Multiple access techniques in ultra wide band (UWB) positioning

Abstract

Techniques for wireless communication are disclosed. In one aspect, an initiator anchor node sends, to a first responder anchor node, first configuration information for a first ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the first responder anchor node, where the first configuration information indicates a first initiation time for the first ranging session; and transmitting to a second responder anchor node second configuration information for a second ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the second responder anchor node, where the second configuration information indicates a second initiation time for the second ranging session, wherein the first ranging session and the second ranging session are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively, and wherein the second initiation time is offset from the first initiation time.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communications. Background Art

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

[0003] The fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, known as New Radio (NR), enables higher data transfer speeds, a greater number of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide higher data rates, more accurate positioning (e.g., based on reference signals for positioning (RS-P), such as downlink, uplink, or sidelink positioning reference signals (PRS)), and other technical enhancements compared to previous standards. These enhancements, along with the use of higher frequency bands, advances in PRS processes and technologies, and high-density deployments of 5G, enable high-precision positioning based on 5G. Summary of the invention

[0004] The following presents a simplified summary of the invention related to one or more aspects disclosed herein. Therefore, the following summary of the invention should neither be considered as an exhaustive overview related to all conceived aspects, nor should it be considered to identify key or decisive elements related to all conceived aspects or to delineate the scope associated with any particular aspect. Therefore, the sole purpose of the following summary of the invention is to present certain concepts related to one or more aspects of the mechanisms disclosed herein in a brief form before the detailed embodiments presented below.

[0005] In one aspect, a method for wireless communication performed by an initiator anchor node, the method comprising: sending first configuration information for a first ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the first responder anchor node to a first responder anchor node, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first initiation time for the first ranging session; and sending second configuration information for a second ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the second responder anchor node to a second responder anchor node, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second initiation time for the second ranging session, wherein the first ranging session and the second ranging session are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively, and wherein the second initiation time is offset from the first initiation time by less than or equal to a threshold.

[0006] In one aspect, a method for wireless communication performed by an initiator anchor node, the method comprising: sending first configuration information for a ranging session between the initiator anchor node and multiple responder anchor nodes to a first responder anchor node, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first transmission time offset of the first responder anchor node within a time slot of the ranging session; and sending second configuration information for the ranging session to a second responder anchor node, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second transmission time offset of the second responder anchor node within the time slot of the ranging session, and wherein the first transmission time offset and the second transmission time offset are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively.

[0007] In one aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a mobile device includes: receiving configuration information for a ranging session between the mobile device and a plurality of anchor nodes, wherein the configuration information includes one or more scrambled time stamp (STS) generation parameters and a plurality of spreading codes, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of spreading codes; receiving a plurality of positioning signals from the plurality of anchor nodes during a same time slot of the ranging session, wherein the plurality of positioning signals are received on a same channel; despreading the plurality of positioning signals based on the plurality of spreading codes to determine a corresponding plurality of despread positioning signals; determining a plurality of estimated STSs associated with the plurality of anchor nodes based on the one or more STS generation parameters applied to the plurality of despread positioning signals, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of estimated STSs; associating the plurality of despread positioning signals with the plurality of estimated STSs to determine a plurality of times of arrival (ToAs) associated with the plurality of anchor nodes, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of ToAs.

[0008] In one aspect, an initiator anchor node includes: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: send first configuration information for a first ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the first responder anchor node to a first responder anchor node via the at least one transceiver, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first initiation time for the first ranging session; and send second configuration information for a second ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the second responder anchor node to a second responder anchor node via the at least one transceiver, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second initiation time for the second ranging session, wherein the first ranging session and the second ranging session are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively, and wherein the second initiation time is offset from the first initiation time by less than or equal to a threshold.

[0009] In one aspect, an initiator anchor node includes: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: send first configuration information for a ranging session between the initiator anchor node and a plurality of responder anchor nodes to a first responder anchor node via the at least one transceiver, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first transmit time offset of the first responder anchor node within a time slot of the ranging session; and send second configuration information for the ranging session to a second responder anchor node via the at least one transceiver, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second transmit time offset of the second responder anchor node within the time slot of the ranging session, and wherein the first transmit time offset and the second transmit time offset are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively.

[0010] In one aspect, a mobile device comprises: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, configuration information for a ranging session between the mobile device and a plurality of anchor nodes, wherein the configuration information comprises one or more scrambling time stamp (STS) generation parameters and a plurality of spreading codes, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of spreading codes; receive, via the at least one transceiver, a plurality of positioning information from the plurality of anchor nodes during a same time slot of the ranging session; signals, wherein the multiple positioning signals are received on the same channel; despreading the multiple positioning signals based on the multiple spreading codes to determine the corresponding multiple despread positioning signals; determining multiple estimated STSs associated with the multiple anchor nodes based on the one or more STS generation parameters applied to the multiple despread positioning signals, each of the multiple anchor nodes being associated with one estimated STS among the multiple estimated STSs; and associating the multiple despread positioning signals with the multiple estimated STSs to determine multiple arrival times (ToA) associated with the multiple anchor nodes, each of the multiple anchor nodes being associated with one ToA among the multiple ToAs.

[0011] In one aspect, an initiator anchor node includes: a component for sending first configuration information for a first ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the first responder anchor node to a first responder anchor node, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first initiation time for the first ranging session; and a component for sending second configuration information for a second ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the second responder anchor node to a second responder anchor node, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second initiation time for the second ranging session, wherein the first ranging session and the second ranging session are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively, and wherein the second initiation time is offset from the first initiation time by less than or equal to a threshold.

[0012] In one aspect, an initiator anchor node includes: a component for sending first configuration information for a ranging session between the initiator anchor node and multiple responder anchor nodes to a first responder anchor node, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first transmission time offset of the first responder anchor node within a time slot of the ranging session; and a component for sending second configuration information for the ranging session to a second responder anchor node, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second transmission time offset of the second responder anchor node within the time slot of the ranging session, and wherein the first transmission time offset and the second transmission time offset are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first arrival time difference (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively.

[0013] In one aspect, a mobile device includes: means for receiving configuration information for a ranging session between the mobile device and a plurality of anchor nodes, wherein the configuration information includes one or more scrambled time stamp (STS) generation parameters and a plurality of spreading codes, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of spreading codes; means for receiving a plurality of positioning signals from the plurality of anchor nodes during a same time slot of the ranging session, wherein the plurality of positioning signals are received on a same channel; means for despreading the plurality of positioning signals based on the plurality of spreading codes to determine a corresponding plurality of despread positioning signals; means for determining a plurality of estimated STSs associated with the plurality of anchor nodes based on the one or more STS generation parameters applied to the plurality of despread positioning signals, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of estimated STSs; and means for associating the plurality of despread positioning signals with the plurality of estimated STSs to determine a plurality of times of arrival (ToAs) associated with the plurality of anchor nodes, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of ToAs.

[0014] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by an initiator anchor node causes the initiator anchor node to: send first configuration information for a first ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the first responder anchor node to a first responder anchor node, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first initiation time for the first ranging session; and send second configuration information for a second ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the second responder anchor node to a second responder anchor node, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second initiation time for the second ranging session, wherein the first ranging session and the second ranging session are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively, and wherein the second initiation time is offset from the first initiation time by less than or equal to a threshold.

[0015] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by an initiator anchor node, cause the initiator anchor node to: send first configuration information for a ranging session between the initiator anchor node and a plurality of responder anchor nodes to a first responder anchor node, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first transmit time offset of the first responder anchor node within a time slot of the ranging session; and send second configuration information for the ranging session to a second responder anchor node, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second transmit time offset of the second responder anchor node within the time slot of the ranging session, and wherein the first transmit time offset and the second transmit time offset are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively.

[0016] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a mobile device, cause the mobile device to: receive configuration information for a ranging session between the mobile device and a plurality of anchor nodes, wherein the configuration information includes one or more scrambled time stamp (STS) generation parameters and a plurality of spreading codes, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of spreading codes; receive a plurality of positioning signals from the plurality of anchor nodes during a same time slot of the ranging session, wherein the plurality of positioning signals are received on a same channel; despread the plurality of positioning signals based on the plurality of spreading codes to determine a corresponding plurality of despread positioning signals; determine a plurality of estimated STSs associated with the plurality of anchor nodes based on the one or more STS generation parameters applied to the plurality of despread positioning signals, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of estimated STSs; and associate the plurality of despread positioning signals with the plurality of estimated STSs to determine a plurality of times of arrival (ToAs) associated with the plurality of anchor nodes, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of ToAs.

[0017] Other objects and advantages associated with the various aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the drawings and detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in describing various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided solely for illustration and not limitation of the various aspects.

[0019] Figure 1 An example wireless communication system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0020] Figure 2A , Figure 2B and Figure 2C Example wireless network structures according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0021] Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a user equipment (UE), a base station, and a network entity, respectively, and configured to support communications as taught herein.

[0022] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating example ranging operations according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0023] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating a Single-Side Two-Way Ranging (SS-TWR) procedure according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0024] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating a Dual-Sided Two-Way Ranging (DS-TWR) procedure according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0025] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating different scrambled time stamp (STS) packets according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0026] Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating a deterministic random bit generator (DRBG) based on Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)-128 according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0027] Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example ranging block structure according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0028] Fig.10 is a diagram illustrating an example ultra-wideband (UWB) mobile scenario in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0029] Fig.11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a time difference of arrival (TDOA) positioning procedure using frequency division multiple access (FDMA) within a room according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0030] Fig.12 is a diagram illustrating an example of time-division multiplexing a plurality of sessions with each of responder anchor points involved in a positioning session to locate a target device according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0031] Fig.13 is a diagram illustrating an example of positioning a target device using a different transmission offset for each of responder anchor points involved in a positioning session according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0032] Fig.14 is a diagram illustrating the location of additional spreading and despreading blocks according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0033] Fig.15 is a diagram illustrating an example of multiple TDOA anchor nodes using orthogonal codes according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0034] Figures 16 to 18

[0013] Example methods of wireless communications in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] Various aspects of the present disclosure are provided in the following description and related drawings for various examples provided for illustrative purposes. Alternative aspects may be designed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, well-known elements of the present disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted to avoid making the relevant details of the present disclosure difficult to understand.

[0036] The words "exemplary" and / or "example" are used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" and / or "example" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Likewise, the term "aspects of the disclosure" does not require that all aspects of the disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage, or mode of operation.

[0037] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any of a variety of different techniques and methods may be used to represent the information and signals described below. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the following description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof, which depends in part on the specific application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, and so on.

[0038] In addition, many aspects are described in terms of a sequence of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It will be appreciated that the various actions described herein may be performed by a specific circuit (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of the two. In addition, the sequence of actions described herein may be considered to be fully embodied in any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, in which a corresponding computer instruction set is stored, which, when executed, will cause or command the associated processor of the device to perform the functions described herein. Therefore, various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in a variety of different forms, all of which have been contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the various aspects described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein as, for example, "logic configured to perform the described actions."

[0039] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any specific radio access technology (RAT). In general, a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a consumer asset location device, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch, glasses, an augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) head-mounted device, etc.), a vehicle (e.g., a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, etc.), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. A UE may be mobile or may be stationary (e.g., at certain times) and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" may be interchangeably referred to as an "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber device", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or "UT", "mobile device", "mobile terminal", "mobile station" or variations thereof. In general, a UE may communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network, the UE may connect to external networks such as the Internet and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms are also possible for the UE to connect to the core network and / or the Internet, such as through a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (eg, based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specification, etc.), etc.

[0040] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs to communicate with a UE, depending on the network in which the base station is deployed, and may alternatively be referred to as an access point (AP), a network node, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), a new radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), etc. A base station may be primarily used to support wireless access for UEs, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for supported UEs. In some systems, a base station may provide only edge node signaling functions, while in other systems, it may provide additional control and / or network management functions. The communication link by which a UE may transmit a signal to a base station is referred to as an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). The communication link by which a base station may transmit a signal to a UE is referred to as a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term "traffic channel (TCH)" may refer to an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0041] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmit-receive point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be co-located. For example, where the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station corresponding to a cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. Where the term "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an antenna array of the base station (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where the base station employs beamforming). Where the term "base station" refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transmission medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-located physical TRP may be a serving base station that receives measurement reports from a UE and a neighboring base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signal the UE is measuring. Because, as used herein, a TRP is a point by which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, references to transmitting from a base station or receiving at a base station should be understood to refer to a specific TRP of a base station.

[0042] In some implementations of supporting UE positioning, a base station may not support wireless access by the UE (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE), but may instead send a reference signal to be measured by the UE and / or may receive and measure a signal sent by the UE. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., in the case of sending a signal to the UE) and / or as a position measurement unit (e.g., in the case of receiving and measuring a signal from the UE).

[0043] An "RF signal" includes an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transmits information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels, a receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between a transmitter and a receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a "wireless signal" or simply a "signal" where it is clear from the context that the term "signal" refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal.

