Sidelink positioning reference signal based on candidate sensing resource configuration

Abstract

Techniques for wireless communication are disclosed. In one aspect, a sidelink resource management component determines a candidate sensing resource configuration associated with a set of candidate sensing resources for channel sensing by a user equipment (UE), the set of candidate sensing resources including candidate resources associated with sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) transmissions by the UE. The sidelink resource management component sends the candidate sensing resource configuration to the UE. The UE performs channel sensing and selects a resource for SL PRS transmission based on the candidate sensing resource configuration.

Description

Background Art 1. Technical Field

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

[0002] 2. Description of related technologies

[0003] Wireless communication systems have evolved over several generations, including first generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including transitional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third generation (3G) high speed data, wireless service with Internet capabilities, 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.

[0004] 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

[0005] 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.

[0006] In one aspect, a method of operating a user equipment (UE) includes: receiving a candidate sensing resource configuration from a side link resource management component; performing channel sensing on a set of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration; detecting one or more candidate sensing resources associated with a signal strength criterion below a signal strength threshold; selecting one of the one or more detected candidate sensing resources; and sending a side link (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) on the selected candidate sensing resource.

[0007] In one aspect, a method of operating a sidelink resource management component includes: determining a candidate sensing resource configuration associated with a set of candidate sensing resources for channel sensing performed by a user equipment (UE), the set of candidate sensing resources including candidate resources associated with a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission performed by the UE; and sending the candidate sensing resource configuration to the UE.

[0008] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) 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: receive a candidate sensing resource configuration from a side link resource management component via the at least one transceiver; perform channel sensing on a set of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration; detect one or more candidate sensing resources associated with a signal strength criterion below a signal strength threshold; select one of the one or more detected candidate sensing resources; and send a side link (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) on the selected candidate sensing resource via the at least one transceiver.

[0009] In one aspect, a sidelink resource management component 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: determine a candidate sensing resource configuration associated with a set of candidate sensing resources for channel sensing performed by a user equipment (UE), the set of candidate sensing resources including candidate resources associated with a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission performed by the UE; and send the candidate sensing resource configuration to the UE via the at least one transceiver.

[0010] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes: a component for receiving a candidate sensing resource configuration from a side link resource management component; a component for performing channel sensing on a set of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration; a component for detecting one or more candidate sensing resources associated with a signal strength criterion below a signal strength threshold; a component for selecting one of the one or more detected candidate sensing resources; and a component for sending a side link (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) on the selected candidate sensing resource.

[0011] In one aspect, a sidelink resource management component includes: a component for determining a candidate sensing resource configuration associated with a set of candidate sensing resources for channel sensing performed by a user equipment (UE), the set of candidate sensing resources including candidate resources associated with a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission performed by the UE; and a component for sending the candidate sensing resource configuration to the UE.

[0012] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: receive a candidate sensing resource configuration from a side link resource management component; perform channel sensing on a set of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration; detect one or more candidate sensing resources associated with a signal strength criterion below a signal strength threshold; select one of the one or more detected candidate sensing resources; and send a side link (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) on the selected candidate sensing resource.

[0013] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a sidelink resource management component, cause the sidelink resource management component to: determine a candidate sensing resource configuration associated with a set of candidate sensing resources for channel sensing performed by a user equipment (UE), the set of candidate sensing resources including candidate resources associated with a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission performed by the UE; and send the candidate sensing resource configuration to the UE.

[0014] 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

[0015] 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.

[0016] Figure 1An example wireless communication system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0017] Figure 2A , Figure 2B and Figure 2C Example wireless network structures according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0018] 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.

[0019] Figure 4 Examples of various positioning methods supported in New Radio (NR) according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0020] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 6 is a diagram of example positioning reference signal (PRS) configurations for PRS transmission for a given base station in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0022] Fig. 7A and Figure 7B Various comb patterns supported for a downlink positioning reference signal (PRS) within a resource block are illustrated.

[0023] Figure 8 Two resource allocation modes for transmission on the sidelink according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0024] Fig.9A and Fig. 9B Various scenarios of interest for sidelink-only positioning or joint Uu and sidelink positioning according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0025] Fig. 10A and Fig. 10B is a diagram of example sidelink slot structures with and without feedback resources in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0026] Fig.11 is a diagram illustrating how a shared channel (SCH) is established on a sidelink between two or more UEs according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0027] Fig.12 is a diagram illustrating example resource pools for positioning within a side link resource pool in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0028] Fig.13A resource selection mode according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0029] Fig.14 A resource selection mode according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0030] Fig.15 A resource selection mode according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0031] Fig.16 A resource selection mode according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0032] Fig.17 An exemplary process of communication according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0033] Fig.18 An exemplary process of communication according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] 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. Additionally, 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.

[0035] 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.

[0036] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any of a variety of different techniques and technologies 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, etc.

[0037] In addition, many aspects are described in terms of a sequence of actions to be performed by, for example, an element of a computing device. It should be understood 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. Additionally, the sequence of actions described herein may be considered to be fully embodied in any form of non-transient 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 functionality 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".

[0038] 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 be connected to external networks such as the Internet and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for the UE to connect to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible, such as through a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (e.g., based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specification, etc.), etc.

[0039] 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) channel or a 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.

[0040] 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 an adjacent base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signal the UE is measuring. As used herein, since 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.

[0041] In some specific implementations of supporting UE positioning, the base station may not support wireless access for 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 to 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).

[0042] 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.

[0043] Figure 1 An 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 macrocell base stations (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low-power cellular base stations). In one aspect, the macrocell 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 femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0044] 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 through 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., AP 150 described below), etc. For signaling purposes, communication 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.

[0045] 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) via a backhaul link 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0046] 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 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, since 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 the geographic coverage area (e.g., sector) of a base station, as long as the carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within a portion of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0047] Although the geographic coverage areas 110 of neighboring macrocell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover zone), some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may substantially overlap with a 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) that may provide services to a restricted group referred to as a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0048] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include uplink (also referred to as a reverse link) transmissions from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as a 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 with respect to the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to the downlink than to the uplink).

[0049] 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 listen before talk (LBT) procedure prior to communication to determine whether a channel is available.

[0050] The small cell base station 102' can operate in a licensed spectrum and / or an unlicensed spectrum. When operating in an 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' adopting 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.

[0051] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180, which can operate at mmW frequencies and / or near mmW frequencies to communicate with UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is a part of RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30GHz to 300GHz, and the wavelength is between 1 mm and 10 mm. The radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near mmW can be extended downward to a frequency of 3GHz, where the wavelength is 100 mm. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3GHz and 30GHz, which 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 can compensate for the extremely high path loss and short distance by using beamforming (sending and / or receiving) through the mmW communication link 184. In addition, it should be understood that in an alternative configuration, one or more base stations 102 may also use mmW or near mmW and beamforming for transmission. Therefore, it should be understood that the foregoing illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0052] 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, the network node can use an array of antennas (referred to as a "phased array" or "antenna array") that produces 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.

[0053] The transmit beams can be quasi-co-located, which means that they appear to the receiver (e.g., UE) to have the same parameters, regardless of whether the network node's own transmit antenna is 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 can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial reception parameters of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel.

[0054] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses receive beams to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, a receiver may increase the gain setting of an array of antennas in a particular direction and / or adjust the phase setting of an array of antennas in a particular direction to amplify RF signals received from that direction (e.g., increase their gain level). Thus, when a receiver is said to be beamforming in a certain direction, this means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain along other directions, or that 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.

[0055] 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 based on 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.

[0056] Note that, depending on the entity forming the "downlink" beam, the beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if 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 either a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink receive beam, while if the UE is forming an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink transmit beam.

[0057] 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, although portions of FR1 are 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, although distinct from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz–300 GHz) identified as the “millimeter wave” band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

[0058] 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 (7.125GHz–24.25GHz). The bands falling within FR3 can inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, and therefore the features of FR1 and / or FR2 can be effectively extended to mid-band frequencies. In addition, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operations to more than 52.6GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6GHz–71GHz), FR4 (52.6GHz–114.25GHz), and FR5 (114.25GHz–300GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0059] In view of the above aspects, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if used in this article, the term "below 6 GHz" and the like can be broadly referred to as frequencies that can be less than 6 GHz, can be within FR1, or can include mid-band frequencies. In addition, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if the term "millimeter wave" and the like are used in this article, they can be broadly referred to as frequencies that can include mid-band frequencies, can be within FR2, FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1 and / or FR5, or can be within the EHF band.

[0060] 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 re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common control channels 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) that can be configured once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier, and which can be used to provide additional radio resources. 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. Since 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.

[0061] 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 rate and / or data 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.

[0062] 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.

[0063] In some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 are capable of sidelink communication. A UE with sidelink capability (SL-UE) can communicate with base station 102 via communication link 120 using a Uu interface (i.e., an air interface between UE and base station). SL-UEs (e.g., UE 164, UE 182) can also communicate directly with each other via a wireless sidelink 160 using a PC5 interface (i.e., an air interface between UEs with sidelink capability). A wireless sidelink (or just "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 can be unicast or multicast and can 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, each group of SL-UEs communicating via sidelink communications may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, where 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 the sidelink communications. In other cases, the sidelink communications are performed between the SL-UEs without involving the base station 102.

[0064] 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 that employ 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) technology (most notably the IEEE 802.11x WLAN technology commonly referred to as "Wi-Fi"). Example systems of this type include different variations of CDMA systems, TDMA systems, FDMA systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, and the like.

[0065] It should be noted 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. In addition, although only UE 182 is described as being capable of beamforming, any of the illustrated UEs (including UE 164) may be capable of beamforming. In the case 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), etc. Therefore, in some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 may utilize beamforming via side link 160.

