE 105. The communication system 100 can utilize information from a constellation 185 of satellite vehicles (SVs) 190, 191, 192, 193 of a satellite positioning system (SPS) (e.g., a global navigation satellite system (GNSS)) such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), Galileo, or BeiDou or some other local or regional SPS (such as the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), or the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS)). Additional components of the communication system 100 are described below. The communication system 100 may include additional or alternative components.

[0043] like Figure 1As shown in FIG. 1 , the NG-RAN 135 includes NR B nodes (gNBs) 110a, 110b and next generation evolved B nodes (ng-eNBs) 114, and the 5GC 140 includes an access and mobility management function (AMF) 115, a session management function (SMF) 117, a location management function (LMF) 120, and a gateway mobile location center (GMLC) 125. The gNBs 110a, 110b, and ng-eNBs 114 are communicatively coupled to each other, each configured to perform bidirectional wireless communication with the UE 105, and each communicatively coupled to the AMF 115 and configured to perform bidirectional communication with the AMF 115. The gNBs 110a, 110b, and ng-eNBs 114 may be referred to as base stations (BSs). The AMF 115, the SMF 117, the LMF 120, and the GMLC 125 are communicatively coupled to each other, and the GMLC is communicatively coupled to the external client 130. The SMF 117 may serve as an initial contact point for a service control function (SCF) (not shown) to create, control, and delete media sessions. The BSs 110a, 110b, 114 may be macro cells (e.g., high-power cellular base stations), or small cells (e.g., low-power cellular base stations), or access points (e.g., short-range base stations configured to communicate with short-range technologies such as WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), - Low Energy (BLE), Zigbee, etc.) for communication). One or more of the BSs 110a, 110b, 114 may be configured to communicate with the UE 105 via multiple carriers. Each of the BSs 110a, 110b, 114 may provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic area (e.g., a cellular cell). Each cellular cell may be divided into a plurality of sectors according to the base station antenna.

[0044] Figure 1 A generalized explanation of the various components is provided, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate, and each component may be repeated or omitted as desired. Specifically, although one UE 105 is illustrated, many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may be utilized in the communication system 100. Similarly, the communication system 100 may include a greater (or smaller) number of SVs (i.e., more or less than the four SVs 190-193 shown), gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNBs 114, AMFs 115, external clients 130, and / or other components. The illustrated connections connecting the various components in the communication system 100 include data and signaling connections, which may include additional (intermediate) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks. In addition, the components may be rearranged, combined, separated, replaced, and / or omitted depending on the desired functionality.

[0045] Although Figure 1 A 5G-based network is illustrated, but similar network implementations and configurations may be used for other communication technologies, such as 3G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), etc. Implementations described herein (which are for 5G technologies and / or for one or more other communication technologies and / or protocols) may be used to transmit (or broadcast) directional synchronization signals, receive and measure directional signals at a UE (e.g., UE 105), and / or provide location assistance to UE 105 (via GMLC 125 or other location server), and / or calculate the location of UE 105 at a device with location capabilities (such as UE 105, gNB 110a, 110b, or LMF 120) based on measurement parameters received at UE 105 for such directional transmitted signals. The gateway mobile location center (GMLC) 125, the location management function (LMF) 120, the access and mobility management function (AMF) 115, the SMF 117, the ng-eNB (eNodeB) 114 and the gNB (gNodeB) 110a, 110b are examples and may be replaced by or include various other location server functionalities and / or base station functionalities, respectively, in various embodiments.

[0046] The system 100 is capable of wireless communication because the components of the system 100 can communicate with each other (at least sometimes using wireless connections), for example, directly or indirectly, via BSs 110a, 110b, 114 and / or network 140 (and / or one or more other devices not shown, such as one or more other base transceiver stations). For indirect communication, the communication may be modified during transmission from one entity to another, such as changing the header information of the data packet, changing the format, etc. The UE 105 may include multiple UEs and may be a mobile wireless communication device, but may communicate wirelessly and via a wired connection. The UE 105 may be any of a variety of devices, such as a smart phone, a tablet computer, a vehicle-based device, etc., but these are only examples, because the UE 105 does not need to be any of these configurations, and other configurations of the UE may be used. Other UEs may include wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart jewelry, smart glasses, or head-mounted devices, etc.). Other UEs may also be used, whether currently existing or developed in the future. In addition, other wireless devices (whether mobile or not) can be implemented within the system 100 and can communicate with each other and / or with the UE 105, the BSs 110a, 110b, 114, the core network 140, and / or external clients 130. For example, such other devices may include Internet of Things (IoT) devices, medical devices, home entertainment and / or automation devices, etc. The core network 140 can communicate with the external client 130 (e.g., a computer system), for example, to allow the external client 130 (e.g., via the GMLC 125) to request and / or receive location information about the UE 105.

[0047] The UE 105 or other device may be configured to communicate in various networks and / or for various purposes and / or using various technologies (e.g., 5G, Wi-Fi communication, multi-frequency Wi-Fi communication, satellite positioning, one or more types of communication (e.g., GSM (Global System for Mobile), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), LTE (Long Term Evolution), V2X (Vehicle to Vehicle, e.g., V2P (vehicle to pedestrian), V2I (vehicle to infrastructure), V2V (vehicle to vehicle), etc.), IEEE 802.11p, etc.). V2X communications can be cellular (cellular-V2X (C-V2X)) and / or WiFi (e.g., DSRC (dedicated short range connection)). The system 100 can support operation on multiple carriers (waveform signals of different frequencies). A multi-carrier transmitter can transmit modulated signals on multiple carriers simultaneously. Each modulated signal can be a code division multiple access (CDMA) signal, a time division multiple access (TDMA) signal, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) signal, a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) signal, etc. Each modulated signal can be sent on a different carrier and can carry a pilot, overhead information, data, etc. UE 105, 106 can communicate with each other through UE-to-UE sidelink (SL) communication by transmitting on one or more sidelink channels (such as physical sidelink synchronization channel (PSSCH), physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), sidelink shared channel (SL-SCH), sidelink broadcast channel (SL-BCH) and other sidelink synchronization signals).

[0048] UE 105 may include and / or may be referred to as a device, a mobile device, a wireless device, a mobile terminal, a terminal, a mobile station (MS), a terminal (SET) enabled with secure user plane location (SUPL), or some other name. In addition, UE 105 may correspond to a cellular phone, a smart phone, a laptop, a tablet device, a PDA, a consumer asset tracking device, a navigation device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a health monitor, a security system, a smart city sensor, a smart meter, a wearable tracker, or some other portable or mobile device. Typically, although not necessarily, UE 105 may support the use of one or more radio access technologies (RATs) (such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), LTE, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), IEEE 802.11 WiFi (also known as Wi-Fi), (BT), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), 5G New Radio (NR) (e.g., using NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140), etc.) for wireless communication. UE 105 may support wireless communication using a wireless local area network (WLAN), which may use, for example, a digital subscriber line (DSL) or packet cable to connect to other networks (e.g., the Internet). Using one or more of these RATs may allow UE 105 (e.g., via elements ( Figure 1 125), or possibly via GMLC 125) to communicate with external client 130 and / or allow external client 130 to receive location information about UE 105 (eg, via GMLC 125).

[0049] UE 105 may include a single entity or may include multiple entities, such as in a personal area network, where users may employ audio, video, and / or data I / O (input / output) devices, and / or body sensors and separate wired or wireless modems. The estimate of the location of UE 105 may be referred to as a location, location estimate, location fix, fix, position fix, position estimate, or position fix, and may be geographic, providing location coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) about UE 105, which may or may not include an altitude component (e.g., height above sea level; height above or depth below ground level, floor level, or basement level). Alternatively, the location of UE 105 may be expressed as a municipal location (e.g., expressed as a postal address or a designation of a point or smaller area in a building (such as a specific room or floor)). The location of UE 105 may be expressed as an area or volume (geographically or municipally defined) within which UE 105 is expected to be located with a certain probability or confidence level (e.g., 67%, 95%, etc.). The location of the UE 105 may be expressed as a relative location including, for example, a distance and direction from a known location. The relative location may be expressed as relative coordinates (e.g., X, Y (and Z) coordinates) defined relative to a certain origin at a known location, which may be defined, for example, geographically, in municipal form, or with reference to a point, area, or volume indicated, for example, on a map, floor plan, or building plan. In the description contained herein, the use of the term location may include any of these variants unless otherwise indicated. When calculating the location of the UE, local x, y, and possibly z coordinates are typically solved, and then (if necessary) the local coordinates are converted into absolute coordinates (e.g., with respect to latitude, longitude, and altitude above or below mean sea level).

[0050] UE 105 may be configured to communicate with other entities using one or more of a variety of technologies. UE 105 may be configured to be indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links. D2D P2P links may use any appropriate D2D radio access technology (RAT) such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), etc.). One or more UEs in a group of UEs utilizing D2D communication may be within a geographic coverage area of ​​a transmit / receive point (TRP), such as one or more of gNB 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114. Other UEs in the group may be outside such geographic coverage area or may be unable to receive transmissions from the base station for other reasons. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, in which each UE may transmit to other UEs in the group. The TRP may facilitate the scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication may be performed between UEs without involving a TRP. One or more UEs in a group of UEs utilizing D2D communication may be within a geographic coverage area of ​​a TRP. Other UEs in the group may be outside such geographic coverage area or may be unable to receive transmissions from the base station for other reasons. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, in which each UE may transmit to other UEs in the group. The TRP may facilitate the scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication may be performed between UEs without involving a TRP.

[0051] Figure 1 The base stations (BS) in the NG-RAN 135 shown in FIG. 1 include NR B nodes (referred to as gNBs 110a and 110b). Each pair of gNBs 110a, 110b in the NG-RAN 135 may be connected to each other via one or more other gNBs. Access to the 5G network is provided to the UE 105 via wireless communications between the UE 105 and one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b. The gNBs 110a, 110b may provide wireless communications access to the 5GC 140 on behalf of the UE 105 using 5G. Figure 1 , it is assumed that the serving gNB for UE 105 is gNB 110a, but another gNB (e.g., gNB 110b) may serve as the serving gNB if UE 105 moves to another location, or may serve as a secondary gNB to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to UE 105.

[0052] Figure 1The base stations (BSs) in the illustrated NG-RAN 135 may include ng-eNB 114, also referred to as next generation evolved Node B. The ng-eNB 114 may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b in the NG-RAN 135 (possibly via one or more other gNBs and / or one or more other ng-eNBs). The ng-eNB 114 may provide LTE wireless access and / or evolved LTE (eLTE) wireless access to the UE 105. One or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114 may be configured to function as a positioning-only beacon, which may transmit signals to assist in determining the position of the UE 105, but may not be able to receive signals from the UE 105 or other UEs.

[0053] BS110a, 110b, 114 may each include one or more TRPs. For example, each sector within a cell of the BS may include a TRP, but multiple TRPs may share one or more components (e.g., sharing a processor but having separate antennas). System 100 may include a macro TRP, or system 100 may have different types of TRPs, such as macro, micro, and / or femto TRPs. A macro TRP may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a radius of several thousand meters) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals with service subscriptions. A micro TRP may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a micro cell) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals with service subscriptions. A femto or home TRP may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a femto cell) and may allow restricted access by terminals associated with the femto cell (e.g., terminals of users in a residence).

[0054] As mentioned, although Figure 1 Nodes configured to communicate according to a 5G communication protocol are depicted, but nodes configured to communicate according to other communication protocols (such as, for example, an LTE protocol or an IEEE 802.11x protocol) may also be used. For example, in an evolved packet system (EPS) that provides LTE wireless access to UE 105, the RAN may include an evolved universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN), which may include base stations including evolved Node Bs (eNBs). The core network for the EPS may include an evolved packet core (EPC). The EPS may include the E-UTRAN plus the EPC, where the E-UTRAN corresponds to the UE 105. Figure 1 NG-RAN 135 in and the EPC corresponds to Figure 1 5GC 140 in.