[0044] Figure 1An example wireless communication system 100 according to various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. The wireless communication system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 (labeled as "BS") and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macro cell base stations (high power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low power cellular base stations). In one aspect, the macro cell base stations may include eNBs and / or ng-eNBs (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network), or gNBs (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network), or a combination of the two, and the small cell base stations may include femto cells, pico cells, micro cells, etc.

[0045] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC)) through a backhaul link 122, and interface with one or more location servers 172 (e.g., a location management function (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)) through the core network 170. The location server 172 may be part of the core network 170 or may be external to the core network 170. The location server 172 may be integrated with the base station 102. The UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 directly or indirectly. For example, the UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 via the base station 102 currently serving the UE 104. The UE 104 may also communicate with the location server 172 via another path, such as via an application server (not shown), via another network, such as via a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) (e.g., the AP 150 described below), etc. For signaling purposes, communications between UE 104 and location server 172 may be represented as an indirect connection (e.g., through core network 170, etc.) or a direct connection (e.g., as shown via direct connection 128), with intermediate nodes (if any) omitted from the signaling diagram for clarity.

[0046] Among other functions, the base station 102 may perform functions related to one or more of the following: delivering user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through EPC / 5GC) over a backhaul link 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0047] Base station 102 may communicate wirelessly with UE 104. Each of base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, one or more cells may be supported by base station 102 in each geographic coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used to communicate with a base station (e.g., on a certain frequency resource, which is referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.), and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), an enhanced cell identifier (ECI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI), etc.) used to distinguish cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other protocol types) that may provide access to different types of UEs. Because a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term "cell" may refer to either or both of the logical communication entity and the base station supporting it, depending on the context. In addition, because the TRP is generally the physical transmission point of the cell, the terms "cell" and "TRP" may be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term "cell" may also refer to a geographic coverage area (e.g., a sector) of a base station, as long as a carrier frequency can be detected and used for communications within a portion of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0048] Although the geographic coverage areas 110 of neighboring macrocell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover area), some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may substantially overlap with the larger geographic coverage area 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' (labeled "SC" for "small cell") may have a geographic coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the geographic coverage areas 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell base stations and macrocell base stations may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home eNB (HeNB), which may provide services to a restricted group called a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0049] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include uplink (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may be over one or more carrier frequencies. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric for the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to the downlink than to the uplink).

[0050] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a WLAN access point (AP) 150 that communicates with a wireless local area network (WLAN) station (STA) 152 in an unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz) via a communication link 154. When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) or a listen before talk (LBT) procedure prior to communication to determine whether a channel is available.

[0051] The small cell base station 102' can operate in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the small cell base station 102' can adopt LTE or NR technology and use the same 5GHz unlicensed spectrum used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102' using LTE / 5G in the unlicensed spectrum can improve the coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network. NR in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as LTE-U, Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0052] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180, which may operate at mmW frequencies and / or near mmW frequencies to communicate with UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz, with a wavelength between 1 mm and 10 mm. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near mmW may extend down to a frequency of 3 GHz, with a wavelength of 100 mm. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, and is also referred to as centimeter waves. Communications using mmW / near mmW radio frequency bands have high path loss and relatively short distances. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmitting and / or receiving) on ​​the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short distance. In addition, it should be understood that in an alternative configuration, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or near mmW and beamforming. Therefore, it should be understood that the foregoing illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0053] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing a faster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal to the receiving device. In order to change the directionality of the RF signal when transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters that broadcast the RF signal. For example, a network node can use an array of antennas (called a "phased array" or "antenna array") that creates RF beams that can be "steered" to point in different directions without actually moving the antennas. Specifically, the RF current from the transmitter is fed to each antenna in the correct phase relationship so that the radio waves from the separate antennas are added together to increase the radiation in the desired direction while canceling to suppress the radiation in the undesired direction.

[0054] The transmit beams can be quasi-co-located, meaning that they appear to the receiver (e.g., UE) to have the same parameters regardless of whether the network node's own transmit antennas are physically co-located. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships. Specifically, a given type of QCL relationship means that certain parameters about the second reference RF signal on the second beam can be derived based on information about the source reference RF signal on the source beam. Therefore, if the source reference RF signal is QCL type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type D, the receiver may use the source reference RF signal to estimate spatial reception parameters of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0055] In receive beamforming, the receiver uses receive beams to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver may increase the gain setting of the antenna array in a particular direction and / or adjust the phase setting of the antenna array in a particular direction to amplify the RF signal received from that direction (e.g., increase its gain level). Therefore, when a receiver is said to perform beamforming in a certain direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain along other directions, or the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gain in that direction of all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), etc.) of the RF signal received from that direction.

[0056] The transmit beam and the receive beam may be spatially correlated. The spatial relationship means that parameters of a second beam (e.g., a transmit beam or a receive beam) for a second reference signal may be derived from information about a first beam (e.g., a receive beam or a transmit beam) for a first reference signal. For example, a UE may use a specific receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE may then form a transmit beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal (e.g., a sounding reference signal (SRS)) to the base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0057] Note that depending on the entity forming the "downlink" beam, the beam can be a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming a downlink beam to send a reference signal to the UE, the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if the UE is forming a downlink beam, the downlink beam is a receive beam that receives a downlink reference signal. Similarly, depending on the entity forming the "uplink" beam, the beam can be a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming an uplink beam, it is an uplink receive beam, while if the UE is forming an uplink beam, it is an uplink transmit beam.

[0058] The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc. based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz–7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz–52.6 GHz). It should be understood that, despite the portion of FR1 being greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often (interchangeably) referred to as the “sub-6 GHz” band in various documents and articles. A similar naming issue sometimes occurs with respect to FR2, which is often (interchangeably) referred to as the “millimeter wave” band in documents and articles, despite being distinct from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz–300 GHz) identified as the “millimeter wave” band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

[0059] Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are generally referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR research has identified the operating bands for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 GHz–24.25 GHz). The bands falling within FR3 can inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, and thus can effectively extend the features of FR1 and / or FR2 to mid-band frequencies. In addition, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operations to more than 52.6 GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz–71 GHz), FR4 (52.6 GHz–114.25 GHz), and FR5 (114.25 GHz–300 GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0060] In view of the above aspects, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if the term "below 6 GHz" or the like is used herein, it can be broadly referred to as a frequency that may be less than 6 GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. In addition, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if the term "millimeter wave" or the like is used herein, it can be broadly referred to as a frequency that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2, FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1 and / or FR5, or may be within the EHF band.

[0061] In a multi-carrier system (such as 5G), one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell", and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as "secondary carriers" or "secondary serving cells" or "SCells". In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is a carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) used by the UE 104 / 182 and the cell in which the UE 104 / 182 performs an initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection reestablishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and UE-specific control channels and can be a carrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). A secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2), which can be configured and used to provide additional radio resources once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier. In some cases, the secondary carrier can be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may contain only necessary signaling information and signals, for example, since the primary uplink carrier and the primary downlink carrier are usually UE-specific, those UE-specific signaling information and signals may not be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplink primary carrier. The network is able to change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers. Because a "serving cell" (whether PCell or SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency / component carrier on which a base station communicates, the terms "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. are used interchangeably.

[0062] For example, still refer to Figure 1 , one of the frequencies used by the macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), and the other frequencies used by the macrocell base station 102 and / or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers ("SCells"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers enables the UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rate. For example, two 20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically result in a doubling of the data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to the data rate obtained with a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0063] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a UE 164, which may communicate with the macrocell base station 102 via a communication link 120 and / or communicate with the mmW base station 180 via a mmW communication link 184. For example, the macrocell base station 102 may support a PCell and one or more SCells for the UE 164, and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCells for the UE 164.

[0064] In some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 are capable of sidelink communication. A sidelink-capable UE (SL-UE) may communicate with base station 102 via communication link 120 using a Uu interface (i.e., an air interface between a UE and a base station). SL-UEs (e.g., UE 164, UE 182) may also communicate directly with each other via a wireless sidelink 160 using a PC5 interface (i.e., an air interface between sidelink-capable UEs). A wireless sidelink (or simply "sidelink") is an adaptation of a core cellular network (e.g., LTE, NR) standard that allows direct communication between two or more UEs without communicating through a base station. Sidelink communications may be unicast or multicast and may be used for device-to-device (D2D) media sharing, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2X) communications (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communications, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communications, etc.), emergency rescue applications, etc. One or more SL-UEs in a group of SL-UEs utilizing sidelink communications may be located within the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102. Other SL-UEs in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102, or may be unable to receive transmissions from the base station 102 for other reasons. In some cases, groups of SL-UEs communicating via sidelink communications may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, in which each SL-UE transmits to each other SL-UE in the group. In some cases, the base station 102 facilitates the scheduling of resources for sidelink communications. In other cases, sidelink communications are performed between the SL-UEs without involving the base station 102.

[0065] In one aspect, the sidelink 160 may operate on a wireless communication medium of interest, which may be shared with other vehicles and / or infrastructure access points and other wireless communications between other RATs. A "medium" may include one or more time, frequency, and / or spatial communication resources associated with wireless communications between one or more transmitter / receiver pairs (e.g., covering one or more channels across one or more carriers). In one aspect, the medium of interest may correspond to at least a portion of an unlicensed band shared between various RATs. Although different licensed bands have been reserved for certain communication systems (e.g., by government entities such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States), these systems (particularly those employing small cell access points) have recently expanded operations into unlicensed bands such as the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band used by wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies (most notably the IEEE 802.11x WLAN technology commonly referred to as "Wi-Fi"). Example systems of this type include different variations of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, TDMA systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, Single Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, and the like.

[0066] Note that although Figure 1 Only two of these UEs are illustrated as SL-UEs (i.e., UEs 164 and 182), but any of the illustrated UEs may be SL-UEs. Furthermore, although only UE 182 is described as being capable of beamforming, any of the illustrated UEs (including UE 164) may be capable of beamforming. Where SL-UEs are capable of beamforming, they may beamform toward each other (i.e., toward other SL-UEs), toward other UEs (e.g., UE 104), toward base stations (e.g., base stations 102, 180, small cells 102', access point 150), and the like. Thus, in some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 may utilize beamforming via sidelink 160.

[0067] exist Figure 1 In the example of FIG. 1 , the UE illustrated (for simplicity, in Figure 1Any of the UEs 104 (shown as a single UE 104 in FIG. 1 ) may receive a signal 124 from one or more earth-orbiting space vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites). In one aspect, the SVs 112 may be part of a satellite positioning system that the UEs 104 may use as an independent source of location information. A satellite positioning system typically includes a transmitter system (e.g., SVs 112) positioned to enable a receiver (e.g., UE 104) to determine its position on or above the earth based at least in part on a positioning signal (e.g., signal 124) received from the transmitter. Such a transmitter typically transmits a signal that is marked with a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code of a set number of chips. Although typically located in the SVs 112, the transmitters may sometimes be located on ground-based control stations, base stations 102, and / or other UEs 104. The UEs 104 may include one or more dedicated receivers that are specifically designed to receive the signal 124 in order to derive geographic location information from the SVs 112.

[0068] In a satellite positioning system, the use of signal 124 may be enhanced by various 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. For example, SBAS may include augmentation systems that provide integrity information, differential corrections, etc., such as Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), Multifunction Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), Global Positioning System (GPS) Assisted Geographic Augmented Navigation or GPS and Geographic Augmented Navigation System (GAGAN), etc. Thus, as used herein, a satellite positioning system may include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellites associated with such one or more satellite positioning systems.

[0069] In one aspect, SV 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). In an NTN, SV 112 is connected to an earth station (also referred to as a ground station, NTN gateway, or gateway), which in turn is connected to an element in a 5G network, such as an improved base station 102 (without a ground antenna) or a network node in a 5GC. This element in turn will provide access to other elements in the 5G network, and ultimately provide access to entities outside the 5G network (such as Internet web servers and other user devices). In this way, instead of or in addition to communication signals from a ground base station 102, a UE 104 can receive communication signals (e.g., signal 124) from a SV 112.

[0070] The wireless communication system 100 may also include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, which are indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as “side links”). Figure 1 In the example of FIG. 1 , UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of UEs 104 connected to one of base stations 102 (e.g., UE 190 can indirectly obtain cellular connectivity through the D2D P2P link), and has a D2D P2P link 194 with WLAN STA 152 connected to WLAN AP 150 (UE 190 can indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity through the D2D P2P link). In an example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 can be supported by any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth ® etc.

[0071] Figure 2A An example wireless network structure 200 is illustrated. For example, the 5GC 210 (also referred to as the Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be functionally viewed as a control plane (C-plane) function 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and a user plane (U-plane) function 212 (e.g., UE gateway function, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.), which operate in conjunction to form a core network. The user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and the control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5GC 210, and specifically to the user plane function 212 and the control plane function 214, respectively. In an additional configuration, the ng-eNB 224 can also be connected to the 5GC 210 via the NG-C 215 to the control plane function 214 and the NG-U 213 to the user plane function 212. In addition, the ng-eNB 224 can communicate directly with the gNB 222 via the backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, a next generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of ng-eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. Either gNB 222 or ng-eNB 224 (or both) may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0072] Another optional aspect may include a location server 230 that can communicate with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The location server 230 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively may each correspond to a single server. The location server 230 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204 that may be connected to the location server 230 via the core network, the 5GC 210, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). In addition, the location server 230 may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively may be external to the core network (e.g., a third-party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or a service server).