[0066] exist Figure 1 In the example of FIG. 1 , the UE illustrated (for simplicity, in Figure 1Any UE in the embodiment of the present invention (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., SV 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 SV 112, the transmitter may sometimes be located on a ground-based control station, base station 102, and / or other UEs 104. The UE 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 SV 112.

[0067] 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.

[0068] 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.

[0069] 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 one example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 can utilize any well-known D2D RAT (such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), etc.) to support.

[0070] 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, the 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 the gNB 222 or the ng-eNB 224 (or both) may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0071] 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).

[0072] 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 considered 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., 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 transmission of location service messages between UE 204 and Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (which acts as location server 230), for transmission of location service messages between NG-RAN 220 and LMF 270, for 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 (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0073] 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, service steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), service usage reporting, user plane quality of service (QoS) handling (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in downlink), uplink service 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 can also support the delivery of location service messages between UE 204 and a location server (such as SLP 272) on the user plane.

[0074] 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.

[0075] 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 designed 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 designed to carry voice and / or data, such as the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0076] Yet another optional aspect may include a third-party server 274 that may communicate with the LMF 270, SLP 272, 5GC 260 (e.g., via AMF 264 and / or UPF 262), NG-RAN 220, and / or 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 may alternatively each correspond to a single server.

[0077] 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.

[0078] 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, etc. 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.

[0079] The deployment of a communication system (such as a 5G NR system) can be arranged with various components or components 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 referred to as a standalone base station or a monolithic base station) or a decomposed base station.

[0080] A converged 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).

[0081] Base station type operations or network designs may take into account the aggregated nature of base station functionality. For example, a disaggregated base station may be used in an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network, an open radio access network (O-RAN (network configurations such as those 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. Individual units of a disaggregated base station or disaggregated RAN architecture may be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit.

[0082] 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 corresponding 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 corresponding 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.

[0083] Each of these 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 transmission medium or a wireless transmission medium. Each of these 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, a transmitter, or a 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.

[0084] 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 that is configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by CU 280. CU 280 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 divided 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.

[0085] 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.) depending at least in part on a functional split, such as a functional split defined by the 3rd 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.

[0086] 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 communications 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).

[0087] The SMO framework 255 may be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning 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 .

[0088] 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 communicate 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.

[0089] 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 tune 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).

[0090] Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C 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 Several example components (represented by corresponding boxes) in the NG-RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure depicted in the 5GC 210 / 260 (such as a dedicated network) are shown 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 are also 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 functionality. Moreover, 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.

[0091] 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 can 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 certain set of time / frequency resources in a specific 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 the specified RAT, and conversely, receive and decode the 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 the signals 318 and 358, respectively, and one or more receivers 312 and 352 for receiving and decoding the signals 318 and 358, respectively.

[0092] At least in some cases, the UE 302 and the base station 304 each further include one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. The 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, The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 are components (e.g., components for sending, components for receiving, components for measuring, components for tuning, components for preventing sending, etc.) for communicating with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc.) using a PC5, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), wireless access for vehicle environments (WAVE), near field communication (NFC), ultra-wideband (UWB), 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 a 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 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, Transceiver, and / or transceiver, NFC transceiver UWB transceiver or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceiver.

[0093] 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.

[0094] 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 sending, 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 through 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 through one or more wired or wireless backhaul links, or communicate with other network entities 306 through one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

[0095] 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., embodying 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 embodied 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.

[0096] 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 transceiver or a 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.

[0097] 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 can 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 can 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.

[0098] 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 side link resource components 342, 388, and 398, respectively. Side link resource components 342, 388, and 398 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 functions described herein. In other aspects, the side link resource components 342, 388, and 398 can be external to the processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., as part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the side link resource 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 functions described herein. Figure 3A Possible locations are shown for a side-link resource component 342, 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 stand-alone component. Figure 3B Possible locations are shown for a side-link resource component 388, 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 stand-alone component. Figure 3C Possible locations for a side-link resource component 398 are shown, 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.

[0099] 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. Exemplarily, 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.

[0100] In addition, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346 that provides means for providing indications to a user (e.g., audible and / or visual indications) and / or for receiving user input (e.g., when a 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.

[0101] 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 (encryption, decryption, 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.

[0102] 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 transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of transport channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 handles the mapping to signal constellations 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 coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., 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.

[0103] 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 can 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 can 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 and reference signals on each subcarrier 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 can 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.

[0104] 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.

[0105] 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.

[0106] 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 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.

[0107] The uplink transmissions are processed at the base station 304 in a manner similar to that described in connection 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.

[0108] 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.

[0109] 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), or may omit short-range wireless transceiver 320 (e.g., only cellular, etc.), or may omit satellite signal receiver 330, or 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.

[0110] 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 one aspect, the data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 may form or be part of communication interfaces 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.

[0111] 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 functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310 to 346 may be implemented by a processor and memory component of UE 302 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor component). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350 to 388 may be implemented by a processor and memory component of base station 304 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor component). Moreover, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390 to 398 may be implemented by a processor and memory component of network entity 306 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor component). For simplicity, various operations, actions, and / or functions are described herein as being performed "by a UE," "by a base station," "by a network entity," and the like. However, as will be understood, such operations, actions and / or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of UE302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc., such as processors 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350 and 360, memories 340, 386 and 396, side link resource components 342, 388 and 398, etc.

[0112] 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 differently from a network operator or 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).

[0113] NR supports a variety of cellular network-based positioning technologies, including downlink-based positioning methods, uplink-based positioning methods, and downlink and uplink-based positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include: Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) in LTE, Downlink Time Difference of Arrival (DL-TDOA) in NR, and Downlink Angle of Departure (DL-AoD) in NR. Figure 4Examples of various positioning methods according to various aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated. In the OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedure illustrated in scenario 410, the UE measures the difference between the arrival times (ToA) of reference signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) received from paired base stations (referred to as reference signal time difference (RSTD) or arrival time difference (TDOA) measurements), and reports these differences to a positioning entity. More specifically, the UE receives identifiers (IDs) of a reference base station (e.g., a serving base station) and multiple non-reference base stations in auxiliary data. The UE then measures the RSTD between the reference base station and each of the non-reference base stations. Based on the known positions of the base stations involved and the RSTD measurements, a positioning entity (e.g., a UE for UE-based positioning or a location server for UE-assisted positioning) can estimate the position of the UE.

[0114] For DL-AoD positioning illustrated in scenario 420, the positioning entity uses measurement reports from the UE regarding received signal strength measurements of multiple downlink transmit beams to determine the angle between the UE and the transmitting base station. The positioning entity can then estimate the position of the UE based on the determined angle and the known position of the transmitting base station.

[0115] Uplink-based positioning methods include uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) and uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA). UL-TDOA is similar to DL-TDOA, but is based on uplink reference signals (e.g., sounding reference signals (SRS)) sent by the UE to multiple base stations. Specifically, the UE sends one or more uplink reference signals, which are measured by a reference base station and multiple non-reference base stations. Each base station then reports the reception time of the reference signal (referred to as relative time of arrival (RTOA)) to a positioning entity (e.g., a location server) that knows the location and relative timing of the base stations involved. Based on the receive-to-receive (Rx-Rx) time difference between the reported RTOA of the reference base station and the reported RTOA of each non-reference base station, the known location of the base stations, and their known timing offsets, the positioning entity can use TDOA to estimate the position of the UE.

[0116] For UL-AoA positioning, one or more base stations measure the received signal strength of one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS) received from the UE on one or more uplink receive beams. The positioning entity uses the signal strength measurements and the angles of the receive beams to determine the angle between the UE and the base station. Based on the determined angle and the known location of the base station, the positioning entity can then estimate the location of the UE.

[0117] Downlink and uplink based positioning methods include: enhanced cell ID (E-CID) positioning and multiple round trip time (RTT) positioning (also referred to as "multi-cell RTT" and "multi-RTT"). In the RTT procedure, a first entity (e.g., a base station or UE) sends a first RTT-related signal (e.g., a PRS or SRS) to a second entity (e.g., a UE or a base station), and the second entity sends a second RTT-related signal (e.g., an SRS or PRS) back to the first entity. Each entity measures the time difference between the arrival time (ToA) of the received RTT-related signal and the transmission time of the transmitted RTT-related signal. The time difference is called the received to transmitted (Rx-Tx) time difference. The Rx-Tx time difference measurement can be made or adjusted to include only the time difference between the nearest time slot boundary of the received signal and the transmitted signal. The two entities may then transmit their Rx-Tx time difference measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 270), which calculates the round trip propagation time (i.e., RTT) between the two entities based on the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements (e.g., calculated as the sum of the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements). Alternatively, one entity may transmit its Rx-Tx time difference measurements to the other entity, which then calculates the RTT. The distance between the two entities may be determined based on the RTT and a known signal speed (e.g., the speed of light). For multi-RTT positioning illustrated in scenario 430, a first entity (e.g., a UE or a base station) performs an RTT positioning procedure with multiple second entities (e.g., multiple base stations or UEs) to enable the location of the first entity to be determined based on the distance to the second entity and the known location of the second entity (e.g., using multi-point positioning). RTT and multi-RTT methods may be combined with other positioning techniques (such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD) to improve location accuracy, as illustrated in scenario 440.

[0118] The E-CID positioning method is based on radio resource management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, timing advance (TA), and the identifiers of detected neighboring base stations, estimated timing and signal strength. The UE's position is then estimated based on this information and the known locations of the base stations.

