A method of performing perceptual measurements during perceptual session between first multilink device and second multilink device in wireless communication network, and corresponding multilink devices and computer program products

Abstract

A method of performing perceptual measurements during a perceptual session between a first multilink device and a second multilink device in a wireless communication network, where the first multilink device comprises two station STAs (STA11, STA12) and the second multilink device comprises two STAs (STA21, STA22), where the STAs (STA11, STA12, STA21, STA22) are arranged to communicate using separate wireless links, where the STAs (STA21, STA22) are arranged to communicate using separate wireless links. Therefore, the first STAs of the two pieces of multi-link equipment can communicate through the first wireless link, and the second STAs of the two pieces of multi-link equipment can communicate through the second wireless link. The method comprises the steps of: determining, by a first multi-link device in a perceptual session setting, that a second STA of the first multi-link device will participate in performing a perceptual measurement during a perceptual session, the determination being performed by exchanging operational attributes using a first STA of the first multi-link device over a first wireless link; during the perception session, wireless perception is performed by the first multi-link device on a second wireless link using a second STA of the first multi-link device, thereby obtaining perception measurements.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 working group has launched a task group (TG) 802.11bf to develop an amendment for wireless sensing. IEEE 802.11bf will define a method for exchanging IEEE 802.11 transmissions (also represented as frames) between IEEE 802.11bf compatible devices (which are referred to as stations STA). The frames exchanged enable STAs to sense their environment. Using wireless sensing, STAs can detect movement, the presence of humans and pets, the location of doors, and potential aspects like pulse rate and breathing rate.

[0002] 802.11bf introduces the so-called "WLAN Awareness Procedure". This procedure enables STAs to perform awareness and / or obtain measurement results. The WLAN Awareness Procedure includes one or more of the following: Awareness Session Setup, Awareness Measurement Instance, Awareness Measurement Setup Terminate, and Awareness Setup Terminate.

[0003] The STA that initiates the sensing process is called a sensing initiator, and the STA that participates in the sensing process initiated by the initiator is called a sensing responder. A sensing transmitter is a STA that sends a physical layer protocol data unit PPDU for sensing measurement, and a sensing receiver is a STA that receives the PPDU sent by the sensing transmitter and performs measurements in the WLAN sensing process. STAs can have multiple roles in the WLAN sensing process. In the sensing session setup, operating parameters associated with the sensing session are determined and exchanged between STAs.

[0004] When the sensing receiver is not consuming measurements, it sends a sensing measurement report frame to report the measurements. The sensing measurement report frame includes a measurement report field and a control field, wherein the measurement report field carries the channel state information CSI measurement obtained by the sensing receiver, and the control field contains information describing how to interpret the measurement report field. Examples of information required to interpret the CSI measurement include resolution, such as in bits, bandwidth, and number of RX chains.

[0005] The next generation amendment to the IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi standard currently under development is IEEE 802.11be, also known as Extremely High Throughput (EHT). EHT introduces a new feature called Multi-Link ML. In ML, a multi-link device MLD has multiple subordinate stations STA, each of which can communicate using an independent wireless channel (also known as a wireless link). The communication of the MLD on multiple links is called multi-link operation MLO. For example, the MLD can have two subordinate STAs, one communicating using a channel in the 5 GHz band and the other communicating using a channel in the 6 GHz band.

[0006] The MLD may use its affiliated STAs and corresponding supported channels to perform simultaneous TX MLO, simultaneous RX MLO, or simultaneous STR MLO. This may help improve spectrum utilization while also enhancing system throughput and latency performance. Simultaneous TX and simultaneous RX MLO may require that the links involved are synchronized to some extent, and this may place fairly stringent requirements on performing such MLO. On the other hand, STR MLO will not impose such requirements.

[0007] AP MLD means MLD with two or more subordinate access points AP STA, while non-AP MLD means MLD with two or more subordinate non-AP STA. AP MLD can perform simultaneous downlink DL MLO or simultaneous uplink UL MLO involving non-AP STAs in its basic service set BSS. In addition, AP MLD that can perform STR MLO can perform simultaneous DL and UL MLO, where all types of frames can be independently transmitted or received on supported channels.

