Timing advance for NTN positioning

Abstract

In some implementations, a user equipment (UE) may determine a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value, where: the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value indicates a propagation delay between a non-ground vehicle of an NTN and the UE, and the propagation delay is determined based on a distance between an estimated position of the UE and an estimated position of the non-ground vehicle. The UE may transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in a message to a network node of a data communication network.

Description

[0001] Related Applications

[0002] This application claims the benefit of Greek Application No. 20220100463, filed on June 1, 2022, entitled “TIMING ADVANCE FOR NTN POSITIONING,” which is assigned to the assignee of this application and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Background Art 1. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure generally relates to the field of radio frequency (RF) based position determination (or positioning) of electronic wireless devices. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to non-terrestrial network (NTN) based positioning.

[0004] 2. Related technologies

[0005] The positioning of devices can have a wide range of consumer, industrial, commercial, military and other applications. As a supplement or alternative to terrestrial network (TN) based positioning, NTN based positioning provides coverage for positioning applications. NTN based positioning can be used for network verification of the location of user equipment (UE) and positioning of UE. In order to achieve this functionality, timing advance adjustment can be provided for UE. Summary of the invention

[0006] According to the present disclosure, an example method of reporting a timing advance of a user equipment (UE) for non-terrestrial network (NTN) positioning in a data communication network may include: determining a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value at the UE, wherein the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value indicates a propagation delay between a non-terrestrial vehicle of the NTN and the UE, and the propagation delay is determined based on a distance between an estimated position of the UE and an estimated position of the non-terrestrial vehicle. The method may also include: transmitting the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in a message to a network node of the data communication network.

[0007] According to the present disclosure, an example method of reporting a timing advance of a user equipment (UE) for non-terrestrial network (NTN) positioning in a data communication network at a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) node may include: receiving a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value from the UE at the NG-RAN node, wherein the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value indicates a propagation delay between a non-terrestrial vehicle of the NTN and the UE, and the propagation delay reflects a distance between an estimated position of the UE and an estimated position of the non-terrestrial vehicle. The method may also include: transmitting the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to a location server of the data communication network in an enhanced cell ID (ECID) message.

[0008] According to the present disclosure, an example UE for reporting a timing advance of a user equipment (UE) for non-terrestrial network (NTN) positioning in a data communication network may include: a transceiver; a memory; one or more processors, the one or more processors being communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value, wherein: the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value indicates a propagation delay between a non-terrestrial vehicle of the NTN and the UE, and the propagation delay is determined based on a distance between an estimated position of the UE and an estimated position of the non-terrestrial vehicle. The one or more processors may be further configured to: transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in a message to a network node of the data communication network via the transceiver.

[0009] According to the present disclosure, an example NG-RAN for reporting timing advance of a user equipment (UE) for non-terrestrial network (NTN) positioning in a data communication network may include: a transceiver; a memory; one or more processors, the one or more processors being communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value from the UE via the transceiver, wherein: the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value indicates a propagation delay between a non-terrestrial vehicle of the NTN and the UE, and the propagation delay reflects a distance between an estimated position of the UE and an estimated position of the non-terrestrial vehicle. The one or more processors may be further configured to: transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to a location server of the data communication network in an enhanced cell ID (ECID) message via the transceiver.

[0010] This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used alone to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter. The subject matter should be understood by reference to appropriate portions of the entire specification of the disclosure, any or all of the drawings, and each claim. The foregoing and other features and examples will be described in more detail in the following description, claims, and drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] Figure 1 is a diagram of a positioning system according to an embodiment.

[0012] Figure 2 is a diagram of a 5th generation (5G) new radio (NR) positioning system, which illustrates a positioning system implemented within a 5G NR communication network (e.g., Figure 1 implementation scheme of a positioning system).

[0013] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating aspects of a non-terrestrial network (NTN) system according to an embodiment.

[0014] Figure 4A and Figure 4B is a diagram illustrating how timing advance may operate in a communication network, including a communication network utilizing NTN communications and / or positioning.

[0015] Figure 5 is a call flow diagram of an enhanced cell ID (ECID) positioning method according to an implementation scheme.

[0016] Figure 6 is a flow chart of a method at a user equipment (UE) of reporting a timing advance of the UE for NTN positioning in a data communication network according to an embodiment.

[0017] Figure 7 is a flow chart of a method at a Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) node of reporting timing advance of a UE for NTN positioning in a data communication network according to an embodiment.

[0018] Figure 8 is a block diagram of an implementation of a UE that may be utilized in implementations as described herein.

[0019] Fig. 9 is a block diagram of an implementation of a base station that may be utilized in implementations as described herein.

[0020] Fig.10 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a computer system that may be utilized in embodiments as described herein.

[0021] According to certain example implementations, similar reference numerals in various figures indicate similar elements. In addition, multiple instances of an element may be indicated by adding a letter or hyphen and a second numeral after the first numeral of the element. For example, multiple instances of element 110 may be indicated as 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, etc. or 110a, 110b, 110c, etc. When only the first numeral is used to refer to such an element, any instance of the element should be understood (e.g., element 110 in the previous example will refer to elements 110-1, 110-2, and 110-3 or to elements 110a, 110b, and 110c). DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] The following description is directed to certain specific implementations for describing the innovative aspects of various embodiments. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the teachings herein can be applied in a variety of different ways. The described specific implementations can be implemented in any device, system, or network capable of sending and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals according to any communication standard, such as any of the following: the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.4 standard for ultra-wideband (UWB), the IEEE 802.11 standard (including those identified as Technical standards), Standard, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), GSM / General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA), Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO), 1xEV-DO, EV-DO Revision A, EV-DO Revision B, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), Evolved High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA+), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), or other known signals for communicating within a wireless, cellular or Internet of Things (IoT) network, such as a system utilizing 3G, 4G, 5G, 6G or further implementations thereof.

[0023] As used herein, an "RF signal" includes electromagnetic waves that transmit information through the space between a transmitter (or transmitting device) and a receiver (or receiving device). As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multiple channels or paths, a receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal.

[0024] Additionally, unless otherwise indicated, references to "reference signals," "positioning reference signals," "reference signals used for positioning," etc. may be used to refer to signals used to locate user equipment (UE). As described in more detail herein, such signals may include any of a variety of signal types, but may not necessarily be limited to positioning reference signals (PRS) as defined in relevant wireless standards.

[0025] Non-terrestrial network (NTN) based positioning (also referred to herein as "NTN positioning") utilizes RF signals sent by non-terrestrial network nodes (such as satellites and air vehicles) to achieve positioning of mobile devices. In cellular / mobile broadband networks, such mobile devices include UEs. NTN based positioning can be used as a supplement or alternative to terrestrial network (TN) based positioning, in which network nodes can send and / or receive RF signals to / from UEs for positioning of UEs. In some embodiments, NTN positioning can be used as one of many technologies for locating electronic devices in a positioning system. Figure 1 An example of such a positioning system is provided.

[0026] Figure 1 is a simplified illustration of a positioning system 100 according to an embodiment, in which a UE 105, a location server 160, and / or other components of the positioning system 100 may use the techniques provided herein for achieving NTN timing advance when determining an estimated position of the UE 105. The techniques described herein may be implemented by one or more components of the positioning system 100. The positioning system 100 may include: a UE 105; one or more satellites 110 (also referred to as space vehicles (SVs)) for a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) such as a global positioning system (GPS), GLONASS, Galileo, or BeiDou; a base station 120; an access point (AP) 130; a location server 160; a network 170; and an external client 180. In general, the positioning system 100 may estimate the position of the UE 105 based on RF signals received by and / or transmitted from the UE 105 and the known positions of other components (e.g., GNSS satellites 110, base stations 120, APs 130) that send and / or receive RF signals. Reference Figure 2 Additional details regarding specific location estimation techniques are discussed in more detail.

[0027] It should be pointed out that Figure 1 Only a generalized illustration of various components is provided, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate, and each component may be repeated as needed. Specifically, although only one UE 105 is illustrated, it should be understood that many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may utilize the positioning system 100. Similarly, the positioning system 100 may include more than one UE 105. Figure 1A greater or lesser number of base stations 120 and / or APs 130 are illustrated. The illustrated connections connecting the various components in the positioning 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, components may be rearranged, combined, separated, replaced, and / or omitted depending on the desired functionality. In some embodiments, for example, the external client 180 may be directly connected to the location server 160. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize many modifications to the illustrated components.

[0028] Depending on the desired functionality, network 170 may include any of a variety of wireless and / or wired networks. Network 170 may, for example, include any combination of public and / or private networks, local area networks and / or wide area networks, etc. In addition, network 170 may utilize one or more wired and / or wireless communication technologies. In some embodiments, network 170 may include, for example, cellular or other mobile networks, wireless local area networks (WLANs), wireless wide area networks (WWANs), and / or the Internet. Examples of network 170 include long-term evolution (LTE) wireless networks, fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks (also referred to as new radio (NR) wireless networks or 5G NR wireless networks), Wi-Fi WLANs, and the Internet. LTE, 5G, and NR are wireless technologies defined or being defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Network 170 may also include more than one network and / or more than one type of network.

[0029] Base station 120 and access point (AP) 130 may be communicatively coupled to network 170. In some embodiments, base station 120 may be owned, maintained and / or operated by a cellular network provider and may employ any of a variety of wireless technologies, as described herein below. Depending on the technology of network 170, base station 120 may include a node B, an evolved node B (eNodeB or eNB), a transceiver base station (BTS), a radio base station (RBS), an NR node B (gNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), etc. In the case where network 170 is a 5G network, base station 120 as a gNB or ng-eNB may be part of a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) that may be connected to a 5G core network (5GC). In view of the open radio access network (O-RAN) and / or virtualized radio access network (V-RAN or vRAN) in 5G or higher networks, the functionality performed by the base station 120 in earlier generation networks (e.g., 3G and 4G) may be separated into different functional components (e.g., radio unit (RU), distributed unit (DU), and central unit (CU)) and layers (e.g., L1 / L2 / L3), which may be executed on different devices at different locations connected, for example, via fronthaul, midhaul, and backhaul connections. As referred to herein, a "base station" (or ng-eNB, gNB, etc.) may include any or all of these functional components. For example, AP 130 may include a Wi-Fi AP or AP or an AP with cellular capabilities (e.g., 4G LTE and / or 5G NR). Thus, UE 105 can transmit and receive information with network-connected devices such as location server 160 by accessing network 170 via base station 120 using first communication link 133. Additionally or alternatively, because AP 130 can also be communicatively coupled with network 170, UE 105 can communicate with network-connected and Internet-connected devices (including location server 160) using second communication link 135 or via one or more other mobile devices 145.