[0119] To assist the positioning operation, the location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide assistance data to the UE. For example, the assistance data may include: an identifier of the base station (or cell / TRP of the base station) from which the reference signal is measured, reference signal configuration parameters (e.g., the number of consecutive time slots including PRS, the periodicity of consecutive time slots including PRS, the silent sequence, the frequency hopping sequence, the reference signal identifier, the reference signal bandwidth, etc.), and / or other parameters applicable to a particular positioning method. Alternatively, the assistance data may originate directly from the base station itself (e.g., in a periodically broadcast overhead message, etc.). In some cases, the UE itself may be able to detect neighboring network nodes without using assistance data.

[0120] In the case of OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedures, the assistance data may also include an expected RSTD value and an associated uncertainty or search window around the expected RSTD. In some cases, the value range of the expected RSTD may be + / -500 microseconds (μs). In some cases, when any of the resources used for positioning measurements are in FR1, the value range of the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be + / -32μs. In other cases, when all resources used for positioning measurements are in FR2, the value range of the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be + / -8μs.

[0121] The position estimate may be referred to by other names such as a position estimate, a position, a fix, a position fix, a fix, etc. The position estimate may be geodetic and include coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude), or may be municipal and include a street address, a postal address, or some other verbal description of the location. The position estimate may be further qualified relative to some other known position or qualified in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). The position estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume within which the location is expected to be included with some specified or default confidence level).

[0122] Various frame structures may be used to support downlink transmissions and uplink transmissions between network nodes (eg, base stations and UEs). Figure 5 5 is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure according to aspects of the present disclosure. The frame structure may be a downlink frame structure or an uplink frame structure. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels.

[0123] LTE (and in some cases NR) utilizes Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. However, unlike LTE, NR also has the option of using OFDM on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also often referred to as tones, frequency bins, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are transmitted in the frequency domain using OFDM and in the time domain using SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers can be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) can depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the spacing of the subcarriers can be 15 kilohertz (kHz), and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) can be 12 subcarriers (or 180kHz). Thus, for a system bandwidth of 1.25 megahertz (MHz), 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, or 20 MHz, the nominal fast Fourier transform (FFT) size may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048, respectively. The system bandwidth may also be divided into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for a system bandwidth of 1.25 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, or 20 MHz, respectively.

[0124] LTE supports a single parameter set (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR may support multiple parameter sets (μ), for example, 15kHz (μ=0), 30kHz (μ=1), 60kHz (μ=2), 120kHz (μ=3), and 240kHz (μ=4) or larger subcarrier spacings may be available. In each subcarrier spacing, there are 14 symbols per slot. For 15kHz SCS (μ=0), there is one slot per subframe, 10 slots per frame, the slot duration is 1 millisecond (ms), the symbol duration is 66.7 microseconds (μs), and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 50. For 30kHz SCS (μ=1), there are two slots per subframe, 20 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.5ms, the symbol duration is 33.3μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 100. For 60kHz SCS (μ=2), there are four slots per subframe, 40 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.25ms, the symbol duration is 16.7μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 200. For 120kHz SCS (μ=3), there are eight slots per subframe, 80 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.125ms, the symbol duration is 8.33μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 400. For 240kHz SCS (μ=4), there are 16 slots per subframe, 160 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.0625ms, the symbol duration is 4.17μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 800.

[0125] exist Figure 5 In the example of , a parameter set of 15 kHz is used. Therefore, in the time domain, a 10 ms frame is divided into 10 equally sized subframes, each subframe is 1 ms, and each subframe includes one time slot. Figure 5 , time is represented horizontally (on the X-axis), where time increases from left to right, while frequency is represented vertically (on the Y-axis), where frequency increases (or decreases) from bottom to top.

[0126] A resource grid may be used to represent a time slot, each of which includes one or more time-concurrent resource blocks (RBs) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into a plurality of resource elements (REs). An RE may correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. Figure 5In the parameter set of , for a normal cyclic prefix, an RB may contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and seven consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 84 REs. For an extended cyclic prefix, an RB may contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and six consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0127] Some of the REs may carry reference (pilot) signals (RS). These reference signals may include positioning reference signals (PRS), tracking reference signals (TRS), phase tracking reference signals (PTRS), cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), demodulation reference signals (DMRS), primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), synchronization signal blocks (SSB), sounding reference signals (SRS), etc., depending on whether the illustrated frame structure is used for uplink communication or downlink communication. Figure 5 Example locations of REs carrying reference signals (labeled "R") are illustrated.

[0128] Figure 6 is a diagram of an example PRS configuration 600 for PRS transmission for a given base station in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 6 In , time is represented horizontally, increasing from left to right. Each long rectangle represents a time slot, and each short (shaded) rectangle represents an OFDM symbol. Figure 6 In the example of FIG. 5 , a PRS resource set 610 (labeled as “PRS resource set 1”) includes two PRS resources: a first PRS resource 612 (labeled as “PRS resource 1”) and a second PRS resource 614 (labeled as “PRS resource 2”). The base station transmits PRS on the PRS resources 612 and 614 in the PRS resource set 610 .

[0129] PRS resource set 610 has an opportunity length (N_PRS) of two slots and a periodicity (T_PRS) of, for example (for 15 kHz subcarrier spacing) 160 slots or 160 milliseconds (ms). Thus, both PRS resources 612 and 614 are two consecutive slots in length and repeat every T_PRS slots starting from the slot in which the first symbol of the corresponding PRS resource appears. Figure 6 In the example of , PRS resource 612 has a symbol length (N_symb) of two symbols, and PRS resource 614 has a symbol length (N_symb) of four symbols. PRS resource 612 and PRS resource 614 may be transmitted on separate beams of the same base station.

[0130] Each instance of the PRS resource set 610 (illustrated as instances 620a, 620b, and 620c) includes a length of '2' opportunities (i.e., N_PRS=2) for each PRS resource 612, 614 in the PRS resource set. The PRS resources 612 and 614 repeat once every T_PRS time slot up to a muting sequence periodicity of T_REP. Therefore, a bitmap of length T_REP will be needed to indicate which opportunities of the instances 620a, 620b, and 620c of the PRS resource set 610 are muted (i.e., not transmitted).

[0131] In one aspect, there may be additional constraints on the PRS configuration 600. For example, for all PRS resources (e.g., PRS resources 612, 614) in a PRS resource set (e.g., PRS resource set 610), the base station may configure the following parameters to be the same: (a) opportunity length (N_PRS), (b) number of symbols (N_symb), (c) comb type and / or (d) bandwidth. In addition, for all PRS resources in all PRS resource sets, the subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix may be configured to be the same for one base station or for all base stations. Whether for one base station or for all base stations may depend on the ability of the UE to support the first and / or second options.

[0132] Fig. 7A and Figure 7B Various comb patterns supported for DL-PRS within a resource block are illustrated. Fig. 7A and Figure 7B , time is represented horizontally and frequency is represented vertically. Fig. 7A and Figure 7B Each large block in represents a resource block and each small block represents a resource element. As discussed above, a resource element consists of one symbol in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. Fig. 7A and Figure 7B In the example of , each resource block includes 14 symbols in the time domain and 12 subcarriers in the frequency domain. The shaded resource elements carry or are scheduled to carry DL-PRS. Thus, the shaded resource elements in each resource block correspond to PRS resources, or portions of PRS resources within one resource block (because PRS resources may span multiple resource blocks in the frequency domain).

[0133] The illustrated comb tooth patterns correspond to the various DL-PRS comb tooth patterns described above. Specifically, Fig. 7A A DL-PRS comb pattern 710 for comb-2 having two symbols, a DL-PRS comb pattern 720 for comb-4 having four symbols, a DL-PRS comb pattern 730 for comb-6 having six symbols, and a DL-PRS comb pattern 740 for comb-12 having 12 symbols are illustrated. Figure 7BA DL-PRS comb pattern 750 for comb-2 with 12 symbols, a DL-PRS comb pattern 760 for comb-4 with 12 symbols, a DL-PRS comb pattern 770 for comb-2 with six symbols, and a DL-PRS comb pattern 780 for comb-6 with 12 symbols are illustrated.

[0134] It should be noted that Fig. 7A In the example comb pattern of , the resource elements on which the DL-PRS is transmitted are interleaved in the frequency domain so that there is only one such resource element per subcarrier over the configured number of symbols. For example, for the DL-PRS comb pattern 720, there is only one resource element per subcarrier over four symbols. This is called "frequency domain interleaving".

[0135] In addition, there is some DL-PRS resource symbol offset (given by the parameter "DL-PRS-ResourceSymbolOffset") from the first symbol of the resource block to the first symbol of the DL-PRS resource. In the example of DL-PRS comb pattern 710, the offset is three symbols. In the example of DL-PRS comb pattern 720, the offset is eight symbols. In the examples of DL-PRS comb patterns 730 and 740, the offset is two symbols. In the examples of DL-PRS comb patterns 750 to 780, the offset is two symbols.

[0136] As will be appreciated, the UE will need to have a higher capability to measure the DL-PRS comb pattern 710 than to measure the DL-PRS comb pattern 720 because for the DL-PRS comb pattern 710, the UE will have to measure resource elements on twice as many subcarriers per symbol as the DL-PRS comb pattern 720. Furthermore, the UE will need to have a higher capability to measure the DL-PRS comb pattern 730 than to measure the DL-PRS comb pattern 740 because for the DL-PRS comb pattern 730, the UE will have to measure resource elements on twice as many subcarriers per symbol as the DL-PRS comb pattern 740. Furthermore, the UE will need to have a higher capability to measure the DL-PRS comb patterns 710 and 720 than to measure the DL-PRS comb patterns 730 and 740 because the resource elements of the DL-PRS comb patterns 710 and 720 are denser than the resource elements of the DL-PRS comb patterns 730 and 740.