[0008] One of the challenges associated with wireless sensing is how to perform wireless sensing as efficiently as possible. Summary of the invention

[0009] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a method for performing awareness measurements during an awareness session between a first multi-link device and a second multi-link device in a wireless communication network. Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a corresponding multi-link device and a corresponding computer program product.

[0010] In a first aspect, a method for performing perception measurements during a perception session between a first multi-link device and a second multi-link device in a wireless communication network is provided, wherein the first multi-link device includes two stations STA (STA11, STA12), wherein the second multi-link device includes two STAs (STA21, STA22), wherein the STAs (STA11, STA12, STA21, STA22) are arranged to communicate using independent wireless links, so that the first STAs of the two multi-link devices can communicate through the first wireless link, and so that the second STAs of the two multi-link devices can communicate through the second wireless link, the method comprising the following steps:

[0011] - determining, by the first multi-link device in a sensing session setup, that the second STA of the first multi-link device is to participate in performing sensing measurements during a sensing session, the determination being performed by exchanging operating attributes with the first STA of the first multi-link device over the first wireless link;

[0012] - During the sensing session, performing wireless sensing by the first multi-link device over the second wireless link using the second STA of the first multi-link device, thereby obtaining sensing measurements.

[0013] The inventors have found that it may be beneficial if the STAs included in the MLD coordinate and perform their awareness sessions. In the prior art solution, each STA will be responsible for establishing an awareness session and performing wireless awareness during the awareness session. The inventors have found that this may be redundant for MLD, because when the STAs coordinate the awareness operations, for example, the overhead can be reduced.

[0014] Wide bandwidths may be desirable for wireless sensing because they can provide better resolution, which is useful, for example, for separating and identifying multipath components. For example, a person standing in a room may cause multipath components in the sensing transmission between a wireless transmitter and a receiver. The identification of these multipath components can be used to detect human presence and estimate the number of people in the room. For this reason, multilink operation may be well suited for wireless sensing because the addition of wireless links increases the bandwidth used for sensing.

[0015] However, while it is feasible to set up a sensing session for each link separately and perform sensing on each link independently, this may waste radio resources due to unnecessary overhead duplication on each link and does not fully utilize the sensing potential if performed in a coordinated manner between affiliated STAs in MLD.

[0016] The present application provides the insights described above, in that a first STA is used to perform a perception session setup on a first wireless link, and a second STA is used to perform a perception session on a second wireless link. The perception session is associated with a previous perception session setup. The perception session is triggered by an agreement reached during the perception session setup.

[0017] It should be noted that the present application clarifies that at least two links are involved in the sensing process. This may include situations where two or more links are used for wireless sensing. In any case, at least two wireless links are involved in the wireless sensing process.

[0018] For example, it may be beneficial to have one STA participate in the awareness session setup to arrange for all links available for MLD or agree on the wireless awareness process. This will reduce the messaging overhead.

[0019] According to the present disclosure, two or more STAs may be effectively attached to the MLD, which means that the MLD is arranged to control the two or more STAs.

[0020] According to the present disclosure, a STA may include a physical layer (PHY) function and a MAC layer function of the OSI model. MLD manages communications on multiple links and may support multiple MAC sublayers. The MAC sublayer may be further subdivided into an MLD upper MAC sublayer and an MLD lower MAC sublayer. In this case, the MLD upper MAC may perform functions common to all links, while the MLD lower MAC corresponding to the attached STA performs functions local to each link.

[0021] In the example, the execution steps include:

[0022] - During the awareness session, wireless awareness is performed by the first multi-link device on the first wireless link and the second wireless link using the first STA and the second STA of the first multi-link device, respectively.

[0023] The example described above is beneficial because in this case, sensing is performed on multiple links, for example, wireless sensing is performed on multiple links simultaneously, and the handshake process is performed on one of the links. The handshake process is a process in which operational attributes for the sensing session are agreed upon.