[0073] Figure 2B Another example wireless network structure 240 is illustrated. 5GC 260 (which may correspond to Figure 2AThe 5GC 210 in the 5GC 210 can be functionally viewed as a control plane function provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) 264, and a user plane function provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate in conjunction to form a core network (i.e., the 5GC 260). The functions of the AMF 264 include: registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transmission of session management (SM) messages between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any UE described herein) and a session management function (SMF) 266, a transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transmission of short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and a short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204, and receives an intermediate key established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In case of authentication based on UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), AMF 264 retrieves security material from AUSF. The functionality of AMF 264 also includes security context management (SCM). SCM receives keys from SEAF, which it uses to derive access network specific keys. The functionality of AMF 264 also includes location service management for regulatory services, for the transmission of location service messages between UE 204 and Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (which acts as location server 230), for the transmission of location service messages between NG-RAN 220 and LMF 270, for the allocation of Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer identifiers for interoperation with EPS, and UE 204 mobility event notifications. In addition, AMF 264 also supports functionality for non-3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0074] The functions of UPF 262 include: acting as an anchor point for intra-RAT / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, user plane quality of service (QoS) handling (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in downlink), uplink traffic verification (service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and transmitting and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node. UPF 262 may also support the delivery of location service messages between UE 204 and a location server (such as SLP 272) on the user plane.

[0075] The functions of SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, traffic steering configuration for routing traffic to the correct destination at UPF 262, partial control of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which SMF 266 communicates with AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0076] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270 that can communicate with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The LMF 270 can be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively can each correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which can be connected to the LMF 270 via the core network, the 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). SLP 272 may support similar functionality as LMF 270, but LMF 270 may communicate with AMF 264, NG-RAN 220, and UE 204 on a control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to carry signaling messages rather than voice or data), and SLP 272 may communicate with UE 204 and external clients (e.g., third-party servers 274) on a user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and / or data, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0077] Yet another optional aspect may include a third-party server 274 that may communicate with the LMF 270, the SLP 272, the 5GC 260 (e.g., via the AMF 264 and / or the UPF 262), the NG-RAN 220, and / or the UE 204 to obtain location information (e.g., a location estimate) of the UE 204. Thus, in some cases, the third-party server 274 may be referred to as a location service (LCS) client or an external client. The third-party server 274 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively may each correspond to a single server.

[0078] The user plane interface 263 and the control plane interface 265 connect the 5GC 260, and specifically the UPF 262 and the AMF 264, respectively, to one or more gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 in the NG-RAN 220. The interface between the gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 and the AMF 264 is referred to as the "N2" interface, and the interface between the gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 and the UPF 262 is referred to as the "N3" interface. The gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 of the NG-RAN 220 may communicate directly with each other via a backhaul connection 223 referred to as an "Xn-C" interface. One or more of the gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 via a wireless interface referred to as a "Uu" interface.

[0079] The functionality of the gNB 222 may be divided between a gNB central unit (gNB-CU) 226, one or more gNB distributed units (gNB-DU) 228, and one or more gNB radio units (gNB-RU) 229. The gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes base station functions other than those specifically assigned to the gNB-DU 228, including delivery of user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, and the like. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 generally hosts the radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) protocols of the gNB 222. The gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that generally hosts the radio link control (RLC) and medium access control (MAC) layers of the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 may support one or more cells, and one cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and one or more gNB-DUs 228 is referred to as the "F1" interface. The physical (PHY) layer functionality of the gNB 222 is typically hosted by one or more independent gNB-RUs 229, which perform functions such as power amplification and signal transmission / reception. The interface between the gNB-DU 228 and the gNB-RU 229 is referred to as the "Fx" interface. Thus, the UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC layer, the SDAP layer, and the PDCP layer, communicates with the gNB-DU 228 via the RLC layer and the MAC layer, and communicates with the gNB-RU 229 via the PHY layer.

[0080] The deployment of a communication system (such as a 5G NR system) can be arranged with various components or parts in a variety of ways. In a 5G NR system or network, a network node, a network entity, a mobility element of a network, a RAN node, a core network node, a network element or a network equipment (such as a base station or one or more units (or one or more components) that perform base station functionality) can be implemented in an aggregated or decomposed architecture. For example, a base station (such as a Node B (NB), an evolved NB (eNB), an NR base station, a 5GNB, an access point (AP), a transmit receive point (TRP) or a cell, etc.) can be implemented as an aggregated base station (also known as a stand-alone base station or a single-chip base station) or a decomposed base station.

[0081] An aggregated base station may be configured to utilize a radio protocol stack physically or logically integrated within a single RAN node. A decomposed base station may be configured to utilize a protocol stack physically or logically distributed between two or more units, such as one or more central or centralized units (CUs), one or more distributed units (DUs), or one or more radio units (RUs). In some aspects, a CU may be implemented within a RAN node, and one or more DUs may be co-located with the CU, or alternatively, may be geographically or virtually distributed in one or more other RAN nodes. A DU may be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs. Each of a CU, a DU, and a RU may also be implemented as a virtual unit, i.e., a virtual central unit (VCU), a virtual distributed unit (VDU), or a virtual radio unit (VRU).

[0082] Base station type operations or network design may take into account the aggregated nature of base station functionality. For example, a disaggregated base station may be used in an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open radio access network (O-RAN (network configuration such as that initiated by the O-RAN Alliance)), or a virtualized radio access network (vRAN, also known as a cloud radio access network (C-RAN)). Decomposition may include distributing functionality across two or more units at various physical locations, as well as virtually distributing functionality of at least one unit, which may enable flexibility in network design. Various units of a disaggregated base station or disaggregated RAN architecture may be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit.

[0083] Figure 2C An example disaggregated base station architecture 250 is illustrated in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The disaggregated base station architecture 250 may include one or more central units (CUs) 280 (e.g., gNB-CUs 226) that may communicate directly with a core network 267 (e.g., 5GC 210, 5GC 260) via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 267 through one or more disaggregated base station units, such as a near real-time (near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 259 via an E2 link or a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC 257 associated with a service management and orchestration (SMO) framework 255, or both. The CU 280 may communicate with one or more distributed units (DUs) 285 (e.g., gNB-DUs 228) via respective midhaul links, such as an F1 interface. The DUs 285 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 287 (e.g., gNB-RUs 229) via respective fronthaul links. The RU 287 can communicate with a corresponding UE 204 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, a UE 204 can be served by multiple RUs 287 simultaneously.

[0084] Each of the units (i.e., CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, and near-RT RIC 259, non-RT RIC 257, and SMO framework 255) may include or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or send signals, data, or information (collectively referred to as signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of the units or an associated processor or controller that provides instructions to the communication interface of these units may be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via a transmission medium. For example, these units may include a wired interface configured to receive or send signals to one or more of the other units via a wired transmission medium. Additionally, these units may include a wireless interface that may include a receiver, transmitter, or transceiver (such as a radio frequency (RF) transceiver) configured to receive or send signals, or both, to one or more of the other units on a wireless transmission medium.

[0085] In some aspects, CU 280 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions may include radio resource control (RRC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), etc. Each control function may be implemented using an interface configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by CU 280. CU280 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (i.e., central unit-user plane (CU-UP)), control plane functionality (i.e., central unit-control plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some specific implementations, CU 280 may be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. When implemented in an O-RAN configuration, the CU-UP unit may communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP unit via an interface (such as an E1 interface). As needed, CU 280 may be implemented to communicate with DU 285 for network control and signaling.

[0086] DU 285 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions for controlling the operation of one or more RUs 287. In some aspects, DU 285 may host one or more of a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and one or more high physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, etc.) at least in part according to a functional split such as defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). In some aspects, DU 285 may further host one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (or module) may be implemented using an interface that is configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by DU 285 or with control functions hosted by CU 280.

[0087] The lower layer functionality may be implemented by one or more RUs 287. In some deployments, the RU 287 controlled by the DU 285 may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions or low PHY layer functions (such as performing fast Fourier transform (FFT), inverse FFT (iFFT), digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, etc.), or both, based at least in part on functional splitting (such as lower layer functional splitting). In such an architecture, the RU 287 may be implemented to handle over-the-air (OTA) communications with one or more UEs 204. In some specific implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control plane and user plane communications with the RU 287 may be controlled by the corresponding DU 285. In some scenarios, this configuration may enable the implementation of the DU 285 and the CU 280 in a cloud-based RAN architecture (such as a vRAN architecture).

[0088] The SMO framework 255 may be configured to support RAN deployment and configuration of non-virtualized network elements and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 255 may be configured to support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements, which may be managed via an operation and maintenance interface (such as an O1 interface). For virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 255 may be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) 269) to perform network element lifecycle management (such as instantiating virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as an O2 interface). Such virtualized network elements may include, but are not limited to, CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, and near-RT RIC 259. In some specific implementations, the SMO framework 255 may communicate with hardware aspects of the 4G RAN (such as an open eNB (O-eNB) 261) via the O1 interface. Additionally, in some specific implementations, the SMO framework 255 may communicate directly with one or more RUs 287 via the O1 interface. The SMO framework 255 may also include a non-RT RIC 257 configured to support the functionality of the SMO framework 255 .

[0089] The non-RT RIC 257 may be configured to include logic functions that enable non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updating, or policy-based guidance of applications / features in the near-RT RIC 259. The non-RT RIC 257 may be coupled to or in communication with the near-RT RIC 259 (such as via an A1 interface). The near-RT RIC 259 may be configured to include logic functions that enable near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions through an interface (such as via an E2 interface) that connects one or more CUs 280, one or more DUs 285, or both, and the O-eNB with the near-RT RIC 259.

[0090] In some implementations, in order to generate an AI / ML model to be deployed in the near-RT RIC 259, the non-RT RIC 257 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from an external server. Such information may be utilized by the near-RT RIC 259 and may be received from a non-network data source or from a network function at the SMO framework 255 or the non-RT RIC 257. In some examples, the non-RT RIC 257 or the near-RT RIC 259 may be configured to adjust RAN behavior or performance. For example, the non-RT RIC 257 may monitor long-term trends and patterns of performance and employ AI / ML models to perform corrective actions through the SMO framework 255 (such as via reconfiguration of O1) or via the creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 policies).

[0091] Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C Several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) are illustrated, which may be incorporated into UE 302 (which may correspond to any UE described herein), base station 304 (which may correspond to any base station described herein), and network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any network function described herein, including location server 230 and LMF 270, or alternatively may be independent of Figure 2A and Figure 2B The depicted NG-RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure, such as a dedicated network, is implemented to support operations as described herein. It should be understood that these components can be implemented in different types of devices with different specific implementations (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system on a chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated components can also be incorporated into other devices in the communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to those described as providing similar functions. In addition, a given device may include one or more of these components. For example, a device may include multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0092] UE 302 and base station 304 each include one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively, which provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for preventing transmitting, etc.) for communicating via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown), such as NR networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, etc. WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may each be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356, respectively, for communicating with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc.) via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) on a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., a set of time / frequency resources in a particular spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can be configured in different ways to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) according to a specified RAT, and conversely, receive and decode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.). Specifically, the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 include: one or more transmitters 314 and 354 for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358, respectively, and one or more receivers 312 and 352 for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358, respectively.

[0093] At least in some cases, UE 302 and base station 304 each further include one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. Short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and provide for communicating over the wireless communication medium of interest via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth ® 、Zigbee ® 、Z-Wave ®, PC5, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), wireless access for vehicle environments (WAVE), near field communication (NFC), ultra-wideband (UWB), etc.) and other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc.) (e.g., components for sending, components for receiving, components for measuring, components for tuning, components for preventing sending, etc.). The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be configured in different ways to send and encode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) according to the specified RAT, and conversely, receive and decode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.). Specifically, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 respectively include: one or more transmitters 324 and 364 for sending and encoding signals 328 and 368, respectively, and one or more receivers 322 and 362 for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368, respectively. As a specific example, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be WiFi transceivers, Bluetooth ® Transceiver, Zigbee ® and / or Z-Wave ® transceiver, NFC transceiver UWB transceiver or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceiver.

[0094] At least in some cases, the UE 302 and the base station 304 also include satellite signal receivers 330 and 370. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and may provide components for receiving and / or measuring satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. In the case where the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are satellite positioning system receivers, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be global positioning system (GPS) signals, global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, Beidou signals, Indian regional navigation satellite system (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. In the case where the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be communication signals (e.g., carrying control and / or user data) originating from a 5G network. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may include any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may request appropriate information and operations from other systems and, at least in some cases, perform calculations using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithm to determine the positions of UE 302 and base station 304, respectively.

