Method and apparatus for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar sensing with reconfigurable smart surface (RIS)

Abstract

In an aspect, a wireless node can determine a sub-panel configuration associated with a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) that includes a plurality of sub-panels. The wireless node can transmit or receive one or more signals via one or more of the plurality of sub-panels according to the sub-panel configuration.

Description

Background Art 1. Technical Field

[0002] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communications.

[0003] 2. Description of related technologies

[0004] Wireless communication systems have evolved over many generations, including first generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including transitional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third generation (3G) high speed data, wireless service with Internet capabilities, and fourth generation (4G) services (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). There are many different types of wireless communication systems in use today, including cellular systems and personal communications service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and the like.

[0005] 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

[0006] 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.

[0007] In one aspect, a method of operating a wireless node includes determining a subpanel configuration associated with a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) comprising a plurality of subpanels; and sending or receiving one or more signals via one or more of the plurality of subpanels based on the subpanel configuration.

[0008] In one aspect, a method of operating a wireless node includes: determining a first configuration associated with a first reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) group, each RIS in the first RIS group being configured based on the first configuration to enable a corresponding signal path from the wireless node toward a first target area; and sending a first plurality of signals to the first target area or receiving the first plurality of signals from the first target area via the first RIS group according to the first configuration.

[0009] In one aspect, a wireless node comprises: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: determine a sub-panel configuration associated with a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) comprising a plurality of sub-panels; and send or receive one or more signals via the at least one transceiver, based on the sub-panel configuration, via one or more of the plurality of sub-panels.

[0010] In one aspect, a wireless node includes: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: determine a first configuration associated with a first reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) group, each RIS in the first RIS group being configured based on the first configuration to enable a corresponding signal path from the wireless node toward a first target area; and, via the at least one transceiver, send a first plurality of signals to the first target area or receive the first plurality of signals from the first target area via the first RIS group according to the first configuration.

[0011] In one aspect, a wireless node includes: components for determining a sub-panel configuration associated with a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) including a plurality of sub-panels; and components for sending or receiving one or more signals via one or more of the plurality of sub-panels according to the sub-panel configuration.

[0012] In one aspect, a wireless node includes: a component for determining a first configuration associated with a first reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) group, each RIS in the first RIS group being configured based on the first configuration to enable a corresponding signal path from the wireless node toward a first target area; and a component for sending a first plurality of signals to the first target area or receiving the first plurality of signals from the first target area via the first RIS group according to the first configuration.

[0013] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a wireless node, cause the wireless node to: determine a sub-panel configuration associated with a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) comprising a plurality of sub-panels; and send or receive one or more signals via one or more of the plurality of sub-panels based on the sub-panel configuration.

[0014] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a wireless node, cause the wireless node to: determine a first configuration associated with a first reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) group, each RIS in the first RIS group being configured based on the first configuration to enable a corresponding signal path from the wireless node toward a first target area; and send a first plurality of signals to the first target area or receive the first plurality of signals from the first target area via the first RIS group according to the first configuration.

[0015] 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

[0016] 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.

[0017] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0018] 2A , 2B and 2C illustrate example wireless network structures according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] 3A , 3B and 3C are simplified block diagrams 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.

[0020] 4A to 4C illustrate various types of radars.

[0021] FIG. 5A illustrates a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar system having widely separated transmit antennas and widely separated receive antennas.

[0022] FIG. 5B illustrates a MIMO radar system with co-located transmit antennas and co-located receive antennas.

[0023] 6 illustrates an example system for wireless communications using a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0024] 7 is a diagram of an example architecture of a RIS in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0025] 8 illustrates an example method of operating a wireless node in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0026] 9 illustrates a MIMO radar system with RIS subpanel-based MIMO radar sensing in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0027] 10 illustrates a MIMO radar system based on at least one transmit-specific sub-panel and at least one receive-specific sub-panel according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0028] 11 illustrates another example method of operating a wireless node in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0029] 12A and 12B illustrate a MIMO radar system with RIS grouping for MIMO radar sensing in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] 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.

[0031] 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.

[0032] 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, and so on.

[0033] 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 will be appreciated that the various actions described herein may be performed by a specific circuit (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of the two. 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, "a logical component configured to perform the described action."

[0034] 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 equipment", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or "UT", "mobile device", "mobile terminal", "mobile station" or variations thereof. In general, a UE may communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network, the UE may connect to external networks such as the Internet and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms are also possible for the UE to connect to the core network and / or the Internet, such as through a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (eg, based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specification, etc.), etc.

[0035] 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 only provide edge node signaling functions, while in other systems, it may provide additional control and / or network management functions. The communication link by which a UE may transmit a signal to a base station is referred to as an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). The communication link by which a base station may transmit a signal to a UE is referred to as a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term "traffic channel (TCH)" may refer to an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0036] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmit-receive point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be co-located. For example, where the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station corresponding to a cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. Where the term "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an antenna array of the base station (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where the base station employs beamforming). Where the term "base station" refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transmission medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-located physical TRP may be a serving base station that receives measurement reports from a UE and a neighboring base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signal the UE is measuring. 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.