[0024] Then, wireless sensing may be performed over a relatively wide bandwidth (ie, multiple wireless links) so that the results may be more accurate compared to performing wireless sensing over only one wireless link.

[0025] In this context it should be noted that the frequency bandwidths of the two radio links may overlap, but are not identical. Preferably, the two radio links have different frequencies that are distinct.

[0026] In another example, the method includes the following steps:

[0027] - During the awareness session, sending, by the first multi-link device on the first wireless link, frames using the first STA of the first multi-link device to enable the first STA of the second multi-link device to perform awareness measurements using the frames.

[0028] The example described above is for a case where a first STA of a first multi-link device is transmitting a frame to enable a second multi-link device to perform a sensing measurement, and a second STA of the first multi-link device is receiving a frame from the second multi-link device to enable the second STA of the first multi-link device to perform a sensing measurement. In this case, the first STA and the second STA of the first multi-link device are therefore operating in a transmitter mode and a receiver mode, respectively.

[0029] In another example, the method includes the following steps:

[0030] - Receiving, by the first multi-link device on the first wireless link, the perception measurements obtained by the second multi-link device, by the first STA using the first multi-link device.

[0031] This specific example describes the case where the first multi-link device receives the measurement result.The perception measurement may for example comprise any one of channel state information CSI and a control field comprising information describing how to interpret the perception measurement.

[0032] In wireless communications, channel state information may refer to channel characteristics of a wireless communications channel. This information describes how a signal propagates from a transmitter station to a receiver station and represents the combined effects of, for example, scattering, fading, and power attenuation with distance. The method of obtaining knowledge of how a signal is affected by a channel is called channel estimation. There are many different types of channel estimation, such as blind estimation or estimating a channel with a priori known reference symbols. CSI may describe a channel in the frequency domain, for example, by means of amplitudes and phases for different frequency components of the channel, or CSI may describe a channel by means of a channel impulse response.

[0033] CSI can adapt the transmission from the transmitter station to the receiver station to the current channel conditions, which is beneficial for achieving reliable communication at high data rates in multi-antenna systems. CSI can be estimated, for example, at a sensing receiver station and is typically quantized and fed back (i.e., reported back) to a sensing transmitter station.

[0034] The control field may include a single bit or a string of characters that instructs the perception transmitter station how to interpret the perception measurements.

[0035] As an alternative or in addition to the above, the method may include the following steps: the first multi-link device uses the first STA report of the first multi-link device to obtain the perception measurement on the first wireless link.

[0036] In another example, the performing step includes performing the wireless sensing substantially simultaneously.

[0037] It should also be noted that at least one of the first multi-link device and the second multi-link device is a multi-link single radio device.

[0038] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a first multi-link device is provided, which is arranged to perform perception measurements during a perception session between the first multi-link device and a second multi-link device in a wireless communication network. The first multi-link device includes two stations STA (STA11, STA12), and the second multi-link device includes two STAs (STA21, STA22), wherein the STAs (STA11, STA12, STA21, STA22) are arranged to communicate using independent wireless links, so that the first STAs of the two multi-link devices can communicate through the first wireless link, and so that the second STAs of the two multi-link devices can communicate through the second wireless link, wherein the first multi-link device includes:

[0039] - a processing device arranged for determining in a sensing session setup that said second STA of said first multi-link device is to participate in performing sensing measurements during a sensing session, the determination being performed by exchanging operational attributes with said first STA of said first multi-link device over said first wireless link;

[0040] - an performing device arranged for performing wireless sensing using said second STA of said first multi-link device on said second wireless link during a sensing session, thereby obtaining sensing measurements.

[0041] It should be noted that the advantages as explained with respect to the first aspect, i.e. a method for performing perception measurements during a perception session between a first multi-link device and a second multi-link device in a wireless communication network, also apply to the second aspect, i.e. a first multi-link device arranged for performing perception measurements during a perception session between a first multi-link device and a second multi-link device in a wireless communication network.