[0137] Figure 8Two resource allocation modes for transmission on the NR sidelink according to various aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated. In the first mode 810 (labeled as "mode 1"), the base station 802 (e.g., any of the base stations described herein) allocates time and / or frequency resources for sidelink communications between the involved V-UEs 804 and 806 (e.g., any of the V-UEs described herein or UEs with sidelink capabilities) via DCI 3_0. Each V-UE uses the allocated resources to send ranging signals (e.g., SL-PRS) to other V-UEs.

[0138] In the second mode 820 (labeled as "Mode 2"), the involved UEs 804 and 806 autonomously select sidelink resources for the transmission of ranging signals. The V-UE can use the first mode only when it has cellular coverage, and can use the second mode regardless of whether it has cellular coverage. Note that although Figure 8 Two V-UEs are illustrated, but as will be understood, they need not be V-UEs, and may instead be any other type of UE capable of sidelink communication. In addition, there may be more than the two V-UEs 804 and 806 illustrated.

[0139] The signaling on the sidelink is the same between the two resource allocation modes. From the perspective of the receiver (e.g., V-UE 806), there is no difference between the modes. That is, for the receiver, it does not matter whether the resources used for the ranging signal are allocated by the base station 802 or by the transmitter.

[0140] Mode 1 supports dynamic grant (DG), configuration grant (CG) type 1, and CG type 2. In some cases, CG type 1 is activated via RRC signaling from base station 802. In some cases, the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) used for sidelink transmissions is determined by the V-UEs 804 and 806 involved within the limits set by base station 802. In mode 2, a transmitting V-UE (e.g., V-UE 804) performs channel sensing by blind decoding all physical sidelink control channels (PSCCH) to determine resources reserved for other sidelink transmissions. The transmitting V-UE 804 reports available resources to its upper layers, and the upper layers determine resource usage.

[0141] In addition, the NR sidelink supports hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmissions. In Mode 1, the base station 802 provides dynamic grants for HARQ feedback or activates configured sidelink grants. The sidelink feedback can be reported back to the base station by the sending UE (e.g., V-UE 804).

[0142] NR supports or implements various sidelink positioning techniques. Fig.9AVarious interesting scenarios for sidelink-only positioning or joint Uu and sidelink positioning according to various aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated. In scenario 910, at least one peer UE with a known location can improve the Uu-based positioning (e.g., multi-cell RTT, downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA), etc.) of the target UE by providing an additional anchor (e.g., using the sidelink round trip time (RTT) (SL-RTT)). In scenario 920, a low-end (e.g., low-capacity or "RedCap") target UE can obtain assistance from an advanced UE to determine its position using, for example, a sidelink positioning and ranging procedure with the advanced UE. Compared to a low-end UE, an advanced UE may have more capabilities, such as more sensors, faster processors, more memory, more antenna elements, higher transmit power capabilities, access to additional frequency bands, or any combination thereof. In scenario 930, a relay UE (e.g., with a known location) participates in the positioning estimation of a remote UE without performing uplink positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission over the Uu interface. Scenario 940 illustrates the joint positioning of multiple UEs. Specifically, in scenario 940, two UEs with unknown locations may be jointly located under non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions by utilizing constraints from nearby UEs.

[0143] Fig. 9B Additional interesting scenarios of sidelink-only positioning or joint Uu and sidelink positioning according to various aspects of the present disclosure are shown. In scenario 950, UEs used for public safety (e.g., used by police, firefighters, etc.) can perform peer-to-peer (P2P) positioning and ranging for public safety and other purposes. For example, in scenario 950, public safety UEs may be out of coverage of the network and use sidelink positioning techniques to determine the position or relative distance and relative positioning between public safety UEs. Similarly, scenario 960 shows multiple UEs that are out of coverage and use sidelink positioning techniques (such as SL-RTT) to determine the position or relative distance and relative positioning.

[0144] Sidelink communication occurs in a transmit or receive resource pool. In the frequency domain, the minimum resource allocation unit is a subchannel (e.g., a set of consecutive PRBs in the frequency domain). In the time domain, resource allocation is performed in a time slot interval. However, some time slots are not available for sidelinks, and some time slots contain feedback resources. In addition, sidelink resources can be (pre)configured to occupy less than 14 symbols in a time slot.

[0145] The sidelink resources are configured at the Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer. The RRC configuration can be pre-configured (e.g., preloaded on the UE) or configured (e.g., from a serving base station).

[0146] The NR sidelink supports hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmission. Fig. 10A1000 is a diagram of an example time slot structure without feedback resources according to aspects of the present disclosure. Fig. 10A In the example of , time is represented horizontally and frequency is represented vertically. In the time domain, the length of each block is one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, and 14 symbols constitute a time slot. In the frequency domain, the height of each block is one subchannel. Currently, the (pre-)configured subchannel size can be selected from the set of {10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75, 100} physical resource blocks (PRBs).

[0147] For a sidelink slot, the first symbol is a repetition of the previous symbol and is used for automatic gain control (AGC) settings. Fig. 10A This is illustrated in the example by vertical and horizontal hashing. Fig. 10A As shown, for the sidelink, the physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) and the physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) are transmitted in the same time slot. Similar to the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the PSCCH carries control information about the sidelink resource allocation and a description of the sidelink data sent to the UE. Similarly, similar to the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), the PSSCH carries the user data of the UE. Fig. 10A In the example of , the PSCCH occupies half of the bandwidth of the subchannel and occupies only three symbols. Finally, the gap symbol appears after the PSSCH.

[0148] Fig. 10B 1050 is a diagram of an example time slot structure with feedback resources according to aspects of the present disclosure. Fig. 10B In the example of , time is represented horizontally and frequency is represented vertically. In the time domain, the length of each block is one OFDM symbol, and 14 symbols constitute a time slot. In the frequency domain, the height of each block is one subchannel.

[0149] Fig. 10B The illustrated time slot structure is similar to Fig. 10A The time slot structure shown is similar, except that Fig. 10B The illustrated time slot structure includes feedback resources. Specifically, the two symbols at the end of the time slot have been dedicated to the physical side link feedback channel (PSFCH). The first PSFCH symbol is a repetition of the second PSFCH symbol for AGC setting. In addition to the gap symbol after the PSSCH, there is also a gap symbol after two PSFCH symbols. Currently, the resources for PSFCH can be configured with a periodicity selected from a set of {0,1,2,4} time slots.

[0150] The physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) carries sidelink control information (SCI). The first level SCI (referred to as "SCI-1") is sent on the PSCCH and contains information for resource allocation and decoding the second level SCI (referred to as "SCI-2"). SCI-2 is sent on the physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) and contains information for decoding data to be sent on the shared channel (SCH) of the sidelink. SCI-1 information can be decoded by all UEs, while SCI-2 information can include formats that can only be decoded by certain UEs. This ensures that new features can be introduced in SCI-2 while maintaining resource reservation backward compatibility in SCI-1.

[0151] Both SCI-1 and SCI-2 use the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) polarity decoding chain, such as Fig.11 shown. Fig.11 1100 is a diagram showing how a shared channel (SCH) is established on a side link between two or more UEs according to various aspects of the present disclosure. Specifically, (the network or the UE involved) uses information in SCI-1 1102 to make resource allocations 1104 for SCI-2 1106 and SCH 1108. In addition, the information in 11CI-1 1102 is used to determine / decode the content of SCI-2 1106 sent on the allocated resources. Therefore, the receiver UE needs both resource allocation 1104 and SCI-1 1102 to decode SCI-2 1106. The information in SCI-2 1106 is then used to determine / decode SCH 1108.

[0152] Another aspect of sidelink positioning is the configuration of a resource pool (RP-P) for sidelink positioning. The 12 symbols between the first and last symbols (gap) of a sidelink slot (for AGC) in the time domain and the allocated subchannels in the frequency domain form a resource pool for sidelink transmission and / or reception. RP-Ps can be configured specifically within the resource pool for positioning purposes. Each RP-P includes an offset, a periodicity, a number of consecutive symbols within a slot (e.g., as few as one symbol), and / or a bandwidth within a component carrier (or across multiple component carriers). In addition, each RP-P can be associated with a certain area or with a distance from a reference location.

[0153] A base station (or UE) may assign one or more resource configurations from the RP-P to another UE. Additionally or alternatively, a UE (e.g., a relay or remote UE) may request one or more RP-P configurations, and the UE may include one or more of the following in the request: (1) location information (or zone identifier) ​​of the UE; (2) periodicity; (3) bandwidth; (4) offset; (5) number of symbols; and (6) whether a configuration with "low interference" is required (which may be determined by the assigned quality of service (QoS) or priority).

[0154] The base station or UE may configure / assign rate matching resources or RP-P for rate matching / silencing to the sidelink UE, so that when there is a conflict between the assigned resources and another resource pool containing data (PSSCH) and / or control (PSCCH), the sidelink UE is expected to rate match / silence / puncture the data, DMRS and / or CSI-RS within the conflicting resources. This will achieve orthogonalization between positioning and data transmission to increase the coverage of the PRS signal.

[0155] Fig.12 1200 is a diagram illustrating an example of a resource pool for positioning within a side link resource pool according to aspects of the present disclosure. Fig.12 In the example of , time is represented horizontally and frequency is represented vertically. In the time domain, the length of each block is one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, and 14 symbols constitute a time slot. In the frequency domain, the height of each block is one subchannel.