[0037] In some implementations of supporting UE positioning, a base station may not support wireless access for a 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 tower (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).

[0038] 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.

[0039] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system 100 according to various aspects of the present disclosure. The wireless communication system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 (labeled as “BS”) and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macro cell base stations (high power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low power cellular base stations). In one aspect, the macro cell base stations may include eNBs and / or ng-eNBs (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network), or gNBs (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network), or a combination of the two, and the small cell base stations may include femto cells, pico cells, micro cells, etc.

[0040] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC)) through a backhaul link 122, and interface with one or more location servers 172 (e.g., a location management function (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)) through the core network 170. The location server 172 may be part of the core network 170 or may be external to the core network 170. The location server 172 may be integrated with the base station 102. The UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 directly or indirectly. For example, the UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 via the base station 102 currently serving the UE 104. The UE 104 may also communicate with the location server 172 via another path, such as via an application server (not shown), via another network, such as via a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) (e.g., the AP 150 described below), and the like. For signaling purposes, communications between UE 104 and location server 172 may be represented as an indirect connection (e.g., through core network 170, etc.) or a direct connection (e.g., as shown via direct connection 128), with intermediate nodes (if any) omitted from the signaling diagram for clarity.

[0041] 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.

[0042] Base station 102 may communicate wirelessly with UE 104. Each of base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, one or more cells may be supported by base station 102 in each geographic coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used to communicate with a base station (e.g., on a certain frequency resource, which is referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.), and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), an enhanced cell identifier (ECI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI), etc.) used to distinguish cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other protocol types) that may provide access to different types of UEs. Since a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term "cell" may refer to either or both of a logical communication entity and a base station supporting the logical communication entity, 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 a geographic coverage area (e.g., a sector) of a base station, as long as a carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within a portion of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0043] Although the geographic coverage areas 110 of neighboring macrocell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover area), some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may substantially overlap with the larger geographic coverage area 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' (labeled "SC" for "small cell") may have a geographic coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the geographic coverage areas 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell base stations and macrocell base stations may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home eNB (HeNB) that may provide services to a restricted group called a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0044] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may be over one or more carrier frequencies. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric for the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to the downlink than to the uplink).

[0045] 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.

[0046] The small cell base station 102' can operate in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the small cell base station 102' can adopt LTE or NR technology and use the same 5GHz unlicensed spectrum used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102' 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, License Assisted Access (LAA) or MulteFire.

[0047] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180 that can operate in mmW frequencies and / or near mmW frequencies to communicate with UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz, with a wavelength between 1 mm and 10 mm. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near mmW can be extended down to a frequency of 3 GHz, with a wavelength of 100 mm. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, which is also referred to as centimeter waves. Communications using mmW / near mmW radio frequency bands have high path loss and relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 can utilize beamforming (transmitting and / or receiving) through the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. 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.

[0048] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing a faster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal to the receiving device. In order to change the directionality of the RF signal when transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters that broadcast the RF signal. For example, a network node can use an array of antennas (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 antenna. 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.

[0049] The transmit beams can be quasi-co-located, meaning that they appear to the receiver (e.g., UE) to have the same parameters regardless of whether the network node's own transmit antennas are physically co-located. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships. Specifically, a given type of QCL relationship means that certain parameters about the second reference RF signal on the second beam can be derived based on information about the source reference RF signal on the source beam. Therefore, if the source reference RF signal is QCL type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type D, the receiver may use the source reference RF signal to estimate spatial reception parameters of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0050] In receive beamforming, the receiver uses receive beams to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver may increase the gain setting of the antenna array in a particular direction and / or adjust the phase setting of the antenna array in a particular direction to amplify the RF signal received from that direction (e.g., increase its gain level). Therefore, when a receiver is said to perform beamforming in a certain direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain along other directions, or the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gain in that direction of all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), etc.) of the RF signal received from that direction.

[0051] The transmit beam and the receive beam may be spatially correlated. The spatial relationship means that parameters of a second beam (e.g., a transmit beam or a receive beam) for a second reference signal may be derived from information about a first beam (e.g., a receive beam or a transmit beam) for a first reference signal. For example, a UE may use a specific receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE may then form a transmit beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal (e.g., a sounding reference signal (SRS)) to the base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0052] Note that depending on the entity forming the "downlink" beam, the beam can be a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming a downlink beam to send a reference signal to the UE, the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if the UE is forming a downlink beam, the downlink beam is a receive beam that receives a downlink reference signal. Similarly, depending on the entity forming the "uplink" beam, the beam can be a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming an uplink beam, it is an uplink receive beam, while if the UE is forming an uplink beam, it is an uplink transmit beam.