[0030] As used herein, the term "base station" may generally refer to a single physical transmission point or multiple co-located physical transmission points that may be located at a base station 120. A transmit receive point (TRP) (also referred to as a transmit / receive point) corresponds to this type of transmission point, and the term "TRP" may be used interchangeably with the terms "gNB," "ng-eNB," and "base station" herein. In some cases, a base station 120 may include multiple TRPs—for example, where each TRP is associated with a different antenna or a different antenna array of the base station 120. As used herein, the transmit functionality of a TRP may be performed using a transmit point (TP), and / or the receive functionality of a TRP may be performed by a receive point (RP), which may be physically separate or distinct from the TP. That is, a TRP may include both a TP and an RP. A physical transmission point may include an antenna array of a base station 120 (for example, as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system and / or where the base station employs beamforming). The term "base station" may additionally refer to multiple non-co-located physical transmission points, which may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transmission medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station).

[0031] As used herein, the term "cell" may generally refer to a logical communication entity for communicating with base station 120, and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID)) for distinguishing adjacent cells operating via the same or different carriers. In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other protocols) that may provide access to different types of devices. In some cases, the term "cell" may refer to a portion of a geographic coverage area (e.g., a sector) within which the logical entity operates.

[0032] The location server 160 may include a server and / or other computing device configured to determine an estimated location of the UE 105 and / or provide data (e.g., “assistance data”) to the UE 105 to facilitate location measurement and / or location determination by the UE 105. According to some embodiments, the location server 160 may include a Home Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (H-SLP), which may support the SUPL User Plane (UP) location solution defined by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) and may support location services for the UE 105 based on subscription information of the UE 105 stored in the location server 160. In some embodiments, the location server 160 may include a Discovery SLP (D-SLP) or an Emergency SLP (E-SLP). The location server 160 may also include an enhanced serving mobile location center (E-SMLC) that supports positioning of the UE 105 using a control plane (CP) positioning solution for LTE radio access of the UE 105. The location server 160 may also include a location management function (LMF) that supports positioning of the UE 105 using a control plane (CP) positioning solution for NR or LTE radio access of the UE 105.

[0033] In the CP positioning solution, from the perspective of the network 170, the signaling for controlling and managing the positioning of the UE 105 may use existing network interfaces and protocols and be exchanged as signaling between the elements of the network 170 and with the UE 105. In the UP positioning solution, from the perspective of the network 170, the signaling for controlling and managing the positioning of the UE 105 may be exchanged between the location server 160 and the UE 105 as data (e.g., data transmitted using the Internet Protocol (IP) and / or the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)).

[0034] As previously noted (and discussed in more detail below), the estimated position of UE 105 may be based on measurements of RF signals transmitted from and / or received by UE 105. In particular, these measurements may provide information about the relative distances and / or angles of UE 105 from one or more components in positioning system 100 (e.g., GNSS satellites 110, APs 130, base stations 120). The estimated position of UE 105 may be estimated geometrically (e.g., using multi-angle measurements and / or multilateration) based on the distance and / or angle measurements along with the known positions of the one or more components.

[0035] Although ground components such as AP 130 and base station 120 may be fixed, the embodiments are not limited thereto. Mobile components may be used. For example, in some embodiments, the location of UE 105 may be estimated based at least in part on measurements of RF signals 140 communicated between UE 105 and one or more other mobile devices 145 (the one or more other mobile devices may be mobile or fixed). As illustrated, the other mobile devices may include, for example, mobile phone 145-1, vehicle 145-2, static communication / positioning device 145-3, or other static and / or mobile devices capable of providing wireless signals for locating UE 105, or a combination thereof. Wireless signals from mobile device 145 for positioning of UE 105 may include using, for example, (including Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)), IEEE 802.11x (e.g. ), ultra-wideband (UWB), IEEE 802.15x, or a combination thereof. The mobile device 145 may additionally or alternatively use non-RF wireless signals such as infrared signals or other optical techniques to locate the UE 105.

[0036] The mobile devices 145 may include other UEs that are communicatively coupled to a cellular network or other mobile network (e.g., network 170). When one or more other mobile devices 145 including a UE are used in the positioning determination of a particular UE 105, the UE 105 whose positioning is to be determined may be referred to as a "target UE", and each of the other mobile devices 145 used may be referred to as an "anchor UE". In order to perform positioning determination on the target UE, the corresponding positioning of the one or more anchor UEs may be known and / or determined jointly with the target UE. Direct communication between one or more other mobile devices 145 and the UE 105 may include side links and / or similar device-to-device (D2D) communication technologies. The side link defined by 3GPP is a form of D2D communication under the cellular-based LTE and NR standards.

[0037] According to some embodiments, such as when the UE 105 includes and / or is incorporated into a vehicle, a form of D2D communication used by the mobile device 105 may include vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication. V2X is a communication standard for vehicles to exchange information about the traffic environment with related entities. V2X may include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication between vehicles with V2X capabilities, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication between vehicles and infrastructure-based equipment (commonly referred to as roadside units (RSUs)), vehicle-to-person (V2P) communication between vehicles and nearby people (pedestrians, cyclists and other road users), etc. In addition, V2X may use any of a variety of wireless RF communication technologies. For example, cellular V2X (CV2X) is a form of V2X that uses cellular-based communications in a direct communication mode defined by 3GPP, such as LTE (4G), NR (5G) and / or other cellular technologies. Figure 1 The illustrated UE 105 may correspond to a component or device located on a vehicle, RSU, or other V2X entity for communicating V2X messages. In an embodiment in which V2X is used, the static communication / positioning device 145-3 (which may correspond to an RSU) and / or the vehicle 145-2 may therefore communicate with the UE 105 and may be used to determine the location of the UE 105 using techniques similar to those used by the base station 120 and / or AP 130 (e.g., using multi-angle and / or multi-point positioning). It may be further noted that, according to some embodiments, the mobile device 145 (which may include a V2X device), the base station 120, and / or the AP 130 may be used together (e.g., in a WWAN positioning solution) to determine the location of the UE 105.

[0038] The estimated position of UE 105 may be used in various applications, such as to assist a user of UE 105 in direction finding or navigation or to assist another user (e.g., associated with external client 180) in locating UE 105. "Position" is also referred to herein as "position estimate," "estimated position," "position," "position estimate," "position determination," "estimated position," "position fix," or "fix." The process of determining a position may be referred to as "positioning," "position determination," "position determination," etc. The position of UE 105 may include an absolute position of UE 105 (e.g., latitude and longitude and possibly altitude) or a relative position of UE 105 (e.g., expressed as a position at a distance north or south, east or west, and possibly above or below some other known fixed position (including, for example, the position of base station 120 or AP 130) or some other position (such as the position of UE 105 at some known previous time, or the position of mobile device 145 (e.g., another UE) at some known previous time). The location may be specified as a geodetic location including coordinates that may be absolute (e.g., latitude, longitude, and optionally altitude), relative (e.g., relative to some known absolute location), or local (e.g., X, Y, and optionally Z coordinates according to a coordinate system defined relative to a local area, such as a factory, warehouse, university campus, shopping mall, stadium, or convention center). The location may alternatively be a city location, and may then include one or more of a street address (e.g., including a country, state, county, city, road and / or street name or label, and / or road or street number) and / or a label or name of a place, a building, a portion of a building, a floor of a building, and / or a room within a building, etc. The location may also include uncertainty or error indications, such as horizontal distances and possibly vertical distances over which the location is expected to have error, or an indication of an area or volume (e.g., a circle or ellipse) within which the UE 105 is expected to be located with a certain confidence level (e.g., 95% confidence).

[0039] The external client 180 may be a web server or remote application that may have some association with the UE 105 (e.g., accessible by a user of the UE 105), or may be a server, application, or computer system that provides location services to one or more other users, which may include obtaining and providing the location of the UE 105 (e.g., to enable services such as friend or relative locating, or child or pet locating). Additionally or alternatively, the external client 180 may obtain the location of the UE 105 and provide it to emergency service providers, government agencies, etc.

[0040] As previously noted, the example positioning system 100 may be implemented using a wireless communication network such as an LTE-based or 5GNR-based network. Figure 2A diagram of a 5G NR positioning system 200 is shown, which illustrates an embodiment of a positioning system (e.g., positioning system 100) that implements 5G NR. The 5G NR positioning system 200 can be configured to determine the location of the UE 105 by using access nodes to implement one or more positioning methods. The access nodes can include NR Node Bs (gNBs) 210-1 and 210-2 (collectively referred to herein as gNBs 210), ng-eNBs 214, and / or WLANs 216. The gNBs 210 and / or ng-eNBs 214 can communicate with the UE 105 to determine the location of the UE 105. Figure 1 The base station 120 corresponds to the WLAN 216, and the WLAN 216 can be connected to the Figure 1 130. Optionally, the 5G NR positioning system 200 may be additionally configured to determine the location of the UE 105 by using the LMF 220 (which may correspond to the location server 160) to implement one or more positioning methods. Here, the 5G NR positioning system 200 includes the UE 105, and components of a 5G NR network, the 5G NR network including a next generation (NG) radio access network (RAN) (NG-RAN) 235 and a 5G core network (5G CN) 240. The 5G network may also be referred to as an NR network; the NG-RAN 235 may be referred to as a 5G RAN or an NR RAN; and the 5G CN 240 may be referred to as an NG core network. Additional components of the 5G NR positioning system 200 are described below. The 5G NR positioning system 200 may include additional or alternative components.

[0041] The 5G NR positioning system 200 may also utilize information from satellites 110. As previously indicated, satellites 110 may include GNSS satellites from a GNSS system like the Global Positioning System (GPS) or similar systems (e.g., GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS)). Additionally or alternatively, satellites 110 may include NTN satellites that may be communicatively coupled with LMF 220 and operatively used as TRPs (or TPs) in NG-RAN 235. Thus, satellites 110 may communicate with one or more gNBs 210.

[0042] It should be pointed out that Figure 2Only generalized illustrations of various components are provided, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate, and each component may be repeated or omitted as desired. Specifically, although only one UE 105 is illustrated, it should be understood that many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may utilize the 5G NR positioning system 200. Similarly, the 5G NR positioning system 200 may include a larger (or smaller) number of satellites 110, gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, wireless local area network (WLAN) 216, access and mobility management function (AMF) 215, external client 230, and / or other components. The illustrated connections connecting the various components in the 5G NR positioning system 200 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, components may be rearranged, combined, separated, replaced, and / or omitted, depending on the desired functionality.