[0042] In an example, the performing device is further arranged to perform wireless sensing using the first STA and the second STA of the first multi-link device on the first wireless link and the second wireless link, respectively, during the sensing session.

[0043] In another example, the first multi-link device further includes:

[0044] - a transmitting device arranged for, during said sensing session, transmitting frames using said first STA of said first multi-link device over said first radio link to enable said first STA of said second multi-link device to perform sensing measurements using said frames.

[0045] In another example, the first multi-link device includes:

[0046] - a receiving device arranged for receiving, over said first wireless link, perception measurements obtained by said second multi-link device using said first STA of said first multi-link device.

[0047] In an example, the first multi-link device further comprises:

[0048] - a reporting device arranged for reporting the obtained perception measurements using said first STA of said first multi-link device over said first radio link.

[0049] In another example, the performing devices are arranged to perform the wireless sensing substantially simultaneously.

[0050] In an example, the first multi-link device is a multi-link single radio device.

[0051] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a multi-link device causes the multi-link device to implement a method according to any one of the method examples provided above.

[0052] The present disclosure is described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be emphasized that, in accordance with standard practice in the industry, various features are not drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion.

[0053] In the accompanying drawings, similar components and / or features may have the same reference number. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference number with a dash and a second reference number that distinguishes the similar components. If only the first reference number is used in the specification, the description applies to any one of the similar components having the same first reference number, regardless of the second reference number.

[0054] The above and other aspects of the disclosure will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the examples described hereinafter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0055] Figure 1 An example of performing wireless sensing between two multi-link devices is disclosed;

[0056] Figure 2 An example of an architecture according to the present disclosure is disclosed;

[0057] Figure 3 Examples of multi-link devices according to the present disclosure are disclosed. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0058] It should be noted that in the description of the drawings, the same reference numerals refer to the same or similar components performing the same or substantially similar functions.

[0059] A more detailed description will be given with reference to specific examples, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings so that the features of the present disclosure can be understood in more detail. It should be noted that the drawings illustrate only typical examples and should not be considered to limit the scope of the subject matter of the claims. The drawings are incorporated to facilitate understanding of the present disclosure and are therefore not necessarily drawn to scale. The advantages of the claimed subject matter will become apparent to those skilled in the art after reading the description in conjunction with the drawings.

[0060] After the above description, (one or more) preferred exemplary embodiments are provided, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the present disclosure. On the contrary, the subsequent description of (one or more) preferred exemplary embodiments will provide a description of the preferred exemplary embodiments for implementing the present disclosure to those skilled in the art. It should be understood that various changes may be made to the functions and arrangements of the elements, including combinations of features from different embodiments, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0061] Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the specification and claims, the words "include", "comprising", etc. should be interpreted in an inclusive sense rather than an exclusive or exclusive sense; that is, in the sense of "including but not limited to". As used herein, the terms "connected", "coupled" or any variation thereof mean any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements; the coupling or connection between elements may be physical, logical, electromagnetic, or a combination thereof. In addition, when used in this application, the words "herein", "above", "below" and words of similar meaning refer to the entirety of this application, not to any particular part of this application. Where the context permits, words used in the singular or plural in a specific embodiment may also include the plural or singular, respectively. The word "or" in a list referring to two or more items covers all the following interpretations of the word: any item in the list, all items in the list, and any combination of items in the list.

[0062] According to the following detailed description, these and other changes can be made to the technology. Although the specification describes certain examples of the technology and describes the expected best mode, no matter how detailed the specification is, the technology can be practiced in many ways. The details of the system may be significantly different in its specific implementation, but are still covered by the technology disclosed herein. As mentioned above, the specific terms used when describing certain features or aspects of the technology should not be regarded as implying that the term is redefined in this article to be limited to any specific characteristics, features or aspects of the technology associated with the term. Generally, unless such terms are clearly defined in the detailed description section, the terms used in the following claims should not be interpreted as limiting the technology to the specific examples disclosed in the specification. Therefore, the actual scope of the present technology covers not only the disclosed examples, but also all equivalent ways of practicing or realizing the technology under the claims.