[0095] The base station 304 and the network entity 306 each include one or more network transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, which provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, etc.) for communicating with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 304, other network entities 306). For example, the base station 304 may employ one or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other base stations 304 or network entities 306 via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. As another example, the network entity 306 may employ one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or more base stations 304 via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links, or communicate with other network entities 306 via one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

[0096] The transceiver may be configured to communicate over a wired or wireless link. A transceiver (whether a wired transceiver or a wireless transceiver) includes a transmitter circuit system (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) and a receiver circuit system (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362). In some implementations, the transceiver may be an integrated device (e.g., implementing the transmitter circuit system and the receiver circuit system in a single device), in some implementations may include separate transmitter circuit systems and separate receiver circuit systems, or may be implemented in other ways in other implementations. The transmitter circuit system and the receiver circuit system of a wired transceiver (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) may be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. The wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as antenna arrays, which allow the corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform transmit "beamforming", as described herein. Similarly, the wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receiver 312, 322, 352, 362) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as antenna arrays, which allow the corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry may share the same multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366) so that the corresponding device can only receive or only transmit at a given time, rather than both receive and transmit at the same time. The wireless transceivers (eg, WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 , short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 ) may also include a network listening module (NLM) or the like for performing various measurements.

[0097] As used herein, various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360 in some implementations, and network transceivers 380 and 390) and wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) may be generally characterized as a "transceiver," "at least one transceiver," or "one or more transceivers." Thus, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wireless transceiver may be inferred based on the type of communication being performed. For example, backhaul communications between network devices or servers typically involve signaling via a wired transceiver, while wireless communications between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station (e.g., base station 304) will typically involve signaling via a wireless transceiver.

[0098] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 also include other components that can be used in conjunction with the operations disclosed herein. UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 include one or more processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, for providing functionality related to, for example, wireless communication, and for providing other processing functionality. Thus, processors 332, 384, and 394 may provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for sending, means for indicating, etc. In one aspect, processors 332, 384, and 394 may include, for example, one or more general purpose processors, multi-core processors, central processing units (CPUs), ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuit systems, or various combinations thereof.

[0099] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 include memory circuitry implementing memory 340, 386, and 396 (e.g., each including a memory device) for maintaining information (e.g., information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). Thus, memory 340, 386, and 396 may provide means for storing, means for retrieving, means for maintaining, etc. In some cases, UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may include positioning components 342, 388, and 398, respectively. Positioning components 342, 388, and 398, respectively, may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, which, when executed, cause UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. In other aspects, the positioning components 342, 388, and 398 can be external to the processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the positioning components 342, 388, and 398 can be memory modules stored in the memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively, which when executed by the processors 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.), cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. Figure 3A Possible locations for a location component 342 are illustrated, which may be, for example, part of one or more WWAN transceivers 310, memory 340, one or more processors 332, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. Figure 3B Possible locations for a location component 388 are illustrated, which may be, for example, part of one or more WWAN transceivers 350, memory 386, one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. Figure 3C Possible locations for a location component 398 are illustrated, which may be, for example, part of one or more network transceivers 390, memory 396, one or more processors 394, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component.

[0100] UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to one or more processors 332 to provide a means for sensing or detecting movement and / or orientation information that is independent of motion data derived from signals received by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and / or satellite signal receivers 330. As an example, sensor 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), and / or any other type of motion detection sensor. In addition, sensor 344 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide motion information. For example, sensor 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and an orientation sensor to provide the ability to calculate positioning in a two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system.

[0101] In addition, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346, which provides means for providing indications to the user (e.g., audible and / or visual indications) and / or for receiving user input (e.g., when the user actuates a sensing device such as a keypad, touch screen, microphone, etc.). Although not shown, the base station 304 and the network entity 306 may also include a user interface.

[0102] Referring to the one or more processors 384 in more detail, in a downlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to the processor 384. The one or more processors 384 may implement functionality for an RRC layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium access control (MAC) layer. One or more processors 384 may provide: RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., master information block (MIB), system information block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with delivery of upper layer PDUs, error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0103] The transmitter 354 and the receiver 352 may implement layer 1 (L1) functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include: error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 handles the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The decoded and modulated symbols may then be separated into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., a pilot) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then combined together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially pre-decoded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator may be used to determine coding and modulation schemes and for spatial processing. Channel estimates may be derived based on a reference signal and / or channel condition feedback sent by the UE 302. Each spatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. The transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0104] At the UE 302, the receiver 312 receives the signal through its corresponding antenna 316. The receiver 312 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to one or more processors 332. The transmitter 314 and the receiver 312 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The receiver 312 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 302. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 302, they may be combined into a single OFDM symbol stream by the receiver 312. The receiver 312 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier and the reference signal are recovered and demodulated by determining the signal constellation point that is most likely to be sent by the base station 304. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally sent by the base station 304 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to one or more processors 332, which implement layer 3 (L3) and layer 2 (L2) functionality.

[0105] In the uplink, one or more processors 332 provide demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. One or more processors 332 are also responsible for error detection.

[0106] Similar to the functionality described in conjunction with downlink transmissions performed by the base station 304, the one or more processors 332 provide: RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with delivery of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0107] Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback sent by the base station 304 may be used by the transmitter 314 to select appropriate coding and modulation schemes and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the transmitter 314 may be provided to different antennas 316. The transmitter 314 may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0108] The uplink transmissions are processed at the base station 304 in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with the receiver functionality at the UE 302. The receiver 352 receives the signal through its respective antenna 356. The receiver 352 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to one or more processors 384.

[0109] In the uplink, one or more processors 384 provide demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from UE 302. IP packets from one or more processors 384 may be provided to the core network. One or more processors 384 are also responsible for error detection.

[0110] For convenience, UE 302, base station 304 and / or network entity 306 may Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C, is shown as including various components that can be configured according to the various examples described herein. However, it should be understood that the illustrated components may have different functionality in different designs. Specifically, FIG. 3A to FIG. 3C The various components in are optional in alternative configurations, and various aspects include configurations that may vary due to design choice, cost, use of the device, or other considerations. For example, in Figure 3A In the case of , a specific implementation of UE 302 may omit WWAN transceiver 310 (e.g., a wearable device or tablet or PC or laptop may have Wi-Fi and / or Bluetooth capabilities but no cellular capabilities), may omit short-range wireless transceiver 320 (e.g., only cellular, etc.), may omit satellite signal receiver 330, may omit sensor 344, etc. In another example, in Figure 3B In the case of a wireless cellular network, a specific implementation of the base station 304 may omit the WWAN transceiver 350 (e.g., a Wi-Fi "hotspot" access point without cellular capabilities), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver 360 (e.g., cellular only, etc.), or may omit the satellite signal receiver 370, etc. For the sake of brevity, illustrations of various alternative configurations are not provided herein, but will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

[0111] Various components of the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to one another via data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392, respectively. In an aspect, the data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 may form or be part of a communication interface for the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306, respectively. For example, where different logical entities are embodied in the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functionality incorporated into the same base station 304), the data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 may provide for communication between the different logical entities.

[0112] Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C The components of can be implemented in various ways. In some specific implementations, Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3CThe components of may be implemented in one or more circuits, such as, for example, one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and / or be combined with at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide the function. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310 to 346 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of the UE 302 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350 to 388 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of the base station 304 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Moreover, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390 to 398 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of the network entity 306 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). For simplicity, various operations, actions and / or functions are described herein as being performed "by the UE", "by the base station", "by the network entity", etc. However, it should be understood that such operations, actions and / or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of the UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc. (such as processors 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350 and 360, memories 340, 386 and 396, positioning components 342, 388 and 398, etc.).

[0113] In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may be operated separately from a network operator or a cellular network infrastructure (e.g., NG RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260). For example, the network entity 306 may be a component of a dedicated network that may be configured to communicate with the UE 302 via the base station 304 or independently of the base station 304 (e.g., via a non-cellular communication link such as WiFi).

[0114] UWB uses very low energy levels over a large portion of the radio spectrum for short-range, high-bandwidth communications. UWB has traditionally been used for non-cooperative radar imaging and more recently for sensor data collection, precise positioning, and tracking applications. UWB uses time of flight (ToF) to determine the distance between two or more enhanced ranging devices (ERDEVs). ToF is the propagation time it takes for an RF signal to travel from a transmitter to a receiver. The distance between a transmitter and a receiver can be calculated by multiplying the ToF by the speed of light. In the case where a target device performs a ranging procedure with multiple anchor devices (devices with known locations), the location of the target device can be determined based on the calculated distance between the target device and the anchor device and the known location of the anchor device. The location of the target device can be determined by a positioning entity, which can be the target device itself, one of the anchor devices (e.g., a serving access point for the target device), or a location server.

[0115] Figure 4 4 is a diagram illustrating an example ranging operation according to aspects of the present disclosure. The following terms are used with respect to the ERDEV. Controller: An ERDEV that controls ranging and defines ranging parameters by transmitting a ranging control message (RCM). Controlled party: An ERDEV that utilizes ranging parameters received from a controller in an RCM. Initiator: An ERDEV that initiates a ranging exchange by transmitting the first message of the exchange, a ranging initiation message (RIM), after an RCM. Either the controller or the controlled party may be the initiator. Responder: An ERDEV that responds to a ranging initiation message received from the initiator with a ranging response message (RRM).

[0116] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating a single-sided two-way ranging (SS-TWR) procedure 500 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The SS-TWR procedure 500 is performed between a first ERDEV (labeled "ERDEV A") and a second ERDEV (labeled "ERDEV B"). Both ERDEVs timestamp the RMARKER and use the timestamp to calculate the average propagation delay (or ToF) between them. Specifically, the propagation delay (T_prop) is calculated as T_prop = 1 / 2 (T_round - T_reply). Note that either or both of the illustrated ERDEVs may perform additional ranging procedures with other ERDEVs.

[0117] Figure 6is a diagram illustrating a dual-sided two-way ranging (DS-TWR) procedure 600 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The DS-TWR procedure 600 is performed between a first ERDEV (labeled "ERDEV A") and a second ERDEV (labeled "ERDEV B"). In the DS-TWR procedure 600, multiple exchanges are performed between the two ERDEVs to mitigate the effects of clock skew. More specifically, the three messages help correct clock skew errors between the transmitter and the receiver (because the clocks of the ERDEVs may not be synchronized). As in the SS-TWR procedure 500, both ERDEVs timestamp the RMARKER and use the timestamp to calculate the propagation delay between them. Specifically, the propagation delay (T_prop) is calculated as T_prop = (T_round1×T_round2-T_reply1×T_reply2) / (T_round1+T_round2+T_reply1+T_reply2). Note that either or both of the illustrated ERDEVs may perform additional ranging procedures with other ERDEVs.

[0118] Referring to the UWB physical (PHY) format for ranging, the ranging functionality is based on channel estimation using a SYNC preamble, which is an Ipatov ternary sequence that exhibits good autocorrelation properties. However, this preamble sequence is vulnerable to over-the-air attacks to falsify the time of arrival (ToA) estimate. The scrambled timestamp (STS) is a secure sequence generated using a deterministic random bit generator (DRBG) based on the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)-128 in counter mode. The start frame delimiter (SFD) is used to help distinguish the SYNC preamble from the STS. Figure 7 is a diagram 700 illustrating different STS groupings in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 8 is a diagram 800 illustrating an AES-128 based DRBG in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0119] For time-scheduled or contention-free ranging in UWB, a UWB session between two devices consists of consecutive ranging blocks. Fig. 9 900 is a diagram illustrating an example ranging block structure according to aspects of the present disclosure. Fig. 9 As shown, each ranging block consists of ranging rounds, which in turn have several ranging slots. Within a ranging block, a responder can send messages only within a single round. The round index is statically configured by the controller or selected according to a hopping pattern. The slots within the selected round are sequentially used to perform ranging or time difference of arrival (TDOA) positioning procedures. Each round consists of a single slot for the control phase, followed by the ranging and measurement reporting phases.

[0120] In the UWB-based UL-TDOA positioning procedure, the target device (e.g., a "tag" in UWB-based positioning) sends short polling messages (called "flash" messages in UWB-based positioning) at regular intervals. These polling messages are measured and time-stamped (indicating the ToA of the polling message) by all anchor nodes within the communication range of the target device. Regardless of their synchronization state, the anchor nodes transmit all timestamps to the positioning entity (e.g., server, controller anchor node, target device). Due to the different distances between the target device and the anchor nodes, the anchor nodes do not receive the polling messages at the same time. The difference between the ToA of the polling messages at the reference anchor node and the non-reference anchor node is the TDOA measurement for the non-reference anchor node.

[0121] To calculate the location of the target device, the positioning entity only considers the timestamps from at least four time-synchronized anchor nodes. Therefore, specifically, there will be at least three TDOAs between the reference anchor node among the four anchor nodes and each of the three remaining non-reference anchor nodes. Since it is assumed that the distance difference between the target device and the three non-reference anchor nodes is constant, a hyperbola can be drawn around each of the three non-reference anchor nodes based on TDOA. In any two groups of anchor nodes, the intersection of two hyperbola points is the location of the target device. Therefore, it is assumed that the target device is located at the intersection of the three hyperbolas determined based on the three TDOA measurements.