[0055] The gNBs 110a, 110b and ng-eNB 114 may communicate with the AMF 115; for positioning functionality, the AMF 115 communicates with the LMF 120. The AMF 115 may support mobility of the UE 105, including cell changes and handovers, and may participate in supporting signaling connections to the UE 105 and possibly data and voice bearers for the UE 105. The LMF 120 may communicate directly with the UE 105, or directly with the BSs 110a, 110b, 114, for example, via wireless communications. The LMF 120 may support positioning of the UE 105 when the UE 105 accesses the NG-RAN 135, and may support various positioning procedures / methods, such as Assisted GNSS (A-GNSS), Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) (e.g., downlink (DL) OTDOA or uplink (UL) OTDOA), Round Trip Time (RTT), Multi-cell RTT, Real-time Kinematics (RTK), Precise Point Positioning (PPP), Differential GNSS (DGNSS), Enhanced Cell ID (E-CID), Angle of Arrival (AoA), Angle of Departure (AoD), and / or other positioning methods. The LMF 120 may process a location service request for the UE 105 received from, for example, the AMF 115 or the GMLC 125. The LMF 120 may be connected to the AMF 115 and / or the GMLC 125. The LMF 120 may be referred to by other names, such as a Location Manager (LM), a Location Function (LF), a Commercial LMF (CLMF), or a Value-Added LMF (VLMF). A node / system implementing LMF 120 may additionally or alternatively implement other types of location support modules, such as an enhanced serving mobile location center (E-SMLC) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP). At least a portion of the positioning functionality (including the derivation of the location of UE 105) may be performed at UE 105 (e.g., using signal measurements obtained by UE 105 for signals transmitted by wireless nodes (such as gNB 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114), and / or assistance data provided to UE 105 by LMF 120, for example). AMF 115 may serve as a control node for processing signaling between UE 105 and core network 140, and may provide QoS (quality of service) flow and session management. AMF 115 may support mobility of UE 105 (including cell changes and handovers), and may participate in supporting signaling connections to UE 105.

[0056] The GMLC 125 may support a location request for the UE 105 received from the external client 130, and may forward the location request to the AMF 115 for forwarding by the AMF 115 to the LMF 120, or may forward the location request directly to the LMF 120. A location response (e.g., containing a location estimate of the UE 105) from the LMF 120 may be returned to the GMLC 125 directly or via the AMF 115, and the GMLC 125 may then return the location response (e.g., containing the location estimate) to the external client 130. The GMLC 125 is shown as being connected to both the AMF 115 and the LMF 120, but in some implementations the 5GC 140 may support one of these connections.

[0057] like Figure 1 As further explained in , LMF 120 may communicate with gNB 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114 using a new radio positioning protocol A (which may be referred to as NPPa or NRPPa), which may be defined in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.455. NRPPa may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of LTE Positioning Protocol A (LPPa) defined in 3GPP TS 36.455, wherein NRPPa messages are communicated between gNB 110a (or gNB 110b) and LMF 120, and / or between ng-eNB 114 and LMF 120 via AMF 115. Figure 1As further explained in 3GPP TS 36.355, the LMF 120 and the UE 105 may communicate using the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP), which may be defined in 3GPP TS 36.355. The LMF 120 and the UE 105 may additionally or alternatively communicate using a new radio positioning protocol (which may be referred to as NPP or NRPP), which may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of the LPP. Here, LPP and / or NPP messages may be communicated between the UE 105 and the LMF 120 via the AMF 115 and the serving gNB 110a, 110b or the serving ng-eNB 114 of the UE 105. For example, the LPP and / or NPP messages may be communicated between the LMF 120 and the AMF 115 using the 5G Location Services Application Protocol (LCS AP), and may be communicated between the AMF 115 and the UE 105 using the 5G Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocol. The LPP and / or NPP protocols may be used to support positioning of the UE 105 using UE-assisted and / or UE-based positioning methods such as A-GNSS, RTK, OTDOA, and / or E-CID. The NRPPa protocol may be used to support positioning of the UE 105 using a network-based positioning method such as E-CID (e.g., in conjunction with measurements obtained by the gNB 110a, 110b, or ng-eNB 114) and / or may be used by the LMF 120 to obtain location-related information from the gNB 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114, such as parameters defining directional SS transmissions from the gNB 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114. The LMF 120 may be co-located or integrated with the gNB or TRP, or may be arranged remotely from the gNB and / or TRP and configured to communicate directly or indirectly with the gNB and / or TRP.

[0058] Using UE-assisted positioning methods, UE 105 can obtain location measurements and send these measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 120) for use in calculating a location estimate of UE 105. For example, the location measurements can include one or more of received signal strength indication (RSSI), round-trip signal propagation time (RTT), reference signal time difference (RSTD), reference signal received power (RSRP), and / or reference signal received quality (RSRQ) of gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, and / or WLAN AP. The location measurements can additionally or alternatively include measurements of GNSS pseudoranges, code phases, and / or carrier phases of SVs 190-193.

[0059] Using the UE-based positioning method, UE 105 can obtain position measurements (e.g., which can be the same or similar to position measurements for UE-assisted positioning methods) and can calculate the position of UE 105 (e.g., with the aid of auxiliary data received from a location server (such as LMF 120) or broadcast by gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114 or other base stations or APs).

[0060] With network-based positioning methods, one or more base stations (e.g., gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114) or APs may obtain location measurements (e.g., measurements of RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, or time of arrival (ToA) of signals transmitted by UE 105) and / or may receive measurements obtained by UE 105. The one or more base stations or APs may send these measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 120) for use in calculating a location estimate for UE 105.

[0061] The information provided to LMF 120 by gNB 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114 using NRPPa may include timing and configuration information for directional SS transmissions and location coordinates. LMF 120 may provide some or all of this information to UE 105 as assistance data in LPP and / or NPP messages via NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140.

[0062] The LPP or NPP message sent from LMF 120 to UE 105 may instruct UE 105 to do any of a variety of things, depending on the desired functionality. For example, the LPP or NPP message may include instructions for UE 105 to obtain measurements for GNSS (or A-GNSS), WLAN, E-CID, and / or OTDOA (or some other positioning method). In the case of E-CID, the LPP or NPP message may instruct UE 105 to obtain one or more measurement parameters (e.g., beam ID, beam width, average angle, RSRP, RSRQ measurements) of directional signals transmitted within a particular cell supported by one or more of gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114 (or supported by some other type of base station, such as an eNB or WiFi AP). The UE 105 may send these measurement parameters back to the LMF 120 in an LPP or NPP message (e.g., within a 5G NAS message) via the serving gNB 110a (or serving ng-eNB 114) and the AMF 115.

[0063] As mentioned, although the communication system 100 is described with respect to 5G technology, the communication system 100 may be implemented to support other communication technologies (such as GSM, WCDMA, LTE, etc.) that are used to support and interact with mobile devices (such as UE 105) (e.g., to implement voice, data, positioning, and other functionality). In some such embodiments, the 5GC 140 may be configured to control different air interfaces. For example, the non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF, Figure 1 1140) connects the 5GC 150 to the WLAN. For example, the WLAN may support IEEE 802.11 WiFi access for the UE 105 and may include one or more WiFi APs. Here, the N3IWF may be connected to the WLAN and other elements in the 5GC 140, such as the AMF 115. In some embodiments, both the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140 may be replaced by one or more other RANs and one or more other core networks. For example, in the EPS, the NG-RAN 135 may be replaced by an E-UTRAN including an eNB, and the 5GC 140 may be replaced by an EPC including a mobility management entity (MME) replacing the AMF 115, an E-SMLC replacing the LMF 120, and a GMLC that may be similar to the GMLC 125. In such an EPS, the E-SMLC may use LPPa instead of NRPPa to send location information to and receive location information from the eNBs in the E-UTRAN, and may use LPP to support positioning of the UE 105. In these other embodiments, positioning of UE 105 using directional PRS may be supported in a manner similar to that described herein for 5G networks, with the difference that the functions and procedures described herein for gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, AMF 115, and LMF 120 may in some cases be applied alternatively to other network elements, such as eNBs, WiFi APs, MMEs, and E-SMLCs.

[0064] As mentioned, in some embodiments, positioning functionality may be implemented at least in part using directional SS beams transmitted by base stations (such as gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114) that are located at a UE (e.g., Figure 1 In some instances, the UE may use directional SS beams from multiple base stations (such as gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, etc.) to calculate the positioning of the UE.

[0065] Also refer to Figure 2UE 200 is an example of one of UEs 105, 106, and includes a computing platform including a processor 210, a memory 211 including software (SW) 212, one or more sensors 213, a transceiver interface 214 for a transceiver 215, a user interface 216, a satellite positioning system (SPS) receiver 217, a camera 218, and a positioning device (PD) 219. The processor 210, the memory 211, the sensor(s) 213, the transceiver interface 214, the user interface 216, the SPS receiver 217, the camera 218, and the positioning device 219 may be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 220 (which may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication). One or more of the devices shown (e.g., camera 218, positioning device 219, and / or one or more of the sensor(s) 213, etc.) may be omitted from UE 200. The processor 210 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.). The processor 210 may include multiple processors, including a general / application processor 230, a digital signal processor (DSP) 231, a modem processor 232, a video processor 233, and / or a sensor processor 234. One or more of the processors 230-234 may include multiple devices (e.g., multiple processors). For example, the sensor processor 234 may include, for example, a processor for radar, ultrasonic wave, and / or laser radar, etc. The modem processor 232 may support dual SIM / dual connectivity (or even more SIMs). For example, one SIM (subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module) may be used by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), and another SIM may be used by an end user of the UE 200 to obtain connectivity. The memory 211 is a non-transitory storage medium, which may include a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a disk memory, and / or a read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 211 stores software 212, which may be processor-readable, processor-executable software code containing instructions that are configured to cause the processor 210 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 212 may not be directly executable by the processor 210, but may be configured (e.g., when compiled and executed) to cause the processor 210 to perform functions. This specification may refer to the processor 210 performing functions, but this includes other implementations, such as implementations in which the processor 210 executes software and / or firmware. This specification may refer to the processor 210 performing functions as a shorthand for one or more of the processors 230-234 performing the functions. This specification may refer to the UE 200 performing functions as a shorthand for one or more appropriate components of the UE 200 performing the functions. The processor 210 may include a memory with stored instructions as a supplement and / or alternative to the memory 211.The functionality of processor 210 is discussed more fully below.

[0066] Figure 2 The configuration of UE 200 shown in is an example and does not limit the present disclosure (including claims), and other configurations may be used. For example, the configuration of UE includes one or more of processors 230-234 in processor 210, memory 211, and wireless transceiver 240. Other example configurations include one or more of processors 230-234 in processor 210, memory 211, wireless transceiver 240, and one or more of the following: sensor 213, user interface 216, SPS receiver 217, camera 218, PD 219 and / or wired transceiver 250.

[0067] UE 200 may include a modem processor 232 that may be capable of performing baseband processing of signals received and down-converted by transceiver 215 and / or SPS receiver 217. Modem processor 232 may perform baseband processing of signals to be up-converted for transmission by transceiver 215. Additionally or alternatively, baseband processing may be performed by processor 230 and / or DSP 231. However, other configurations may be used to perform baseband processing.

[0068] UE 200 may include sensor(s) 213, which may include, for example, one or more of various types of sensors, such as one or more inertial sensors, one or more magnetometers, one or more environmental sensors, one or more optical sensors, one or more weight sensors, and / or one or more radio frequency (RF) sensors, etc. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) may include, for example, one or more accelerometers (e.g., collectively responsive to acceleration of UE 200 in three dimensions) and / or one or more gyroscopes (e.g., three-dimensional gyroscope(s)). Sensor(s) 213 may include one or more magnetometers (e.g., three-dimensional magnetometer(s)) to determine orientation (e.g., relative to magnetic north and / or true north), which may be used for any of a variety of purposes (e.g., to support one or more compass applications). Environmental sensor(s) may include, for example, one or more temperature sensors, one or more barometric pressure sensors, one or more ambient light sensors, one or more camera imagers, and / or one or more microphones, etc. Sensor(s) 213 may generate analog and / or digital signals, indications of which may be stored in memory 211 and processed by DSP 231 and / or processor 230 to support one or more applications (such as, for example, applications involving positioning and / or navigation operations).