[0156] exist Fig.12 In the example of , the entire time slot (except the first symbol and the last symbol) can be a resource pool for sidelink transmission and / or reception. That is, any symbol except the first symbol and the last symbol can be allocated for transmission and / or reception. However, the RP-P for sidelink transmission / reception is allocated in the last four front slot symbols of the time slot. Therefore, non-side link positioning data (such as user data, CSI-RS, and control information) can only be sent in the first eight post-AGC symbols, but not in the last four front slot symbols to prevent conflicts with the configured RP-P. Non-side link positioning data that could have been sent in the last four front slot symbols can be punctured or silenced, or non-side link data that would normally span more than eight post-AGC symbols can be rate matched to accommodate the eight post-AGC symbols.

[0157] A Sidelink Positioning Reference Signal (SL-PRS) has been defined to support sidelink positioning procedures between UEs. Similar to the downlink PRS (DL-PRS), the SL-PRS resource consists of one or more resource elements (i.e., one OFDM symbol in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain). The SL-PRS resource has been designed to have a comb-based pattern to enable Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) based processing at the receiver. The SL-PRS resource consists of uninterleaved or only partially interleaved resource elements in the frequency domain to provide small time of arrival (TOA) uncertainty for each SL-PRS resource and reduced overhead. The SL-PRS may also be associated with a specific RP-P (e.g., certain SL-PRS may be allocated in certain RP-Ps). The SL-PRS is also defined to have intra-slot repetition ( Fig.12 ), to allow combining gain (if required). There may also be inter-UE coordination of RP-P to provide dynamic SL-PRS and data multiplexing while minimizing SL-PRS collisions.

[0158] In some designs, the UE performs a sensing operation (e.g., listen before talk (LBT)) to determine whether a resource is used, and then performs resource selection based on the result of the sensing operation (e.g., resource selection is based on past / historical sensing results). In some designs (such as 3GPP Rel. 16), the UE performs the sensing operation continuously. In some designs (such as 3GPP Rel. 16), resource selection may be triggered at any time by a non-periodic transmission (e.g., from a gNB or another UE).

[0159] Fig.13 1300 is an example of a resource selection mode 1300 according to aspects of the present disclosure. Fig.13 15 (e.g., symbols, time slots, RBs or PRBs, etc.) are depicted, and resource selection pattern 1300 includes selection of resource 1310 at time block 11. Specifically, resource selection pattern 1300 corresponds to a random resource selection pattern, whereby the UE randomly selects resource 1310 without performing channel sensing.

[0160] Fig.14 1400 is an example of a resource selection mode 1400 according to aspects of the present disclosure. Fig.14 , time blocks 0 ... 15 (eg, symbols, time slots, RBs or PRBs, etc.) are depicted, and resource selection pattern 1400 includes selection of resource 1430 at time block 11. Fig.14Differently, resource selection mode 1400 corresponds to a continuous partial sensing mode, whereby the UE receives a (re)selection trigger at 1410, which triggers the UE to perform channel sensing in a sensing window 1420, which includes multiple consecutive sensing opportunities between time blocks 4 to 8. In one example, channel sensing may be performed before periodic resource selection and aperiodic resource selection. In some designs, the sensing window includes M logical time slots. In some designs, by default, M=31 logical time slots and may be (pre-)configured to a small value. In some designs, sensing results from an ongoing channel sensing operation may be used to satisfy the M logical time slots (i.e., in this case, the sensing window may start before receiving the (re)selection).

[0161] Fig.15 1500 is an example of a resource selection mode 1500 according to aspects of the present disclosure. Fig.15 , time blocks 0...15 (e.g., symbols, time slots, RBs or PRBs, etc.) are depicted, and resource selection pattern 1500 includes selection of resources 1520 and 1530 at time blocks 11 and 14, respectively. Fig.15 , resource selection mode 1500 corresponds to a periodicity-based partial sensing mode, whereby resources in selection window 1510 are selected based on channel sensing operations performed on a corresponding set of periodic sensing opportunities. In some designs, when periodic reservation is enabled, the UE performs periodic partial sensing. In some designs, monitoring the sensing opportunities between the selection trigger and the first time slot in selection window 1510 is part of the resource selection. In some designs, the UE monitors the periodicity configured in sl-ResourceReservePeriodList.

[0162] Fig.16 A resource selection mode 1600 is illustrated according to aspects of the present disclosure. Fig.16 , time blocks 0...15 (eg, symbols, time slots, RBs or PRBs, etc.) are depicted, and resource selection pattern 1600 includes selection of resources 1620 and 1630 at time blocks 11 and 14, respectively. Fig.15 , the resource selection mode 1600 corresponds to a periodic-based partial sensing mode, whereby the resources in the selection window 1610 are selected based on channel sensing operations performed on a corresponding set of periodic sensing opportunities. Fig.16 In some designs, the UE is not required to sense earlier than the (pre-)configured time T0 (thus, in some designs, the UE may monitor the second most recent sensing occasion in addition to the most recent sensing occasion. In some designs, the additional sensing occasions are jointly enabled / disabled for all configured monitoring periodicities. In some designs, the UE is not required to sense earlier than the (pre-)configured time T0 (thus, in some designs, the UE may monitor the second most recent sensing occasion in addition to the most recent sensing occasion. Fig.16 The sensing opportunity at time block 1 is not monitored).

[0163] refer to Figure 15 to Figure 16 In some designs, resource selection for periodic and aperiodic transmissions is similar, whereby a set Y (or Y') of candidate time slots is used to initialize a candidate resource set. Sensing and resource exclusion are applied based on the set Y (or Y'). Re-evaluation and preemption are supported.

[0164] In some designs (such as 3GPP Rel.16), the random resource selection mode is supported only in the exceptional resource pool (e.g., commTxPoolExceptional, which defines the resources that can be used when the UE RRC state transitions between RRC_IDLE and RRC_CONNECTED). In other designs (such as 3GPP Rel.17), random selection, partial sensing, full sensing may be supported in the same resource pool. In some designs, (pre-) configuration indicates which modes are supported.

[0165] In some designs, random selection may apply to both periodic and non-periodic transmissions. In some designs, the maximum distance between two consecutive selected resources is 32 logical time slots. HARQ feedback and retransmission may be supported. In some designs, the gap between resources must be at least Z as defined in the 3GPP Rel.16 feedback processing timeline. For example, Z may correspond to a minimum time gap (e.g., enforced at the UE), whereby between any two selected resources of a transport block (TB), Z=a+b, where HARQ feedback for the first of these resources is expected. In one aspect, 'a' is the time gap between the end of the last symbol of the PSSCH transmission of the first resource and the beginning of the first symbol of the corresponding PSFCH reception, determined by the resource pool configuration and the higher layer parameters of MinTimeGapPSFCH and periodPSFCHresource, and 'b' is the time required for PSFCH reception and processing plus the sidelink retransmission preparation including the necessary multiplexing of the physical channels and any TX-RX / RX-TX switching time, and is determined by the UE specific implementation. In some designs, random selection is performed by UEs that are not capable of sensing. In some designs, random selection is performed when it is not possible to sense within the required M time slots. In some designs, random selection is enabled in a resource pool by (pre-) configuration without other restrictions.

[0166] In some designs, the MAC provides the receiver's active time for resource selection to the PHY. The PHY performs resource selection where a subset of candidate resources should be within the provided active time. If none of the candidate resources are within the receiver's active time, it is up to the UE implementation to add at least one resource within the active time.

[0167] In some designs, when random selection is used, the UE is not required to measure the channel busy ratio (CBR) (e.g., in this case, a (pre-)configured CBR value is used). In some designs, when partial sensing is performed, the UE measures RSSI in the timeslots in which it is receiving PSCCH / PSSCH or performing partial sensing. In some designs, the CBR window from Rel-16 is reused. In some designs, if the number of timeslots with RSSI measurements is below a (pre-)configured threshold, the (pre-)configured CBR value is used.

[0168] In some designs, a sensing mechanism (e.g., for determining CBR), such as those described above, may be implemented for PSSCH transmissions on all resources (i.e., RBs and symbols allocated for PSSCH) within a specified time slot. In some designs, CBR is used to locate resources, and channel sensing is compatible with PRS resources (e.g., comb-based sensing). However, a major issue is that the UE may sense blind (unknown PRS configuration) or may depend on decoding positioning-related PSCCH messages for positioning. Depending on the design, PSCCH messages that reserve positioning resources may be very sparse and may be easily missed (e.g., may not fall into a sensing period).

[0169] Various aspects of the present disclosure relate to candidate sensing resource configurations that can be provided to a UE and used to select candidate sensing resources for use in channel sensing. Such aspects can provide various technical advantages, such as reducing power consumption at the UE (e.g., because unnecessary sensing operations can be skipped), improving position estimation accuracy (e.g., fewer missed PSCCH messages for reserved positioning resources), etc.

[0170] Fig.17 An exemplary process 1700 of communicating according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. Fig.17 Process 1700 is performed by a UE such as UE 302.

[0171] refer to Fig.17 At 1710, UE 302 (eg, receiver 312 or 322, etc.) receives a candidate sensing resource configuration from a sidelink resource management component. In some designs, the means for performing the reception of 1710 may include receiver 312 or 322, etc.

[0172] refer to Fig.17 At 1720, the UE 302 (e.g., the receiver 312 or 322, the side link resource component 342, the processor 332, etc.) performs channel sensing on a set of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration. In some designs, the means for performing the channel sensing of 1720 may include the receiver 312 or 322, the side link resource component 342, the processor 332, etc.

[0173] refer to Fig.17 At 1730, UE 302 (e.g., side link resource component 342, processor 332, etc.) detects one or more candidate sensing resources associated with a signal strength criterion below a signal strength threshold. In some designs, means for performing the detection of 1730 may include side link resource component 342, processor 332, etc.