[0043] UE 105 may include and / or 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 computer, a tablet computer, a personal data assistant (PDA), a navigation device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, 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 GSM, CDMA, W-CDMA, LTE, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), IEEE 802.11 Bluetooth, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX TM ), 5G NR (e.g., using NG-RAN 235 and 5G CN 240). UE 105 may also support wireless communications using WLAN 216, which is similar to one or more RATs and as previously described with respect to Figure 1 The use of one or more of these RATs may allow UE 105 (e.g., via Figure 2 Elements of the 5G CN 240, not shown, may communicate with external clients 230, or possibly via a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 225) and / or allow external clients 230 (e.g., via GMLC 225) to receive location information about UE 105. When implemented in or communicatively coupled with a 5G NR network, Figure 2 The external client 230 may correspond to Figure 1 External client 180.

[0044] UE 105 may include a single entity or may include multiple entities, such as in a personal area network in which a user may employ audio, video, and / or data I / O devices, and / or body sensors and separate wired or wireless modems. The estimate of the location of UE 105 may be referred to as location, location estimate, location fix, fix, position, position estimate, or position fix, and may be geodetic, providing location coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) for 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., 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 also 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 also be a relative location, including, for example, a distance and direction or relative X, Y (and Z) coordinates defined relative to some origin at a known location, which may be defined geodetically, municipally, or with reference to a point, area, or volume indicated on a map, floor plan, or building plan. In the description contained herein, the use of the term location may include any of these variations unless otherwise indicated. When calculating the location of the UE, local X, Y, and possibly Z coordinates are typically solved, and then the local coordinates are converted to absolute coordinates (e.g., with respect to latitude, longitude, and altitude above or below mean sea level) if necessary.

[0045] Figure 2 The base stations in the NG-RAN 235 shown may correspond to Figure 1 The base stations 120 in the NG-RAN 235 may include gNBs 210. Pairs of gNBs 210 in the NG-RAN 235 may be connected to each other (e.g., Figure 2 The communication interface between the base stations (gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214) may be referred to as an Xn interface 237. Access to the 5G network is provided to the UE 105 via wireless communication between the UE 105 and one or more gNBs 210, which may provide wireless communication access to the 5G CN 240 on behalf of the UE 105 using 5G NR. The wireless interface between the base station (gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214) and the UE 105 may be referred to as an Uu interface 239. 5G NR radio access may also be referred to as NR radio access or 5G radio access. Figure 2, it is assumed that the serving gNB for UE 105 is gNB 210-1, but other gNBs (e.g., gNB 210-2) may act as serving gNBs if UE 105 moves to another location, or may act as secondary gNBs to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to UE 105.

[0046] Figure 2 The base stations in the illustrated NG-RAN 235 may additionally or alternatively include a next generation evolved Node B (also referred to as ng-eNB) 214. The ng-eNB 214 may be connected to one or more gNBs 210 in the NG-RAN 235—e.g., directly, or indirectly via other gNBs 210 and / or other ng-eNBs. The ng-eNB 214 may provide LTE radio access and / or evolved LTE (eLTE) radio access to the UE 105. Figure 2 Some of the gNBs 210 (e.g., gNB 210-2) and / or ng-eNBs 214 may be configured to function as positioning-only beacons that may transmit signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) and / or may broadcast assistance data to assist in positioning UE 105, but may not receive signals from UE 105 or other UEs. Some of the gNBs 210 (e.g., gNB 210-2 and / or another gNB not shown) and / or ng-eNBs 214 may be configured to function as detection-only nodes that may scan for signals containing, for example, PRS data, assistance data, or other location data. Such detection-only nodes may not transmit signals or data to the UE, but may transmit signals or data (related to, for example, PRS, assistance data, or other location data) to other network entities (e.g., one or more components of 5G CN 240, external clients 230, or a controller), which may receive and store the data or use the data to locate at least UE 105. It should be noted that although Figure 2 Only one ng-eNB 214 is shown in FIG, but some embodiments may include multiple ng-eNBs 214. Base stations (e.g., gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214) may communicate directly with each other via an Xn communication interface. Additionally or alternatively, the base station may communicate directly or indirectly with other components of the 5G NR positioning system 200 (such as LMF 220 and AMF 215).

[0047] The 5G NR positioning system 200 may also include one or more WLANs 216 that may be connected to a non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF) 250 in the 5GCN 240 (e.g., in the case of an untrusted WLAN 216). For example, the WLAN 216 may support IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi access for the UE 105 and may include one or more Wi-Fi APs (e.g., Figure 1 Here, the N3IWF 250 may be connected to other elements in the 5G CN 240, such as the AMF 215. In some embodiments, the WLAN 216 may support another RAT, such as Bluetooth. The N3IWF 250 may provide support for secure access of the UE 105 to other elements in the 5G CN 240 and / or may support interworking of one or more protocols used by the WLAN 216 and the UE 105 with one or more protocols used by other elements of the 5G CN 240 (such as the AMF 215). For example, the N3IWF 250 may support: IPSec tunnel establishment with the UE 105, termination of the IKEv2 / IPSec protocol with the UE 105, termination of the N2 and N3 interfaces with the 5G CN 240 for the control plane and the user plane, respectively, and relay of uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) control plane non-access stratum (NAS) signaling across the N1 interface between the UE 105 and the AMF 215. In some other embodiments, the WLAN 216 may be directly connected to elements in the 5G CN 240 (e.g., Figure 2 215) and not via N3IWF 250. For example, direct connection of WLAN 216 to 5GCN 240 may occur when WLAN 216 is a trusted WLAN for 5GCN 240 and may use a trusted WLAN interworking function (TWIF) ( Figure 2 It should be noted that although Figure 2 Only one WLAN 216 is shown in FIG. 2 , but some embodiments may include multiple WLANs 216 .

[0048] The access node may include any of a variety of network entities that enable communication between the UE 105 and the AMF 215. As noted, this may include a gNB 210, an ng-eNB 214, a WLAN 216, and / or other types of cellular base stations. However, an access node that provides the functionality described herein may additionally or alternatively include a cellular network entity that enables communication with the UE 105. Figure 2An entity that communicates with any of the various RATs not illustrated in the specification (which may include non-cellular technologies). Therefore, as used in the embodiments described below, the term "access node" may include but is not necessarily limited to gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, or WLAN 216.

[0049] In some embodiments, an access node (such as gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, and / or WLAN 216) (alone or in combination with other components of 5G NR positioning system 200) may be configured to: in response to receiving a request for location information from LMF 220, obtain a location measurement for an uplink (UL) signal received from UE 105 and / or obtain a DL location measurement from UE 105 for a downlink (DL) signal received by UE 105 from one or more access nodes. As noted, although Figure 2 The access nodes (gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, and WLAN 216) are depicted as being configured to communicate in accordance with 5G NR, LTE, and Wi-Fi communication protocols, respectively, but access nodes configured to communicate in accordance with other communication protocols may be used, such as, for example, a Node B using a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) protocol for a Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), an eNB using an LTE protocol for an Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN), or an eNB using a LTE protocol for a WLAN. For example, in a 4G Evolved Packet System (EPS) that provides LTE radio access to UE 105, the RAN may include E-UTRAN, which may include base stations including eNBs that support LTE radio access. The core network for EPS may include an Evolved Packet Core (EPC). EPS may then include E-UTRAN plus EPC, where Figure 2 , E-UTRAN corresponds to NG-RAN 235 and EPC corresponds to 5GCN 240. The methods and techniques described herein for obtaining the municipal location of UE 105 may be applicable to such other networks.

[0050] The gNB 210 and ng-eNB 214 may communicate with the AMF 215, which communicates with the LMF 220 for positioning functionality. The AMF 215 may support mobility of the UE 105, including cell change and handover of the UE 105 from an access node of a first RAT (e.g., a gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, or WLAN 216) to an access node of a second RAT. The AMF 215 may also be involved in supporting signaling connections with the UE 105 and possibly supporting data and voice bearers for the UE 105. The LMF 220 may support positioning the UE 105 using a CP positioning solution when the UE 105 accesses the NG-RAN 235 or the WLAN 216, and may support positioning procedures and methods, including UE-assisted / UE-based and / or network-based procedures / methods, such as Assisted GNSS (A-GNSS), Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) (which may be referred to as Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) in NR), Frequency Difference of Arrival (FDOA), Real-Time Kinematics (RTK), Precise Point Positioning (PPP), Differential GNSS (DGNSS), Enhanced Cell ID (ECID), Angle of Arrival (AoA), Angle of Departure (AoD), WLAN Positioning, Round Trip Signal Propagation Delay (RTT), Multi-Cell RTT, and / or other positioning procedures and methods. The LMF 220 may also process a location service request for the UE 105 received, for example, from the AMF 215 or from the GMLC 225. The LMF 220 may be connected to the AMF 215 and / or the GMLC 225. In some embodiments, the network (such as 5GCN 240) may additionally or alternatively implement other types of location support modules, such as an evolved serving mobile location center (E-SMLC) or a SUPL location platform (SLP). It should be noted that in some embodiments, at least a portion of the positioning functionality (including determining the location of UE 105) may be performed at UE 105 (e.g., by measuring downlink PRS (DL-PRS) signals sent by wireless nodes (such as gNB 210, ng-eNB 214 and / or WLAN 216), and / or using assistance data provided to UE 105, for example, by LMF 220).

[0051] The Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 225 may support location requests for the UE 105 received from the external client 230, and may forward such location requests to the AMF 215 for forwarding by the AMF 215 to the LMF 220. A location response (e.g., including a location estimate for the UE 105) from the LMF 220 may similarly be returned to the GMLC 225 directly or via the AMF 215, and the GMLC 225 may then return the location response (e.g., including the location estimate) to the external client 230.

[0052] A network exposure function (NEF) 245 may be included in the 5GCN 240. The NEF 245 may support secure exposure of capabilities and events regarding the 5GCN 240 and the UE 105 to the external client 230, which may therefore be referred to as an access function (AF) and may enable secure provisioning of information from the external client 230 to the 5GCN 240. The NEF 245 may be connected to the AMF 215 and / or the GMLC 225 for obtaining the location (e.g., municipal location) of the UE 105 and providing the location to the external client 230.