[0069] The sensor(s) 213 may be used for relative position measurement, relative position determination, motion determination, etc. The information detected by the sensor(s) 213 may be used for motion detection, relative displacement, dead reckoning, sensor-based position determination, and / or sensor-assisted position determination. The sensor(s) 213 may be used to determine whether the UE 200 is fixed (stationary) or mobile and / or whether to report certain useful information related to the mobility of the UE 200 to the LMF 120. For example, based on the information obtained / measured by the sensor(s), the UE 200 may notify / report to the LMF 120 that the UE 200 has detected movement or that the UE 200 has moved, and report the relative displacement / distance (e.g., via dead reckoning implemented by the sensor(s) 213, or sensor-based position determination, or sensor-assisted position determination). In another example, for relative positioning information, the sensor / IMU may be used to determine the angle and / or orientation of another device relative to the UE 200, etc.

[0070] The IMU may be configured to provide measurements of the direction of motion and / or speed of motion of the UE 200, which may be used for relative position determination. For example, one or more accelerometers and / or one or more gyroscopes of the IMU may detect the linear acceleration and rotational speed of the UE 200, respectively. The linear acceleration measurements and rotational speed measurements of the UE 200 may be integrated over time to determine the instantaneous direction of motion and displacement of the UE 200. The instantaneous direction of motion and displacement may be integrated to track the position of the UE 200. For example, a reference position of the UE 200 at a certain moment may be determined, for example, using the SPS receiver 217 (and / or by some other means), and measurements obtained from the accelerometer(s) and the gyroscope(s) after that moment may be used for dead reckoning to determine the current position of the UE 200 based on the movement (direction and distance) of the UE 200 relative to the reference position.

[0071] The magnetometer(s) may determine the magnetic field strength in different directions, which may be used to determine the orientation of the UE 200. For example, the orientation may be used to provide a digital compass for the UE 200. The magnetometer may be a two-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and provide an indication of the magnetic field strength in two orthogonal dimensions. Alternatively, the magnetometer may be a three-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and provide an indication of the magnetic field strength in three orthogonal dimensions. The magnetometer may provide a means for sensing a magnetic field and providing an indication of the magnetic field, for example, to the processor 210.

[0072] The transceiver 215 may include a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250 configured to communicate with other devices via wireless connections and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 240 may include a wireless transmitter 242 and a wireless receiver 244 coupled to one or more antennas 246 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) and / or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) wireless signals 248 and converting signals from the wireless signals 248 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 248. Thus, the wireless transmitter 242 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 244 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 240 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the TRP and / or one or more other devices) according to various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Zigbee, etc. The new radio may use millimeter wave frequencies and / or sub-6 GHz frequencies. The wired transceiver 250 may include a wired transmitter 252 and a wired receiver 254 configured for wired communication (e.g., with the network 135). The wired transmitter 252 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 254 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 250 may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication. The transceiver 215 may be communicatively coupled to the transceiver interface 214 (e.g., via an optical connection and / or an electrical connection). The transceiver interface 214 may be at least partially integrated with the transceiver 215.

[0073] The user interface 216 may include one or more devices in a number of devices (such as, for example, a speaker, a microphone, a display device, a vibration device, a keyboard, a touch screen, etc.). The user interface 216 may include any device more than one of these devices. The user interface 216 may be configured to enable a user to interact with one or more applications hosted by the UE 200. For example, the user interface 216 may store an indication of an analog and / or digital signal in the memory 211 in response to an action from the user to be processed by the DSP 231 and / or the general processor 230. Similarly, the application hosted on the UE 200 may store an indication of an analog and / or digital signal in the memory 211 to present an output signal to the user. The user interface 216 may include an audio input / output (I / O) device, which includes, for example, a speaker, a microphone, a digital-to-analog circuit system, an analog-to-digital circuit system, an amplifier and / or a gain control circuit system (including any device more than one of these devices). Other configurations of audio I / O devices may be used. Additionally or alternatively, the user interface 216 may include one or more touch sensors that respond to touch and / or pressure on, for example, a keyboard and / or a touch screen of the user interface 216 .

[0074] The SPS receiver 217 (e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) receiver) may be capable of receiving and acquiring the SPS signal 260 via the SPS antenna 262. The antenna 262 is configured to convert the wireless signal 260 into a wired signal (e.g., an electrical signal or an optical signal) and may be integrated with the antenna 246. The SPS receiver 217 may be configured to process the acquired SPS signal 260 in whole or in part to estimate the position of the UE 200. For example, the SPS receiver 217 may be configured to determine the position of the UE 200 by performing trilateration using the SPS signal 260. The general purpose processor 230, the memory 211, the DSP 231, and / or one or more dedicated processors (not shown) may be utilized in conjunction with the SPS receiver 217 to process the acquired SPS signal in whole or in part, and / or calculate the estimated position of the UE 200. The memory 211 may store indications (e.g., measurements) of the SPS signal 260 and / or other signals (e.g., signals obtained from the wireless transceiver 240) for use in performing positioning operations. The general processor 230, the DSP 231, and / or one or more dedicated processors, and / or the memory 211 may provide or support a location engine for processing measurements to estimate the location of the UE 200.

[0075] UE 200 may include a camera 218 for capturing still or moving images. Camera 218 may include, for example, an imaging sensor (e.g., a charge coupled device or CMOS imager), a lens, analog-to-digital circuitry, a frame buffer, etc. Additional processing, conditioning, encoding, and / or compression of signals representing captured images may be performed by general purpose processor 230 and / or DSP 231. Additionally or alternatively, video processor 233 may perform conditioning, encoding, compression, and / or manipulation of signals representing captured images. Video processor 233 may decode / decompress stored image data for presentation on a display device (not shown) (e.g., of user interface 216).

[0076] Positioning device (PD) 219 may be configured to determine the position of UE 200, the motion of UE 200, and / or the relative position of UE 200, and / or time. For example, PD 219 may communicate with SPS receiver 217, and / or include some or all of SPS receiver 217. PD 219 may work appropriately with processor 210 and memory 211 to perform at least a portion of one or more positioning methods, although the description herein may only refer to PD 219 being configured to perform or performing according to a positioning method. PD 219 may be additionally or alternatively configured to: use ground-based signals (e.g., at least some signals 248) for trilateration, assist in obtaining and using SPS signals 260, or both to determine the position of UE 200. PD219 may be configured to determine the location of UE 200 using one or more other techniques (e.g., relying on the UE's self-reported location (e.g., part of the UE's location beacon)), and may use a combination of techniques (e.g., SPS and ground positioning signals) to determine the location of UE 200. PD 219 may include one or more sensors 213 (e.g., gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, etc.), which may sense the orientation and / or movement of UE 200 and provide an indication of the orientation and / or movement, and processor 210 (e.g., processor 230 and / or DSP 231) may be configured to use the indication to determine the movement of UE 200 (e.g., velocity vector and / or acceleration vector). PD 219 may be configured to provide an indication of uncertainty and / or error in the determined orientation and / or movement.

[0077] Also refer to Figure 3, an example of a TRP 300 of BSs 110a, 110b, 114 includes a computing platform including a processor 310, a memory 311 including software (SW) 312, and a transceiver 315. The processor 310, the memory 311, and the transceiver 315 may be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 320 (which may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication). One or more of the devices shown (e.g., a wireless interface) may be omitted from the TRP 300. The processor 310 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.). The processor 310 may include multiple processors (e.g., including, for example, Figure 2 310 ). The memory 311 is a non-volatile storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk storage, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 311 stores software 312, which may be a processor-readable, processor-executable software code containing instructions that are configured to cause the processor 310 to perform the various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 312 may not be directly executable by the processor 310, but may be configured (for example, when compiled and executed) to cause the processor 310 to perform various functions.

[0078] This specification may refer to processor 310 performing a function, but this includes other implementations, such as implementations in which processor 310 executes software and / or firmware. This specification may refer to processor 310 performing a function as shorthand for one or more processors included in processor 310 performing the function. This specification may refer to TRP 300 performing a function as shorthand for one or more appropriate components (e.g., processor 310 and memory 311) of TRP 300 (and thereby one of BSs 110a, 110b, 114) performing the function. Processor 310 may include a memory with stored instructions in addition to and / or in lieu of memory 311. The functionality of processor 310 is discussed more fully below.

[0079] The transceiver 315 may include a wireless transceiver 340 and / or a wired transceiver 350 configured to communicate with other devices via wireless connections and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 340 may include a wireless transmitter 342 and a wireless receiver 344 coupled to one or more antennas 346 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and / or one or more downlink channels) and / or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and / or one or more uplink channels) wireless signals 348 and converting signals from the wireless signals 348 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 348. Thus, the wireless transmitter 342 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 344 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 340 may be configured to communicate in accordance with various radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Zigbee, etc.) to communicate signals (e.g., with UE 200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices). The wired transceiver 350 may include a wired transmitter 352 and a wired receiver 354 configured for wired communication (e.g., with the network 135) to, for example, send communications to and receive communications from the LMF 120. The wired transmitter 352 may include a plurality of transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 354 may include a plurality of receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 350 may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication.

[0080] Figure 3 The configuration of TRP 300 shown in is an example and is not intended to limit the present disclosure (including the claims), and other configurations may be used. For example, the description herein discusses that TRP 300 is configured to perform several functions or that TRP 300 performs several functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by LMF 120 and / or UE 200 (i.e., LMF 120 and / or UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0081] Also refer to Figure 4, the server 400 (which is an example of the LMF 120) includes a computing platform including a processor 410, a memory 411 including software (SW) 412, and a transceiver 415. The processor 410, the memory 411, and the transceiver 415 may be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 420 (which may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication). One or more of the devices shown (e.g., a wireless interface) may be omitted from the server 400. The processor 410 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.). The processor 410 may include multiple processors (e.g., including, for example, Figure 2 410 ). The memory 411 is a non-volatile storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk storage, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 411 stores software 412, which may be a processor-readable, processor-executable software code containing instructions that are configured to cause the processor 410 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 412 may not be directly executable by the processor 410, but may be configured (for example, when compiled and executed) to cause the processor 410 to perform various functions. This specification may refer to the processor 410 performing a function, but this includes other implementations, such as implementations in which the processor 410 executes software and / or firmware. This specification may refer to the processor 410 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more processors included in the processor 410 performing the function. This specification may refer to the server 400 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more appropriate components of the server 400 performing the function. Processor 410 may include memory with stored instructions in addition to and / or in lieu of memory 411. The functionality of processor 410 is discussed more fully below.

[0082] The transceiver 415 may include a wireless transceiver 440 and / or a wired transceiver 450 configured to communicate with other devices via wireless connections and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may include a wireless transmitter 442 and a wireless receiver 444 coupled to one or more antennas 446 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more downlink channels) and / or receiving (e.g., on one or more uplink channels) wireless signals 448 and converting signals from the wireless signals 448 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 448. Thus, the wireless transmitter 442 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 444 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 440 may be configured to communicate in accordance with various radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Zigbee, etc.) to communicate signals (e.g., with UE 200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices). Wired transceiver 450 may include a wired transmitter 452 and a wired receiver 454 configured for wired communication (e.g., with network 135) to, for example, send communications to TRP 300 and receive communications from TRP 300. Wired transmitter 452 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or wired receiver 454 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. Wired transceiver 450 may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication.

[0083] Descriptions herein may refer to processor 410 performing a function, but this includes other implementations, such as implementations in which processor 410 executes software and / or firmware (stored in memory 411). Descriptions herein may refer to server 400 performing a function as shorthand for one or more appropriate components of server 400 (e.g., processor 410 and memory 411) performing that function.