[0122] In the UWB-based DL-TDOA positioning procedure, multiple (e.g., four or more) anchor nodes send reference signals in sequential ranging slots of one or more ranging rounds. The target device measures the TDOA of the reference signals received from the anchor node pair and reports these TDOAs to the positioning entity. More specifically, the target device may be configured with identifiers of the reference anchor node and multiple non-reference anchor nodes in auxiliary data (e.g., from the controller anchor node, the positioning entity, the location server). The target device then measures the RSTD between the reference anchor node and each non-reference anchor node. Based on the known positions of the anchor nodes involved and the RSTD measurements, the positioning entity can estimate the position of the target device.

[0123] UWB inherently has a channel access scheme based on Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). Existing TDOA proposals are also based on TDMA. It has been proposed to incorporate other multiple access technologies into TDOA so that performance is not affected during mobility. Fig.10 1 is a diagram 1000 illustrating an example UWB mobile scenario according to aspects of the present disclosure. Fig.10As shown, the UWB tag is moving at the four points shown in the figure. For each reception of a downlink packet, the tag's positioning changes, which will result in an erroneous positioning estimate. For example, if the time slot duration is 1 millisecond (ms) and the tag moves at 10 kilometers per hour (kmph), the tag's positioning offset is close to 1.12 centimeters (cm) over a duration of 4ms. Robotic equipment in factories / industries may make instantaneous movements at much higher speeds (e.g., 60kmph), further exacerbating this problem (offset of 6.67cm).

[0124] The use of FDMA or CDMA based techniques has been proposed to improve positioning performance during mobility scenarios. Fig.11 1100 is a diagram illustrating an example of a TDOA positioning procedure using FDMA in a room according to aspects of the present disclosure. Fig.11 As shown, different anchor nodes (exemplified as wireless access points) operate on different channels (e.g., "CH5", "CH6", "CH7", etc.), and TDOA messages are simultaneously received by the target device (exemplified as a smart phone). However, this approach requires a high complexity receiver, which is counterintuitive because UWB tags are expected to have low complexity and low power hardware. The present disclosure proposes an alternative time slot scheduling technique to circumvent this problem without using FDMA.

[0125] With respect to TDOA positioning using CDMA-based techniques, the proposed CDMA method does not address issues with secure ranging. The present disclosure proposes including orthogonal scrambling codes so that secure ranging is maintained.

[0126] The first technique described herein provides a TDMA-based solution by multiplexing sessions. Currently, the initiator anchor (the controller of all other responder anchors and target devices) creates and maintains a single UWB session with multiple responder anchors. The initiator anchor acts as a UWB initiator (see Figure 4 ), and other responder anchors act as UWB responders (see Figure 4 ). Currently, the responder anchor transmits sequentially over multiple 1 ms time slots within the same session. In contrast, in current techniques, the initiator anchor creates and maintains multiple time-division multiplexed sessions with each of the responder anchors.

[0127] Fig.12 1200 is a diagram illustrating an example of time division multiplexing multiple sessions with each of the responder anchor points involved in the positioning session to locate a target device according to aspects of the present disclosure. Fig.12As shown, there are three sessions (labeled "session 1", "session 2", and "session 3") with three responder anchors (labeled "anchor 1", "anchor 2", and "anchor 3"). However, it can be understood that there may be more than three sessions with three responder anchors.

[0128] like Fig.12 As shown, there is a time offset between the start of each session. The UWB initiation time for each session is configured by the initiator anchor, which determines and signals the initial time offset before each session starts. This parameter can be configured so that the time offset between sessions is small (e.g., less than or equal to a threshold), approximately the message duration in the Scrambled Timestamp Sequence Packet Configuration Option Three (SP3) format (i.e., 150 microseconds (µs)). Note that the SP3 frame contains the STS but not the PHY header (PHR) or payload. By imposing a small time offset between sessions, errors for mobile target devices are greatly reduced.

[0129] The second technique described herein provides a TDMA-based solution by configuring the transmit offset within a time slot. Currently, as described above, the initiator anchor creates and maintains a single UWB session with multiple responder anchors. The initiator anchor acts as a UWB initiator (see Figure 4 ), and other responder anchors act as UWB responders (see Figure 4 Currently, each responder anchor is allocated a single slot in a session for transmission, and multiple responder anchors are allocated in consecutive slots in a session. However, different responder anchors transmitting every millisecond (or longer, depending on the slot duration) can result in poor performance for mobile target devices.

[0130] Reducing the slot duration to a much smaller value will be sufficient to reduce the TDOA error for the mobile target device. A similar effect to the previous technique can be achieved by configuring a transmit offset for each session with the responder anchor. This has the same effect as changing the session offset itself (i.e., the UWB initiation time). Alternatively, a single session can be maintained, but all responder anchors are scheduled intra-slot, with each responder anchor having a specific intra-slot transmit offset. This offset may also be on the order of the message duration (i.e., 150µs).

[0131] The concept of a transmit offset was introduced in the context of contention access period (CAP) channel access. However, this concept is on the order of a few hundred microseconds and is randomly chosen by the target device rather than specified by the controller / anchor. In more detail, when the controller (see Figure 4 ) When the devices that will participate in the UWB session are not known, contention-based ranging is typically used. The controller assumes the responsibility of the initiator (see Figure 4 ) role, while the controlled party (see Figure 4) assumes the responsibility of responding (see Figure 4 ) role. The CAP is announced by the controller and consists of a portion of a time slot within a ranging round. Any device that wishes to participate in a session randomly selects a time slot and sends a ranging message. Within a time slot, a device may also transmit after a random time offset (i.e., a transmit offset). The permissible values ​​of such a time offset are also contained in the control message.

[0132] Fig.13 1300 is a diagram illustrating an example of using a different transmission offset for each of the responder anchor points involved in a positioning session to locate a target device according to aspects of the present disclosure. Fig.13 In the example of , there are three responder anchor points, each of which is assigned a transmit offset (labeled "R1", "R2", and "R3"). However, it is understood that there may be more than three responder anchor points and three transmit offsets.

[0133] The third technique describes spreading the STS using orthogonal codes of CDMA.Currently, the output of the AES block undergoes Kronecker spreading (zero padding between chips). Figure 8 An example is shown in , where the spreading factor is "4" (i.e., there are three zeros between chips). The motivation is to account for delay spread in the channel and prevent inter-symbol interference. However, this does not achieve orthogonality between the signals received by the target device.

[0134] The principle behind spreading and despreading is that when a symbol is XORed with a known pattern (e.g., a Walsh code) (called spreading), and the result is XORed with the same pattern again (called despreading), the original symbol is recovered. In other words, performing two XORs with the same code has the effect of nulling the result. In orthogonal spreading, each coded symbol is XORed with all 64 chips of the spreading code (e.g., a Walsh code).

[0135] With spreading, each symbol is XORed with all chips in an orthogonal sequence (e.g., a Walsh sequence) assigned to the target device. The resulting sequence is processed and then sent on a physical channel along with other spread symbols. The receiver (target device) recovers each symbol by despreading the received chips using the same Walsh code used by the transmitter. When the wrong Walsh sequence is used for despreading, the average value of the resulting correlation is zero due to the orthogonality of the Walsh sequence.

[0136] Correlation is the process of multiplying the composite analog signal (the sum of all spread spectrum symbols) by the Walsh code corresponding to the target device and then averaging the results over the symbol time.

[0137] The present disclosure contemplates additional spreading blocks at the transmitter and additional despreading blocks at the receiver. Fig.14 1400 is a diagram illustrating the location of additional spreading blocks and despreading blocks according to aspects of the present disclosure. The STS generation parameters and spreading codes will be generated by the controller (see Figure 4 ) is provided via out-of-band (OOB) signaling as part of the session configuration data. Using this knowledge, the receiver will first despread using the known code and then correlate the estimated STS with the known STS (that was sent).

[0138] Fig.15 1500 is a diagram illustrating an example of multiple TDOA anchor nodes using orthogonal codes according to aspects of the present disclosure. Fig.15 In the example of , there are four anchor nodes (illustrated as wireless access points) operating in high pulse repetition frequency (HPRF) mode. The controller anchor (e.g., Anchor 1) configures STS parameters and spreading codes (labeled "C1", "C2", "C3", and "C4") for itself and all responder anchors (e.g., Anchor 2, Anchor 3, and Anchor 4). This information is broadcasted via OOB for potential target devices to perform TDOA positioning procedures. Note that in this case, the controller anchor (Anchor 1) is also the initiator anchor.

[0139] exist Fig.15 In the example of , all four anchor nodes are assigned to the same time slot so that the transmissions overlap in time (e.g., occur at the same time), but use orthogonal spreading codes. A mobile target device will receive all transmissions simultaneously and despread them appropriately based on the orthogonal spreading codes. The overall effect is that the mobility of the target device does not affect the performance of its TDOA-based positioning estimate. Note that in basic pulse repetition frequency (BPRF) mode, up to eight anchor nodes can use unique orthogonal codes with a total spreading factor of "8".

[0140] refer to Fig.14 and Fig.15 , the method of the third technique described in this article is as follows. Anchor 1 (the controller of the cluster and the target device) specifies what spreading code to use and what the STS generation parameters are. Each of the involved anchor nodes ( Fig.14 The transmitter in the target device ( Fig.14 The receiver in the controller buffers the incoming signals and despreads them using the spreading code received from the controller. The target device locally generates an STS corresponding to each of these anchor nodes (note that the STS can be the same across all anchors). The target device then associates the despread signal with the STS to identify the TOA corresponding to each of these anchor nodes (via channel estimation). Using the TDOA method, the target device can then estimate its position.

[0141] Fig.16 An example method 1600 of wireless communication in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In an aspect, the method 1600 may be performed by an initiator anchor node (eg, UE, base station, access point, etc.).

[0142] At 1610, the initiator anchor node sends first configuration information for a first ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the first responder anchor node to a first responder anchor node (e.g., another UE, a base station, an access point, etc.), wherein the first configuration information indicates a first initiation time for the first ranging session. In one aspect, in the case where the initiator anchor node is a UE, operation 1610 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered as means for performing the operation. In the case where the initiator anchor node is a base station or an access point, operation 1610 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 350, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 360, one or more processors 384, memory 386, and / or positioning component 388, any or all of which may be considered as means for performing the operation.

[0143] At 1620, the initiator anchor node sends second configuration information for a second ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the second responder anchor node to the second responder anchor node, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second initiation time for the second ranging session, wherein the first ranging session and the second ranging session are configured to enable the mobile device to obtain a first TDOA measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively, and wherein the second initiation time is offset from the first initiation time by less than or equal to a threshold. In one aspect, where the initiator anchor node is a UE, operation 1620 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered as means for performing the operation. In the case where the initiator anchor node is a base station or access point, operation 1620 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 350, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 360, one or more processors 384, memory 386 and / or positioning component 388, any or all of which may be considered as means for performing the operation.

[0144] Fig.17 An example method 1700 of wireless communication in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In an aspect, the method 1700 may be performed by an initiator anchor node (eg, UE, base station, access point, etc.).

[0145] At 1710, the initiator anchor node sends first configuration information for a ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the plurality of responder anchor nodes to the first responder anchor node, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first transmission time offset of the first responder anchor node within a time slot of the ranging session. In one aspect, in the case where the initiator anchor node is a UE, operation 1710 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered as means for performing the operation. In the case where the initiator anchor node is a base station or an access point, operation 1710 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 350, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 360, one or more processors 384, memory 386, and / or positioning component 388, any or all of which may be considered as means for performing the operation.

[0146] At 1720, the initiator anchor node sends second configuration information for the ranging session to the second responder anchor node, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second transmit time offset of the second responder anchor node within a time slot of the ranging session, and wherein the first transmit time offset and the second transmit time offset are configured to enable the mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively. In one aspect, where the initiator anchor node is a UE, operation 1720 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered as means for performing the operation. In the case where the initiator anchor node is a base station or access point, operation 1720 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 350, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 360, one or more processors 384, memory 386 and / or positioning component 388, any or all of which may be considered as means for performing the operation.

[0147] Fig.18 An example method 1800 of wireless communication in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In one aspect, the method 1800 may be performed by a mobile device (eg, UE, UWB tag, etc.).

[0148] At 1810, the mobile device receives configuration information for a ranging session between the mobile device and a plurality of anchor nodes, wherein the configuration information includes one or more scrambling time stamp (STS) generation parameters and a plurality of spreading codes, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with a spreading code of the plurality of spreading codes. In an aspect, operation 1810 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered means for performing the operation.

[0149] At 1820, the mobile device receives multiple positioning signals from multiple anchor nodes during the same time slot of the ranging session, wherein the multiple positioning signals are received on the same channel. In an aspect, operation 1820 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered as means for performing the operation.