[0053] like Figure 2 As further illustrated, LMF 220 may communicate with gNB 210 and / or with ng-eNB 214 using NR Positioning Protocol Annex (NRPPa) as defined in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.455. NRPPa messages may be transmitted between gNB 210 and LMF 220 and / or between ng-eNB 214 and LMF 220 via AMF 215. Figure 2 As further illustrated, the LMF 220 and the UE 105 may communicate using the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) as defined in 3GPP TS 37.355. Here, LPP messages may be transmitted between the UE 105 and the LMF 220 via the AMF 215 and the serving gNB 210-1 or the serving ng-eNB 214 of the UE 105. For example, the LPP messages may be transmitted between the LMF 220 and the AMF 215 using messages for service-based operations (e.g., based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)), and may be transmitted between the AMF 215 and the UE 105 using the 5G NAS protocol. The LPP protocol may be used to support positioning of the UE 105 using UE-assisted and / or UE-based positioning methods such as A-GNSS, RTK, TDOA, multi-cell RTT, AoD, and / or ECID. The NRPPa protocol may be used to support positioning of UE 105 using network-based positioning methods such as ECID, AoA, uplink TDOA (UL-TDOA), and / or may be used by LMF 220 to obtain location-related information from gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214, such as parameters defining DL-PRS transmissions from gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214.

[0054] In the case where the UE 105 accesses the WLAN 216, the LMF 220 may use NRPPa and / or LPP to obtain the location of the UE 105 in a manner similar to that just described for the UE 105 accessing the gNB 210 or ng-eNB 214. Thus, NRPPa messages may be transmitted between the WLAN 216 and the LMF 220 via the AMF 215 and the N3IWF 250 to support network-based positioning of the UE 105 and / or to transmit other location information from the WLAN 216 to the LMF 220. Alternatively, NRPPa messages may be transmitted between the N3IWF 250 and the LMF 220 via the AMF 215 to support network-based positioning of the UE 105 based on location-related information and / or location measurements that are known or accessible to the N3IWF 250 and transmitted from the N3IWF 250 to the LMF 220 using NRPPa. Similarly, LPP and / or LPP messages may be transmitted between the UE 105 and the LMF 220 via the AMF 215, the N3IWF 250, and the serving WLAN 216 of the UE 105 to support UE-assisted or UE-based positioning of the UE 105 by the LMF 220.

[0055] In the 5G NR positioning system 200, positioning methods may be classified as "UE-assisted" or "UE-based". This may depend on where the request to determine the location of the UE 105 originates. For example, where the request originates from the UE (e.g., from an application or "app" executed by the UE), the positioning method may be classified as UE-based. On the other hand, where the request originates from an external client 230, LMF 220, or other device or service within the 5G network, the positioning method may be classified as UE-assisted (or "network-based").

[0056] With UE-assisted positioning methods, the UE 105 may obtain location measurements and transmit these measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 220) for use in computing a location estimate for the UE 105. For RAT-dependent positioning methods, the location measurements may include one or more of the following for one or more access points of the gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, and / or WLAN 216: received signal strength indicator (RSSI), round trip signal propagation time (RTT), reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), RSTD, time of arrival (TOA), AoA, receive time-transmit time difference (Rx-Tx), differential AoA (DAoA), AoD, or timing advance (TA). Additionally or alternatively, similar measurements may be made on sidelink signals sent by other UEs, which may be used as anchor points for positioning the UE 105 if the locations of these other UEs are known. The position measurements may additionally or alternatively include measurements for RAT-independent positioning methods, such as GNSS (eg, GNSS pseudoranges of GNSS satellites, GNSS code phase, and / or GNSS carrier phase), WLAN, and the like.

[0057] Using the UE-based positioning method, the UE 105 can obtain a position measurement (e.g., which can be the same or similar to the position measurement of the UE-assisted positioning method), and the position of the UE 105 can be further calculated (e.g., with the aid of auxiliary data received from a location server such as LMF 220, SLP or broadcast by gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, or WLAN 216).

[0058] Using network-based positioning methods, one or more base stations (e.g., gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214), one or more APs (e.g., in WLAN 216), or N3IWF 250 may obtain location measurements (e.g., measurements of RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, AoA, or TOA) of signals sent by UE 105, and / or may receive measurements obtained by UE 105 or, in the case of N3IWF 250, by APs in WLAN 216, and may transmit these measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 220) for use in calculating a position estimate for UE 105.

[0059] The positioning of UE 105 may also be classified as UL-based, DL-based, or DL-UL-based according to the type of signal used for positioning. For example, in the case where positioning is based only on signals received at UE 105 (e.g., from a base station or other UE), the positioning may be classified as DL-based. On the other hand, in the case where positioning is based only on signals sent by UE 105 (which may be received by, for example, a base station or other UE), the positioning may be classified as UL-based. DL-UL-based positioning includes positioning based on signals sent and received by UE 105, such as RTT-based positioning. Sidelink (SL)-assisted positioning includes signals communicated between UE 105 and one or more other UEs. According to some embodiments, UL, DL, or DL-UL positioning as described herein may be able to use SL signaling as a supplement or replacement for SL, DL, or DL-UL signaling.

[0060] Depending on the type of positioning (e.g., UL-based, DL-based, or DL-UL-based), the type of reference signal used may be different. For example, for DL-based positioning, these signals may include PRS (e.g., DL-PRS sent by a base station or SL-PRS sent by other UEs), which may be used for TDOA measurements, AoD measurements, and RTT measurements. Other reference signals that may be used for positioning (UL, DL, or DL-UL) may include: Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Synchronization Signal (e.g., Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) Synchronization Signal (SS)), Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), etc. In addition, the reference signal may be sent in a Tx beam and / or received in an Rx beam (e.g., using beamforming techniques), which may affect angle measurements such as AoD and / or AoA.

[0061] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating aspects of an NTN system 300 that may be used to communicate data and / or provide a UE 305 (which may correspond to Figure 1 and Figure 2 UE 105), and may be a larger communication and / or positioning system (e.g., Figure 2 It may be noted that although Figure 3 The illustrated NTN system 300 illustrates satellites 310 for enabling communication and / or positioning of UE 305, but embodiments are not limited thereto. The NTN system 300 may additionally or alternatively include other non-ground transportation vehicles ( Figure 3 ), including non-space vehicles, such as high-altitude platform stations, balloons, airplanes, drones, etc.

[0062] The use of satellites 310 and / or other non-terrestrial vehicles to relay communication signals and / or provide positioning for UE 305 can help provide availability and continuity in geographic areas that are not easily served using only terrestrial means. Satellites 310 may include low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites, and / or geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellites. Satellites 310 (and / or other non-terrestrial vehicles in NTN system 300) can be connected to 5G or other communication networks via gateway 320 or ground stations using wireless RF feeder links 330. Satellites 310 can serve corresponding service areas 340 (which can be divided into one or more sub-areas, or "beams"), and can establish service links 350 with UEs within corresponding service areas 340. Service areas 340 can be mobile, corresponding to the movement of corresponding satellites 310 along their orbits. Service links 350 can be used as Uu interfaces for wireless networks accessed via gateway 320. In some embodiments, the gateway 320 and / or the satellite 310 may be associated with a base station of a cellular network (e.g., a gNB of a 5G network) and may include remote RUs and / or DUs of the base station that operatively serve as TRPs, TPs, and / or RPs of the base station.

[0063] Positioning UE 305 using NTN system 300 may be similar to positioning in a cellular network (e.g., as previously described with respect to Figure 2 This may include, for example, using satellites 310 and / or other non-terrestrial vehicles of NTN system 300 as transmission and / or reception points for transmitting and / or receiving reference signals for positioning UE 305. The reference signals may then be used to perform positioning-related measurements such as AoA, RTT, TDOA, etc., as previously described. A location server communicatively linked to gateway 320 may be used to coordinate positioning sessions using UE 305 and one or more of satellites 310.

[0064] Among other things, according to some embodiments, NTN positioning may provide a network-verified UE location. Network verification is performed when the network wants to verify the location of the UE as provided by the UE or another source. For example, the UE may provide GNSS-based positioning to the network, but the network may want to verify the location (e.g., within a specified or predetermined range) to ensure that the location is not wrong. For example, this may be the case in the case of GNSS spoofing of satellite signals in the UE's location, or in the case where the UE itself intentionally spoofs its location. However, it may be noted that the embodiments are not limited to network verification of the UE's location. For example, the embodiments may be used for other use cases and / or applications, such as NTN positioning.

[0065] Given the relatively large distances between satellites 310 and / or other non-terrestrial components of NTN system 300 (eg, compared to terrestrial networks), the corresponding timing advances may also be relatively large.

[0066] Figure 4A and Figure 4B is a diagram illustrating how timing advance may work in a communication network (e.g., a 5G NR network), including a communication network utilizing NTN communications and / or positioning. Figure 4A A simple scenario 400 is illustrated for illustrative purposes in describing timing advance. In particular, UE 405 is separated from TRP 410 (e.g., serving base station) by a distance d. For single-cell positioning / position verification, the received timing advance (T ADV ) as an estimate of the RTT between UE405 and TRP 410. Figure 4B Provides additional information.

[0067] In communication systems utilizing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), such as LTE, NR, etc., time resources may be divided into frames, with DL frames transmitted from the TRP 410 to the UE 405, and UL frames transmitted from the UE 405 to the TRP 410. The network may use timing advance to help enable the TRP 410 to synchronize the UL frame boundaries of UL frames (from the UE 405 and any other UEs served by the TRP 410) with the DL frame boundaries of the DL frames sent by the TRP 410. The timing advance is a length of time calculated for a particular UE 405 that the UE 405 uses to send an UL frame before sending a corresponding DL frame to help ensure that the UL frame arrives at the TRP 410 at approximately the same time as the DL frame is sent. The length of the timing advance for each UE will be proportional to the distance between the respective UE and the TRP.

[0068] Figure 4B4 is a timing diagram 420 that helps illustrate how timing advance works. Here, TRP 410 begins sending downlink frames at a first time point 425. Due to the distance d between TRP 410 and UE 405, the DL frame does not arrive at UE 405 until a second time point 430, which is a time period τ after the first time point 425, where τ = d / c (where c is the speed of light). For its part, UE 405 will send an UL frame at time 445. In the case where UE 405 is synchronized with TRP 410, the lag 440 between the reception of the DL frame at the second time 430 and the transmission of the UL frame at the third time 445 is substantially small and negligible in most situations. Likewise, due to the distance d between TRP 410 and UE 405, the UL frame experiences a lag time of τ. The time difference between the first time point 425 at which the DL frame is sent and the time point 450 at which the UL frame (corresponding to the DL frame) will be received by the TRP 410 can be used as a timing advance 455, which is roughly 2τ (an estimate of the RTT). That is, in the case where the UE 405 offsets the time of the UL frame by the length of the timing advance 455 by sending the UL frame before receiving the DL frame (e.g., at the second time point 430), the corresponding UL frame of the received DL frame will arrive at the TRP 410 substantially at the time when the corresponding DL frame is sent by the TRP (e.g., the first time point 425). And by determining the timing advance of all UEs being served by the TRP 410, the TRP can help ensure synchronization of UL frame boundaries. The TRP 410 (or the corresponding base station) can report the timing advance of the UE 405 (and any other UE being served by the TRP) to the location server (e.g., LMF) using the ECID message. This can provide the LMF with an approximate location of the UE 405.