[0174] refer to Fig.17 At 1740, the UE 302 (e.g., the side link resource component 342, the processor 332, etc.) selects one of the detected one or more candidate sensing resources. In some designs, the means for performing the selection of 1740 may include the side link resource component 342, the processor 332, etc.

[0175] refer to Fig.17 At 1750, the UE 302 (e.g., the transmitter 314 or 324, etc.) sends a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) on the selected candidate sensing resource. For example, after performing sensing at 1730, the UE may be configured to select (at 1740) one of the indicated sensing resources in the sensing resource set to send the SL PRS. In some designs, the UE may be a resource that is not busy (e.g., RSSI is less than a threshold determined based on the sensing operation). In some designs, the means for performing the sending of 1750 may include the transmitter 314 or 324, etc.

[0176] Fig.18 An exemplary process 1800 of communicating according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. Fig.18 Process 1800 is performed by a sidelink resource management component (e.g., another UE, a network component (such as BS 304 or network entity 306), an O-RAN component, etc.).

[0177] refer to Fig.18 At 1810, a sidelink resource management component (e.g., processor 332 or 384 or 394, sidelink resource component 342 or 388 or 398, etc.) determines a candidate sensing resource configuration associated with a set of candidate sensing resources for channel sensing by a user equipment (UE), the set of candidate sensing resources including candidate resources associated with a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission by the UE. In some designs, the means for performing the determination of 1810 may include processor 332 or 384 or 394, sidelink resource component 342 or 388 or 398, etc.

[0178] refer to Fig.18At 1820, a sidelink resource management component (e.g., transmitter 314 or 324 or 354 or 364, network transceiver 380 or 390, etc.) sends a candidate sensing resource configuration to the UE. In some designs, the means for performing the sending of 1820 may include transmitter 314 or 324 or 354 or 364, network transceiver 380 or 390, etc.

[0179] refer to Figure 17 to Figure 18 In some designs, the candidate sensing resource configurations may include comb parameters, tone offsets, a set of symbols, a set of time slots, a periodicity, or a combination thereof.

[0180] refer to Figure 17 to Figure 18 In some designs, the candidate sensing resource configuration includes sequence identifier (ID) generation information, and the channel sensing includes reference signal receiver power (RSRP) based sensing.

[0181] refer to Figure 17 to Figure 18 In some designs (eg, when sequence ID generation information is not part of the candidate sensing resource configuration), channel sensing may include received signal strength indicator (RSSI) based sensing.

[0182] refer to Figure 17 to Figure 18 In some designs as described above, the sidelink resource management component corresponds to a network component, or the sidelink resource management component corresponds to another UE. The sidelink resource management component (e.g., a network component for mode 1 operation, another UE for mode 2 operation) may coordinate SL-based position estimates for the UEs and may create a list of all candidate sensing resource configurations on which UEs under its control are to sense.

[0183] refer to Figure 17 to Figure 18 In some designs, the candidate sensing resource configuration is communicated via broadcast after initiating a sidelink position estimation procedure associated with the UE. In some designs, the candidate sensing resource configuration may include a subset (e.g., not all) of the resources available for the sidelink position estimation procedure. In some designs, the UE performs channel sensing to determine a channel RSSI for each sensing resource in the indicated sensing resource set.

[0184] refer to Figure 17 to Figure 18 In some designs, the signal strength criterion includes a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), and the signal strength threshold is an RSSI threshold. As described above, in other designs, RSRP-based sensing may be used as an alternative.

[0185] refer to Figure 17 to Figure 18In some designs, the selection is based on multiple resource selection modes. For example, the multiple resource selection modes may be indicated as parts of the candidate sensing resource configuration. For example, the multiple resource selection modes may include two or more of a random resource selection mode, a continuous partial sensing mode, or a periodicity-based partial sensing mode. It should be understood that if one of the multiple resource selection modes is a random resource selection mode, then for other modes, the channel sensing operation at 1720 is performed.

[0186] refer to Figure 17 to Figure 18 In some designs, the UE may also send a sensing resource capability indication to the sidelink resource management component. The sidelink resource management component may use the sensing resource capability indication to determine a candidate sensing resource configuration. For example, the UE may indicate to the gNB or controller UE the capability for the number of sensing resources on which the UE may perform sensing. In some designs, a reference sensing resource may be specified in the specification (e.g., comb-6, 6 symbols in a time slot, 2 time slots, etc.). In some designs, the UE may indicate the number of reference resources that the UE may sense. If the actual configuration is different from the reference configuration, the sidelink resource management component may scale the UE capabilities accordingly.

[0187] refer to Figure 17 to Figure 18 In some designs, the sidelink resource management component may also send (and the UE may also receive) a first indication that a first subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is not occupied. In some designs, the sidelink resource management component may also send (and the UE may also receive from the sidelink resource management component) a second indication that a second subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is occupied (e.g., the sidelink resource management component may indicate that a nearby UE is utilizing occupied resources for at least some portion of the UE's position estimation session). In yet other designs, the sidelink resource management component may also send (and the UE may also receive) both the first indication and the second indication. In another example, the set of candidate sensing resources for which channel sensing is performed may include a first subset of candidate sensing resources indicated as unoccupied, or the set of candidate sensing resources for which channel sensing is performed may exclude a second subset of candidate sensing resources indicated as occupied, or a combination thereof. In this way, the UE may prioritize channel sensing in an intelligent manner to save power.

[0188] refer to Figure 17 to Figure 18 , in some designs, may indicate to a controller node a set of resources that may be used for sensing (and to be selected for positioning) (e.g., a sidelink resource management component may be a UE that is indicated as to which resources may be allocated to a candidate sensing resource configuration for UEs under its control).

[0189] In the above detailed description, 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, wherein each clause itself can be used as a separate example. Although each dependent clause may refer to a specific combination of one clause with other clauses in a clause, the aspects of the dependent 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 dependent clause aspect with any other dependent clause or independent clause or any feature with other dependent 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 (e.g., 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.

[0190] Specific implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0191] Clause 1. A method of operating a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving a candidate sensing resource configuration from a side link resource management component; performing channel sensing on a set of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration; detecting one or more candidate sensing resources associated with a signal strength criterion below a signal strength threshold; selecting one of the one or more detected candidate sensing resources; and sending a side link (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) on the selected candidate sensing resource.

[0192] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the candidate sensing resource configurations include comb parameters, tone offsets, a set of symbols, a set of time slots, a periodicity, or a combination thereof.

[0193] Clause 3. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 2, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration includes sequence identifier (ID) generation information, and wherein the channel sensing includes reference signal receiver power (RSRP) based sensing.

[0194] Clause 4. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 3, wherein the channel sensing comprises received signal strength indicator (RSSI) based sensing.

[0195] Clause 5. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 4, wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to a network component, or wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to another UE.

[0196] Clause 6. A method as described in any of clauses 1 to 5, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is received via broadcast after initiating a sidelink position estimation procedure associated with the UE.

[0197] Clause 7. A method as described in any of clauses 1 to 6, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration comprises a subset of resources available for a sidelink position estimation procedure.

[0198] Clause 8. The method of any of clauses 1 to 7, wherein the signal strength criterion comprises a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), and wherein the signal strength threshold is a RSSI threshold.

[0199] Clause 9. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 8, wherein the selection is based on a plurality of resource selection modes.

[0200] Clause 10. The method of clause 9, wherein the plurality of resource selection modes comprises two or more of a random resource selection mode, a continuous partial sensing mode, or a periodicity-based partial sensing mode.

[0201] Clause 11. The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 10, further comprising: sending a sensing resource capability indication to the sidelink resource management component, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is based on the sensing resource capability indication.

[0202] Clause 12. The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 11 further includes: receiving a first indication from the side link resource management component that a first subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is not occupied, or receiving a second indication from the side link resource management component that a second subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is occupied, or a combination thereof.

[0203] Clause 13. A method according to clause 12, wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed includes a first subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as unoccupied, or wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed excludes a second subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as occupied, or a combination thereof.

[0204] Clause 14. A method of operating a sidelink resource management component, comprising: determining a candidate sensing resource configuration associated with a set of candidate sensing resources for channel sensing performed by a user equipment (UE), the set of candidate sensing resources including candidate resources associated with a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission performed by the UE; and sending the candidate sensing resource configuration to the UE.

[0205] Clause 15. The method of clause 14, wherein the candidate sensing resource configurations include comb parameters, tone offsets, a set of symbols, a set of time slots, a periodicity, or a combination thereof.

[0206] Clause 16. A method as described in any of clauses 14 to 15, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration includes sequence identifier (ID) generation information, and wherein the channel sensing includes reference signal receiver power (RSRP) based sensing.

[0207] Clause 17. The method of any of clauses 14 to 16, wherein the channel sensing comprises received signal strength indicator (RSSI) based sensing.

[0208] Clause 18. A method as described in any of clauses 14 to 17, wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to a network component, or wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to another UE.

[0209] Clause 19. A method as described in any of clauses 14 to 18, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is sent via broadcast upon initiation of a sidelink position estimation procedure associated with the UE.

[0210] Clause 20. A method as described in any of clauses 14 to 19, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration comprises a subset of resources that can be used for a sidelink position estimation procedure.

[0211] Clause 21. The method of any of clauses 14 to 20, wherein the signal strength criterion comprises a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), and wherein the signal strength threshold is a RSSI threshold.

[0212] Clause 22. The method of any one of clauses 14 to 21, wherein the candidate resources are based on a plurality of resource selection modes.