[0084] For terrestrial positioning of UEs in cellular networks, techniques such as Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT) and Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) are typically operated in a "UE-assisted" mode, where measurements of reference signals (e.g., PRS, CRS, etc.) transmitted by base stations are acquired by the UE and then provided to a location server. The location server then calculates the position of the UE based on these measurements and the known positions of the base stations. Since these techniques use a location server (rather than the UE itself) to calculate the position of the UE, these positioning techniques are not frequently used in applications such as automotive or cell phone navigation, which instead typically rely on satellite-based positioning.

[0085] The UE can use a satellite positioning system (SPS) (Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)) to use precise point positioning (PPP) or real-time kinematic (RTK) techniques for high accuracy positioning. These techniques use assistance data, such as measurements from ground-based stations. LTE Release 15 allows data to be encrypted so that UEs subscribed to the service can read the information. Such assistance data changes over time. As a result, a UE subscribed to the service may not be able to easily "break the encryption" for other UEs by passing the data to other UEs that have not paid for the subscription. This transfer needs to be repeated each time the assistance data changes.

[0086] In UE-assisted positioning, the UE sends measurements (e.g., TDOA, Angle of Arrival (AoA), etc.) to a positioning server (e.g., LMF / eSMLC). The positioning server has a base station almanac (BSA) that contains multiple "entries" or "records", one record per cell, where each record contains a geographic cell location, but may also include other data. An identifier of a "record" among multiple "records" in the BSA may be referenced. The BSA and the measurements from the UE may be used to calculate the UE's position.

[0087] In conventional UE-based positioning, the UE computes its own position, thereby avoiding sending measurements to the network (e.g., a location server), which in turn improves latency and scalability. The UE uses the relevant BSA record information from the network (e.g., the location of the gNB (more broadly, the base station)). The BSA information can be encrypted. However, since the BSA information changes much less frequently than, for example, the PPP or RTK assistance data described previously, it may be easier (compared to PPP or RTK information) to make the BSA information available to UEs that are not subscribed and pay for decryption keys. The transmission of reference signals by the gNB makes the BSA information potentially accessible to crowdsourcing or driving attacks, essentially enabling the BSA information to be generated based on in-the-field and / or over-the-top observations.

[0088] Positioning techniques may be characterized and / or evaluated based on one or more criteria, such as position determination accuracy and / or latency. The latency is the time elapsed between an event that triggers the determination of position-related data and the availability of the data at a positioning system interface (e.g., an interface of LMF120). At the time of initialization of the positioning system, the latency for the availability of position-related data is called the time to first fix (TTFF) and is greater than the latency after the TTFF. The inverse of the time elapsed between the availability of two consecutive positioning-related data is called the update rate, i.e., the rate at which position-related data is generated after the first fix. The latency may depend on the processing capability (e.g., of the UE). For example, assuming a 272 PRB (physical resource block) allocation, the UE may report the processing capability of the UE as the duration (in time units (e.g., milliseconds) of the DL PRS symbols that the UE can process per T amount of time (e.g., T ms). Other examples of capabilities that may affect latency are the number of TRPs from which the UE can process PRSs, the number of PRSs that the UE can process, and the bandwidth of the UE.

[0089] One or more of many different positioning techniques (also referred to as positioning methods) may be used to determine the position of an entity (such as one of the UEs 105, 106). For example, known position determination techniques include RTT, multi-RTT, OTDOA (also referred to as TDOA, and includes UL-TDOA and DL-TDOA), enhanced cell identification (E-CID), DL-AoD, UL-AoA, etc. RTT uses the time it takes for a signal to travel from one entity to another and back to determine the range between the two entities. The range plus the known position of a first one of the entities and the angle (e.g., azimuth) between the two entities may be used to determine the position of a second one of the entities. In multi-RTT (also referred to as multi-cell RTT), multiple ranges from one entity (e.g., UE) to other entities (e.g., TRP) and the known positions of the other entities may be used to determine the position of the one entity. In TDOA technology, the travel time difference between one entity and other entities can be used to determine the relative range to these other entities, and those relative ranges combined with the known positions of these other entities can be used to determine the position of the one entity. The angle of arrival and / or the angle of departure can be used to help determine the position of the entity. For example, the angle of arrival or the angle of departure of the signal combined with the range between the devices (the range determined using the signal (e.g., the travel time of the signal, the received power of the signal, etc.)) and the known position of one of these devices can be used to determine the position of the other device. The angle of arrival or the angle of departure can be an azimuth relative to a reference direction (such as true north). The angle of arrival or the angle of departure can be the zenith angle relative to directly upward from the entity (i.e., relative to radially outward from the center of the earth). E-CID uses the identity of the serving cell, the timing advance (i.e., the difference between the reception and transmission time at the UE), the estimated timing and power of the detected neighbor cell signal, and the possible angle of arrival (e.g., the angle of arrival of the signal from the base station at the UE, or vice versa) to determine the position of the UE. In TDOA, the difference in arrival times of signals from different sources at a receiving device, along with the known locations of the sources and the known offsets in transmission times from the sources, are used to determine the location of the receiving device.

[0090] In network-centric RTT estimation, a serving base station instructs a UE to scan / receive RTT measurement signals (e.g., PRS) on serving cells of two or more neighboring base stations (and typically a serving base station, since at least three base stations are required). The one or more base stations transmit RTT measurement signals on low reuse resources (e.g., resources used by the base station to transmit system information) allocated by the network (e.g., a location server, such as LMF 120). The UE records the arrival time (also referred to as reception time, received time, received time, or arrival time (ToA)) of each RTT measurement signal relative to the current downlink timing of the UE (e.g., as derived by the UE from a DL signal received from its serving base station), and (e.g., when instructed by its serving base station) transmits a common or individual RTT response message (e.g., an SRS (sounding reference signal) for positioning, i.e., UL-PRS) to the one or more base stations, and may calculate the time difference T between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal and the transmission time of the RTT response message. Rx→Tx (i.e., UE T Rx-Tx or UE Rx-Tx ) is included in the payload of each RTT response message. The RTT response message will include a reference signal from which the base station can infer the ToA of the RTT response. By comparing the difference between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal from the base station and the ToA of the RTT response at the base station, the Tx→Rx The time difference T reported by the UE Rx→Tx , the base station can infer the propagation time between the base station and the UE, from which the base station can determine the distance between the UE and the base station by assuming the speed of light during the propagation time.

[0091] UE-centric RTT estimation is similar to the network-based approach, except that the UE transmits uplink RTT measurement signals (e.g., when instructed by the serving base station), which are received by multiple base stations in the vicinity of the UE. Each involved base station responds with a downlink RTT response message, which may include in the RTT response message payload the time difference between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal at the base station and the transmission time of the RTT response message from the base station.

[0092] For both network-centric and UE-centric procedures, the side performing the RTT calculation (the network or the UE) typically (but not always) transmits a first message or signal (e.g., an RTT measurement signal), and the other side responds with one or more RTT response messages or signals, which may include the difference between the ToA of the first message or signal and the transmission time of the RTT response message or signal.

[0093] Multi-RTT techniques may be used to determine positioning. For example, a first entity (e.g., a UE) may send one or more signals (e.g., unicast, multicast, or broadcast from a base station), and a plurality of second entities (e.g., other TSPs, such as base stations and / or UEs) may receive signals from the first entity and respond to the received signals. The first entity receives responses from the plurality of second entities. The first entity (or another entity, such as an LMF) may use the responses from the second entity to determine the range to the second entity, and may use the plurality of ranges and the known positions of the second entity to determine the position of the first entity by trilateration.

[0094] In some instances, additional information may be obtained in the form of an angle of arrival (AoA) or angle of departure (AoD), which defines a straight line direction (e.g., which may be in the horizontal plane, or in three dimensions) or a range of possible directions (e.g., of the UE as seen from the location of a base station). The intersection of the two directions may provide another estimate of the UE's position.

[0095] For positioning techniques (e.g., TDOA and RTT) that use PRS (positioning reference signal) signals, PRS signals sent by multiple TRPs are measured, and the arrival times of these signals, the known transmission times, and the known locations of the TRPs are used to determine the range from the UE to the TRPs. For example, RSTD (reference signal time difference) can be determined for PRS signals received from multiple TRPs, and these RSTDs are used in TDOA techniques to determine the UE's position (location). Positioning reference signals may be referred to as PRS or PRS signals. PRS signals are typically transmitted using the same power, and PRS signals with the same signal characteristics (e.g., the same frequency shift) may interfere with each other, so that PRS signals from farther TRPs may be drowned out by PRS signals from closer TRPs, so that signals from farther TRPs may not be detected. PRS muting can be used to help reduce interference by muting some PRS signals (reducing the power of the PRS signal, for example, to zero and thereby not transmitting the PRS signal). In this way, the UE may more easily detect (at the UE) a weaker PRS signal without a stronger PRS signal interfering with the weaker PRS signal.The term RS and its variants (eg, PRS, SRS) may refer to one reference signal or more than one reference signal.

[0096] Positioning Reference Signals (PRS) include downlink PRS (DL PRS) and uplink PRS (UL PRS) (which may be referred to as SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) for positioning). PRS may include PRS resources or PRS resource sets of frequency layers. A DL PRS positioning frequency layer (or simply frequency layer) is a collection of DL PRS resource sets from one or more TRPs, which has common parameters configured by higher layer parameters DL-PRS-PositioningFrequencyLayer (DL-PRS-positioning frequency layer), DL-PRS-ResourceSet (DL-PRS-resource set) and DL-PRS-Resource (DL-PRS-resource). Each frequency layer has a DL PRS subcarrier spacing (SCS) for the DL PRS resource set and DL PRS resources in the frequency layer. Each frequency layer has a DL PRS cyclic prefix (CP) for the DL PRS resource set and DL PRS resources in the frequency layer. In 5G, a resource block occupies 12 consecutive subcarriers and a specified number of symbols. Moreover, the DL PRS point A parameter defines the frequency of the reference resource block (and the lowest subcarrier of the resource block), where DL PRS resources belonging to the same DL PRS resource set have the same point A, and all DL PRS resource sets belonging to the same frequency layer have the same point A. The frequency layers also have the same DL PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size value (i.e., the frequency of PRS resource elements per symbol, such that for comb tooth N, every Nth resource element is a PRS resource element).

[0097] The TRP may be configured, for example, by instructions received from a server and / or by software in the TRP to send DL PRS on a schedule. According to the schedule, the TRP may intermittently (e.g., periodically at consistent intervals from the initial transmission) send DL PRS. The TRP may be configured to send one or more PRS resource sets. A resource set is a collection of PRS resources across a TRP, where these resources have the same periodicity, a common muting mode configuration (if any), and the same cross-slot repetition factor. Each PRS resource set includes multiple PRS resources, where each PRS resource includes multiple resource elements (REs), which may be in multiple resource blocks (RBs) within N (one or more) consecutive symbols within a slot. An RB is a set of REs that spans one or more consecutive symbol numbers in the time domain and spans a consecutive subcarrier number (12 for 5G RBs) in the frequency domain. Each PRS resource is configured with an RE offset, a slot offset, a symbol offset within a slot, and the number of consecutive symbols that a PRS resource can occupy within a slot. The RE offset defines the starting RE offset in frequency for the first symbol within the DL PRS resource. The relative RE offsets of the remaining symbols within the DL PRS resource are defined based on the initial offset. The slot offset is the starting slot of the DL PRS resource relative to the corresponding resource set slot offset. The symbol offset determines the starting symbol of the DL PRS resource within the starting slot. The transmitted REs may be repeated across slots, where each transmission is referred to as a repetition, so that there may be multiple repetitions in the PRS resource. The DL PRS resources in a DL PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP, and each DL PRS resource has a DL PRS resource ID. The DL PRS resource ID in a DL PRS resource set is associated with a single beam transmitted from a single TRP (although a TRP may transmit one or more beams).