[0069] In terrestrial networks, the UE may not implement timing advance before receiving a timing advance estimate from the network (e.g., during PRACH transmission). However, for NTN, the UE may implement a default / non-zero timing advance during the random access procedure. In particular, the UE may implement a common timing advance related to the feeder link delay in the NTN system (referred to as ), the common timing advance may be signaled by the network to the UE together with an indication of the common timing advance drift, thereby enabling the UE to determine the common timing advance at a specific time. Additionally, the UE may implement UE-specific adjustments based on the propagation delay between the satellite and the UE This propagation delay may be based on the approximate location of the UE (e.g., obtained via GNSS) and the approximate location of the satellite (e.g., based on the satellite's ephemeris). This additional parameter to compensate for satellite-related delays may help ensure that the residual delay falls within the range seen by the terrestrial network, thereby allowing the NTN network to subsequently utilize traditional terrestrial network timing advance estimation procedures.

[0070] Conventionally, these UE-side timing advance adjustments ( and ) is not known to the network. That is, for non-zero timing adjustments, T Adj ,in

[0071]

[0072] but:

[0073] T ADV ≈2τ-T Adj .

[0074] This means that the remaining timing adjustments determined by the network (which will exclude the term T Adj ) may be a timing adjustment T that reflects the actual location of the UE ADV Therefore, in order to use T at LMF ADV For positioning / location verification purposes, it may be necessary to Adj Signal to the network.

[0075] Embodiments herein provide for enabling the UE to report these UE-side timing advance adjustments, thereby allowing the network to determine the accurate timing advance. To this end, various embodiments may utilize messaging during ECID positioning, as described below with respect to, for example Figure 5 However, it may be noted that although the embodiments below are mainly described with respect to PRACH (random access), the embodiments may utilize any UL reference signal, such as SRS.

[0076] Figure 5 5 is a call flow diagram of an ECID positioning method 500, in which the positioning of a UE 505 (e.g., one or more of the UEs in the above-mentioned embodiments) is estimated with knowledge of the geographic coordinates of the serving base station (e.g., ng-eNB or gNB) of the UE. The ECID for positioning includes techniques for the UE 505 and / or the NG-RAN node 510 (e.g., base station, NTN satellite, etc.) to perform positioning-related measurements to improve the position estimate of the UE 505.

[0077] As illustrated, the process may include: the location server 520 (e.g., LMF in a 5G network) transmits an ECID measurement initiation request to the NG-RAN node 510, as indicated by arrow 530. The request (and other communications between the NG-RAN node 510 and the location server 520) may be made, for example, using the NRPPa protocol. In response, the NG-RAN node 510 may participate in an RRC measurement procedure with the UE 505, as indicated by box 540. In the case of a serving base station, the UL ECID may use, for example, inter-RAT NR, GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), or WLAN measurements reported by the UE 505.

[0078] The NG-RAN node 510 may then report an ECID measurement response / failure to the location server 520, as indicated at arrow 550. For the ECID positioning method, the UE 505 may only report (e.g., via the NG-RAN node 510) its available measurements, rather than being required to take additional measurement actions. According to embodiments herein, the timing advance value may be reported by the NG-RAN node 510 in the ECID measurement response / failure message of arrow 550.

[0079] In some embodiments, LPP communication between UE 505 and location server 520 may allow additional UE-specific measurements to be signaled by the UE to the LMF, as shown by optional arrows 560 and 570. This may include, for example, an embodiment in which the location server 520 may request ECID location information (e.g., NR-ECID-RequestLocationInformation) (as shown by arrow 560). In this case, the UE 505 may provide a response (e.g., NR-ECID-ProvideLocationInformation), as shown by arrow 570, which includes measurements of RSRP and RSRQ such as SSB and CSI-RS. It may be noted that in ECID positioning, LPP messaging shown by arrows 560 and 570 may occur in addition to or as an alternative to NRPPa messaging (shown by arrows 530 and 550). In addition, alternative embodiments may utilize different LPP messages and / or utilize LPP messaging at different times during the ECID positioning process.

[0080] According to some embodiments, the UE 505 may utilize the ECID LPP messaging to notify the location server 520 of UE-specific TA adjustments. This may include, for example, reporting to the location server 520 (e.g., in an ECID Provide Location Information message. As indicated by arrow 570). In such an embodiment, the location server 520 may obtain the item in the NRPPa message from the NG-RAN node 510 (e.g., in the ECID Measurement Response / Fault Report provided at arrow 550). In order to be able to determine the total UE-side timing advance adjustment T Adj .

[0081] According to some implementations, the item may be provided to the location server 520 via NRPPa messaging to the location server 520 in an ECID location. and In such an embodiment, UE 505 may provide NG-RAN node 510 with (e.g., during RRC measurement procedure 540 or reporting related thereto), and the NG-RAN node 510 may then include this item together with The items are passed together to the location server 520. For example, this may be provided to the location server 520 by the NG-RAN node 510 in the ECID measurement response / failure report provided at arrow 550.

[0082] During the PRACH procedure, the UE may attempt to perform random access multiple times until a random access response (RAR) is received. Because NTN satellites (e.g., LEO satellites) or other NTN air vehicles may move quickly, this may mean: This may be different for different random access attempts. To help ensure that the UE reports successful attempts correctly Embodiments may provide for buffering this value at the UE.

[0083] According to the first technique, the NG-RAN node may include an additional bit (or other such flag) in the downlink control information (DCI) of the corresponding physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) command transmitted to the UE for performing random access. If the UE finds this flag in the DCI, the UE may buffer value, and reports the value of a successful random access attempt (e.g., "Mssg1 Tx" as described in the relevant specification) for this PDCCH command (e.g., according to the above Figure 5 According to some embodiments, upon receiving the RAR (Mssg 2), the UE may refresh the stored successful attempts. A buffer of values.

[0084] According to the second technique, the UE can automatically buffer That is, when performing contention-free random access, the UE may always buffer the message corresponding to the last successful random access attempt (Mssg1 Tx). The UE may then provide this value to the network using, for example, one of the techniques described previously.

[0085] As pointed out, regarding Value (and The report on the value of Figure 5 However, specific aspects may vary depending on the desired functionality. According to a first option, for example, the location server may transmit an ECID request to both the UE and the NG-RAN node. In response, the UE may then include an ECID corresponding to the last successful random access attempt (Mssg1Tx) in an LPP message (e.g., ECID-ProvideLocationInformation) reported to the location server. In this option, the UE may provide its ability to report TA adjustment values ​​in a separate message indicating capabilities (e.g., NR-ECID-ProvideCapabilities) to the location server, which may be done according to LPP. In addition, the NG-RAN node may also provide the ECID message provided from the NG-RAN node to the location server (e.g., Figure 5 As shown by arrow 550 in FIG. ADV The timestamp of the measurement.

[0086] According to the second option, the UE may simply report through the NG-RAN node (e.g., without using LPP messaging directly to the location server at all). According to this option, the UE may report to the NG-RAN node (e.g., serving base station) in a Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE). The UE may also report the timestamp in the MAC-CE. Here, the timestamp may be provided in terms of frame, subframe and / or slot index, depending on the desired functionality. The NG-RAN node may then relay this information to the location server in an ECID message (e.g., as previously described). In such a report, the NG-RAN node may include, according to some embodiments, the item and / or T ADV any combination of .

[0087] Reporting to NG-RAN node in MAC-CE The value of may be performed in any of a number of ways. This may be provided, for example, in a timing advance report from the UE to the NG-RAN node. However, the report includes the entire timing advance and may not be accurate. (The granularity may be, for example, in terms of OFDM time slots.) Therefore, an implementation may include an alternative for providing a more accurate report. Accordingly, an implementation may utilize techniques to provide a more accurate report. According to one technique, for example, the UE may indicate to the NG-RAN node a new capability to support a new MAC-CE with higher granularity / resolution.

[0088] Depending on the desired functionality, how and when the reporting is done may vary. According to a first option, for example, the UE may mark a "TA Report" as pending after ending contention-free random access. The UE may also report a new MAC-CE in a future uplink grant (depending on the Logical Channel ID (LCID) priority). Alternatively, the UE may send a scheduling request to obtain a grant to send a TA report. According to a second option, the NG-RAN node may transmit a request to the UE. In response, the UE may then send a MAC-CE with a value of In some embodiments, the MAC-CE used in the embodiments described herein may be (e.g., exclusively) mapped to a HARQ-enabled hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process. This may allow the MAC-CE to be linked to the HARQ ID issued in the HARQ process.

[0089] Figure 6 is a flow chart of a method 600 of a method at a UE for reporting a timing advance of a UE for NTN positioning in a data communication network according to an embodiment. Figure 6 Means of functionality illustrated in one or more of the illustrated blocks may be performed by hardware and / or software components of the UE. Figure 8 Example components of a UE are illustrated in FIG, and are described in more detail below.

[0090] At block 610, the functionality includes determining, at the UE, a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value, wherein the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value indicates a propagation delay between a non-terrestrial vehicle of the NTN and the UE, and the propagation delay is determined based on a distance between an estimated position of the UE and an estimated position of the non-terrestrial vehicle. As noted in the previously described embodiments, the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value may include The value of , which can be used by the network to accurately determine the total timing advance of the UE. Space vehicles may include satellites (e.g., LEO, MEO, or GEO satellites), aircraft, drones, balloons, or other aircraft or spacecraft. The estimated position of the UE may be determined by the UE using GNSS and / or other positioning determination means (e.g., using wireless networks such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.). Similarly, the estimated position of a non-ground vehicle may be determined by the UE or a device communicatively coupled to the UE using the ephemeris of the satellite. More generally, the estimated position of the non-ground vehicle may be determined using position and / or trajectory information.

[0091] The means for performing the functionality at block 610 may include a bus 805, a processor 810, a DSP 820, a wireless communication interface 830, a sensor 840, a memory 860, a GNSS receiver 880, and / or other components of the UE, such as Figure 8 exemplified.

[0092] At block 620, the functionality includes transmitting, in a message, a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to a network node of a data communications network. As noted in previously described embodiments, the network node may include a NG-RAN node or a location server of a communications network (e.g., a 5G cellular network). The NG-RAN node may include, for example, a base station (e.g., a gNB) and / or a TRP (e.g., a non-ground vehicle) connected to the base station.