[0053] The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc. based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz–7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz–52.6 GHz). It should be understood that, despite the portion of FR1 being greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often (interchangeably) referred to as the “sub-6 GHz” band in various documents and articles. A similar naming issue sometimes occurs with respect to FR2, which is often (interchangeably) referred to as the “millimeter wave” band in documents and articles, despite being distinct from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz–300 GHz) identified as the “millimeter wave” band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

[0054] Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are generally referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR research has identified the operating bands for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 GHz–24.25 GHz). The bands falling within FR3 may inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, and thus may effectively extend the features of FR1 and / or FR2 to mid-band frequencies. In addition, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operations to more than 52.6 GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz–71 GHz), FR4 (52.6 GHz–114.25 GHz), and FR5 (114.25 GHz–300 GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0055] In view of the above aspects, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if used in this document, the term "below 6 GHz" and the like can broadly refer to 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 document, they can broadly refer to 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.

[0056] 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 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 UE104 / 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.

[0057] For example, still referring to FIG. 1 , one of the frequencies used by the macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or “PCell”), and the other frequencies used by the macrocell base station 102 and / or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers (“SCells”). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers enables the UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rate. For example, two 20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically result in a doubling of the data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to the data rate obtained with a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0058] 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.

[0059] In some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 are capable of sidelink communication. A sidelink-capable UE (SL-UE) may communicate with base station 102 via communication link 120 using a Uu interface (i.e., an air interface between a UE and a base station). SL-UEs (e.g., UE 164, UE 182) may also communicate directly with each other via a wireless sidelink 160 using a PC5 interface (i.e., an air interface between sidelink-capable UEs). A wireless sidelink (or simply "sidelink") is an adaptation of a core cellular network (e.g., LTE, NR) standard that allows direct communication between two or more UEs without communicating through a base station. Sidelink communications may be unicast or multicast and may be used for device-to-device (D2D) media sharing, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2X) communications (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communications, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communications, etc.), emergency rescue applications, etc. One or more SL-UEs in a group of SL-UEs utilizing sidelink communications may be located within the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102. Other SL-UEs in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102, or may be unable to receive transmissions from the base station 102 for other reasons. In some cases, groups of SL-UEs communicating via sidelink communications may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, in which each SL-UE transmits to each other SL-UE in the group. In some cases, the base station 102 facilitates the scheduling of resources for sidelink communications. In other cases, sidelink communications are performed between the SL-UEs without involving the base station 102.

[0060] In one aspect, the sidelink 160 may operate on an interesting wireless communication medium that 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 interesting medium 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 variants of CDMA systems, TDMA systems, FDMA systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, and the like.

[0061] Note that while FIG1 illustrates only two of these UEs as SL-UEs (i.e., UEs 164 and 182), any of the illustrated UEs may be SL-UEs. Furthermore, while only UE 182 is described as being capable of beamforming, any of the illustrated UEs (including UE 164) may be capable of beamforming. Where SL-UEs are capable of beamforming, they may beamform toward each other (i.e., toward other SL-UEs), toward other UEs (e.g., UE 104), toward base stations (e.g., base stations 102, 180, small cells 102', access point 150), and the like. Thus, in some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 may utilize beamforming via sidelink 160.

[0062] In the example of FIG. 1 , any of the illustrated UEs (shown as a single UE 104 in FIG. 1 for simplicity) may receive a signal 124 from one or more earth orbiting space vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites). In one aspect, the SV 112 may be part of a satellite positioning system that the UE 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 of a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code marked with a set number of chips. Although typically located in the SV 112, the transmitter may sometimes be located on a ground-based control station, a 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.

[0063] 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.

[0064] 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.

[0065] The wireless communication system 100 may further 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"). 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 a WLAN STA 152 connected to a 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 be supported by any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®, etc.

[0066] FIG. 2A illustrates an example wireless network structure 200. For example, 5GC 210 (also referred to as Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be functionally viewed as control plane (C-plane) functions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and user plane (U-plane) functions 212 (e.g., UE gateway functions, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.), which operate in conjunction to form a core network. A user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and a control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect gNB 222 to 5GC 210, and specifically to user plane functions 212 and control plane functions 214, respectively. In additional configurations, ng-eNB 224 can also connect to 5GC 210 via NG-C 215 to control plane functions 214 and NG-U 213 to user plane functions 212. In addition, ng-eNB 224 can communicate directly with gNB 222 via 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).

[0067] 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).