[0063] exist Figure 1 Based on this, several examples of the present disclosure are discussed below.

[0064] One of the insights of the present disclosure is that wide bandwidth may be desirable for wireless sensing because it may provide better resolution, which is useful, for example, for separating and identifying multipath components. For example, a person standing in a room may cause multipath components in the sensing transmission between a wireless transmitter and a receiver.

[0065] Identification of these multipath components can be used to detect human presence and estimate the number of people in a room. For this reason, multi-link operation may be well suited for wireless sensing, as the addition of links increases the bandwidth available for sensing. However, while it is feasible to set up a sensing session for each link separately and perform sensing independently for each link, this may waste radio resources due to unnecessary duplication of overhead on each link, and does not fully exploit the potential for sensing if performed in a coordinated manner between affiliated STAs in a multi-link device.

[0066] The inventors have found a solution in which a method is disclosed that enables STAs attached to a multi-link device to establish and perform an awareness session coordinated between the STAs.

[0067] Therefore, the present disclosure is directed to a method for performing wireless sensing, wherein both a first multi-link device and a second multi-link device and two wireless links participate in sensing.

[0068] Figure 1The illustrated scenario 1 includes two multi-link devices 2, 3. The multi-link devices 2, 3 are deployed in a wireless communication network, such as a wireless local area network WLAN, a network based on Bluetooth, a network based on Wi-Fi, or any similar network. It should be noted that the wireless communication network may also cover an ad hoc network between the two multi-link devices 2, 3, or an ad hoc connection between the two multi-link devices 2, 3.

[0069] The method is directed to performing perception measurements during a perception session between a first multi-link device and a second multi-link device in a wireless communication network, wherein the first multi-link device 2 comprises two stations 4,5 and wherein the second multi-link device 3 further comprises two stations 6,7.

[0070] The first station 4 of the first multi-link device 2 is arranged to communicate with the first station 6 of the second multi-link device 3 using an independent wireless link 8 .

[0071] The second station 5 of the first multi-link device 2 is arranged to communicate with the second station 7 of the second multi-link device 3 using another independent wireless link 9 .

[0072] The wireless links may be different from each other. For example, a first wireless link may operate in the 2.4 GHz frequency band, and a second wireless link may operate in the 5 GHz or 6 GHz frequency band, etc.

[0073] The method comprises the following steps:

[0074] determining 8 by the first multi-link device 2 in a sensing session setup that a second STA 5 of the first multi-link device 2 is to participate in performing sensing measurements during the sensing session, the determination 2 being performed by exchanging operational attributes with the first STA 4 of the first multi-link device over the first wireless link 8,

[0075] Note that the multi-link device 2 may include high-level operating logic that controls both STAs 4, 5. In this case, wireless awareness is coordinated by the multi-link device 2 itself, because the multi-link device 2 controls the STAs 4, 5. In another example, the STAs 4, 5 may mutually agree on operating parameters for wireless awareness. In this case, the logic may be distributed, for example, between the STAs 4, 5 of the multi-link device 2.

[0076] The second step of the method comprises performing wireless sensing by the first multi-link device 2 over the second wireless link 9 using the second STA 5 of the first multi-link device 2 during the sensing session, thereby obtaining sensing measurements.

[0077] Examples of operational attributes may include determining the type of sensing transmitter / receiver and measurement report. According to one example of the present disclosure, sensing measurement setup / sensing measurement termination is performed by one STA in each MLD, ie, on one radio link.

[0078] For example, in Figure 1 In the illustrated scenario, the first STA 4 of the multi-link device 2 and the first STA 6 of the second multi-link device may actively participate in establishing a perception session. During the exchange of messages over the first wireless communication link 8, operational attributes for the perception session may be agreed upon.