[0093] In the case where the network node includes a NG-RAN node, the implementation may implement one or more additional features. For example, according to some implementations, transmitting a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to the NG-RAN node may include: including the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the MAC-CE. As noted in the implementation described herein, the UE may attempt to perform random access multiple times until the RAR is received, and the UE may provide a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value corresponding to a successful random access attempt. Accordingly, some implementations of method 600 may also include: including a timestamp of a successful random access attempt in the MAC-CE. In some implementations, the timestamp may be provided in terms of an OFDM frame, subframe, or time slot index, or a combination thereof. Some implementations may include: including a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the MAC-CE in response to receiving an uplink grant. Some implementations may include: including a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the MAC-CE in response to receiving a request for a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value from the NG-RAN node in a separate MAC-CE.

[0094] In the case where the network node includes a location server, the implementation may implement one or more additional features. For example, in such implementations, the message may include an LPP ECID message. In such implementations, the method 600 may also include: receiving an ECID request from the location server, wherein the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value is transmitted in the LPP ECID message in response to the ECID request. In some implementations, the method 600 may include: before transmitting the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the LPP ECID message, sending capability information to the location server, the capability information indicating the UE's ability to transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the LPP ECID message.

[0095] Likewise, buffering of UE-specific timing advance adjustment values ​​may be performed in different ways depending on the desired functionality. According to some embodiments, the method may include: performing multiple random access attempts, wherein the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value corresponds to a successful random access attempt in the multiple random access attempts. As noted, the UE may store the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in response to an indication to store the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value, the indication being received in a DCI of a corresponding PDCCH command for performing the multiple random access attempts.

[0096] The means for performing the functionality at block 620 may include bus 805, processor 810, DSP 820, wireless communication interface 830, sensor 840, memory 860, GNSS receiver 880, and / or other components of the UE, such as Figure 8 exemplified.

[0097] Figure 7 is a flow chart of method 700 of a method at an NG-RAN node for reporting timing advance of a UE for NTN positioning in a data communication network according to an embodiment. Figure 7 The functional means illustrated in one or more of the illustrated blocks may be performed by hardware and / or software components of the NG-RAN node. Fig. 9 Example components of an NG-RAN node are illustrated in FIG and described in more detail below.

[0098] At box 710, the functionality includes: receiving a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value from the UE at the NG-RAN node, wherein the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value indicates a propagation delay between a non-ground vehicle of the NTN and the UE, and the propagation delay reflects the distance between the estimated position of the UE and the estimated position of the non-ground vehicle. Similarly, the UE may use different means to obtain the estimated position of the UE and the estimated position of the non-ground vehicle, as previously described. According to some embodiments, receiving the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value from the UE may include: receiving the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in a MAC-CE. In such embodiments, the method 700 may also include: (before receiving the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value) transmitting a request for the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to the UE in a separate MAC-CE.

[0099] The means for performing the functionality at block 710 may include a bus 905, a processor 910, a DSP 920, a wireless communication interface 930, a memory 960, and / or other components of the UE, such as Fig. 9 exemplified.

[0100] At block 720, the functionality includes transmitting a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to a location server of a data communications network in an ECID message. Figure 5 As described, the ECID message may be transmitted as part of the ECID positioning procedure and may be transmitted in accordance with NRPPa. As noted, according to some embodiments, a group common timing advance adjustment value (e.g., ), timing advance value (for example, T ADV ) or both. Some embodiments may also include: transmitting an indication to the UE to store the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value, wherein the indication is transmitted in a DCI of a PDCCH order for performing random access.

[0101] The means for performing the functionality at block 720 may include bus 905, processor 910, DSP 920, wireless communication interface 930, memory 960, and / or other components of the UE, such as Fig. 9 exemplified.

[0102] Figure 8 is as described above (e.g., associated Figures 1 to 7 ) is a block diagram of an implementation of a UE 800 that is utilized as described above. For example, the UE 800 may execute Figure 6 One or more of the functions of the method shown. It should be noted that Figure 8 It is intended only to provide a generalized illustration of various components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate. It may be noted that in some cases, Figure 8The illustrated components may be localized as a single physical device and / or distributed among various networked devices that may be located at different physical locations. In addition, as previously noted, the functionality of the UE discussed in the previously described embodiments may be provided by Figure 8 The invention may be executed by one or more of the illustrated hardware and / or software components.

[0103] UE 800 is shown as including hardware elements that may be electrically coupled via bus 805 (or may communicate in other ways as appropriate). The hardware elements may include a processor 810, which may include, but is not limited to, one or more general-purpose processors (e.g., application processors), one or more special-purpose processors (such as digital signal processor (DSP) chips, graphics acceleration processors, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.), and / or other processing structures or components. Processor 810 may include one or more processing units, which may be housed in a single integrated circuit (IC) or multiple ICs. Figure 8 As shown, some embodiments may have a separate DSP 820, depending on the desired functionality. Position determination and / or other determinations based on wireless communication may be provided in the processor 810 and / or the wireless communication interface 830 (discussed below). The UE 800 may also include: one or more input devices 870, which may include but are not limited to one or more keyboards, touch screens, touch pads, microphones, buttons, dials, switches, etc.; and one or more output devices 815, which may include but are not limited to one or more displays (e.g., touch screens), light emitting diodes (LEDs), speakers, etc.

[0104] UE 800 may also include a wireless communication interface 830, which may include but is not limited to a modem, a network card, an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device and / or a chipset (such as Device, IEEE 802.11 device, IEEE802.15.4 device, Wi-Fi device, WiMAX device, WAN device and / or various cellular devices, etc.), etc., the wireless communication interface can enable UE 800 to communicate with other devices as described in the above embodiments. The wireless communication interface 830 can allow the TRP of the network to communicate (e.g., send and receive) data and signaling, such as via eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, access point, various base stations and / or other access node types, and / or other network components, computer systems, and / or any other electronic device communicatively coupled to the TRP, as described herein. Communication can be performed via one or more wireless communication antennas 832 that transmit and / or receive wireless signals 834. According to some embodiments, the wireless communication antenna 832 may include multiple discrete antennas, antenna arrays, or any combination thereof. The antenna 832 may be capable of using beams (e.g., Tx beams and Rx beams) to send and receive wireless signals. Beamforming can be performed using digital and / or analog beamforming techniques using corresponding digital and / or analog circuits. Wireless communication interface 830 may include such circuitry.

[0105] Depending on the desired functionality, the wireless communication interface 830 may include separate receivers and transmitters, or any combination of transceivers, transmitters, and / or receivers to communicate with base stations (e.g., ng-eNBs and gNBs) and other terrestrial transceivers (such as wireless devices and access points). The UE 800 may communicate with different data networks, which may include various network types. For example, the WWAN may be a CDMA network, a time division multiple access (TDMA) network, a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) network, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) network, a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) network, a WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) network, etc. A CDMA network may implement one or more RATs, such as WCDMA, etc. Includes IS-95, IS-2000, and / or IS-856 standards. A TDMA network may implement GSM, Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System (D-AMPS), or some other RAT. An OFDMA network may employ LTE, Advanced LTE, 5G NR, and so on. 5G NR, LTE, Advanced LTE, GSM, and WCDMA are described in documents from 3GPP. Described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2). 3GPP and 3GPP2 documents are publicly available. A wireless local area network (WLAN) may also be an IEEE 802.11x network, and a wireless personal area network (WPAN) may be a Bluetooth network, IEEE 802.15x, or some other type of network. The techniques described herein may also be used for any combination of WWAN, WLAN, and / or WPAN.

[0106] UE 800 may also include sensors 840. Sensors 840 may include, but are not limited to, one or more inertial sensors and / or other sensors (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes, cameras, magnetometers, altimeters, microphones, proximity sensors, light sensors, barometers, etc.), some of which may be used to obtain positioning-related measurements and / or other information.

[0107] Embodiments of UE 800 may also include a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver 880 that is capable of receiving signals 884 from one or more GNSS satellites using antenna 882 (which may be the same as antenna 832). Positioning based on GNSS signal measurements may be used to supplement and / or incorporate the techniques described herein. GNSS receiver 880 may use conventional techniques to extract the positioning of UE 800 from GNSS satellites of GNSS systems such as Global Positioning System (GPS), Galileo, GLONASS, Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) covering Japan, IRNSS covering India, BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) covering China, etc. In addition, the GNSS receiver 880 may be used with various augmentation systems (e.g., satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS)) that may be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems, such as, for example, the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multifunction Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), and the Geographic Augmentation Navigation System (GAGAN), among others.

[0108] It may be pointed out that although Figure 8880 is illustrated as a different component in the figure, but the embodiments are not limited thereto. As used herein, the term "GNSS receiver" may include hardware and / or software components configured to obtain GNSS measurements (measurements from GNSS satellites). Therefore, in some embodiments, the GNSS receiver may include (as software) a measurement engine executed by one or more processors, such as the processor 810, the DSP 820, and / or a processor within the wireless communication interface 830 (e.g., in a modem). The GNSS receiver may also optionally include a positioning engine that can use the GNSS measurements from the measurement engine to determine the position of the GNSS receiver using an extended Kalman filter (EKF), a weighted least squares method (WLS), a hatch filter, a particle filter, etc. The positioning engine may also be executed by one or more processors, such as the processor 810 or the DSP 820.

[0109] UE 800 may also include and / or communicate with memory 860. Memory 860 may include, but is not limited to, local and / or network accessible storage, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices such as random access memory (RAM) and / or read-only memory (ROM), which may be programmable, flash-updatable, etc. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data storage, including but not limited to various file systems, database structures, etc.

[0110] The memory 860 of the UE 800 may also include software elements ( Figure 8 800 (and / or the processor 810 or DSP 820 within the UE 800). Such codes and / or instructions may then be used to configure and / or adapt a general purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations according to the described methods.

[0111] Fig. 9 is as described above (e.g., associated Figures 1 to 8 ) is a block diagram of an embodiment of a NG-RAN node 900 as described above. It should be noted that Fig. 9It is intended only to provide a generalized illustration of various components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate. In some embodiments, the NG-RAN node 900 may correspond to a gNB, ng-eNB, and / or (more generally) a TRP.