[0098] PRS resources may also be defined by quasi-colocation and starting PRB parameters. The quasi-colocation (QCL) parameter may define any quasi-colocation information of DL PRS resources with other reference signals. DL PRS may be configured to be QCL type D with DL PRS or SS / PBCH (synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel) blocks from a serving cell or a non-serving cell. DL PRS may be configured to be QCL type C with SS / PBCH blocks from a serving cell or a non-serving cell. The starting PRB parameter defines the starting PRB index of the DL PRS resource relative to reference point A. The granularity of the starting PRB index is one PRB, and the minimum value may be 0 and the maximum value may be 2176 PRBs.

[0099] A PRS resource set is a collection of PRS resources with the same periodicity, the same muting pattern configuration (if any), and the same repetition factor across time slots. Each time all repetitions of all PRS resources in a PRS resource set are configured to be transmitted is referred to as an "instance". Thus, an "instance" of a PRS resource set is a specified number of repetitions for each PRS resource and a specified number of PRS resources within a PRS resource set, such that once the specified number of repetitions is transmitted for each of the specified number of PRS resources, the instance is complete. An instance may also be referred to as an "opportunity". A DL PRS configuration including a DL PRS transmission schedule may be provided to a UE to facilitate the UE to measure a DL PRS (or even enable the UE to measure a DL PRS).

[0100] Multiple frequency layers of PRS can be aggregated to provide an effective bandwidth greater than any bandwidth of each layer alone. Multiple frequency layers belonging to component carriers (which can be coherent and / or separate) and satisfying criteria such as quasi-colocation (QCL) and having the same antenna port can be spliced ​​to provide a larger effective PRS bandwidth (for DL ​​PRS and UL PRS), thereby improving the accuracy of arrival time measurement. In the case of QCL, different frequency layers behave similarly, so that the splicing of PRS produces a larger effective bandwidth. The larger effective bandwidth (which may be referred to as the bandwidth of the aggregated PRS or the frequency bandwidth of the aggregated PRS) provides better time domain resolution (e.g., the resolution of TDOA). The aggregated PRS includes a collection of PRS resources, and each PRS resource in the aggregated PRS may be referred to as a PRS component, and each PRS component may be transmitted on different component carriers, frequency bands or frequency layers, or on different parts of the same frequency band.

[0101] RTT positioning is an active positioning technique because RTT uses positioning signals sent by the TRP to the UE and by the UE (participating in RTT positioning) to the TRP. The TRP can send a DL-PRS signal received by the UE, and the UE can send an SRS (sounding reference signal) signal received by multiple TRPs. The sounding reference signal may be referred to as an SRS or an SRS signal. In 5G multi-RTT, coordinated positioning can be used, in which the UE sends a single UL-SRS for positioning received by multiple TRPs, instead of sending a separate UL-SRS for positioning for each TRP. A TRP participating in multi-RTT will typically search for UEs currently residing on the TRP (served UEs, where the TRP is the serving TRP) and also search for UEs residing on adjacent TRPs (neighbor UEs). A neighbor TRP may be a TRP of a single BTS (e.g., a gNB), or may be a TRP of one BTS and a TRP of a separate BTS. For RTT positioning (including multi-RTT positioning), the DL-PRS signal and the UL-SRS positioning signal in a PRS / SRS positioning signal pair used to determine the RTT (and thereby the range between the UE and the TRP) may occur close in time to each other so that errors due to UE motion and / or UE clock drift and / or TRP clock drift are within acceptable limits. For example, the signals in the PRS / SRS positioning signal pair may be transmitted from the TRP and the UE, respectively, within approximately 10 ms of each other. In the case where the SRS positioning signal is being sent by the UE and the PRS and SRS positioning signals are communicated close in time to each other, it has been found that radio frequency (RF) signal congestion may result (which may result in excessive noise, etc.) (especially if many UEs are attempting to locate concurrently), and / or computational congestion may result at the TRP where many UEs are attempting to be measured concurrently.

[0102] RTT positioning can be UE-based or UE-assisted. In UE-based RTT, UE 200 determines the RTT and corresponding range to each of TRPs 300, and determines the position of UE 200 based on the range to TRP 300 and the known position of TRP 300. In UE-assisted RTT, UE 200 measures positioning signals and provides measurement information to TRP 300, and TRP 300 determines RTT and range. TRP 300 provides the range to a location server (e.g., server 400), and the server determines the position of UE 200 based on the range to different TRPs 300, for example. The RTT and / or range may be determined by the TRP 300 receiving the signal(s) from the UE 200, by the TRP 300 in combination with one or more other devices (e.g., one or more other TRPs 300 and / or a server 400), or by one or more devices other than the TRP 300 receiving the signal(s) from the UE 200.

[0103] Various positioning technologies are supported in 5G NR. The NR native positioning methods supported in 5G NR include DL-only positioning methods, UL-only positioning methods, and DL+UL positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include DL-TDOA and DL-AoD. Uplink-based positioning methods include UL-TDOA and UL-AoA. Positioning methods based on combined DL+UL include RTT with one base station and RTT with multiple base stations (multi-RTT). In one embodiment, a sidelink-based positioning method may also be used. For example, RTT, ToA, and other time-of-flight techniques may be based on reference signals (e.g., SRS) transmitted between UEs.

[0104] A position estimate (e.g., for a UE) may be referred to by other names, such as a position estimate, a position, a position, a position fix, a fix, etc. The position estimate may be geodetic and include coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude), or may be municipal and include a street address, a postal address, or some other worded description of the location. The position estimate may be further defined relative to some other known location or in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). The position estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume within which the position is expected to be contained with some specified or default confidence level).

[0105] Reference Figure 5, a diagram 500 of a downlink positioning reference signal is shown. Diagram 500 includes a UE 502 and multiple base stations (including a first base station 504, a second base station 506, and a third base station 508). UE 502 may have some or all of the components of UE 200, and UE 200 may be an example of UE 502. Each base station 504, 506, 508 may have some or all of the components of TRP 300, and TRP 300 may be an example of one or more base stations in base stations 504, 506, 508. In operation, UE 502 may be configured to receive one or more reference signals, such as a first reference signal 504a, a second reference signal 506a, and a third reference signal 508a. Reference signals 504a, 506a, 508a may be DL PRS or other positioning signals that may be received / measured by UE 502. Although diagram 500 depicts three reference signals, fewer or more reference signals may be transmitted by the base stations and detected by UE 502. In general, the DL PRS signal in NR may be a configured reference signal transmitted by the base station 504, 506, 508 and used for the purpose of determining the respective ranges between the UE 502 and the transmitting base station. The UE 502 may also be configured to transmit an uplink PRS (UL PRS, SRS for positioning) to the base station 504, 506, 508, and the base station may be configured to measure the UL PRS. In an example, a combination of DL and UL PRS may be used for positioning procedures (e.g., RTT), and TEG information associated with the PRS resource may be used for positioning calculations.

[0106] Reference Figure 6, a conceptual diagram 600 of a sidelink positioning reference signal is shown. Diagram 600 includes a target UE 602 and multiple neighboring stations (including a first neighbor UE 604a, a second neighbor UE 604b, and a third neighbor station 606). Each of the target UE 602 and the neighbor UEs 604a-b may have some or all of the components of UE 200, and UE 200 may be an example of the target UE 602 and the neighbor UEs 604a-b. Station 606 may have some or all of the components of TRP 300, and TRP 300 may be an example of station 606. In one embodiment, station 606 may be a road side unit (RSU) in a V2X network. In operation, the target UE 602 may be configured to transmit one or more sidelink reference signals 602a-c via a sidelink channel (such as, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSBCH or other D2D interface). In one example, the reference signal may utilize a D2D interface, such as a PC5 interface. Reference signals 602a-c may be UL PRS or SRS for positioning signals and may be received by one or more of neighboring UEs 604a-b or station 606. Although diagram 600 depicts three reference signals, fewer or more reference signals may be transmitted by target UE 602 and detected by one or more neighboring UEs and stations. In an embodiment, sidelink reference signals 602a-c may be SRS for positioning resources and may be included in an SRS for positioning resource sets. In an example, the exchange of SRS transmissions between stations may be used for positioning procedures (e.g., RTT), and TEG information associated with the SRS for positioning resources may be used for positioning calculations.

[0107] Reference Figure 7, a conceptual diagram 700 showing an example effect of group delay error within a wireless transceiver. The diagram 700 depicts an example RTT exchange for locating a client device. For example, a target UE 705 (such as UE 200) and a base station 710 (such as gNB 110a) may be configured to exchange positioning reference signals, such as downlink (DL) PRS 704 and SRS positioning signals 706 (which may also be UL PRS). The target UE 705 may have one or more antennas 705a and associated baseband processing components. Similarly, the base station 710 may have one or more antennas 710a and baseband processing components. The corresponding internal configuration of the target UE 705 and the base station 710 may result in a delay time associated with the transmission and reception of the PRS signal. In general, group delay is the relationship between the transmission time of a signal through a device and the frequency. For example, the BSTX group delay 702a represents the difference between the time when the base station 710 records the transmission of the DL PRS 704 and the time when the signal leaves the antenna 710a. BSRX group delay 702b represents the time difference between the time when the SRS positioning signal 706 arrives at the antenna 710a and the time when the processor in the base station 710 receives the indication of the SRS positioning signal 706. The target UE 705 has a similar group delay, such as UERX group delay 704a and UETX group delay 704b. The group delay associated with the network station may cause a bottleneck for ground-based positioning because the resulting time difference leads to an inaccurate positioning estimate. For example, a 10 nanosecond group delay error is equivalent to an error of about 3 meters in the positioning estimate. Different frequencies can have different group delay values ​​in the transceiver, so different PRS and SRS resources can be associated with different timing error groups (TEGs). Other electrical and physical characteristics may further affect the actual delay time within the TEG. For example, changes in orientation relative to the receiving and / or transmitting beams can utilize different antenna components and can cause different levels of delay. The thermal characteristics of the receiving and transmitting chains may cause clock drift and reduce the quality of TEG calibration. Other changes in system, signal and / or beam parameters may also be used to detect delay changes within the TEG.

[0108] Reference Figure 8, a diagram 800 of an example timing error group (TEG) with timing errors within an example TEG is shown. Diagram 800 includes three example TEGs, including a first TEG 802, a second TEG 804, and a third TEG 806. The number of TEGs, relative positions, and associated time delays are examples rather than limitations, as different numbers of groups, relative orientations, and durations are possible. Each of TEGs 802, 804, 806 can be identified by a TEG identification value (e.g., TEG1, TEG2, TEG3) and can be associated with a delay time within an established margin. For example, a first TEG 802 can include a delay time in a first range 802a, a second TEG 804 can include a delay time in a second range 804a, and a third TEG 806 can include a delay time in a third range 806a. In an example, ranges 802a, 804a, 806a can represent the uncertainty of the average delay time around each respective TEG. For example, the first TEG 802 may have a first average delay value 802b, the second TEG 804 may have a second average delay value 804b, and the third TEG may have a third average delay value 806b. Changes within the TEG may be considered as changes in the corresponding average and / or uncertainty values. The span of each delay time may be based on the physical and / or electronic characteristics of the station. For example, thermal issues may affect the clock time, and the orientation of the antenna array may be associated with different delay times within the TEG. The delay shift 808 within the TEG may be the difference between the first delay time (e.g., x ns) and the second delay time (e.g., yns). For example, the first delay may be 1ns and the second delay may be 2ns. Both delay times are within the first TEG 802, and when the positioning algorithm expects the time delay to be constant across different measurements, different positioning results may be produced. The station may be configured to detect a state change associated with the delay shift within the TEG. For example, the sensor 213 (e.g., IMU) may detect a change in orientation. The thermal sensor may detect a change in temperature. Other sensors may be configured to detect other state changes of the station that may result in the intra-TEG delay shift 808. In operation, the station may be configured to provide an indication of the intra-TEG delay shift 808 to the positioning entity using a measurement report. The positioning entity may be configured to separate the measurement reports based on the intra-TEG delay. For example, measurements obtained using a first delay time (x ns) may be used for a first subset of positioning calculations, and measurements obtained after the intra-TEG delay shift 808 (y ns) may be used for a second subset of positioning calculations. The positioning entity may be configured to avoid combining measurements based on the first delay time and the second delay time.