[0213] Clause 23. The method of clause 22, wherein the plurality of resource selection modes comprises two or more of a random resource selection mode, a continuous partial sensing mode, or a periodicity-based partial sensing mode.

[0214] Clause 24. A method as described in any of clauses 14 to 23, further comprising: receiving a sensing resource capability indication from the UE, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is based on the sensing resource capability indication.

[0215] Clause 25. The method according to any one of clauses 14 to 24 further includes: sending a first indication to the UE that a first subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is not occupied, or sending a second indication to the UE that a second subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is occupied, or a combination thereof.

[0216] Clause 26. A method according to clause 25, wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed includes a first subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as unoccupied, or wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed excludes a second subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as occupied, or a combination thereof.

[0217] Clause 27. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) 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 a candidate sensing resource configuration from a side link resource management component via the at least one transceiver; perform channel sensing on a set of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration; detect one or more candidate sensing resources associated with a signal strength criterion below a signal strength threshold; select one candidate sensing resource from the one or more detected candidate sensing resources; and send a side link (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) on the selected candidate sensing resource via the at least one transceiver.

[0218] Clause 28. The UE of clause 27, wherein the candidate sensing resource configurations comprise comb parameters, tone offsets, a set of symbols, a set of time slots, a periodicity, or a combination thereof.

[0219] Clause 29. A UE as described in any of clauses 27 to 28, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration includes sequence identifier (ID) generation information, and wherein the channel sensing includes reference signal receiver power (RSRP) based sensing.

[0220] Clause 30. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 27 to 29, wherein the channel sensing comprises received signal strength indicator (RSSI) based sensing.

[0221] Clause 31. A UE as described in any of clauses 27 to 30, wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to a network component, or wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to another UE.

[0222] Clause 32. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 27 to 31, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is received via a broadcast upon initiation of a sidelink position estimation procedure associated with the UE.

[0223] Clause 33. A UE as set out in any of clauses 27 to 32, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration comprises a subset of resources available for a sidelink position estimation procedure.

[0224] Clause 34. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 27 to 33, wherein the signal strength criterion comprises a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), and wherein the signal strength threshold is a RSSI threshold.

[0225] Clause 35. A UE as set out in any of clauses 27 to 34, wherein the selection is based on a plurality of resource selection modes.

[0226] Clause 36. The UE of clause 35, wherein the plurality of resource selection modes comprises two or more of a random resource selection mode, a continuous partial sensing mode, or a periodicity based partial sensing mode.

[0227] Clause 37. A UE according to any one of clauses 27 to 36, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: send a sensing resource capability indication to the side link resource management component via the at least one transceiver, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is based on the sensing resource capability indication.

[0228] Clause 38. A UE according to any one of clauses 27 to 37, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive a first indication from the side link resource management component via the at least one transceiver that a first subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is not occupied, or receive a second indication from the side link resource management component via the at least one transceiver that a second subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is occupied, or a combination thereof.

[0229] Clause 39. A UE according to clause 38, wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed includes a first subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as unoccupied, or wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed excludes a second subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as occupied, or a combination thereof.

[0230] Clause 40. A sidelink resource management component 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: determine a candidate sensing resource configuration associated with a set of candidate sensing resources for channel sensing performed by a user equipment (UE), the set of candidate sensing resources including candidate resources associated with a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission performed by the UE; and send the candidate sensing resource configuration to the UE via the at least one transceiver.

[0231] Clause 41. The sidelink resource management component of clause 40, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration comprises a comb parameter, a tone offset, a set of symbols, a set of time slots, a periodicity, or a combination thereof.

[0232] Clause 42. A sidelink resource management component according to any one of clauses 40 to 41, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration includes sequence identifier (ID) generation information, and wherein the channel sensing includes reference signal receiver power (RSRP) based sensing.

[0233] Clause 43. A sidelink resource management component as described in any of clauses 40 to 42, wherein the channel sensing comprises received signal strength indicator (RSSI) based sensing.

[0234] Clause 44. A sidelink resource management component as described in any of clauses 40 to 43, wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to a network component, or wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to another UE.

[0235] Clause 45. A sidelink resource management component as described in any of clauses 40 to 44, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is sent via broadcast upon initiation of a sidelink position estimation procedure associated with the UE.

[0236] Clause 46. A sidelink resource management component as described in any of clauses 40 to 45, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration comprises a subset of resources available for a sidelink position estimation procedure.

[0237] Clause 47. A sidelink resource management component as described in any of clauses 40 to 46, wherein the signal strength criterion includes a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), and wherein the signal strength threshold is a RSSI threshold.

[0238] Clause 48. A sidelink resource management component as described in any of clauses 40 to 47, wherein the candidate resources are based on multiple resource selection modes.

[0239] Clause 49. The sidelink resource management component of clause 48, wherein the plurality of resource selection modes comprises two or more of a random resource selection mode, a continuous partial sensing mode, or a periodicity-based partial sensing mode.

[0240] Clause 50. A sidelink resource management component according to any one of clauses 40 to 49, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive a sensing resource capability indication from the UE via the at least one transceiver, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is based on the sensing resource capability indication.

[0241] Clause 51. A side link resource management component according to any one of clauses 40 to 50, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: send a first indication to the UE via the at least one transceiver that a first subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is not occupied, or send a second indication to the UE via the at least one transceiver that a second subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is occupied, or a combination thereof.

[0242] Clause 52. A side link resource management component according to clause 51, wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed includes a first subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as unoccupied, or wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed excludes a second subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as occupied, or a combination thereof.

[0243] Clause 53. A user equipment (UE), comprising: a component for receiving a candidate sensing resource configuration from a side link resource management component; a component for performing channel sensing on a set of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration; a component for detecting one or more candidate sensing resources associated with a signal strength criterion below a signal strength threshold; a component for selecting one of the one or more detected candidate sensing resources; and a component for sending a side link (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) on the selected candidate sensing resource.

[0244] Clause 54. The UE of clause 53, wherein the candidate sensing resource configurations comprise comb parameters, tone offsets, a set of symbols, a set of time slots, a periodicity, or a combination thereof.

[0245] Clause 55. A UE as described in any of clauses 53 to 54, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration includes sequence identifier (ID) generation information, and wherein the channel sensing includes reference signal receiver power (RSRP) based sensing.

[0246] Clause 56. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 53 to 55, wherein the channel sensing comprises received signal strength indicator (RSSI) based sensing.

[0247] Clause 57. A UE as described in any of clauses 53 to 56, wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to a network component, or wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to another UE.

[0248] Clause 58. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 53 to 57, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is received via a broadcast upon initiation of a sidelink position estimation procedure associated with the UE.

[0249] Clause 59. A UE as set out in any of clauses 53 to 58, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration comprises a subset of resources available for a sidelink position estimation procedure.

[0250] Clause 60. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 53 to 59, wherein the signal strength criterion comprises a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), and wherein the signal strength threshold is a RSSI threshold.

[0251] Clause 61. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 53 to 60, wherein the selection is based on a plurality of resource selection modes.

[0252] Clause 62. The UE of clause 61, wherein the plurality of resource selection modes comprises two or more of a random resource selection mode, a continuous partial sensing mode, or a periodicity based partial sensing mode.

[0253] Clause 63. A UE as described in any of clauses 53 to 62, further comprising: means for sending a sensing resource capability indication to the sidelink resource management component, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is based on the sensing resource capability indication.

[0254] Clause 64. A UE according to any one of clauses 53 to 63, further comprising: a component for receiving a first indication from the side link resource management component that a first subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is not occupied, or a component for receiving a second indication from the side link resource management component that a second subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is occupied, or a combination thereof.

[0255] Clause 65. A UE according to clause 64, wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed includes a first subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as unoccupied, or wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed excludes a second subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as occupied, or a combination thereof.

[0256] Clause 66. A sidelink resource management component, comprising: a component for determining a candidate sensing resource configuration associated with a set of candidate sensing resources for channel sensing performed by a user equipment (UE), the set of candidate sensing resources including candidate resources associated with a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission performed by the UE; and a component for sending the candidate sensing resource configuration to the UE.

[0257] Clause 67. The sidelink resource management component of clause 66, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration comprises a comb parameter, a tone offset, a set of symbols, a set of time slots, a periodicity, or a combination thereof.

[0258] Clause 68. A sidelink resource management component according to any one of clauses 66 to 67, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration includes sequence identifier (ID) generation information, and wherein the channel sensing includes reference signal receiver power (RSRP) based sensing.

[0259] Clause 69. A sidelink resource management component as described in any of clauses 66 to 68, wherein the channel sensing includes sensing based on a received signal strength indicator (RSSI).

[0260] Clause 70. A sidelink resource management component as described in any of clauses 66 to 69, wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to a network component, or wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to another UE.

[0261] Clause 71. A sidelink resource management component as described in any of clauses 66 to 70, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is sent via broadcast upon initiation of a sidelink position estimation procedure associated with the UE.

[0262] Clause 72. A sidelink resource management component as described in any of clauses 66 to 71, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration comprises a subset of resources available for a sidelink position estimation procedure.

[0263] Clause 73. A sidelink resource management component as described in any of clauses 66 to 72, wherein the signal strength criterion includes a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), and wherein the signal strength threshold is a RSSI threshold.

[0264] Clause 74. A sidelink resource management component as described in any of clauses 66 to 73, wherein the candidate resources are based on multiple resource selection modes.

[0265] Clause 75. The sidelink resource management component of clause 74, wherein the plurality of resource selection modes comprises two or more of a random resource selection mode, a continuous partial sensing mode, or a periodicity-based partial sensing mode.