[0112] The NG-RAN node 900 is shown as including hardware elements that may be electrically coupled via a bus 905 (or may communicate in other ways as appropriate). The hardware elements may include a processor 910, which may include, but is not limited to, one or more general-purpose processors, one or more special-purpose processors (such as DSP chips, graphics acceleration processors, ASICs, etc.), and / or other processing structures or components. Fig. 9 As shown, some embodiments may have a separate DSP 920, depending on the desired functionality. According to some embodiments, location determination and / or other determinations based on wireless communication may be provided in the processor 910 and / or the wireless communication interface 930 (discussed below). The NG-RAN node 900 may also include: one or more input devices, which may include but are not limited to a keyboard, a display, a mouse, a microphone, buttons, dials, switches, etc.; and one or more output devices, which may include but are not limited to a display, a light emitting diode (LED), a speaker, etc.

[0113] The NG-RAN node 900 may also include a wireless communication interface 930, which may include but is not limited to a modem, a network card, an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device and / or a chipset (such as Device, IEEE 802.11 device, IEEE 802.15.4 device, Wi-Fi device, WiMAX device, cellular communication facility, etc.), etc., which wireless communication interface can enable the NG-RAN node 900 to communicate as described herein. The wireless communication interface 930 can permit communication (e.g., sending and receiving) of data and signaling to UEs, other base stations / TRPs (e.g., eNBs, gNBs, and ng-eNBs), and / or other network components, computer systems, and / or any other electronic devices described herein. Communication can be performed via one or more wireless communication antennas 932 that transmit and / or receive wireless signals 934.

[0114] The NG-RAN node 900 may also include a network interface 980, which may include support for wired communication technologies. The network interface 980 may include a modem, a network card, a chipset, etc. The network interface 980 may include one or more input and / or output communication interfaces to permit data to be exchanged with a network, a communication network server, a computer system, and / or any other electronic device described herein.

[0115] In many embodiments, the NG-RAN node 900 may also include a memory 960. The memory 960 may include, but is not limited to, local and / or network accessible storage, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices such as RAM and / or ROM, which may be programmable, flash-updatable, etc. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data storage, including, but not limited to, various file systems, database structures, etc.

[0116] The memory 960 of the NG-RAN node 900 may also include software elements ( Fig. 9 900), including an operating system, device drivers, executable libraries and / or other code such as one or more applications, which software elements may include computer programs provided by various embodiments, and / or may be designed to implement methods provided by other embodiments and / or configure systems provided by other embodiments, as described herein. By way of example only, one or more procedures described with respect to the methods discussed above may be implemented as code and / or instructions in the memory 960 that can be executed by the NG-RAN node 900 (and / or the processor 910 or DSP 920 within the NG-RAN node 900). Then, in some embodiments, such code and / or instructions may be used to configure and / or adapt a general purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations according to the described methods.

[0117] Fig.10 1000 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a computer system 1000 that may be used in whole or in part to provide the functionality of one or more network components (e.g., location servers) as described in the embodiments herein. It should be noted that Fig.10 It is intended only to provide a generalized illustration of the various components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate. Fig.10 The broad illustrations show how various system elements can be implemented in a relatively separate or relatively more integrated manner. Fig.10 The illustrated components may be localized to a single device and / or distributed among various networked devices that may be located at different geographical locations.

[0118] The computer system 1000 is shown as including hardware elements that can be electrically coupled via a bus 1005 (or can communicate in other ways as appropriate). The hardware elements may include a processor 1010, which may include but is not limited to one or more general-purpose processors, one or more special-purpose processors (such as digital signal processing chips, graphics acceleration processors, etc.) and / or other processing structures, which can be configured to perform one or more of the methods described herein. The computer system 1000 may also include one or more input devices 1015, which may include but are not limited to a mouse, a keyboard, a camera, a microphone, etc.; and one or more output devices 1020, which may include but are not limited to a display device, a printer, etc.

[0119] The computer system 1000 may also include (and / or communicate with) one or more non-transitory storage devices 1025, which may include, but are not limited to, local and / or network accessible storage, and / or may include, but are not limited to, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices such as RAM and / or ROM, which may be programmable, flash-updatable, and the like. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data storage, including, but not limited to, various file systems, database structures, and the like. Such data storage may include databases and / or other data structures for storing and managing messages and / or other information to be transmitted to one or more devices via the hub, as described herein.

[0120] The computer system 1000 may also include a communication subsystem 1030, which may include wireless communication technologies managed and controlled by a wireless communication interface 1033, as well as wired technologies (such as Ethernet, coaxial communication, universal serial bus (USB), etc.). The wireless communication interface 1033 may include one or more wireless transceivers, which may transmit and receive wireless signals 1055 (e.g., signals according to 5G NR or LTE) via a wireless antenna 1050. Therefore, the communication subsystem 1030 may include a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device, and / or a chipset, etc., which may enable the computer system 1000 to communicate with any device on the corresponding network (including user equipment (UE), base station and / or other TRP, and / or any other electronic device described herein) on any or all of the communication networks described herein. Therefore, the communication subsystem 1030 can be used to receive and transmit data, as described in the embodiments of this article.

[0121] In many embodiments, the computer system 1000 will also include a working memory 1035, which may include a RAM or ROM device, as described above. The software elements shown as being located within the working memory 1035 may include an operating system 1040, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or other code such as one or more applications 1045, which may include computer programs provided by various embodiments, and / or may be designed to implement methods provided by other embodiments and / or configure systems provided by other embodiments, as described herein. By way of example only, one or more of the procedures described with respect to the methods discussed above may be implemented as code and / or instructions that can be executed by a computer (and / or a processor within a computer); then, in one aspect, such code and / or instructions may be used to configure and / or adapt a general purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations according to the described methods.

[0122] The set of these instructions and / or codes may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (such as the storage device 1025 described above). In some cases, the storage medium may be incorporated into a computer system such as computer system 1000. In other embodiments, the storage medium may be separate from the computer system (e.g., a removable medium such as an optical disk), and / or may be provided in the form of an installation package so that the storage medium can be used to program, configure, and / or adapt a general-purpose computer using the instructions / code stored thereon. These instructions may take the form of executable code that can be executed by computer system 1000, and / or may take the form of source code and / or installable code that, when compiled and / or installed on computer system 1000 (e.g., using any of a variety of commonly available compilers, installers, compression / decompression utilities, etc.), takes the form of executable code.

[0123] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantial modifications may be made according to specific requirements. For example, customized hardware may also be used, and / or specific elements may be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software, such as applets, etc.), or both. Additionally, connections to other computing devices (such as network input / output devices) may be employed.

[0124] With reference to the accompanying drawings, components that may include memory may include non-transient machine-readable media. As used herein, the terms "machine-readable medium" and "computer-readable medium" refer to any storage medium that participates in providing data that enables a machine to operate in a particular manner. In the embodiments provided above, various machine-readable media may be involved when providing instructions / codes to a processor and / or other devices for execution. Additionally or alternatively, machine-readable media may be used to store and / or carry such instructions / codes. In many specific implementations, computer-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. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example: magnetic and / or optical media, any other physical media with hole patterns, RAM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or memory box, or any other medium from which a computer can read instructions and / or codes.

[0125] The methods, systems and devices discussed herein are examples. Various embodiments may omit, replace or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For example, the features described in certain embodiments may be combined in various other embodiments. Different aspects and elements of the embodiments may be combined in a similar manner. The various components of the drawings provided herein may be embodied in hardware and / or software. In addition, technology may evolve, and therefore many elements are examples, which do not limit the scope of the present disclosure to those specific examples.

[0126] It turns out that it is convenient at times to refer to such signals as bits, information, values, elements, symbols, characters, variables, terms, numbers, digital symbols, and the like, primarily for reasons of common usage. However, it should be understood that all of these or similar terms should be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels. Unless otherwise specifically stated, as is apparent from the above discussion, it should be understood that throughout this specification, discussions utilizing terms such as "processing," "computing," "calculating," "determining," "ascertaining," "identifying," "correlating," "measuring," "performing," and the like refer to the actions or processes of a particular device such as a special-purpose computer or similar special-purpose electronic computing device. Thus, in the context of this specification, a special-purpose computer or similar special-purpose electronic computing device is capable of manipulating or transforming signals, typically represented as physical, electronic, electrical, or magnetic quantities in a memory, register, or other information storage device, a transmitting device, or a display device of the special-purpose computer or similar special-purpose electronic computing device.

[0127] As used herein, the terms "and" and "or" may include various meanings that are also intended to depend at least in part on the context in which such terms are used. Generally, "or", if used in association with a list, such as A, B, or C, is intended to mean A, B, and C (inclusive meanings are used here) as well as A, B, or C (exclusive meanings are used here). In addition, as used herein, the term "one or more" may be used to describe any feature, structure, or characteristic in the singular form, or may be used to describe a certain combination of features, structures, or characteristics. However, it should be noted that this is merely an illustrative example, and the subject matter claimed is not limited to this example. In addition, the term "at least one of...", if used in association with a list, such as A, B, or C, may be interpreted to mean any combination of A, B, and / or C, such as A, AB, AA, AAB, AABBCCC, etc.

[0128] Several embodiments have been described, and various modifications, alternative configurations, and equivalents may be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the above elements may be components of a larger system, wherein other rules may take precedence over the application of the various embodiments or otherwise modify the application of the various embodiments. In addition, multiple steps may be performed before, during, or after considering the above elements. Accordingly, the above description does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0129] In view of this description, various embodiments may include different combinations of features. Specific implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0130] Clause 1. A method for reporting, at a user equipment (UE), a timing advance of a UE for non-terrestrial network (NTN) positioning in a data communication network, the method comprising: determining a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value at the UE, wherein: the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value indicates a propagation delay between a non-terrestrial vehicle of the NTN and the UE, and the propagation delay is determined based on a distance between an estimated position of the UE and an estimated position of the non-terrestrial vehicle; and transmitting the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in a message to a network node of the data communication network.

[0131] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the network node comprises a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) node of the data communications network.

[0132] Clause 3. A method according to clause 2, wherein transmitting the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to the NG-RAN node comprises: including the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE).

[0133] Clause 4. The method according to clause 3, further comprising: including a timestamp of a successful random access attempt in the MAC-CE, wherein the timestamp is provided in terms of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) frame, subframe or time slot index or a combination thereof.

[0134] Clause 5. A method as described in any of clauses 3 to 4, wherein including the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the MAC-CE is in response to receiving an uplink grant.

[0135] Clause 6. A method according to any one of clauses 3 to 5, wherein including the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the MAC-CE is in response to receiving a request for the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value from a NG-RAN node in a separate MAC-CE.

[0136] Clause 7. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 2, wherein the network node comprises a location server of the data communications network and the message comprises a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) Enhanced Cell ID (ECID) message.

[0137] Clause 8. The method of clause 7, further comprising: receiving an ECID request from the location server, wherein transmitting the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the LPP ECID message is in response to the ECID request.