[0109] For example, refer to Fig. 9, an example message flow 900 for a reference signal positioning procedure is shown. The flow 900 is an example because stages can be added, rearranged, and / or removed. The message flow 900 may include a target UE 902, a serving station 904, a plurality of neighboring stations 906, and a server 908. UE 200 may be an example of a target UE 902, a TRP 300 (such as, gNB 110a) may be an example of a serving station 904, and a server 400 (such as LMF 120) may be an example of a server 908. The plurality of neighboring stations 906 may include a base station (such as gNB 110b, eNB 114) or other stations (such as neighboring UEs, e.g., configured for sidelink or other D2D communications). In an embodiment, the server 908 may request PRS configuration information for the target UE 902 from the serving station 904 via one or more positioning information request messages 910. The server 908 may provide assistance data to the serving station 904, the assistance data including reference signal transmission properties, such as path loss reference, spatial relationship information, synchronization signal block (SSB) configuration information, or other information required by the serving station 904 to determine the range to the target UE 902. At stage 912, the serving station 904 is configured to determine resources available for PRS and configure a PRS resource set for the target UE 902. The target UE 902 may receive the PRS resource configuration information from the serving station 904. The serving station 904 may provide the PRS configuration information to the server 908 via one or more positioning information response messages 914.

[0110] In an example, the server 908 may send an LPP Provide Assistance Data message 916 to the target UE 902. The message may include assistance data that enables the UE to perform PRS measurements. The server 908 may also send an LPP Request Location Information message 918 to request reference signal measurements from the target UE 902. At stage 920, the target UE 902 may measure the PRS transmitted by the serving station 904 and / or the neighboring station 906, and report the measurements to the server 908 via one or more Provide Measurement and TEG Information messages 922. Multiple iterations may occur as follows: obtaining PRS measurements at stage 920 and providing the measurements in subsequent Provide Measurement and TEG Information messages 922. Before obtaining the PRS measurements, the UE 902 may determine whether a state change associated with intra-TEG delay has occurred and provide an indication of the TEG delay to the server 908. For example, the measurement report in the Provide Measurement and TEG Information message 922 may include a handover field, a counter field, or other information element to indicate that a change in the intra-TEG delay time has occurred between measurements. The server 908 may be configured to separate measurement messages and / or individual measurements based on the change in intra-TEG delay. For example, measurements obtained before the intra-TEG delay time changes may form a first subset of measurements, and measurements obtained after the intra-TEG delay time changes may form a second subset of measurements. The server 908 may utilize the separated measurements to calculate the location of the target UE 902.

[0111] The message flow 900 is based on the downlink PRS between the target UE 902 and the base stations 904, 906. Other positioning message flows can also use message reports to indicate changes in delay time within the TEG. For example, the message flow 900 can be extended to include UL PRS / SRS for positioning, and SL PRS signals transmitted from the target UE 902 and received by the base stations 904, 906 and / or neighboring UEs. Other positioning methods (such as RTT, multi-RTT, TDOA, RSTD, Rx-Tx and other positioning methods) can use measurement reports with rollover, counters and / or other information elements to indicate changes in delay time within the TEG. Each station in the network, such as UE 200 and TRP 300, can be configured to provide reference signal measurement information and corresponding TEG information to the positioning entity. In one example, UE 200 can be configured to determine the position based on the measurement and TEG information received from one or more base stations. In a V2X network, the RSU can be configured to provide measurement and TEG information to the positioning entity.

[0112] Reference Fig.10, an example reference signal measurement report 1000 with a timing error group (TEG) update information element is shown. The measurement report 1000 may be provided to a positioning entity within the communication network 100 via one or more signaling protocols such as LPP (e.g., from a UE to a LMF) and NRPP (e.g., from a base station to a LMF). Other messaging protocols and information elements such as radio resource control (RRC), media access control (MAC) control elements (CE), downlink control information (DCI), sidelink channels such as PSSCH, PSCCH, PSBCH, and other D2D interfaces may also be used to send reference signal measurements and TEG information. In one example, the measurement report may be included in one or more provide measurement and TEG information messages 922. A first measurement report 1002a may be provided based on a first set of reference signal measurements obtained at stage 920. Additional reference signal measurements may be obtained and reported using corresponding TEG information in additional measurement reports 1002b, 1002c, ... 1002n. Each measurement report 1000 may include one or more measurement fields 1003 based on positioning technology. For example, the measurement field may include ToA values ​​for multiple PRSs received by the station. Other positioning technologies such as TDoA, RSTD, OTDOA, RTT, multi-RTT, Rx-Tx, etc. may include other measurement fields in the report. In one example, the measurement value may be associated with the TEG ID field 1004 to indicate the TEG on which the measurement value is based. The TEG ID may be explicitly included in the measurement report 1000 (e.g., via the TEG ID field 1004), or may be implicitly determined based on other measurement values ​​(e.g., PRS ID, frequency, bandwidth, etc.). In an embodiment, the measurement report 1000 may include a report flip bit 1012 and / or a measurement flip bit 1006 for each measurement value in the report. The flip bits 1012, 1006 may be configured to indicate that the TEG is the same across reports or measurements until the flip bit is flipped. For example, the measurement flip bit 1006 may be used to indicate changes within the TEG associated with the measurement value. That is, a measurement with a flip bit value (1) indicates that the delay time within the TEG has changed compared to the previous measurement value. A flip bit value of (0) can indicate that the TEG delay time has not changed. In another example, a change in the flip bit value (e.g., from 0 to 1, or from 1 to 0) can indicate a change in the TEG delay time. In another example, the presence of a flip bit (e.g., 0 or 1) can indicate a change in the TEG delay time. The report flip bit 1012 can be used to indicate that at least one measurement in the report is based on an updated TEG delay. The flip bit is configured to notify the positioning entity of changes in the TEG delay and to enable separation of measurements based on similar TEG delays.The flip bit may be independent of the magnitude of the delay variation within the TEG, and may only provide an indication that the TEG delay has changed between measurements. In one embodiment, the flip bit design may also be combined with the measurement timer / counter field 1008 (e.g., a watchdog design). For example, an indication to extend / reset the timer / counter may be received before the timer / counter expires. The measurement timer / counter field 1008 may indicate the expiration time of the TEG definition by counting down or up. If the timer / counter value overflows, the old TEG definition may expire. The flip bit 1006 may be received before the timer / counter overflows, and then the measurement timer / counter field 1008 will be reset and start from the default value. The report counter field 1010 may be used to indicate a constant TEG definition within a report. In one example, the timer / counter value may be sent in an initial report (e.g., a report that may initially define the TEG). In this example, the timer / counter may be a configuration option and may eliminate the requirement to send TEG updates in subsequent reports. In one example, a change in the flip bit value, or a certain value of the flip bit, or the presence of the flip bit may reset the timer / counter value.

[0113] In one embodiment, each measurement report may include a rollover bit or counter value for a subset of measurements having the same TEG. For example, if a subset of measurements are associated with the same TEG, the rollover bit and / or counter value may be associated with the subset of measurements. In one example, the rollover bit or counter value may be associated with the TEG ID field 1004.

[0114] In one embodiment, counter fields 1008, 1010 may use multiple bits to indicate the update of the TEG delay value without using a flip bit. For example, the counter value may be increased or decreased based on the update of the TEG delay value. Compared with the flip bit technique, the counter technique may utilize more signaling overhead, but the counter may avoid problems associated with transmission failure when the positioning entity does not receive the measurement report and does not detect the flip bit. When the counter value changes, the positioning entity will know that the TEG delay value has been reset. The measurement values ​​may be separated based on their respective counter values. In one embodiment, a combination of flip bits and counter values ​​may be used. For example, the measurement flip bit 1006 may be used to indicate a TEG update or reset, while the report counter 1010 may be used to detect lost reports. In one example, the value of the report counter 1010 may change (e.g., + / -1) in each subsequent report. The report counter 1010 may be used to detect lost reports. If the positioning entity detects a lost measurement report, it may request retransmission of the lost measurement report and / or treat all TEG delay values ​​in the current report as new TEG delay values ​​or previous TEG delay values. In one embodiment, the value of the report counter 1010 may change (e.g., + / - 1) when a subset of the TEG delay values ​​associated with the measurement 1003 changes. If the value of the report counter 1010 remains unchanged, the TEG definition is the same across reports, even though there may be some missed reports in between. If the value of the report counter 1010 changes but the report or measurement flip bits 1006, 1012 indicate no TEG update in one report, the positioning entity may determine that there are one or more missing reports and then classify the TEG in the current measurement report based on previously received measurement reports (e.g., the most recent measurement report) until a retransmission is received or the measuring station (e.g., gNB / UE) reports a TEG condition.

[0115] Reference Fig.11 , and further refer to Figure 1-10 , the method 1100 for providing reference signal measurement values ​​includes the stages shown. However, the method 1100 is an example and not a limitation. The method 1100 can be modified, for example, by adding, removing, rearranging, combining, performing concurrently, and / or splitting a single stage into multiple stages.

[0116] At stage 1102, the method includes measuring one or more reference signals. UE 200 (including wireless transceiver 240 and processor 230) and TRP 300 (including wireless transceiver 340 and processor 310) can be devices for measuring one or more reference signals. The reference signal can be a PRS, such as a DL PRS transmitted by a base station (e.g., TRP 300) and received by a mobile station (e.g., UE 200), a UL PRS or SRS for positioning transmitted by a mobile station and received by one or more base stations, and a sidelink reference signal transmitted between mobile devices. The measurements can be based on various terrestrial positioning techniques and can include ToA, TDOA, RSTD, RTT, multi-RTT, Rx-Tx time, and other time-of-flight based measurements, which can be modified based on timing error group correction / calibration information, such as Figure 7 Depicted.

[0117] At stage 1104, the method includes determining a timing error change associated with one or more reference signal measurements. The UE 200 including the processor 230 and the TRP 300 including the processor 310 may be means for determining a timing error change associated with one or more reference signal measurements. In one embodiment, the TEG may be associated with a range of delay values, such as Figure 8802a depicted in the figure. Stations such as UE 200 and TRP 300 may be configured with one or more sensors to detect changes in device states such as orientation and temperature. Changes in device states may be associated with changes in delay values ​​within the TEG. In one embodiment, changes in delay values ​​within the TEG may be explicitly determined for each device state (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 5, 10ns, etc.). In one embodiment, the delay values ​​within the TEG may be relatively known. For example, a first device temperature may be associated with a first TEG delay value, and a second device temperature may be associated with a second TEG delay value, such that the first and second TEG delay values ​​are not equal, but the precise delay (e.g., delay shift 808 within the TEG) is unknown. Similarly, the relative change in orientation between reference signal measurements may be associated with different TEG delay values. Therefore, the station may be configured to detect a change from a first state to a second state, and then determine a timing error change based on the state change. That is, a reference signal measured in a first device state may be assumed to be associated with a first TEG delay error, and a reference signal measured in a second device state may be assumed to be associated with a second TEG delay error. Some positioning calculations may assume that the TEG delay error is consistent across measurements, and do not require the exact value of the associated delay (e.g., the TEG term may cancel out in the positioning equation). In this case, signaling an indication of a state-based change may be sufficient to enable the positioning entity to separate measurements based on similar TEG values ​​(e.g., separated based on similar device states).