[0068] FIG2B illustrates another example wireless network structure 240. 5GC 260 (which may correspond to 5GC 210 in FIG2A) may be functionally viewed as a control plane function provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) 264, and a user plane function provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate in conjunction to form a core network (i.e., 5GC 260). The functions of 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 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 intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case of authentication based on a UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), the AMF 264 retrieves security materials from the AUSF. The functions of the AMF 264 also include security context management (SCM). The SCM receives keys from the SEAF, which it uses to derive access network-specific keys. The functionality of the AMF 264 also includes location service management for regulatory services, for the transmission of location service messages between the UE 204 and the location management function (LMF) 270 (which acts as a location server 230), for the transmission of location service messages between the NG-RAN 220 and the LMF 270, for the allocation of Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer identifiers for interoperation with EPS, and UE 204 mobility event notifications. In addition, the AMF 264 also supports functionality for non-3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0069] The functions of UPF 262 include: acting as an anchor point for intra-RAT / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, user plane quality of service (QoS) handling (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in downlink), uplink traffic verification (service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and transmitting and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node. UPF 262 may also support the delivery of location service messages between UE 204 and a location server (such as SLP 272) on the user plane.

[0070] 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.

[0071] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270 that can communicate with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The LMF 270 can be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively can each correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which can be connected to the LMF 270 via the core network, the 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). SLP 272 may support similar functionality as LMF 270, but LMF 270 may communicate with AMF 264, NG-RAN 220, and UE 204 on a control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to carry signaling messages rather than voice or data), and SLP 272 may communicate with UE 204 and external clients (e.g., third-party servers 274) on a user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and / or data, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0072] Yet another optional aspect may include a third-party server 274 that may communicate with the LMF 270, the SLP 272, the 5GC 260 (e.g., via the AMF 264 and / or the UPF 262), the NG-RAN 220, and / or the UE 204 to obtain location information (e.g., a location estimate) of the UE 204. Thus, in some cases, the third-party server 274 may be referred to as a location service (LCS) client or an external client. The third-party server 274 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively may each correspond to a single server.

[0073] 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.

[0074] The functionality of the gNB 222 may be divided between a gNB central unit (gNB-CU) 226, one or more gNB distributed units (gNB-DU) 228, and one or more gNB radio units (gNB-RU) 229. The gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes base station functions other than those specifically assigned to the gNB-DU 228, including delivery of user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, and the like. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 generally hosts the radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) protocols of the gNB 222. The gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that generally hosts the radio link control (RLC) and medium access control (MAC) layers of the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 may support one or more cells, and one cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and one or more gNB-DUs 228 is referred to as the "F1" interface. The physical (PHY) layer functionality of the gNB 222 is typically hosted by one or more independent gNB-RUs 229, which perform functions such as power amplification and signal transmission / reception. The interface between the gNB-DU 228 and the gNB-RU 229 is referred to as the "Fx" interface. Thus, the UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC layer, the SDAP layer, and the PDCP layer, communicates with the gNB-DU 228 via the RLC layer and the MAC layer, and communicates with the gNB-RU 229 via the PHY layer.

[0075] The deployment of a communication system (such as a 5G NR system) can be arranged with various components or parts in a variety of ways. In a 5G NR system or network, a network node, a network entity, a mobility element of a network, a RAN node, a core network node, a network element or a network equipment (such as a base station or one or more units (or one or more components) that perform base station functionality) can be implemented in an aggregated or decomposed architecture. For example, a base station (such as a Node B (NB), an evolved NB (eNB), an NR base station, a 5GNB, an access point (AP), a transmit receive point (TRP) or a cell, etc.) can be implemented as an aggregated base station (also known as a stand-alone base station or a single-chip base station) or a decomposed base station.

[0076] A converged base station may be configured to utilize a radio protocol stack that is physically or logically integrated within a single RAN node. A decomposed base station may be configured to utilize a protocol stack that is 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 the CU, DU, and RU may also be implemented as a virtual unit, namely a virtual central unit (VCU), a virtual distributed unit (VDU), or a virtual radio unit (VRU).

[0077] Base station type operations or network design may take into account the aggregated nature of base station functionality. For example, a disaggregated base station may be used in an integrated access 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.

[0078] FIG2C illustrates an example disaggregated base station architecture 250 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The disaggregated base station architecture 250 may include one or more central units (CUs) 280 (e.g., gNB-CUs 226) that may communicate directly with a core network 267 (e.g., 5GC 210, 5GC 260) via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 267 through one or more disaggregated base station units, such as a near real-time (near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 259 via an E2 link or a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC 257 associated with a service management and orchestration (SMO) framework 255, or both. The CU 280 may communicate with one or more distributed units (DUs) 285 (e.g., gNB-DUs 228) via respective midhaul links, such as an F1 interface. The DUs 285 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 287 (e.g., gNB-RUs 229) via respective fronthaul links. The RU 287 can communicate with a corresponding UE 204 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, a UE 204 can be served by multiple RUs 287 simultaneously.

[0079] Each of the units (i.e., CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, and near-RT RIC 259, non-RT RIC 257, and SMO framework 255) may include or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or send signals, data, or information (collectively referred to as signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of 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.