[0138] Clause 9. The method according to any one of clauses 7 to 8 further comprises: before transmitting the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the LPP ECID message, sending capability information to the location server, wherein the capability information indicates the ability of the UE to transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the LPP ECID message.

[0139] Clause 10. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 9, the method further comprising: performing multiple random access attempts, wherein the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value corresponds to a successful random access attempt among the multiple random access attempts.

[0140] Clause 11. The method according to claim 10 further includes: storing the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in response to an indication to store the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value, wherein the indication is received in a downlink control information (DCI) of a corresponding physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) command for performing multiple random access attempts.

[0141] Clause 12. A method for reporting, at a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) node, timing advance of a user equipment (UE) for non-terrestrial network (NTN) positioning in a data communications network, the method comprising: receiving, at the NG-RAN node, a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value from the UE, wherein: the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value indicates a propagation delay between a non-terrestrial vehicle of the NTN and the UE, and the propagation delay reflects a distance between an estimated position of the UE and an estimated position of the non-terrestrial vehicle; and transmitting the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to a location server of the data communications network in an enhanced cell ID (ECID) message.

[0142] Clause 13. The method of clause 12, wherein the ECID message is transmitted in accordance with New Radio (NR) Positioning Protocol Annex (NRPPa).

[0143] Clause 14. A method as described in any of clauses 12 to 13, wherein receiving the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value from the UE comprises: receiving the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE).

[0144] Clause 15. The method of clause 14, further comprising transmitting, in a separate MAC-CE, a request for the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to the UE.

[0145] Clause 16. The method of any of clauses 12 to 15, further comprising including a group common timing advance adjustment value, a timing advance value, or both in the ECID message.

[0146] Clause 17. A method according to any one of clauses 12 to 16, the method further comprising: transmitting to the UE an indication of storing the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value, wherein the indication is transmitted in a downlink control information (DCI) of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) command for performing random access.

[0147] Clause 18. A user equipment (UE) for reporting timing advance of a non-terrestrial network (NTN) positioning in a data communication network, the UE comprising: a transceiver; a memory; and one or more processors, the one or more processors being communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: determine a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value, wherein: the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value indicates a propagation delay between a non-terrestrial vehicle of the NTN and the UE, and the propagation delay is determined based on a distance between an estimated position of the UE and an estimated position of the non-terrestrial vehicle; and transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in a message to a network node of the data communication network via the transceiver.

[0148] Clause 19. A UE according to clause 18, wherein, in order to transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to the network node in the message, the one or more processors are configured to: transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) node of the data communication network in the message.

[0149] Clause 20. A UE according to any clause 19, wherein, in order to transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to the NG-RAN node, the one or more processors are configured to: include the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE).

[0150] Clause 21. A UE according to clause 20, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: include a timestamp of a successful random access attempt in the MAC-CE, wherein the timestamp is provided in terms of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) frame, subframe or time slot index or a combination thereof.

[0151] Clause 22. A UE as described in any of clauses 20 to 21, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: include the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the MAC-CE in response to the UE receiving an uplink grant.

[0152] Clause 23. A UE according to any one of clauses 18 to 22, wherein the one or more processors are configured to include the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the MAC-CE in response to the UE receiving a request for the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value from a NG-RAN node in a separate MAC-CE.

[0153] Clause 24. A UE according to clause 18, wherein, in order to transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to the network node in the message, the one or more processors are configured to: transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to the location server of the data communication network in the message, and wherein the message includes a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) Enhanced Cell ID (ECID) message.

[0154] Clause 25. A UE according to any one of clauses 18 to 24, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform multiple random access attempts, wherein the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value corresponds to a successful random access attempt among the multiple random access attempts.

[0155] Clause 26. A NG-RAN for reporting timing advance of a user equipment (UE) for non-terrestrial network (NTN) positioning in a data communications network, the NG-RAN comprising: a transceiver; a memory; and one or more processors, the one or more processors being communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: receive a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value from the UE via the transceiver, wherein: the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value indicates a propagation delay between a non-terrestrial vehicle of the NTN and the UE, and the propagation delay reflects a distance between an estimated position of the UE and an estimated position of the non-terrestrial vehicle; and transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to a location server of the data communications network in an enhanced cell ID (ECID) message via the transceiver.

[0156] Clause 27. The NG-RAN of clause 26, wherein the one or more processors are configured to transmit the ECID message in accordance with New Radio (NR) Positioning Protocol Annex (NRPPa).

[0157] Clause 28. An NG-RAN according to any one of clauses 26 to 27, wherein, in order to receive the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value from the UE, the one or more processors are configured to: receive the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE).

[0158] Clause 29. An NG-RAN as set forth in any of clauses 26 to 28, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to include a group common timing advance adjustment value, a timing advance value, or both in the ECID message.

[0159] Clause 30. An NG-RAN according to any one of clauses 26 to 29, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: transmit an indication to the UE to store the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value, wherein the indication is transmitted in downlink control information (DCI) of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) command for performing random access.

Claims

1. A method at a user equipment (UE) for reporting a timing advance of the UE for non-terrestrial network (NTN) positioning in a data communications network, the method comprising: A UE-specific timing advance adjustment value is determined at the UE, wherein: The UE-specific timing advance adjustment value indicates a propagation delay between a non-terrestrial vehicle of the NTN and the UE, and The propagation delay is determined based on a distance between an estimated location of the UE and an estimated location of the non-ground vehicle; and The UE-specific timing advance adjustment value is transmitted in a message to a network node of the data communications network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the network node comprises a Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) node of the data communications network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein transmitting the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to the NG-RAN node comprises: The UE-specific timing advance adjustment value is included in a Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE).

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising: A timestamp of a successful random access attempt is included in the MAC-CE, wherein the timestamp is provided in terms of an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) frame, subframe or slot index or a combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein including the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the MAC-CE is in response to receiving an uplink grant.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein including the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the MAC-CE is in response to receiving a request for the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value from a NG-RAN node in a separate MAC-CE.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the network node comprises a location server of the data communications network, and the message comprises a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) Enhanced Cell ID (ECID) message.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising: An ECID request is received from the location server, wherein transmitting the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the LPP ECID message is in response to the ECID request.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising: Prior to transmitting the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the LPP ECID message, capability information is sent to the location server, the capability information indicating a capability of the UE to transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the LPP ECID message.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: A plurality of random access attempts are performed, wherein the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value corresponds to a successful random access attempt among the plurality of random access attempts.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising: The UE-specific timing advance adjustment value is stored in response to an indication to store the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value, the indication being received in downlink control information (DCI) of a corresponding physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) command for performing multiple random access attempts.

12. A method at a Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) node of reporting a timing advance of a user equipment (UE) for non-terrestrial network (NTN) positioning in a data communications network, the method comprising: receiving, at the NG-RAN node, from the UE a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value, wherein: The UE-specific timing advance adjustment value indicates a propagation delay between a non-terrestrial vehicle of the NTN and the UE, and The propagation delay reflects the distance between the estimated location of the UE and the estimated location of the non-ground vehicle; and The UE-specific timing advance adjustment value is transmitted to a location server of the data communications network in an Enhanced Cell ID (ECID) message.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the ECID message is transmitted in accordance with New Radio (NR) Positioning Protocol Annex (NRPPa).

14. The method of claim 12, wherein receiving the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value from the UE comprises: The UE-specific timing advance adjustment value is received in a Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE).

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising: A request for a timing advance adjustment value specific to the UE is transmitted to the UE in a separate MAC-CE.

16. The method according to claim 12, further comprising: A group common timing advance adjustment value, a timing advance value, or both are included in the ECID message.

17. The method according to claim 12, further comprising: An indication is transmitted to the UE to store the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value, wherein the indication is transmitted in downlink control information (DCI) of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order for performing random access.

18. A user equipment (UE) for reporting timing advance for non-terrestrial network (NTN) positioning in a data communications network, the UE comprising: Transceiver; Memory; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: Determine the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value, where: The UE-specific timing advance adjustment value indicates a propagation delay between a non-terrestrial vehicle of the NTN and the UE, and The propagation delay is determined based on a distance between an estimated location of the UE and an estimated location of the non-ground vehicle; as well as The UE-specific timing advance adjustment value is transmitted in a message via the transceiver to a network node of the data communications network.

19. The UE according to claim 18, wherein: In order to transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to the network node in the message, the one or more processors are configured to: transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the message to a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) node of the data communication network.

20. The UE according to claim 19, wherein: To transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to the NG-RAN node, the one or more processors are configured to include the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in a Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE).

21. The UE of claim 20, wherein the one or more processors are configured to include a timestamp of a successful random access attempt in the MAC-CE, wherein the timestamp is provided in terms of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) frame, subframe, or time slot index, or a combination thereof.

22. The UE of claim 20, wherein the one or more processors are configured to include the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the MAC-CE in response to the UE receiving an uplink grant.

23. The UE of claim 20, wherein the one or more processors are configured to include the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in the MAC-CE in response to the UE receiving a request for the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value from a NG-RAN node in a separate MAC-CE.

24. The UE according to claim 18, wherein: In order to transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to the network node in the message, the one or more processors are configured to: transmit the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value to a location server of the data communication network in the message, and wherein the message includes a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) Enhanced Cell ID (ECID) message.

25. The UE of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform a plurality of random access attempts, wherein the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value corresponds to a successful random access attempt among the plurality of random access attempts.

26. A NG-RAN for reporting timing advance of a user equipment (UE) for non-terrestrial network (NTN) positioning in a data communications network, the NG-RAN comprising: Transceiver; Memory; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: receiving, via the transceiver, a UE-specific timing advance adjustment value from the UE, wherein: The UE-specific timing advance adjustment value indicates a propagation delay between a non-terrestrial vehicle of the NTN and the UE, and The propagation delay reflects the distance between the estimated position of the UE and the estimated position of the non-ground vehicle; as well as The UE-specific timing advance adjustment value is transmitted via the transceiver to a location server of the data communications network in an enhanced cell ID (ECID) message.

27. The NG-RAN of claim 26, wherein the one or more processors are configured to transmit the ECID message in accordance with New Radio (NR) Positioning Protocol Annex (NRPPa).

28. The NG-RAN according to claim 26, wherein: To receive the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value from the UE, the one or more processors are configured to receive the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value in a Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE).

29. The NG-RAN of claim 26, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to include a group common timing advance adjustment value, a timing advance value, or both in the ECID message.

30. The NG-RAN of claim 26, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit an indication to the UE to store the UE-specific timing advance adjustment value, wherein the indication is transmitted in downlink control information (DCI) of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) command for performing random access.

Images