[0079] The awareness session may be performed at least on the second wireless communication link 9 such that the second STA 5 of the first multi-link device 2 and the second STA 7 of the second multi-link device 3 participate.

[0080] Note that according to the present disclosure, during the perception session, at least the second STA 5 of the first multi-link device 2 and the second STA 7 of the second multi-link device 3 participate. In addition, during the perception session, the first STA 4 of the first multi-link device 2 and the first STA 6 of the second multi-link device 3 may also actively participate in the perception.

[0081] The above requires that the second STA 7 of the second multi-link device 3 can exchange frames with the second STA 5 of the first multi-link device 2, and these frames are used to perform perception measurements. In addition, the first STA 6 of the second multi-link device 3 can also exchange frames with the first STA 4 of the first multi-link device 2, and these frames are used to perform perception measurements.

[0082] Frames may be exchanged from the first multi-link device 2 to the second multi-link device 3 and vice versa. It should also be noted that the direction in which frames are sent (i.e., from the second multi-link device 3 to the first multi-link device 2 and vice versa) may be different for the first wireless link 8 and the second wireless link 9. Thus, the first STA 4 of the first multi-link device may act as a perceptual receiver, i.e., receive frames from the first STA 6 of the second multi-link device 3, while the second STA 5 of the first multi-link device 2 may act as a transmitter for sending frames to the second STA 7 of the second multi-link device 3, so that the second STA 7 of the second multi-link device 3 acts as a perceptual receiver.

[0083] In addition, the inventors have found that, in general, in wireless communications, channels can be accurately modeled as reciprocal. That is, the channel h between two multi-link devices is the same, regardless of which of the two stations is the transmitter and the receiver, respectively. Therefore, there is no absolute requirement that all STAs of a single multi-link device act as sensing receivers or sensing initiators.

[0084] In other words, the messages exchanged to initiate or terminate a specific session may include at least one awareness initiator and at least one awareness responder that designate awareness different from the attached STA that performs transmission and reception of a setup frame or a termination frame.

[0085] For example, STA11 and STA12 are attached to the first multi-link device 2, and STA21 and STA22 are attached to the second multi-link device 3, then STA11 can send a frame requesting to establish a perception session to STA21, wherein STA11 and STA12 are both initiators, and STA21 and STA22 are both perception responders.

[0086] In another example, STA11 sends a frame requesting to establish a perception session to STA21, where only STA12 is the perception initiator and STA22 is only a perception receiver. The initiator STA and the responder STA can be identified by means of their MAC addresses, AIDs, or UIDs. In addition, the operating parameters (such as bandwidth) required to perform perception on all links designated for perception can also be exchanged between STA11 and STA21.

[0087] The perception measurement setup allows the perception initiator and the perception responder to agree on the operational properties associated with each measurement instance.

[0088] Examples of operational attributes include determining the type of sensing transmitter / receiver and measurement report. According to one embodiment of the present invention, sensing measurement setup / sensing measurement termination is performed by one STA in each multi-link device, i.e., on one wireless link. The messages exchanged to initiate or terminate a specific session may include at least one sensing initiator and at least one sensing responder that specify sensing different from the attached STA that performs the transmission and reception of the setup frame or the termination frame.

[0089] As an example, one radio link is used for sensing during each measurement interval, for example, to avoid dedicating too much bandwidth to sensing, but the radio link used for sensing may vary from measurement setup to measurement setup. Since one sensing setup may include multiple measurement setups, the present disclosure is superior to prior art solutions, because prior art solutions may require one measurement setup for each radio link, whereas for the present disclosure, one measurement setup may be valid for multiple radio links between the first multi-link device 2 and the second multi-link device 3.

[0090] When the perception initiator is different from the perception receiver, the latter can feed back the measurement report to the initiator. According to an example of the present disclosure, two or more STAs attached to a multi-link device are perception receivers, and the measurement reports are aggregated and fed back on one wireless link. This can save overhead because each packet requires its own PHY preamble, MAC header, etc., so sending only one measurement report eliminates the need to copy the preamble and header.