[0080] In some aspects, CU 280 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions may include radio resource control (RRC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), etc. Each control function may be implemented using an interface configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by CU 280. CU280 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (i.e., central unit-user plane (CU-UP)), control plane functionality (i.e., central unit-control plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some specific implementations, CU 280 may be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. When implemented in an O-RAN configuration, the CU-UP unit may communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP unit via an interface (such as an E1 interface). As needed, CU 280 may be implemented to communicate with DU 285 for network control and signaling.

[0081] DU 285 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions for controlling the operation of one or more RUs 287. In some aspects, DU 285 may host one or more of a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and one or more high physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, etc.) at least in part according to a functional split such as those 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.

[0082] The lower layer functionality may be implemented by one or more RUs 287. In some deployments, a RU 287 controlled by a 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 a functional split (such as a lower layer functional split). 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 implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control plane and user plane communications with the RU 287 may be controlled by the corresponding DU 285. In some scenarios, this configuration may enable the DU 285 and the CU 280 to be implemented in a cloud-based RAN architecture (such as a vRAN architecture).

[0083] 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 RU287 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 .

[0084] 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.

[0085] In some implementations, in order to generate the 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 for performance and employ AI / ML models to perform corrective actions through the SMO framework 255 (such as via reconfiguration of O1) or via creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 policies).

[0086] 3A, 3B, and 3C illustrate several example components (represented by corresponding boxes) that may be incorporated into a UE 302 (which may correspond to any UE described herein), a base station 304 (which may correspond to any base station described herein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any network function described herein, including a location server 230 and an LMF 270, or alternatively may be independent of the NG-RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure depicted in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, such as a dedicated network) to support operations as described herein. It should be understood that these components may 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 may also be incorporated into other devices in a 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.

[0087] UE 302 and base station 304 each include one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively, which provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for preventing transmitting, etc.) for communicating via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown), such as NR networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, etc. WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may each be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356, respectively, for communicating with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc.) via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) on a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., a 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 a specified RAT, and conversely, receive and decode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.). Specifically, the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 include: one or more transmitters 314 and 354 for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358, respectively, and one or more receivers 312 and 352 for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358, respectively.

[0088] 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 may be connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for preventing transmitting, etc.) for communicating with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc.) via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth®, Zigbee®, Z-Wave®, PC5, Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), Wireless Access for Vehicular Environments (WAVE), Near Field Communications (NFC), Ultra Wideband (UWB), etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be configured in different ways to transmit 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 transmitting 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 specific examples, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be WiFi transceivers, Bluetooth® transceivers, Zigbee® and / or Z-Wave® transceivers, NFC transceivers, UWB transceivers, or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceivers.

[0089] 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.

[0090] The base station 304 and the network entity 306 each include one or more network transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, which provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, etc.) for communicating with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 304, other network entities 306). For example, the base station 304 may employ one or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other base stations 304 or network entities 306 via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. As another example, the network entity 306 may employ one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or more base stations 304 via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links, or communicate with other network entities 306 via one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

[0091] 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 (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) and a receiver circuit (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362). In some implementations, the transceiver may be an integrated device (e.g., implementing the transmitter circuit and the receiver circuit in a single device), in some implementations may include separate transmitter circuits and separate receiver circuits, or may be implemented in other ways in other implementations. The transmitter circuit and the receiver circuit 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.

[0092] As used herein, various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360 in some implementations, and network transceivers 380 and 390) and wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) may be generally characterized as a "transceiver," "at least one transceiver," or "one or more transceivers." Thus, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wireless transceiver may be inferred based on the type of communication being performed. For example, backhaul communications between network devices or servers typically involve signaling via a wired transceiver, while wireless communications between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station (e.g., base station 304) will typically involve signaling via a wireless transceiver.

[0093] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 also include other components that can be used in conjunction with the operations disclosed herein. UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 include one or more processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, for providing functionality related to, for example, wireless communication, and for providing other processing functionality. Thus, processors 332, 384, and 394 may provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for sending, means for indicating, etc. In one aspect, processors 332, 384, and 394 may include, for example, one or more general purpose processors, multi-core processors, central processing units (CPUs), ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuits, or various combinations thereof.

[0094] 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 sensing components 342, 388, and 398, respectively. Sensing 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 functionality described herein. In other aspects, the sensing components 342, 388, and 398 may be external to the processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the sensing components 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules stored in the memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively, which, when executed by the processors 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.), cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. FIG. 3A illustrates possible locations for the sensing 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 standalone component. FIG. 3B illustrates possible locations for the sensing 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 standalone component. 3C illustrates possible locations for a sensing component 398, 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.

[0095] UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to one or more processors 332 to provide a means for sensing or detecting movement and / or orientation information that is independent of motion data derived from signals received by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and / or satellite signal receivers 330. As an example, sensor 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), and / or any other type of motion detection sensor. In addition, sensor 344 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide motion information. For example, sensor 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and an orientation sensor to provide the ability to calculate positioning in a two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system.