[0150] At 1830, the mobile device despreads the plurality of positioning signals based on the plurality of spreading codes to determine a corresponding plurality of despread positioning signals. In one aspect, operation 1830 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered as means for performing the operation.

[0151] At 1840, the mobile device determines a plurality of estimated STSs associated with a plurality of anchor nodes based on the one or more STS generation parameters applied to the plurality of despread spectrum positioning signals, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with an estimated STS of the plurality of estimated STSs. In one aspect, operation 1840 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered as means for performing the operation.

[0152] At 1850, the mobile device associates the plurality of despread spectrum positioning signals with the plurality of estimated STSs to determine a plurality of arrival times (ToAs) associated with a plurality of anchor nodes, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of ToAs. In an aspect, operation 1850 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered means for performing the operation.

[0153] It should be appreciated that the technical advantage of methods 1600 to 1800 is improved TDOA performance of a mobile device, thereby improving positioning estimation accuracy and reducing power consumption and latency.

[0154] In the above specific embodiments, it can be seen that different features are grouped together in each example. This disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the example clauses have more features than the features explicitly mentioned in each clause. On the contrary, various aspects of the present disclosure may include less than all the features of the disclosed individual example clauses. Therefore, the following clauses should be considered to be incorporated into the description accordingly, where each clause itself can be used as a separate example. Although each subordinate clause may refer to a specific combination of one clause with other clauses in a clause, the aspects of the subordinate clause are not limited to a specific combination. It should be understood that other example clauses may also include a combination of the subject matter of the subordinate clause aspect with any other subordinate clause or independent clause or any feature with other subordinate clauses and independent clauses. The various aspects disclosed herein explicitly include these combinations, unless it is clearly expressed or can be easily inferred that a specific combination is not intended to be used (for example, contradictory aspects, such as defining an element as both an electrical insulator and an electrical conductor). In addition, it is also expected that various aspects of the clause may be included in any other independent clause, even if the clause is not directly dependent on the independent clause.

[0155] Specific implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0156] Clause 1. A method of wireless communication performed by an initiator anchor node, the method comprising: sending first configuration information for a first ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the first responder anchor node to a first responder anchor node, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first initiation time for the first ranging session; and sending second configuration information for a second ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the second responder anchor node to a second responder anchor node, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second initiation time for the second ranging session, wherein the first ranging session and the second ranging session are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively, and wherein the second initiation time is offset from the first initiation time by less than or equal to a threshold.

[0157] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the threshold is based on a Scrambled Timestamp Sequence Packet Configuration Option Three (SP3) format.

[0158] Clause 3. The method of clause 2, wherein the threshold is the duration of a message configured according to the SP3 format.

[0159] Clause 4. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 3, wherein the first configuration information and the second configuration information are sent via out-of-band (OOB) signaling.

[0160] Clause 5. According to the method described in any one of clauses 1 to 4, the method further includes: sending third configuration information for a third ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the third responder anchor node to a third responder anchor node, wherein the third configuration information indicates a third initiation time for the third ranging session, wherein the third ranging session is configured to enable determination of a third TDOA measurement for the third responder anchor node, and wherein the third initiation time is offset from the second initiation time by less than or equal to the threshold.

[0161] Clause 6. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 5, wherein: the first initiation time indicates: the start of the first ranging block of the first ranging session, the start of the first round of the first ranging block of the first ranging session, or the start of the first time slot of the first round of the first ranging block of the first ranging session, and the second initiation time indicates: the start of the second ranging block of the second ranging session, the start of the second round of the second ranging block of the second ranging session, or the start of the second time slot of the second round of the second ranging block of the second ranging session.

[0162] Clause 7. A method according to Clause 6, wherein: the remaining rounds of the first ranging block of the first ranging session can be used for non-TDOA measurement purposes, the remaining rounds of the second ranging block of the second ranging session can be used for non-TDOA measurement purposes, the remaining time slots of the first round of the first ranging block of the first ranging session can be used for non-TDOA measurement purposes, the remaining time slots of the second round of the second ranging block of the second ranging session can be used for non-TDOA measurement purposes, or any combination thereof.

[0163] Clause 8. The method of any of clauses 1 to 7, wherein: the initiator anchor node is an ultra-wideband (UWB) initiator device, the first responder anchor node is a first UWB responder device, and the second responder anchor node is a second UWB responder device.

[0164] Clause 9. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 8, wherein: the first TDOA measurement includes the time difference between a positioning signal sent by the initiator anchor node and a first positioning signal sent by the first responder anchor node during the first ranging session, and the second TDOA measurement includes the time difference between the positioning signal sent by the initiator anchor node and a second positioning signal sent by the second responder anchor node during the second ranging session.

[0165] Clause 10. A method of wireless communication performed by an initiator anchor node, the method comprising: sending first configuration information for a ranging session between the initiator anchor node and multiple responder anchor nodes to a first responder anchor node, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first transmission time offset of the first responder anchor node within a time slot of the ranging session; and sending second configuration information for the ranging session to a second responder anchor node, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second transmission time offset of the second responder anchor node within the time slot of the ranging session, and wherein the first transmission time offset and the second transmission time offset are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively.

[0166] Clause 11. The method of clause 10, wherein the lengths of the first transmit time offset and the second transmit time offset are based on a Scrambled Timestamp Sequence Packet Configuration Option Three (SP3) format.

[0167] Clause 12. The method of clause 11, wherein the length is the duration of a message configured according to the SP3 format.

[0168] Clause 13. The method of any of clauses 10 to 12, wherein the first configuration information and the second configuration information are sent via out-of-band (OOB) signaling.

[0169] Clause 14. A method according to any one of clauses 10 to 13, the method further comprising: sending third configuration information for the ranging session to a third responder anchor node, wherein the third configuration information indicates a third transmission time offset of the third responder anchor node within the time slot of the ranging session, and wherein the third transmission time offset is configured to enable determination of a third TDOA measurement for the third responder anchor node.

[0170] Clause 15. The method of any of clauses 10 to 14, wherein: the initiator anchor node is an ultra-wideband (UWB) initiator device, the first responder anchor node is a first UWB responder device, and the second responder anchor node is a second UWB responder device.

[0171] Clause 16. A method according to any one of clauses 10 to 15, wherein: the first TDOA measurement includes the time difference between the positioning signal sent by the initiator device after the first transmission time offset and the first positioning signal sent by the first responder anchor node, and the second TDOA measurement includes the time difference between the positioning signal sent by the initiator device after the second transmission time offset and the second positioning signal sent by the second responder anchor node.

[0172] Clause 17. A method of wireless communication performed by a mobile device, the method comprising: receiving configuration information for a ranging session between the mobile device and a plurality of anchor nodes, wherein the configuration information includes one or more scrambled time stamp (STS) generation parameters and a plurality of spreading codes, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of spreading codes; receiving a plurality of positioning signals from the plurality of anchor nodes during a same time slot of the ranging session, wherein the plurality of positioning signals are received on a same channel; despreading the plurality of positioning signals based on the plurality of spreading codes to determine a corresponding plurality of despread positioning signals; determining a plurality of estimated STSs associated with the plurality of anchor nodes based on the one or more STS generation parameters applied to the plurality of despread positioning signals, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of estimated STSs; and associating the plurality of despread positioning signals with the plurality of estimated STSs to determine a plurality of times of arrival (ToAs) associated with the plurality of anchor nodes, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of ToAs.

[0173] Clause 18. The method according to Clause 17, further comprising: determining a plurality of time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements based on the plurality of ToAs, wherein each of the plurality of TDOA measurements represents a difference between a ToA in the plurality of ToAs of a reference anchor node in the plurality of anchor nodes and a ToA in the plurality of ToAs of a non-reference anchor node in the plurality of anchor nodes.

[0174] Clause 19. The method of Clause 18, further comprising determining a location of the mobile device based on the plurality of TDOA measurements and the plurality of locations of the plurality of anchor nodes.

[0175] Clause 20. The method of any one of clauses 18 to 19, further comprising: reporting the plurality of TDOA measurements to a positioning entity to enable the positioning entity to determine the location of the mobile device.

[0176] Clause 21. The method of any of clauses 17 to 20, wherein the configuration information is received from a controller node via out-of-band (OOB) signaling.

[0177] Clause 22. The method of clause 21, wherein the controller node is one of the plurality of anchor nodes.

[0178] Clause 23. The method of any one of clauses 17 to 22, wherein the plurality of spreading codes are orthogonal to one another.

[0179] Clause 24. The method of any one of clauses 17 to 23, wherein: each of the plurality of estimated STSs has the same value, each of the plurality of ToAs has the same value, or any combination thereof.

[0180] Clause 25. The method of any one of clauses 17 to 24, wherein: the plurality of anchor nodes are a plurality of ultra-wideband (UWB) devices, and the mobile device is a UWB tag.

[0181] Clause 26. An initiator anchor node, the initiator anchor node comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: send first configuration information for a first ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the first responder anchor node to a first responder anchor node via the at least one transceiver, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first initiation time for the first ranging session; and send second configuration information for a second ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the second responder anchor node to a second responder anchor node via the at least one transceiver, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second initiation time for the second ranging session, wherein the first ranging session and the second ranging session are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively, and wherein the second initiation time is offset from the first initiation time by less than or equal to a threshold.

[0182] Clause 27. The initiator anchor node of Clause 26, wherein the threshold is based on a Scrambled Timestamp Sequence Packet Configuration Option Three (SP3) format.

[0183] Clause 28. The initiator anchor node of Clause 27, wherein the threshold is a duration of a message configured according to the SP3 format.

[0184] Clause 29. The initiator anchor node of any of Clauses 26 to 28, wherein the first configuration information and the second configuration information are sent via out-of-band (OOB) signaling.

[0185] Clause 30. An initiator anchor node according to any one of clauses 26 to 29, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: send third configuration information for a third ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the third responder anchor node to a third responder anchor node via the at least one transceiver, wherein the third configuration information indicates a third initiation time for the third ranging session, wherein the third ranging session is configured to enable determination of a third TDOA measurement for the third responder anchor node, and wherein the third initiation time is offset from the second initiation time by less than or equal to the threshold.

[0186] Clause 31. An initiator anchor node according to any one of clauses 26 to 30, wherein: the first initiation time indicates: the start of the first ranging block of the first ranging session, the start of the first round of the first ranging block of the first ranging session, or the start of the first time slot of the first round of the first ranging block of the first ranging session, and the second initiation time indicates: the start of the second ranging block of the second ranging session, the start of the second round of the second ranging block of the second ranging session, or the start of the second time slot of the second round of the second ranging block of the second ranging session.

[0187] Clause 32. An initiator anchor node according to Clause 31, wherein: the remaining rounds of the first ranging block of the first ranging session can be used for non-TDOA measurement purposes, the remaining rounds of the second ranging block of the second ranging session can be used for non-TDOA measurement purposes, the remaining time slots of the first round of the first ranging block of the first ranging session can be used for non-TDOA measurement purposes, the remaining time slots of the second round of the second ranging block of the second ranging session can be used for non-TDOA measurement purposes, or any combination thereof.

[0188] Clause 33. An initiator anchor node as recited in any one of clauses 26 to 32, wherein: the initiator anchor node is an ultra-wideband (UWB) initiator device, the first responder anchor node is a first UWB responder device, and the second responder anchor node is a second UWB responder device.

[0189] Clause 34. An initiator anchor node according to any one of clauses 26 to 33, wherein: the first TDOA measurement includes the time difference between the positioning signal sent by the initiator anchor node during the first ranging session and the first positioning signal sent by the first responder anchor node, and the second TDOA measurement includes the time difference between the positioning signal sent by the initiator anchor node during the second ranging session and the second positioning signal sent by the second responder anchor node.

[0190] Clause 35. An initiator anchor node, the initiator anchor node comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: send first configuration information for a ranging session between the initiator anchor node and a plurality of responder anchor nodes to a first responder anchor node via the at least one transceiver, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first transmit time offset of the first responder anchor node within a time slot of the ranging session; and send second configuration information for the ranging session to a second responder anchor node via the at least one transceiver, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second transmit time offset of the second responder anchor node within the time slot of the ranging session, and wherein the first transmit time offset and the second transmit time offset are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively.

[0191] Clause 36. The initiator anchor node of clause 35, wherein the lengths of the first transmit time offset and the second transmit time offset are based on a Scrambled Timestamp Sequence Packet Configuration Option Three (SP3) format.

[0192] Clause 37. The initiator anchor node of Clause 36, wherein the length is a duration of a message configured according to the SP3 format.

[0193] Clause 38. An initiator anchor node as recited in any one of Clauses 35 to 37, wherein the first configuration information and the second configuration information are sent via out-of-band (OOB) signaling.

[0194] Clause 39. An initiator anchor node according to any one of clauses 35 to 38, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: send third configuration information for the ranging session to a third responder anchor node via the at least one transceiver, wherein the third configuration information indicates a third transmission time offset of the third responder anchor node within the time slot of the ranging session, and wherein the third transmission time offset is configured to enable determination of a third TDOA measurement for the third responder anchor node.