[0091] In another example, two or more STAs attached to a multi-link device are configured to sense the transmitter and use the synchronous transmission feature introduced to handle non-simultaneous transmission and reception of STR STAs, and transmit simultaneously on two wireless links. In this way, the punctured wide bandwidth channel can be synthesized and used for channel state information CSI estimation.

[0092] In another example of the present disclosure, a perceptual receiver is included in an enhanced multi-link single radio eMLSR device. The eMLSR device is a device that can reconfigure a multiple-input multiple-output MIMO radio to receive simultaneously in two different links. A perceptual initiator is attached to the multi-link device. During a perceptual session or during a measurement setup, the eMLSR can be configured to enable two or more perceptual receivers. This allows the initiator to decide whether to trade off spatial resolution, all RX chains in the same channel, and multipath resolution capabilities, i.e., split the RX chain and obtain a larger bandwidth. The eMLSR MLD operation can be alternated depending on the measurement setup.

[0093] In another example, the present disclosure may be directed to a method for performing perception measurements during a perception session between a first multi-link device and a second multi-link device in a wireless communication network, wherein the first multi-link device includes two stations STA, wherein the second multi-link device includes two STAs, wherein the STAs are arranged to communicate using independent wireless links, so that the first STAs of the two multi-link devices can communicate through the first wireless link, and so that the second STAs of the two multi-link devices can communicate through the second wireless link, the method comprising the following steps:

[0094] - determining, by the first multi-link device in the awareness session setting, that the second STA of the first multi-link device is to participate in reporting awareness measurements;

[0095] - performing, by the first multi-link device, wireless sensing on the first wireless link using the first STA of the first multi-link device during the sensing session, thereby obtaining sensing measurements, and

[0096] - a perception measurement obtained by the first multi-link device using the second STA report of the first multi-link device on the second wireless link.

[0097] One of the advantages of the examples described above is that the first radio link does not need to be used for reporting the obtained perception measurements. This is particularly useful in situations where the first radio link is fully or almost fully utilized.

[0098] Figure 2 An example 11 of an architecture according to the present disclosure is disclosed.

[0099] The channel is indicated with reference numeral 12. As shown, the interference experienced by the multilink device 3 may be different from the interference experienced by the multilink device 2. This is because a plurality of stations 13, 14, 15 are near the multilink device 3, wherein these plurality of stations 13, 14, 15 may contribute to the interference at the multilink device 3.

[0100] Figure 3 Examples of wireless stations according to the present disclosure are disclosed.

[0101] The first multi-link device 21 is arranged to perform perception measurements during a perception session between the first multi-link device and the second multi-link device in a wireless communication network, wherein the first multi-link device includes two stations STA (STA11, STA12), wherein the second multi-link device includes two STAs (STA21, STA22), wherein the STAs (STA11, STA12, STA21, STA22) are arranged to communicate using independent wireless links so that the first STAs of the two multi-link devices can communicate via the first wireless link, and so that the second STAs of the two multi-link devices can communicate via the second wireless link.

[0102] The first multi-link device 21 comprises:

[0103] a processing device 31, which may be coupled to a memory 32 and is arranged for determining in a sensing session setup that a second STA 26 of said first multi-link device is to participate in performing sensing measurements via a terminal 28 during a sensing session, the determination being performed by exchanging operating attributes over said first wireless link using a first STA 24 of said first multi-link device via a terminal 22;

[0104] - an performing device 30 arranged for performing wireless sensing using said second STA 22 of said first multi-link device on said second wireless link during a sensing session, thereby obtaining sensing measurements.

[0105] In order to reduce the number of claims, certain aspects of the technology are presented below in certain claim forms, but applicants may consider various aspects of the technology in any number of claim forms. For example, while some aspects of the technology may be cited as computer-readable medium claims, other aspects may also be embodied as computer-readable medium claims, or in other forms, such as in device-plus-function claims.