[0096] In addition, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346, which provides means for providing indications to the user (e.g., audible and / or visual indications) and / or for receiving user input (e.g., when the user actuates a sensing device such as a keypad, touch screen, microphone, etc.). Although not shown, the base station 304 and the network entity 306 may also include a user interface.

[0097] Referring to the one or more processors 384 in more detail, in a downlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to the processor 384. The one or more processors 384 may implement functionality for an RRC layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium access control (MAC) layer. One or more processors 384 may provide: RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., master information block (MIB), system information block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with delivery of upper layer PDUs, error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0098] The transmitter 354 and the receiver 352 may implement layer 1 (L1) functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include: error detection on the transmission channel, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of the transmission channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 processes the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The decoded and modulated symbols may then be 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., a pilot) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then combined together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially pre-decoded to generate multiple spatial streams. The channel estimate from the channel estimator can be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme and for spatial processing. The channel estimate can be derived from a reference signal and / or channel condition feedback sent by the UE 302. Each spatial stream can then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. The transmitter 354 can modulate the RF carrier with the corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0099] At the UE 302, the receiver 312 receives the signal through its corresponding antenna 316. The receiver 312 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to one or more processors 332. The transmitter 314 and the receiver 312 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The receiver 312 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 302. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 302, they may be combined into a single OFDM symbol stream by the receiver 312. The receiver 312 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols 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 may be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally sent by the base station 304 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to one or more processors 332, which implement layer 3 (L3) and layer 2 (L2) functionality.

[0100] In the downlink, 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.

[0101] 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 transmission 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.

[0102] Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback sent by the base station 304 may be used by the transmitter 314 to select appropriate coding and modulation schemes and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the transmitter 314 may be provided to different antennas 316. The transmitter 314 may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0103] The uplink transmissions are processed at the base station 304 in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with the receiver functionality at the UE 302. The receiver 352 receives the signal through its respective antenna 356. The receiver 352 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to one or more processors 384.

[0104] 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.

[0105] For convenience, UE 302, base station 304 and / or network entity 306 are shown in FIG. 3A, FIG. 3B and FIG. 3C as including various components that can be configured according to various examples described herein. However, it should be understood that the illustrated components may have different functionality in different designs. Specifically, the various components in FIG. 3A to FIG. 3C are optional in alternative configurations, and various aspects include configurations that may vary due to design choices, costs, use of equipment, or other considerations. For example, in the case of FIG. 3A, a specific implementation of UE 302 may omit WWAN transceiver 310 (e.g., a wearable device or tablet computer or PC or laptop computer may have Wi-Fi and / or Bluetooth capabilities without cellular capabilities), may also omit short-range wireless transceiver 320 (e.g., only cellular, etc.), may also omit satellite signal receiver 330, may also omit sensor 344, and so on. In another example, in the case of FIG. 3B , 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), may omit the short-range wireless transceiver 360 (e.g., cellular only, etc.), 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.

[0106] Various components of the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to one another via data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392, respectively. In an aspect, the data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 may form or be part of a communication interface for the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306, respectively. For example, where different logical entities are embodied in the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functionality incorporated into the same base station 304), the data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 may provide for communication between the different logical entities.

[0107] The components of FIG. 3A, FIG. 3B, and FIG. 3C may be implemented in various ways. In some specific implementations, the components of FIG. 3A, FIG. 3B, and FIG. 3C 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 combine 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 the 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 the 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 the 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 the UE,” “by the base station,” “by the network entity,” etc. However, it will be appreciated that such operations, actions and / or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of the UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc., such as processors 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, memories 340, 386, and 396, sensing components 342, 388, and 398, etc.

[0108] In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may be operated separately from a network operator or a cellular network infrastructure (e.g., NG RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260). For example, the network entity 306 may be a component of a dedicated network that may be configured to communicate with the UE 302 via the base station 304 or independently of the base station 304 (e.g., via a non-cellular communication link such as WiFi).

[0109] There are different types of radars, such as monostatic radar, bistatic radar, and multistatic radar (note that bistatic radar is a type of multistatic radar). Figures 4A to 4C illustrate examples of various types of radars. Specifically, Figure 4A is a diagram 400 illustrating a monostatic radar scenario, Figure 4B is a diagram 430 illustrating a bistatic radar scenario, and Figure 4C is a diagram 450 illustrating a multistatic radar scenario.