[0195] Clause 40. An initiator anchor node as recited in any one of clauses 35 to 39, wherein: the initiator anchor node is an ultra-wideband (UWB) initiator device, the first responder anchor node is a first UWB responder device, and the second responder anchor node is a second UWB responder device.

[0196] Clause 41. An initiator anchor node according to any one of clauses 35 to 40, wherein: the first TDOA measurement includes the time difference between the positioning signal sent by the initiator device after the first transmission time offset and the first positioning signal sent by the first responder anchor node, and the second TDOA measurement includes the time difference between the positioning signal sent by the initiator device after the second transmission time offset and the second positioning signal sent by the second responder anchor node.

[0197] Clause 42. A mobile device, the mobile device comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, configuration information for a ranging session between the mobile device and a plurality of anchor nodes, wherein the configuration information comprises one or more scrambling time stamp (STS) generation parameters and a plurality of spreading codes, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of spreading codes; receive, via the at least one transceiver, a plurality of positioning signals from the plurality of anchor nodes during a same time slot of the ranging session, The multiple positioning signals are received on the same channel; the multiple positioning signals are despread based on the multiple spreading codes to determine the corresponding multiple despread positioning signals; multiple estimated STSs associated with the multiple anchor nodes are determined based on the one or more STS generation parameters applied to the multiple despread positioning signals, each of the multiple anchor nodes is associated with one of the multiple estimated STSs; and the multiple despread positioning signals are associated with the multiple estimated STSs to determine multiple arrival times (ToA) associated with the multiple anchor nodes, each of the multiple anchor nodes is associated with one of the multiple ToAs.

[0198] Clause 43. A mobile device according to clause 42, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine a plurality of time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements based on the plurality of ToAs, wherein each of the plurality of TDOA measurements represents a difference between a ToA in the plurality of ToAs of a reference anchor node in the plurality of anchor nodes and a ToA in the plurality of ToAs of a non-reference anchor node in the plurality of anchor nodes.

[0199] Clause 44. The mobile device of clause 43, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine a location of the mobile device based on the plurality of TDOA measurements and the plurality of locations of the plurality of anchor nodes.

[0200] Clause 45. A mobile device according to any one of clauses 43 to 44, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: report the plurality of TDOA measurements to a positioning entity via the at least one transceiver so that the positioning entity can determine the location of the mobile device.

[0201] Clause 46. The mobile device of any of clauses 42 to 45, wherein the configuration information is received from a controller node via out-of-band (OOB) signaling.

[0202] Clause 47. The mobile device of Clause 46, wherein the controller node is an anchor node of the plurality of anchor nodes.

[0203] Clause 48. The mobile device of any of clauses 42 to 47, wherein the plurality of spreading codes are orthogonal to one another.

[0204] Clause 49. A mobile device as described in any of clauses 42 to 48, wherein: each estimated STS in the plurality of estimated STSs has a same value, each ToA in the plurality of ToAs has a same value, or any combination thereof.

[0205] Clause 50. The mobile device of any of clauses 42 to 49, wherein: the plurality of anchor nodes are a plurality of ultra-wideband (UWB) devices and the mobile device is a UWB tag.

[0206] Clause 51. An initiator anchor node, the initiator anchor node comprising: a component for sending first configuration information for a first ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the first responder anchor node to a first responder anchor node, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first initiation time for the first ranging session; and a component for sending second configuration information for a second ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the second responder anchor node to a second responder anchor node, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second initiation time for the second ranging session, wherein the first ranging session and the second ranging session are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively, and wherein the second initiation time is offset from the first initiation time by less than or equal to a threshold.

[0207] Clause 52. The initiator anchor node of clause 51, wherein the threshold is based on a Scrambled Timestamp Sequence Packet Configuration Option Three (SP3) format.

[0208] Clause 53. The initiator anchor node of Clause 52, wherein the threshold is a duration of a message configured according to the SP3 format.

[0209] Clause 54. The initiator anchor node of any of Clauses 51 to 53, wherein the first configuration information and the second configuration information are sent via out-of-band (OOB) signaling.

[0210] Clause 55. An initiator anchor node according to any one of clauses 51 to 54, the initiator anchor node further comprising: a component for sending third configuration information for a third ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the third responder anchor node to a third responder anchor node, wherein the third configuration information indicates a third initiation time for the third ranging session, wherein the third ranging session is configured to enable determination of a third TDOA measurement for the third responder anchor node, and wherein the third initiation time is offset from the second initiation time by less than or equal to the threshold.

[0211] Clause 56. An initiator anchor node according to any one of clauses 51 to 55, wherein: the first initiation time indicates: the start of the first ranging block of the first ranging session, the start of the first round of the first ranging block of the first ranging session, or the start of the first time slot of the first round of the first ranging block of the first ranging session, and the second initiation time indicates: the start of the second ranging block of the second ranging session, the start of the second round of the second ranging block of the second ranging session, or the start of the second time slot of the second round of the second ranging block of the second ranging session.

[0212] Clause 57. An initiator anchor node according to clause 56, wherein: the remaining rounds of the first ranging block for the first ranging session can be used for components for non-TDOA measurement purposes, the remaining rounds of the second ranging block for the second ranging session can be used for components for non-TDOA measurement purposes, the remaining time slots of the first round of the first ranging block for the first ranging session can be used for components for non-TDOA measurement purposes, the remaining time slots of the second round of the second ranging block for the second ranging session can be used for components for non-TDOA measurement purposes, or any combination thereof.

[0213] Clause 58. An initiator anchor node as described in any of clauses 51 to 57, wherein: the initiator anchor node is an ultra-wideband (UWB) initiator device, the first responder anchor node is a first UWB responder device, and the second responder anchor node is a second UWB responder device.

[0214] Clause 59. An initiator anchor node according to any one of clauses 51 to 58, wherein: the first TDOA measurement includes the time difference between a positioning signal sent by the initiator anchor node during the first ranging session and a first positioning signal sent by the first responder anchor node, and the second TDOA measurement includes the time difference between the positioning signal sent by the initiator anchor node during the second ranging session and a second positioning signal sent by the second responder anchor node.

[0215] Clause 60. An initiator anchor node, the initiator anchor node comprising: a component for sending first configuration information for a ranging session between the initiator anchor node and multiple responder anchor nodes to a first responder anchor node, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first transmission time offset of the first responder anchor node within a time slot of the ranging session; and a component for sending second configuration information for the ranging session to a second responder anchor node, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second transmission time offset of the second responder anchor node within the time slot of the ranging session, and wherein the first transmission time offset and the second transmission time offset are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first arrival time difference (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively.

[0216] Clause 61. The initiator anchor node of Clause 60, wherein the lengths of the first transmit time offset and the second transmit time offset are based on a Scrambled Timestamp Sequence Packet Configuration Option Three (SP3) format.

[0217] Clause 62. The initiator anchor node of Clause 61, wherein the length is a duration of a message configured according to the SP3 format.

[0218] Clause 63. The initiator anchor node of any of clauses 60 to 62, wherein the first configuration information and the second configuration information are sent via out-of-band (OOB) signaling.

[0219] Clause 64. An initiator anchor node according to any one of clauses 60 to 63, the initiator anchor node further comprising: a component for sending third configuration information for the ranging session to a third responder anchor node, wherein the third configuration information indicates a third transmission time offset of the third responder anchor node within the time slot of the ranging session, and wherein the third transmission time offset is configured to enable determination of a third TDOA measurement for the third responder anchor node.

[0220] Clause 65. An initiator anchor node as described in any of clauses 60 to 64, wherein: the initiator anchor node is an ultra-wideband (UWB) initiator device, the first responder anchor node is a first UWB responder device, and the second responder anchor node is a second UWB responder device.

[0221] Clause 66. An initiator anchor node according to any one of clauses 60 to 65, wherein: the first TDOA measurement includes the time difference between the positioning signal sent by the initiator device after the first transmission time offset and the first positioning signal sent by the first responder anchor node, and the second TDOA measurement includes the time difference between the positioning signal sent by the initiator device after the second transmission time offset and the second positioning signal sent by the second responder anchor node.

[0222] Clause 67. A mobile device, the mobile device comprising: means for receiving configuration information for a ranging session between the mobile device and a plurality of anchor nodes, wherein the configuration information comprises one or more scrambled time stamp (STS) generation parameters and a plurality of spreading codes, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of spreading codes; means for receiving a plurality of positioning signals from the plurality of anchor nodes during a same time slot of the ranging session, wherein the plurality of positioning signals are received on a same channel; means for despreading the plurality of positioning signals based on the plurality of spreading codes to determine a corresponding plurality of despread positioning signals; means for determining a plurality of estimated STSs associated with the plurality of anchor nodes based on the one or more STS generation parameters applied to the plurality of despread positioning signals, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of estimated STSs; and means for associating the plurality of despread positioning signals with the plurality of estimated STSs to determine a plurality of times of arrival (ToAs) associated with the plurality of anchor nodes, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of ToAs.

[0223] Clause 68. A mobile device according to clause 67, the mobile device also including: a component for determining a plurality of time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements based on the plurality of ToAs, wherein each of the plurality of TDOA measurements represents a difference between a ToA in the plurality of ToAs of a reference anchor node in the plurality of anchor nodes and a ToA in the plurality of ToAs of a non-reference anchor node in the plurality of anchor nodes.

[0224] Clause 69. The mobile device of Clause 68, further comprising: means for determining a location of the mobile device based on the plurality of TDOA measurements and the plurality of locations of the plurality of anchor nodes.

[0225] Clause 70. A mobile device as described in any of clauses 68 to 69, the mobile device further comprising: a component for reporting the plurality of TDOA measurements to a positioning entity to enable the positioning entity to determine the position of the mobile device.

[0226] Clause 71. The mobile device of any of clauses 67 to 70, wherein the configuration information is received from a controller node via out-of-band (OOB) signaling.

[0227] Clause 72. The mobile device of clause 71, wherein the controller node is an anchor node of the plurality of anchor nodes.

[0228] Clause 73. The mobile device of any of clauses 67 to 72, wherein the plurality of spreading codes are orthogonal to one another.

[0229] Clause 74. A mobile device as described in any of clauses 67 to 73, wherein: each estimated STS in the plurality of estimated STSs has a same value, each ToA in the plurality of ToAs has a same value, or any combination thereof.

[0230] Clause 75. The mobile device of any of clauses 67 to 74, wherein: the plurality of anchor nodes are a plurality of ultra-wideband (UWB) devices and the mobile device is a UWB tag.

[0231] Clause 76. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by an initiator anchor node, cause the initiator anchor node to: send first configuration information for a first ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the first responder anchor node to a first responder anchor node, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first initiation time for the first ranging session; and send second configuration information for a second ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the second responder anchor node to a second responder anchor node, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second initiation time for the second ranging session, wherein the first ranging session and the second ranging session are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively, and wherein the second initiation time is offset from the first initiation time by less than or equal to a threshold.

[0232] Clause 77. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of Clause 76, wherein the threshold is based on a Scrambled Timestamp Sequence Packet Configuration Option Three (SP3) format.

[0233] Clause 78. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of Clause 77, wherein the threshold is a duration of a message configured according to the SP3 format.

[0234] Clause 79. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 76 to 78, wherein the first configuration information and the second configuration information are sent via out-of-band (OOB) signaling.

[0235] Clause 80. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 76 to 79, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium also includes computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the initiator anchor node, cause the initiator anchor node to: send third configuration information for a third ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the third responder anchor node to a third responder anchor node, wherein the third configuration information indicates a third initiation time for the third ranging session, wherein the third ranging session is configured to enable determination of a third TDOA measurement for the third responder anchor node, and wherein the third initiation time is offset from the second initiation time by less than or equal to the threshold.

[0236] Clause 81. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 76 to 80, wherein: the first initiation time indicates: the start of the first ranging block of the first ranging session, the start of the first round of the first ranging block of the first ranging session, or the start of the first time slot of the first round of the first ranging block of the first ranging session, and the second initiation time indicates: the start of the second ranging block of the second ranging session, the start of the second round of the second ranging block of the second ranging session, or the start of the second time slot of the second round of the second ranging block of the second ranging session.

[0237] Clause 82. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 81, wherein: the remaining rounds of the first ranging block of the first ranging session can be used for non-TDOA measurement purposes, the remaining rounds of the second ranging block of the second ranging session can be used for non-TDOA measurement purposes, the remaining time slots of the first round of the first ranging block of the first ranging session can be used for non-TDOA measurement purposes, the remaining time slots of the second round of the second ranging block of the second ranging session can be used for non-TDOA measurement purposes, or any combination thereof.

[0238] Clause 83. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 76 to 82, wherein: the initiator anchor node is an ultra-wideband (UWB) initiator device, the first responder anchor node is a first UWB responder device, and the second responder anchor node is a second UWB responder device.

[0239] Clause 84. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 76 to 83, wherein: the first TDOA measurement includes a time difference between a positioning signal sent by the initiator anchor node and a first positioning signal sent by the first responder anchor node during the first ranging session, and the second TDOA measurement includes a time difference between the positioning signal sent by the initiator anchor node and a second positioning signal sent by the second responder anchor node during the second ranging session.