[0106] In the above description, for the purpose of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the implementation of the disclosed technology. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the disclosed technology may be practiced without some of these specific details.

[0107] Other variations of the disclosed embodiments may be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed embodiments by studying the drawings, the description, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the quantifier "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.

Claims

1. A method for performing perception measurements during a perception session between a first multi-link device and a second multi-link device in a wireless communication network, wherein: The first multi-link device includes two stations STA (STA11, STA12), wherein the second multi-link device includes two STAs (STA21, STA22), wherein the STAs (STA11, STA12, STA21, STA22) are arranged to communicate using independent wireless links, so that the first STAs of the two multi-link devices can communicate through the first wireless link, and so that the second STAs of the two multi-link devices can communicate through the second wireless link, and the method includes the following steps: - determining, by the first multi-link device in a sensing session setup, that the second STA of the first multi-link device will participate in performing sensing measurements during a sensing session, the determining being performed by exchanging operating attributes with the first STA of the first multi-link device over the first wireless link; - During the sensing session, performing wireless sensing by the first multi-link device over the second wireless link using the second STA of the first multi-link device, thereby obtaining sensing measurements.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The execution steps include: - During the awareness session, wireless awareness is performed by the first multi-link device on the first wireless link and the second wireless link using the first STA and the second STA of the first multi-link device, respectively.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The method comprises the following steps: - During the awareness session, sending, by the first multi-link device on the first wireless link, frames using the first STA of the first multi-link device to enable the first STA of the second multi-link device to perform awareness measurements using the frames.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The method comprises the following steps: - Receiving, by the first multi-link device on the first wireless link, the perception measurements obtained by the second multi-link device, by the first STA using the first multi-link device.

5. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The method comprises the following steps: - Perception measurements obtained by the first multi-link device on the first wireless link using the first STA report of the first multi-link device.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The performing step includes performing the wireless sensing substantially simultaneously.

7. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: At least one of the first multi-link device and the second multi-link device is a multi-link single radio device.

8. A first multi-link device, arranged to perform perception measurements during a perception session between the first multi-link device and a second multi-link device in a wireless communication network, wherein: The first multi-link device includes two stations STA (STA11, STA12), wherein the second multi-link device includes two STAs (STA21, STA22), wherein the STAs (STA11, STA12, STA21, STA22) are arranged to communicate using independent wireless links, so that the first STAs of the two multi-link devices can communicate through the first wireless link, and so that the second STAs of the two multi-link devices can communicate through the second wireless link, the first multi-link device includes: - a processing device arranged for determining in a sensing session setup that said second STA of said first multi-link device will participate in performing sensing measurements during a sensing session, said determination being performed by exchanging operational attributes with said first STA of said first multi-link device over said first wireless link; - an performing device arranged for performing wireless sensing using said second STA of said first multi-link device on said second wireless link during a sensing session, thereby obtaining sensing measurements.

9. The first multi-link device according to claim 8, wherein: The performing device is further arranged to perform wireless sensing using the first STA and the second STA of the first multi-link device on the first wireless link and the second wireless link, respectively, during the sensing session.

10. The first multi-link device according to claim 8, wherein: The first multi-link device also includes: - a transmitting device arranged for, during said sensing session, transmitting frames on said first radio link using said first STA of said first multi-link device to enable said first STA of said second multi-link device to perform sensing measurements using said frames.

11. The first multi-link device according to claim 10, wherein: The first multi-link device comprises: - a receiving device arranged for receiving, over said first wireless link, perception measurements obtained by said second multi-link device using said first STA of said first multi-link device.

12. The first multi-link device according to any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein: The first multi-link device also includes: - a reporting device arranged for reporting obtained perception measurements using said first STA of said first multi-link device over said first wireless link.

13. The first multi-link device according to claim 9, wherein: The performing devices are arranged to perform the wireless sensing substantially simultaneously.

14. The first multi-link device according to any one of claims 8 to 13, wherein: The first multi-link device is a multi-link single radio device.

15. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by a multi-link device, cause the multi-link device to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

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