[0118] At stage 1106, the method includes transmitting the one or more reference signal measurement values ​​and an indication of the change in the timing error. The UE 200 (including the wireless transceiver 240 and the processor 230) and the TRP 300 (including the wireless transceiver 340 and the processor 310) may be a device for transmitting the one or more reference signal measurement values ​​and an indication of the change in the timing error. In one embodiment, the measurement values ​​and the indication of the change in the timing error may be included in one or more report messages, such as a measurement and TEG information message 922. The measurement values ​​and the indication of the change in the timing error may be included in one or more messages based on LPP, NRPP, RCC, MAC-CE, DCI or other messaging protocols in a wireless network. In general, the indication of the change in timing error is configured to alert the positioning entity that the TEG assumption for a previous measurement value has changed for the current measurement value. For example, referring to Fig.10, the measurement report 1002a may include a measurement value 1003 and one or more rollover and / or counter fields to indicate a timing error change. One or more reference signal measurement values ​​1003 may be transmitted in the report 1002a, and the indication of the timing error change may include a rollover bit 1012 in the report 1002a. The indication of the timing error change may include a report counter value 1010. The indication of the timing error change may include a measurement rollover bit 1006 for each of the one or more reference signal measurement values ​​1003. The indication of the timing error change may include a measurement counter value 1008 for each of the one or more reference signal measurement values ​​1003 and a corresponding measurement rollover bit 1006. The indication of the timing error change may include a measurement counter value 1008 (i.e., without the rollover bit 1006) for each of the one or more reference signal measurement values ​​1003. The indication of the timing error change may include a timing error group identification value 1004 for each of the one or more reference signal measurement values ​​1004. The one or more reference signal measurements and the indication of the timing error change may be transmitted to a positioning entity, such as a positioning server (e.g., LMF 120), TRP 300, or another mobile device. The one or more reference signal measurements and the indication of the timing error change may be transmitted via a sidelink communication protocol such as PSSCH, PSCCH, PSBCH, or other D2D interface.

[0119] Reference Fig.12 , and further refer to Figure 1-10 , the method 1200 for determining the location of a station includes the stages shown. However, the method 1200 is an example and not a limitation. The method 1200 can be modified, for example, by adding, removing, rearranging, combining, performing concurrently, and / or splitting a single stage into multiple stages.

[0120] At stage 1202, the method includes: obtaining a plurality of reference signal measurements and timing error group information from a station. A server 400 such as LMF 120, or another positioning entity including a transceiver 415 and a processor 410 may be a device for obtaining reference signal measurements and timing error group information. In one embodiment, the plurality of reference signal measurements and timing error group information may be obtained in one or more report messages, such as provide measurement and TEG information message 922. In one example, the positioning entity may be a network server such as LMF 120, and the reference signal measurements and timing error group information may be included in one or more messages based on an LPP received from a mobile device or an NRPP message received from a TRP 300. In one example, the positioning entity may be a station such as TRP 300, and the reference signal measurements and timing error group information may be included in one or more messages received from a mobile device via RCC, MAC-CE, DCI, or other wireless messaging protocols. Typically, the timing error group is configured to enable the positioning entity to separate the reference signal measurements based on their respective timing error group delay values. For example, with reference to Fig.10 , the measurement report 1002a may include a measurement value 1003 and one or more rollover and / or counter fields to indicate a timing error change. In one example, multiple reference signal measurement values ​​may be transmitted in a report, and the timing error group information may include a rollover bit in the report. The timing error group information may include a counter value in the report. The timing error group information may include a rollover bit for each of the multiple reference signal measurement values. The timing error group information may include a counter value for each of the multiple reference signal measurement values. The timing error group information may include a timing error group identification value for each of the multiple reference signal measurement values. In one embodiment, the multiple reference signal measurement values ​​and the timing error group information may be received via a side link communication protocol such as a PSSCH, a PSCCH, a PSBCH, or other D2D interface.

[0121] At stage 1204, the method includes: determining at least a first subset of multiple reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error group information, wherein each of the reference signal measurement values ​​in the first subset of the multiple reference signal measurement values ​​has a first timing error value. The server 400 including the processor 410 can be a device for determining at least a first subset of multiple reference signal measurement values. The server 400 can be configured to separate measurement messages and / or individual measurements based on the change in the intra-TEG delay indicated in the timing error group information. Measurements obtained before the intra-TEG delay time changes can form a first subset of measurements, and measurements obtained after the intra-TEG delay time changes can form a second subset of measurements. In one example, reference Fig.10 , the flip bits 1012, 1006 can be configured to indicate that the intra-TEG delay time is the same across reports or measurements until the flip bit is flipped. The measurement flip bit 1006 can be used to indicate a change in the intra-TEG delay time of the measurement value in the report. Typically, a measurement with a flip bit value (1) indicates that the intra-TEG delay time has changed compared to the previous measurement value. A flip bit value of (0) can indicate that the TEG time delay has not changed. The report flip bit 1012 can be used to indicate that at least one measurement in the report is based on an updated intra-TEG delay time. The flip bit is configured to notify the positioning entity of the change in the intra-TEG delay time and to enable separation of measurement values ​​based on similar intra-TEG delays.

[0122] At stage 1206, the method includes: determining the location of the station based at least in part on a first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements. The server 400 including the processor 410 may be a device for determining the location of the station. In an embodiment, the reference signal measurements may include flight time information associated with a ground positioning method such as ToA, TDoA, RSTD, OTDOA, RTT, multi-RTT, Rx-Tx and other positioning techniques. The server 400 may be configured to determine the location of the station using a corresponding distance calculation and multilateration technique associated with the first subset of reference signal measurements. In an embodiment, the server 400 may be configured to: determine at least a second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements based at least in part on the timing error group information, wherein each of the plurality of reference signal measurements in the second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements is based on a second timing error value; and determine the location of the station based at least in part on the second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements. For example, the server 400 may perform a position calculation using measurement reports received before the indication of the intra-TEG delay time change, and then perform a position calculation using measurement reports received after the indication of the intra-TEG delay time change.

[0123] The method 1200 may be performed by a positioning entity such as the LMF 120. Other stations such as a TRP and a UE may also be configured to perform the method 1200 to determine the location of the station.

[0124] Other examples and implementations are within the scope of this disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software and computers, the functions described above may be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or any combination thereof. Features that implement the functions may also be physically located in a variety of locations, including being distributed so that parts of the functions are implemented at different physical locations.

[0125] As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" also include the plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. As used herein, the terms "comprises", "has", "includes", and / or "contains" indicate the presence of the described features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0126] As used herein, the term RS (reference signal) may refer to one or more reference signals and may be appropriately applied to any form of the term RS, for example, PRS, SRS, CSI-RS, etc.

[0127] As used herein, unless otherwise stated, a recitation that a function or operation is “based on” an item or condition means that the function or operation is based on the recited item or condition, and may be based on one or more items and / or conditions other than the recited item or condition.

[0128] Likewise, as used herein, "or" used in a list of items followed by "at least one of" or followed by "one or more of" indicates a disjunctive list, such that, for example, a list of "at least one of A, B, or C" or a list of "one or more of A, B, or C" means A or B or C or AB (A and B) or AC (A and C) or BC (B and C) or ABC (i.e., A and B and C), or a combination having more than one feature (e.g., AA, AAB, ABBC, etc.). Thus, a reference to an item (e.g., a processor) being configured to perform a function with respect to at least one of A or B means that the item may be configured to perform a function with respect to A, or may be configured to perform a function with respect to B, or may be configured to perform a function with respect to both A and B. For example, the phrase "the processor is configured to measure at least one of A or B" means that the processor may be configured to measure A (and may or may not be configured to measure B), or may be configured to measure B (and may or may not be configured to measure A), or may be configured to measure A and measure B (and may be configured to select which or both of A and B to measure). Similarly, the statement that an apparatus for measuring at least one of A or B includes: an apparatus for measuring A (which may or may not be able to measure B), or an apparatus for measuring B (and may or may not be configured to measure A), or an apparatus for measuring A and B (which may be able to select which one or both of A and B to measure). As another example, the statement that an item (e.g., a processor) is configured to perform at least one of function X or to perform function Y means that the item may be configured to perform function X, or may be configured to perform function Y, or may be configured to perform function X and perform function Y. For example, the phrase "the processor is configured to measure at least one of X or Y" means that the processor may be configured to measure X (and may or may not be configured to measure Y), or may be configured to measure Y (and may or may not be configured to measure X), or may be configured to measure X and measure Y (and may be configured to select which one or both of X and Y to measure).

[0129] Substantial variations may be made as required. For example, customized hardware may also be used, and / or specific elements may be implemented in hardware, in software executed by a processor (including portable software, such as applets, etc.), or in both. Further, connections to other computing devices (such as network input / output devices) may be employed. Unless otherwise indicated, components (functional or otherwise) shown in the figures and / or discussed herein as interconnected or communicating are communicatively coupled. That is, they may be connected directly or indirectly to enable communication therebetween.

[0130] The systems and devices discussed above are examples. Various configurations may appropriately omit, replace, or add various procedures or components. For example, features described with reference to certain configurations may be combined in various other configurations. Different aspects and elements of a configuration may be combined in a similar manner. In addition, technology may evolve, and thus, many elements are examples, without limiting the scope of the present disclosure or claims.

[0131] A wireless communication system is a system in which communications are transmitted wirelessly, i.e., by electromagnetic waves and / or sound waves propagating through atmospheric space rather than by wires or other physical connections. A wireless communication network may not enable all communications to be transmitted wirelessly, but may be configured to enable at least some communications to be transmitted wirelessly. In addition, the term "wireless communication device" or similar terms does not require that the functionality of the device is exclusively or uniformly primarily used for communication, or that the device is a mobile device, but rather indicates that the device includes wireless communication capabilities (unidirectional or bidirectional), for example, including at least one radio (each radio is part of a transmitter, receiver or transceiver) for wireless communication.

[0132] Specific details are given in this specification to provide a thorough understanding of example configurations (including implementations). However, these configurations can be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques have been shown without unnecessary details to avoid confusing these configurations. This specification provides example configurations without limiting the scope, applicability, or configuration of the claims. On the contrary, the previous description of the configuration provides a description for implementing the described technology. Various changes can be made to the functions and arrangements of the elements.

[0133] As used herein, the terms "processor-readable medium," "machine-readable medium," and "computer-readable medium" refer to any medium that participates in providing data that causes a machine to operate in a particular manner. Using a computing platform, various processor-readable media may involve providing instructions / codes for execution to the processor(s), and / or may be used to store and / or carry such instructions / codes (e.g., as signals). In many implementations, processor-readable media are physical and / or tangible storage media. Such media may take many forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical disks and / or magnetic disks. Volatile media include, but are not limited to, dynamic memory.

[0134] After describing several example configurations, various modifications, alternative configurations, and equivalents may be used. For example, the above elements may be components of a larger system, wherein other rules may take precedence over the application of the present disclosure or otherwise modify the application of the present invention. In addition, several operations may be taken before, during, or after considering the above elements. Accordingly, the above description does not limit the scope of the claims.

[0135] A statement that a value exceeds (or is greater than or higher than) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that a value meets or exceeds a second threshold that is slightly greater than the first threshold, e.g., the second threshold is one value higher than the first threshold in the resolution of the computing system. A statement that a value is less than (or within or below) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that a value is less than or equal to a second threshold that is slightly lower than the first threshold, e.g., the second threshold is one value lower than the first threshold in the resolution of the computing system.

[0136] Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0137] 1. A method for providing reference signal measurements using a mobile device, comprising:

[0138] measuring one or more reference signals;

[0139] determining a timing error change associated with one or more reference signal measurements; and

[0140] The one or more reference signal measurements are transmitted along with an indication of the change in the timing error.

[0141] 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the timing error change is based at least in part on an orientation of the mobile device relative to a transmission path of at least one of the one or more reference signals.

[0142] 3. The method of clause 1, wherein the timing error variation is based at least in part on a temperature of the mobile device.

[0143] 4. The method of clause 1, wherein the one or more reference signal measurements are transmitted in a report, and the indication of the timing error change comprises a toggle bit in the report.

[0144] 5. The method of clause 1, wherein the indication of the change in the timing error comprises a counter value in the report.