[0110] In FIG. 4A , the transmitter and the receiver are co-located. This is a typical use case for traditional or conventional radar. In one aspect, any wireless communication device (e.g., UE or base station) can be configured to perform RF sensing based on a monostatic radar scenario. The transmitter can transmit a sensing signal, and the co-located receiver can receive a return signal as a result of the target object interacting with the sensing signal (e.g., reflecting). In FIG. 4A , the solid line represents the sensing signal from the transmitter, and the dashed line represents the return signal from the target object. A radar station (not shown) coupled to the transmitter and the receiver can measure the time difference between the transmission of the sensing signal and the reception of the return signal, and can determine the distance of the target object based at least on the measured time difference. In one aspect, the radar station can determine other characteristics of the target object, such as the direction, movement direction, and movement speed of the target object based on the directionality of the sensing signal and / or the frequency and phase changes of the return signal.

[0111] In FIG. 4B , the transmitter and the receiver are not co-located but are separated. This is a typical use case for RF sensing based on wireless communication (e.g., WiFi-based, LTE-based, NR-based). Note that although FIG. 4B illustrates the use of downlink RF signals as RF sensing signals, uplink RF signals can also be used as RF sensing signals. In the downlink scenario, as shown in the figure, the transmitter is a base station and the receiver is a UE, while in the uplink scenario, the transmitter is a UE and the receiver is a base station.

[0112] Referring to FIG. 4B in more detail, the base station transmits an RF sensing signal (e.g., a PRS) to the UE, but some of the RF sensing signals are reflected from a target object. In FIG. 4B , the solid line represents the RF sensing signal (labeled as “LOS signal”) that follows a direct (or line-of-sight (LOS)) path between the base station and the UE, and the dotted line represents the RF sensing signal (labeled as “NLOS signal”) that follows a reflection (or non-line-of-sight (NLOS)) path between the base station and the UE due to reflection from the target object. The base station may have transmitted a plurality of RF sensing signals in different directions, some of which follow a direct path and other of which follow a reflection path. Alternatively, the base station may have transmitted a single RF sensing signal in a sufficiently wide beam, a portion of which follows a direct path and a portion of which follows a reflection path.

[0113] The UE can measure the time of arrival (ToA) of the RF sensing signal (e.g., LOS signal) received directly from the base station and the ToA of the RF sensing signal (e.g., NLOS signal) reflected from the target object to determine the distance to the target object and possible direction. More specifically, based on the difference between the ToA of the direct path and the ToA of the reflected path, and the speed of light, the UE can determine the distance to the target object. In addition, if the UE is capable of receiving beamforming, the UE can determine the approximate direction to the target object as the direction of the receiving beam on which the RF sensing signal along the reflected path is received. The UE can then optionally report this information to the transmitting base station, an application server associated with the core network, an external client, a third-party application, or some other entity. Alternatively, the UE can report the ToA measurement to the base station or other entity, and the base station can determine the distance to the target object and optionally the direction to the target object.

[0114] Note that if the RF sensing signal is an uplink RF signal transmitted by the UE to the base station, the base station will perform object detection based on the uplink RF signal, just like the UE does based on the downlink RF signal.

[0115] Referring now to FIG. 4C , the transmitter and corresponding receiver are again not co-located. However, in this multistatic radar scenario, there are multiple transmitters and multiple receivers. This is a typical use case for RF sensing based on cellular communications (e.g., LTE-based, NR-based). The operation of the multistatic radar is very similar to the operation of the bistatic radar described above with reference to FIG. 4B , except that one transmitter can transmit RF sensing signals to multiple receivers, and one receiver can receive RF sensing signals from multiple transmitters.

[0116] Possible use cases for RF sensing based on multi-base cellular communication include location detection of device-less objects (i.e., objects that do not emit wireless signals themselves or participate in positioning). For example, RF sensing based on multi-base cellular communication can be used for environmental scanning of self-organizing networks (SONS). In Figure 4C, although the base station is marked as a transmitter and the UE is marked as a receiver, any one of the base station and the UE can be configured as a transmitter of a receiver in a multi-base radar scenario.

[0117] MIMO radar is a type of radar that transmits mutually orthogonal signals from multiple transmit antennas and extracts orthogonal waveforms from each of the receive antennas. For example, if a MIMO radar system has three transmit antennas and four receive antennas, 12 signals can be extracted from the receiver due to the orthogonality of the transmit signals. In some examples, based on the configuration of the antennas, the MIMO radar system can be configured to utilize the spatial diversity gain of widely separated transmit antennas or receive antennas, or to utilize the increased radar aperture of co-located transmit antennas or receive antennas. On the one hand, it can be determined whether the two antennas (both for transmission or both for reception) are widely separated or co-located based on whether the spacing of the two antennas is sufficient to define two distinguishable observations of the target object relative to the observation angle, the radar signature of the target object, or both.