[0240] Clause 85. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by an initiator anchor node, cause the initiator anchor node to: send first configuration information for a ranging session between the initiator anchor node and a plurality of responder anchor nodes to a first responder anchor node, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first transmission time offset of the first responder anchor node within a time slot of the ranging session; and send second configuration information for the ranging session to a second responder anchor node, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second transmission time offset of the second responder anchor node within the time slot of the ranging session, and wherein the first transmission time offset and the second transmission time offset are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively.

[0241] Clause 86. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 85, wherein the lengths of the first transmit time offset and the second transmit time offset are based on a Scrambled Timestamp Sequence Packet Configuration Option Three (SP3) format.

[0242] Clause 87. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of Clause 86, wherein the length is a duration of a message configured according to the SP3 format.

[0243] Clause 88. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 85 to 87, wherein the first configuration information and the second configuration information are sent via out-of-band (OOB) signaling.

[0244] Clause 89. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 85 to 88, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium also includes computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the initiator anchor node, cause the initiator anchor node to: send third configuration information for the ranging session to a third responder anchor node, wherein the third configuration information indicates a third transmission time offset of the third responder anchor node within the time slot of the ranging session, and wherein the third transmission time offset is configured to enable determination of a third TDOA measurement for the third responder anchor node.

[0245] Clause 90. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 85 to 89, wherein: the initiator anchor node is an ultra-wideband (UWB) initiator device, the first responder anchor node is a first UWB responder device, and the second responder anchor node is a second UWB responder device.

[0246] Clause 91. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 85 to 90, wherein: the first TDOA measurement includes a time difference between a positioning signal sent by the initiator device after the first transmission time offset and a first positioning signal sent by the first responder anchor node, and the second TDOA measurement includes a time difference between the positioning signal sent by the initiator device after the second transmission time offset and a second positioning signal sent by the second responder anchor node.

[0247] Clause 92. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a mobile device, cause the mobile device to: receive configuration information for a ranging session between the mobile device and a plurality of anchor nodes, wherein the configuration information includes one or more scrambled time stamp (STS) generation parameters and a plurality of spreading codes, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of spreading codes; receive a plurality of positioning signals from the plurality of anchor nodes during a same time slot of the ranging session, wherein the plurality of positioning signals are received on a same channel; despread the plurality of positioning signals based on the plurality of spreading codes to determine a corresponding plurality of despread positioning signals; determine a plurality of estimated STSs associated with the plurality of anchor nodes based on the one or more STS generation parameters applied to the plurality of despread positioning signals, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of estimated STSs; and associate the plurality of despread positioning signals with the plurality of estimated STSs to determine a plurality of arrival times (ToAs) associated with the plurality of anchor nodes, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of ToAs.

[0248] Clause 93. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 92, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium also includes computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the mobile device, cause the mobile device to: determine multiple time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements based on the multiple ToAs, wherein each of the multiple TDOA measurements represents a difference between a ToA among the multiple ToAs of a reference anchor node among the multiple anchor nodes and a ToA among the multiple ToAs of a non-reference anchor node among the multiple anchor nodes.

[0249] Clause 94. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of Clause 93, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the mobile device, cause the mobile device to: determine the location of the mobile device based on the multiple TDOA measurements and the multiple locations of the multiple anchor nodes.

[0250] Clause 95. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 93 to 94, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium also includes computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the mobile device, cause the mobile device to: report the multiple TDOA measurements to a positioning entity so that the positioning entity can determine the location of the mobile device.

[0251] Clause 96. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 92 to 95, wherein the configuration information is received from a controller node via out-of-band (OOB) signaling.

[0252] Clause 97. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of Clause 96, wherein the controller node is an anchor node of the plurality of anchor nodes.

[0253] Clause 98. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 92 to 97, wherein the plurality of spreading codes are orthogonal to one another.

[0254] Clause 99. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 92 to 98, wherein: each of the plurality of estimated STSs has the same value, each of the plurality of ToAs has the same value, or any combination thereof.

[0255] Clause 100. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 92 to 99, wherein: the plurality of anchor nodes are a plurality of ultra-wideband (UWB) devices and the mobile device is a UWB tag.

[0256] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and methods. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof.

[0257] In addition, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits and algorithmic steps described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software or a combination of the two. In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various exemplary components, frames, modules, circuits and steps have been generally described above in terms of their functions. Whether such functions are implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints proposed to the entire system. Those skilled in the art can implement the described functions in different ways for each specific application, but such specific implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0258] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or executed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in an alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, a combination of one or more microprocessors and a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0259] The methods, sequences and / or algorithms described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be directly embodied in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software module may reside in a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), a register, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An example storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. In an alternative, the storage medium may be integral with the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). In an alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside in a user terminal as discrete components.

[0260] In one or more example aspects, the function may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the function may be stored on a computer-readable medium or sent via a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, including any medium that facilitates the transfer of a computer program from one place to another. The storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM, or other optical disk storage devices, disk storage devices, or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of an instruction or data structure and can be accessed by a computer. Moreover, any connection is appropriately referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is sent from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwaves, then coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwaves are included in the definition of the medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc, where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0261] Although the foregoing disclosure illustrates the exemplary aspects of the present disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. In addition, the functions, steps and / or actions of the method claims according to the various aspects of the present disclosure described herein do not need to be performed in any particular order. In addition, although the elements of the present disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, plural forms may also be considered unless explicitly stated to be limited to the singular.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication performed by an initiator anchor node, the method comprising: Sending first configuration information for a first ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the first responder anchor node to a first responder anchor node, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first initiation time for the first ranging session; as well as sending second configuration information for a second ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the second responder anchor node to a second responder anchor node, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second initiation time for the second ranging session, wherein the first ranging session and the second ranging session are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively, and wherein the second initiation time is offset from the first initiation time by less than or equal to a threshold. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the threshold is based on a Scrambled Timestamp Sequence Packet Configuration Option Three (SP3) format.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the threshold is the duration of a message configured according to the SP3 format. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first configuration information and the second configuration information are sent via out-of-band (OOB) signaling.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: sending third configuration information for a third ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the third responder anchor node to a third responder anchor node, wherein the third configuration information indicates a third initiation time for the third ranging session, wherein the third ranging session is configured to enable determination of a third TDOA measurement for the third responder anchor node, and wherein the third initiation time is offset from the second initiation time by less than or equal to the threshold.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first initiation time indicates: the start of a first ranging block of the first ranging session, the start of a first round of said first ranging block of said first ranging session, or a start of a first time slot of the first round of the first ranging block of the first ranging session, and The second initiation time indicates: the start of a second ranging block of the second ranging session, the start of a second round of said second ranging block of said second ranging session, or a start of a second time slot of the second round of the second ranging block of the second ranging session.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein: The remaining rounds of the first ranging block of the first ranging session may be used for non-TDOA measurement purposes, The remaining rounds of the second ranging block of the second ranging session may be used for non-TDOA measurement purposes, remaining time slots of the first round of the first ranging block of the first ranging session may be used for non-TDOA measurement purposes, The remaining time slots of the second round of the second ranging block of the second ranging session may be used for non-TDOA measurement purposes, or Any combination of them.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The initiator anchor node is an ultra-wideband (UWB) initiator device, The first responder anchor node is a first UWB responder device, and The second responder anchor node is a second UWB responder device.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first TDOA measurement comprises a time difference between a positioning signal sent by the initiator anchor node and a first positioning signal sent by the first responder anchor node during the first ranging session, and The second TDOA measurement comprises a time difference between the positioning signal sent by the initiator anchor node and a second positioning signal sent by the second responder anchor node during the second ranging session.

10. A method of wireless communication performed by an initiator anchor node, the method comprising: Sending first configuration information for a ranging session between the initiator anchor node and a plurality of responder anchor nodes to a first responder anchor node, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first transmission time offset of the first responder anchor node within a time slot of the ranging session; as well as and sending second configuration information for the ranging session to a second responder anchor node, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second transmit time offset of the second responder anchor node within the time slot of the ranging session, and wherein the first transmit time offset and the second transmit time offset are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements and second TDOA measurements for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively. 11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the lengths of the first transmit time offset and the second transmit time offset are based on a Scrambled Timestamp Sequence Packet Configuration Option Three (SP3) format.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the length is the duration of a message configured according to the SP3 format.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the first configuration information and the second configuration information are sent via out-of-band (OOB) signaling.

14. The method according to claim 10, further comprising: third configuration information for the ranging session is sent to a third responder anchor node, wherein the third configuration information indicates a third transmit time offset of the third responder anchor node within the time slot of the ranging session, and wherein the third transmit time offset is configured to enable determination of a third TDOA measurement for the third responder anchor node.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein: The initiator anchor node is an ultra-wideband (UWB) initiator device, The first responder anchor node is a first UWB responder device, and The second responder anchor node is a second UWB responder device.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein: The first TDOA measurement comprises a time difference between a positioning signal transmitted by the initiator device and a first positioning signal transmitted by the first responder anchor node after the first transmit time offset, and The second TDOA measurement includes a time difference between the positioning signal transmitted by the initiator device after the second transmission time offset and a second positioning signal transmitted by the second responder anchor node.

17. A method of wireless communication performed by a mobile device, the method comprising: receiving configuration information for a ranging session between the mobile device and a plurality of anchor nodes, wherein the configuration information includes one or more scrambling time stamp (STS) generation parameters and a plurality of spreading codes, each of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of spreading codes; receiving a plurality of positioning signals from the plurality of anchor nodes during a same time slot of the ranging session, wherein the plurality of positioning signals are received on a same channel; Despreading the multiple positioning signals based on the multiple spreading codes to determine the corresponding multiple despread positioning signals; determining a plurality of estimated STSs associated with the plurality of anchor nodes based on the one or more STS generation parameters applied to the plurality of despread spectrum positioning signals, each anchor node in the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of estimated STSs; as well as The plurality of despread positioning signals are correlated with the plurality of estimated STSs to determine a plurality of times of arrival (ToAs) associated with the plurality of anchor nodes, each anchor node of the plurality of anchor nodes being associated with one of the plurality of ToAs.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising: A plurality of time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements are determined based on the plurality of ToAs, wherein each of the plurality of TDOA measurements represents a difference between a ToA of the plurality of ToAs of a reference anchor node of the plurality of anchor nodes and a ToA of the plurality of ToAs of a non-reference anchor node of the plurality of anchor nodes.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising: A location of the mobile device is determined based on the plurality of TDOA measurements and the plurality of locations of the plurality of anchor nodes.

20. The method according to claim 18, further comprising: The plurality of TDOA measurements are reported to a positioning entity to enable the positioning entity to determine a location of the mobile device.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the configuration information is received from a controller node via out-of-band (OOB) signaling.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the controller node is one of the plurality of anchor nodes.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the plurality of spreading codes are orthogonal to each other.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein: Each of the plurality of estimated STSs has the same value, Each ToA in the plurality of ToAs has the same value, or Any combination of them.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein: The plurality of anchor nodes are a plurality of ultra-wideband (UWB) devices, and The mobile device is a UWB tag.

26. An initiator anchor node, the initiator anchor node comprising: Memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: sending, via the at least one transceiver, to a first responder anchor node, first configuration information for a first ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the first responder anchor node, wherein the first configuration information indicates a first initiation time for the first ranging session; as well as and sending, via the at least one transceiver, second configuration information for a second ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the second responder anchor node to a second responder anchor node, wherein the second configuration information indicates a second initiation time for the second ranging session, wherein the first ranging session and the second ranging session are configured to enable a mobile device to obtain a first time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement and a second TDOA measurement for the first responder anchor node and the second responder anchor node, respectively, and wherein the second initiation time is offset from the first initiation time by less than or equal to a threshold.

27. The initiator anchor node of claim 26, wherein the threshold is based on a Scrambled Timestamp Sequence Packet Configuration Option Three (SP3) format.

28. The initiator anchor node of claim 26, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: sending, via the at least one transceiver, third configuration information for a third ranging session between the initiator anchor node and the third responder anchor node to a third responder anchor node, wherein the third configuration information indicates a third initiation time for the third ranging session, wherein the third ranging session is configured to enable determination of a third TDOA measurement for the third responder anchor node, and wherein the third initiation time is offset from the second initiation time by less than or equal to the threshold.

29. The initiator anchor node according to claim 26, wherein: The first initiation time indicates: the start of a first ranging block of the first ranging session, the start of a first round of said first ranging block of said first ranging session, or a start of a first time slot of the first round of the first ranging block of the first ranging session, and The second initiation time indicates: the start of a second ranging block of the second ranging session, the start of a second round of said second ranging block of said second ranging session, or a start of a second time slot of the second round of the second ranging block of the second ranging session.

30. The initiator anchor node according to claim 26, wherein: The initiator anchor node is an ultra-wideband (UWB) initiator device, The first responder anchor node is a first UWB responder device, and The second responder anchor node is a second UWB responder device.

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