[0145] 6. The method of clause 1, wherein the indication of the change in the timing error comprises toggling a bit for each of the one or more reference signal measurement values.

[0146] 7. The method of clause 6, wherein the indication of the change in the timing error comprises a counter value for each of the one or more reference signal measurement values.

[0147] 8. The method of clause 1, wherein the indication of the change in the timing error comprises a counter value for each of the one or more reference signal measurement values.

[0148] 9. The method of clause 1, wherein the indication of the timing error change comprises a timing error group identification value for each of the one or more reference signal measurement values.

[0149] 10. The method of clause 1, wherein the one or more reference signal measurements and the indication of the timing error change are transmitted to a location server.

[0150] 11. The method of clause 1, wherein the one or more reference signal measurements and the indication of the timing error change are transmitted to a user equipment.

[0151] 12. The method of clause 1, wherein the one or more reference signal measurements and the indication of the timing error change are transmitted via a sidelink communication protocol.

[0152] 13. A method for determining a location of a station, comprising:

[0153] obtaining a plurality of reference signal measurements and timing error group information from the station;

[0154] determining at least a first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error group information, wherein each reference signal measurement value of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​in the first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​has a first timing error value; and

[0155] The position of the station is determined based at least in part on the first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements.

[0156] 14. The method of clause 13, wherein the plurality of reference signal measurements are transmitted in a report, and the timing error group information comprises a toggle bit in the report.

[0157] 15. The method of clause 13, wherein the timing error group information comprises a counter value in the report.

[0158] 16. The method of clause 13, wherein the timing error group information comprises a toggle bit for each reference signal measurement value of the plurality of reference signal measurement values.

[0159] 17. The method of clause 13, wherein the timing error group information comprises a counter value for each reference signal measurement value of the plurality of reference signal measurements.

[0160] 18. The method of clause 13, wherein the timing error group information comprises a timing error group identification value for each reference signal measurement value in the plurality of reference signal measurement values.

[0161] 19. The method of clause 13, wherein the plurality of reference signal measurements and the timing error group information are received from a user equipment.

[0162] 20. The method of clause 13, wherein the plurality of reference signal measurements and the timing error group information are received via a sidelink communication protocol.

[0163] 21. The method of clause 13, further comprising:

[0164] determining at least a second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error group information, wherein each reference signal measurement value of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​in the second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​is based on a second timing error value; and

[0165] The position of the station is determined based at least in part on the second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements.

[0166] 22. An apparatus comprising:

[0167] Memory;

[0168] at least one transceiver;

[0169] at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver and configured to:

[0170] measuring one or more reference signals;

[0171] determining a timing error change associated with one or more reference signal measurements; and

[0172] The one or more reference signal measurements are transmitted along with an indication of the change in the timing error.

[0173] 23. An apparatus as in clause 22, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine an orientation of a transmission path of the apparatus relative to at least one of the one or more reference signals, wherein the timing error change is based at least in part on the orientation of the apparatus.

[0174] 24. The apparatus of clause 22, further comprising at least one temperature sensor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the timing error change based at least in part on measurements obtained using the at least one temperature sensor.

[0175] 25. The apparatus of clause 22, wherein the one or more reference signal measurement values ​​are transmitted in a report, and the indication of the timing error change comprises at least one of: a report rollover bit, a report counter value, a measurement rollover bit, and a measurement counter value in the report.

[0176] 26. The apparatus of clause 22, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: transmit the one or more reference signal measurements and the indication of the timing error change via a sidelink communication protocol.

[0177] 27. An apparatus comprising:

[0178] Memory;

[0179] at least one transceiver;

[0180] at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver and configured to:

[0181] The slave station obtains a plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​and timing error group information;

[0182] determining at least a first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error group information, wherein each reference signal measurement value of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​in the first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​has a first timing error value; and

[0183] A position of the station is determined based at least in part on the first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements.

[0184] 28. The apparatus of clause 27, wherein the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​are transmitted in a report, and the timing error group information comprises at least one of: a report toggle bit, a report counter value, a measurement toggle bit, and a measurement counter value in the report.

[0185] 29. The apparatus of clause 27, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive the plurality of reference signal measurements and the timing error group information via a sidelink communication protocol.

[0186] 30. The apparatus of clause 27, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

[0187] determining at least a second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error group information, wherein each reference signal measurement value of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​in the second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​is based on a second timing error value; and

[0188] A position of the station is determined based at least in part on a second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements.

[0189] 31. An apparatus for providing reference signal measurements using a mobile device, comprising:

[0190] means for measuring one or more reference signals;

[0191] means for determining a change in timing error associated with one or more reference signal measurements; and

[0192] Means for transmitting the one or more reference signal measurements and an indication of the change in timing error.

[0193] 32. The apparatus of clause 31, further comprising means for determining an orientation of the apparatus relative to a transmission path of at least one of the one or more reference signals, wherein the timing error change is based at least in part on the orientation of the apparatus.

[0194] 33. The apparatus of clause 31, further comprising means for measuring temperature, wherein the timing error variation is based at least in part on the temperature measurement.

[0195] 34. The apparatus of clause 31, wherein the one or more reference signal measurement values ​​are transmitted in a report, and the indication of the timing error change comprises at least one of: a report rollover bit, a report counter value, a measurement rollover bit, and a measurement counter value.

[0196] 35. The apparatus of clause 31, further comprising means for transmitting the one or more reference signal measurements and the indication of the timing error change via a sidelink communication protocol.

[0197] 36. An apparatus for determining a location of a station, comprising:

[0198] means for obtaining a plurality of reference signal measurements and timing error group information from the station;

[0199] means for determining at least a first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error group information, wherein each reference signal measurement value of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​in the first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​has a first timing error value; and

[0200] Means for determining the position of the station based at least in part on the first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements.

[0201] 37. The apparatus of clause 36, wherein the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​are transmitted in a report, and the timing error group information comprises at least one of: a report rollover bit, a report counter value, a measurement rollover bit, and a measurement counter value.

[0202] 38. The apparatus of clause 36, further comprising means for receiving the plurality of reference signal measurements and the timing error group information via a sidelink communication protocol.

[0203] 39. The apparatus of clause 36, further comprising:

[0204] means for determining at least a second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error group information, wherein each reference signal measurement value of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​in the second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​is based on a second timing error value; and

[0205] Means for determining the position of the station based at least in part on the second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements.

[0206] 40. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium comprising processor-readable instructions configured to cause one or more processors to provide reference signal measurements using a mobile device, comprising:

[0207] code for measuring one or more reference signals;

[0208] code for determining a change in timing error associated with one or more reference signal measurements; and

[0209] Code for transmitting the one or more reference signal measurements and an indication of the timing error change.

[0210] 41. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of clause 40, further comprising: code for determining an orientation of the device relative to a transmission path of at least one of the one or more reference signals, wherein the timing error change is based at least in part on the orientation of the mobile device.

[0211] 42. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of clause 40, further comprising: code for measuring temperature and determining a change in the timing error based at least in part on the temperature measurement.

[0212] 43. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of clause 40, wherein the one or more reference signal measurement values ​​are transmitted in a report, and the indication of the timing error change comprises at least one of: a report rollover bit, a report counter value, a measurement rollover bit, and a measurement counter value.

[0213] 44. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of clause 40, further comprising: code for transmitting the one or more reference signal measurements and the indication of the timing error change via a sidelink communication protocol.

[0214] 45. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium comprising processor-readable instructions configured to cause one or more processors to determine a location of a station, comprising:

[0215] code for obtaining a plurality of reference signal measurements and timing error group information from the station;

[0216] code for determining at least a first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error group information, wherein each reference signal measurement value of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​in the first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​has a first timing error value; and

[0217] Code for determining the position of the station based at least in part on the first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements.

[0218] 46. ​​The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of clause 45, wherein the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​are transmitted in a report, and the timing error group information comprises at least one of: a report rollover bit, a report counter value, a measurement rollover bit, and a measurement counter value.

[0219] 47. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of clause 45, further comprising: code for receiving the plurality of reference signal measurements and the timing error group information via a sidelink communication protocol.

[0220] 48. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of clause 45, further comprising:

[0221] code for determining at least a second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error group information, wherein each reference signal measurement value of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​in the second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​is based on a second timing error value; and

[0222] Code for determining the position of the station based at least in part on the second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements.

Claims

1. A method for providing reference signal measurements using a mobile device, comprising: measuring one or more reference signals; determining a timing error change associated with one or more reference signal measurements; as well as The one or more reference signal measurements and an indication of the change in timing error are transmitted.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the timing error change is based at least in part on an orientation of the mobile device relative to a transmission path of at least one of the one or more reference signals.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the timing error change is based at least in part on a temperature of the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more reference signal measurements are transmitted in a report, and the indication of the timing error change comprises a toggle bit in the report.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the change in the timing error comprises a counter value in a report.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the change in the timing error comprises a toggling bit for each of the one or more reference signal measurement values.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the indication of the change in timing error comprises a counter value for each of the one or more reference signal measurements.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the change in the timing error comprises a counter value for each of the one or more reference signal measurements.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the change in timing error comprises a timing error group identification value for each of the one or more reference signal measurement values.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more reference signal measurements and the indication of the timing error change are transmitted to a location server.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more reference signal measurements and the indication of the timing error change are transmitted to a user equipment.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more reference signal measurements and the indication of the timing error change are transmitted via a sidelink communication protocol.

13. A method for determining a location of a station, comprising: obtaining, from the station, a plurality of reference signal measurements and an indication of a change in timing error associated with one or more of the plurality of reference signal measurements; determining at least a first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error variation, wherein each reference signal measurement value of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​in the first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​has a first timing error value; as well as The position of the station is determined based at least in part on the first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of reference signal measurements are transmitted in a report and the timing error change comprises a toggled bit in the report.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the timing error change comprises a counter value in a report.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the timing error change comprises a flipped bit for each reference signal measurement value of the plurality of reference signal measurements.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the timing error change comprises a counter value for each of the plurality of reference signal measurements.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the timing error variation comprises a timing error group identification value for each reference signal measurement value of the plurality of reference signal measurements.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of reference signal measurements and the timing error change are received from a user equipment.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of reference signal measurements and the timing error changes are received via a sidelink communication protocol.

21. The method of claim 13, further comprising: determining at least a second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error change, wherein each reference signal measurement value of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​in the second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​is based on a second timing error value; as well as The position of the station is determined based at least in part on the second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements.

22. An apparatus comprising: Memory; at least one transceiver; at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver and configured to: measuring one or more reference signals; determining a timing error change associated with one or more reference signal measurements; and The one or more reference signal measurements and an indication of the change in timing error are transmitted.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine an orientation of a transmission path of the apparatus relative to at least one of the one or more reference signals, wherein the timing error change is based at least in part on the orientation of the apparatus.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising at least one temperature sensor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the timing error change based at least in part on measurements obtained using the at least one temperature sensor.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the one or more reference signal measurement values ​​are transmitted in a report, and the indication of the timing error change comprises at least one of: a report toggle bit, a report counter value, a measurement toggle bit, and a measurement counter value in the report.

26. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to transmit the one or more reference signal measurements and the indication of the timing error change via a sidelink communication protocol.

27. An apparatus comprising: Memory; at least one transceiver; at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver and configured to: The slave station obtains multiple reference signal measurement values ​​and timing error changes; determining at least a first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error variation, wherein each reference signal measurement value of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​in the first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​has a first timing error value; as well as A position of the station is determined based at least in part on the first subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​are transmitted in a report, and the timing error change comprises at least one of: a report rollover bit, a report counter value, a measurement rollover bit, and a measurement counter value in the report.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive the plurality of reference signal measurements and the timing error changes via a sidelink communication protocol.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determining at least a second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​based at least in part on the timing error change, wherein each of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​in the second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurement values ​​is based on a second timing error value; and The position of the station is determined based at least in part on the second subset of the plurality of reference signal measurements.

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