[0266] Clause 76. The sidelink resource management component of any of clauses 66 to 75, further comprising: means for receiving a sensing resource capability indication from the UE, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is based on the sensing resource capability indication.

[0267] Clause 77. The side link resource management component according to any one of clauses 66 to 76 further includes: a component for sending a first indication to the UE that a first subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is not occupied, or a component for sending a second indication to the UE that a second subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is occupied, or a combination thereof.

[0268] Clause 78. A side link resource management component according to clause 77, wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed includes a first subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as unoccupied, or wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed excludes a second subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as occupied, or a combination thereof.

[0269] Clause 79. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: receive a candidate sensing resource configuration from a side link resource management component; perform channel sensing on a set of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration; detect one or more candidate sensing resources associated with a signal strength criterion below a signal strength threshold; select one of the one or more detected candidate sensing resources; and send a side link (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) on the selected candidate sensing resource.

[0270] Clause 80. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of Clause 79, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration comprises a comb parameter, a tone offset, a set of symbols, a set of time slots, a periodicity, or a combination thereof.

[0271] Clause 81. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 79 to 80, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration includes sequence identifier (ID) generation information, and wherein the channel sensing includes reference signal receiver power (RSRP) based sensing.

[0272] Clause 82. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 79 to 81, wherein the channel sensing comprises received signal strength indicator (RSSI) based sensing.

[0273] Clause 83. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 79 to 82, wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to a network component, or wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to another UE.

[0274] Clause 84. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 79 to 83, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is received via a broadcast after initiating a sidelink position estimation procedure associated with the UE.

[0275] Clause 85. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 79 to 84, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration comprises a subset of resources available for a sidelink position estimation procedure.

[0276] Clause 86. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 79 to 85, wherein the signal strength criterion comprises a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), and wherein the signal strength threshold is a RSSI threshold.

[0277] Clause 87. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of Clauses 79 to 86, wherein the selection is based on a plurality of resource selection modes.

[0278] Clause 88. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of Clause 87, wherein the plurality of resource selection modes comprises two or more of a random resource selection mode, a continuous partial sensing mode, or a periodicity-based partial sensing mode.

[0279] Clause 89. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 79 to 88, further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: send a sensing resource capability indication to the side link resource management component, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is based on the sensing resource capability indication.

[0280] Clause 90. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 79 to 89, further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: receive a first indication from the side link resource management component that a first subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is not occupied, or receive a second indication from the side link resource management component that a second subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is occupied, or a combination thereof.

[0281] Clause 91. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 90, wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed includes a first subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as unoccupied, or wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed excludes a second subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as occupied, or a combination thereof.

[0282] Clause 92. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a sidelink resource management component, cause the sidelink resource management component to: determine a candidate sensing resource configuration associated with a set of candidate sensing resources for channel sensing performed by a user equipment (UE), the set of candidate sensing resources including candidate resources associated with a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission performed by the UE; and send the candidate sensing resource configuration to the UE.

[0283] Clause 93. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of Clause 92, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration comprises a comb parameter, a tone offset, a set of symbols, a set of time slots, a periodicity, or a combination thereof.

[0284] Clause 94. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 92 to 93, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration includes sequence identifier (ID) generation information, and wherein the channel sensing includes reference signal receiver power (RSRP) based sensing.

[0285] Clause 95. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 92 to 94, wherein the channel sensing comprises received signal strength indicator (RSSI) based sensing.

[0286] Clause 96. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 92 to 95, wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to a network component, or wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to another UE.

[0287] Clause 97. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 92 to 96, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is sent via broadcast upon initiation of a sidelink position estimation procedure associated with the UE.

[0288] Clause 98. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 92 to 97, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration comprises a subset of resources available for a sidelink position estimation procedure.

[0289] Clause 99. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 92 to 98, wherein the signal strength criterion comprises a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), and wherein the signal strength threshold is a RSSI threshold.

[0290] Clause 100. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 92 to 99, wherein the candidate resources are based on a plurality of resource selection modes.

[0291] Clause 101. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 100, wherein the plurality of resource selection modes comprises two or more of a random resource selection mode, a continuous partial sensing mode, or a periodicity-based partial sensing mode.

[0292] Clause 102. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 92 to 101 further comprises computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the side link resource management component, cause the side link resource management component to: receive a sensing resource capability indication from the UE, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is based on the sensing resource capability indication.

[0293] Clause 103. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 92 to 102 further includes computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the sidelink resource management component, cause the sidelink resource management component to: send a first indication to the UE that a first subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is not occupied, or send a second indication to the UE that a second subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is occupied, or a combination thereof.

[0294] Clause 104. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 103, wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed includes a first subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as unoccupied, or wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed excludes a second subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as occupied, or a combination thereof.

[0295] 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.

[0296] 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 in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is 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 functionality 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.

[0297] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed using 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.

[0298] 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.

[0299] 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. Storage media may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. Exemplarily and not restrictively, 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, and any other medium that can also be used to carry or store desired program codes in the form of instructions or data structures 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, a server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwaves, 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.

[0300] Although the foregoing disclosure shows 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 of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving a candidate sensing resource configuration from a sidelink resource management component; performing channel sensing on a set of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration; detecting one or more candidate sensing resources associated with a signal strength criterion below a signal strength threshold; selecting a candidate sensing resource from among the detected one or more candidate sensing resources; as well as A sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) is sent on the selected candidate sensing resource. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the candidate sensing resource configurations include comb parameters, tone offsets, a set of symbols, a set of time slots, a periodicity, or a combination thereof.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration includes sequence identifier (ID) generation information, and Wherein the channel sensing comprises reference signal receiver power (RSRP) based sensing. The method of claim 1 , wherein the channel sensing comprises received signal strength indicator (RSSI) based sensing.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to a network component, or The sidelink resource management component corresponds to another UE.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is received via broadcast after initiating a sidelink position estimation procedure associated with the UE.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration comprises a subset of resources available for a sidelink position estimation procedure.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the signal strength criterion comprises a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), and The signal strength threshold is an RSSI threshold.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting is based on a plurality of resource selection modes.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of resource selection modes comprises two or more of a random resource selection mode, a continuous partial sensing mode, or a periodicity-based partial sensing mode.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: sending a sensing resource capability indication to the side link resource management component, The candidate sensing resource configuration is based on the sensing resource capability indication.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the sidelink resource management component, a first indication that a first subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is unoccupied, or receiving from the sidelink resource management component a second indication that a second subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is occupied, or A combination of them.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed includes a first subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as being unoccupied, or wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed excludes a second subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as occupied, or A combination of them.

14. A method of operating a side link resource management component, comprising: determining a candidate sensing resource configuration associated with a set of candidate sensing resources for channel sensing by a user equipment (UE), the set of candidate sensing resources comprising candidate resources associated with a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission by the UE; as well as The candidate sensing resource configuration is sent to the UE.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the candidate sensing resource configurations include comb parameters, tone shifts, a set of symbols, a set of time slots, a periodicity, or a combination thereof.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration includes sequence identifier (ID) generation information, and Wherein the channel sensing comprises reference signal receiver power (RSRP) based sensing.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the channel sensing comprises received signal strength indicator (RSSI) based sensing.

18. The method according to claim 14, wherein the sidelink resource management component corresponds to a network component, or The sidelink resource management component corresponds to another UE.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration is sent via broadcast after initiating a sidelink position estimation procedure associated with the UE.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration comprises a subset of resources available for a sidelink position estimation procedure. The method of claim 14 , wherein the candidate resources are based on a plurality of resource selection modes.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the plurality of resource selection modes comprises two or more of a random resource selection mode, a continuous partial sensing mode, or a periodicity-based partial sensing mode.

23. The method of claim 14, further comprising: receiving a sensing resource capability indication from the UE, The candidate sensing resource configuration is based on the sensing resource capability indication.

24. The method of claim 14, further comprising: sending a first indication to the UE that a first subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is not occupied, or sending a second indication to the UE that a second subset of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration is occupied, or A combination of them.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed includes a first subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as being unoccupied, or wherein the set of candidate sensing resources for which the channel sensing is performed excludes a second subset of the candidate sensing resources indicated as occupied, or A combination of them.

26. A user equipment (UE), comprising: Memory; at least one transceiver; as well as 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: receiving, via the at least one transceiver, a candidate sensing resource configuration from a sidelink resource management component; performing channel sensing on a set of candidate sensing resources associated with the candidate sensing resource configuration; detecting one or more candidate sensing resources associated with a signal strength criterion below a signal strength threshold; selecting a candidate sensing resource from among the detected one or more candidate sensing resources; as well as A sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) is transmitted on the selected candidate sensing resource via the at least one transceiver.

27. The UE of claim 26, wherein the candidate sensing resource configurations include comb parameters, tone shifts, a set of symbols, a set of time slots, a periodicity, or a combination thereof.

28. A side link resource management component, comprising: Memory; at least one transceiver; as well as 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: determining a candidate sensing resource configuration associated with a set of candidate sensing resources for channel sensing by a user equipment (UE), the set of candidate sensing resources comprising candidate resources associated with a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission by the UE; as well as The candidate sensing resource configuration is sent to the UE via the at least one transceiver.

29. The sidelink resource management component of claim 28, wherein the candidate sensing resource configurations include comb parameters, tone offsets, a set of symbols, a set of time slots, a periodicity, or a combination thereof.

30. The side link resource management component of claim 28, wherein the candidate sensing resource configuration includes sequence identifier (ID) generation information, and Wherein the channel sensing comprises reference signal receiver power (RSRP) based sensing.

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