[0118] FIG5A illustrates a MIMO radar system 510 having widely separated transmit antennas 522a and 522b and widely separated receive antennas 526a and 526b. The MIMO radar system 510 may be configured to operate as a non-coherent MIMO radar system. The transmit antennas 522a and 522b may transmit sensing signals 542a and 542b to a target object 530. The sensing signals 542a and 542b may interact with the target object 530, and due to the interaction between the sensing signals 542a and 542b and the target object 530, a reflected signal may be radiated from the target object 530. A portion of the reflected signal becomes a return signal 546a received by the receive antenna 526a, and another portion of the reflected signal becomes a return signal 546b received by the receive antenna 526b. A radar processor (not shown) of the MIMO radar system 510 may process the received return signals 546a and 546b to determine, for example, the location of the target object 530.

[0119] FIG. 5B illustrates a MIMO radar system 560 with a co-located transmit antenna 572 and a co-located receive antenna 574. In some implementations, the transmit antenna 572 and the receive antenna 574 may be co-located for sensing based on a monostatic radar scenario. The MIMO radar system 560 may be configured to operate as a coherent MIMO radar system. The transmit antenna 572 may transmit a sensing signal 592 to a target object 580. The sensing signal 592 may interact with the target object 580, and due to the interaction between the sensing signal 592 and the target object 580, a reflected signal may be radiated from the target object 580. A portion of the reflected signal becomes a return signal 594 received by the receive antenna 574. The sensing signal 592 includes waveforms that are orthogonal to each other. A radar processor (not shown) of the MIMO radar system 560 may process the received return signal 574 to extract the contribution of each transmit antenna by utilizing the orthogonality of the sensing signal 592, and determine, for example, the position of the target object 580 accordingly.

[0120] According to some aspects, the antenna arrangement for MIMO radar system 510 is more similar to MIMO communication than the antenna arrangement for MIMO radar system 560. Both MIMO radar system 510 and MIMO radar system 560 can achieve spatial gain of the antenna. Moreover, MIMO radar system 560 can increase the effective radar aperture at the expense of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

[0121] In one aspect, MIMO radar system 510 can be configured for multi-base radar sensing. In one aspect, MIMO radar system 510 can be configured with paired transmit and receive antennas for bi-base radar sensing. Additionally, in one aspect, MIMO radar system 560 can be configured for bi-base radar sensing or mono-base radar sensing.

[0122] FIG6 illustrates an example system 600 for wireless communication using a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) 610 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. A RIS (e.g., RIS 610) is a two-dimensional surface that includes a large number of low-cost, low-power, near-passive reflective elements whose properties are reconfigurable (e.g., by software or control signals) rather than static. For example, by carefully tuning the phase shifts of the reflective elements (e.g., using software or control signals), the scattering, absorption, reflection, and diffraction properties of the RIS can be changed over time. In this way, the electromagnetic (EM) properties of the RIS can be engineered to collect wireless signals from a transmitter (e.g., a base station, a UE, etc.) and passively beamform them toward a target receiver (e.g., another base station, another UE, etc.). In the example of FIG6 , a first base station 602-1 controls the reflective properties of the RIS 610 to communicate with a first UE 604-1.

[0123] The goal of RIS technology is to create an intelligent radio environment where wireless propagation conditions are co-engineered along with physical layer signaling.This enhanced functionality of system 600 can provide technical benefits in several scenarios.

[0124] As a first example scenario, as shown in FIG6 , a first base station 602-1 (e.g., any one of the base stations described herein) attempts to transmit downlink wireless signals to a first UE 604-1 and a second UE 604-2 (e.g., any two of the UEs described herein, collectively referred to as UE 604) on multiple downlink transmission beams (labeled as “0”, “1”, “2”, and “3”). However, unlike the second UE 604-2, because the first UE 604-1 is behind an obstacle 620 (e.g., a building, a hill, or other type of obstacle), the first UE 604-1 cannot receive wireless signals on the line of sight (LOS) beam originally from the first base station 602-1 (i.e., the downlink transmission beam labeled as “2”). In this scenario, the first base station 602-1 may alternatively use the downlink transmit beam labeled "1" to transmit a wireless signal to the RIS 610, and configure the RIS 610 to reflect / beamform the incoming wireless signal toward the first UE 604-1. Thus, the first base station 602-1 can transmit a wireless signal around the obstacle 620.

[0125] Note that the first base station 602-1 may also configure the RIS 610 for use by the first UE 604-1 in uplink. In this case, the first base station 602-1 may configure the RIS 610 to reflect uplink signals from the first UE 604-1 to the first base station 602-1, thereby enabling the first UE 604-1 to send uplink signals around the obstacle 620.

[0126] As another example scenario where the system 600 can provide technical advantages, the first base station 602-1 can be aware that an obstacle 620 can create a "blind spot," i.e., a geographic area where downlink wireless signals from the first base station 602-1 are attenuated too much to be reliably detected by UEs (e.g., the first UE 604-1) within the area. In such a scenario, the first base station 602-1 can configure the RIS 610 to reflect downlink wireless signals into the blind spot in order to provide coverage to UEs that may be located there (including UEs that are not known to the first base station 602-1).

[0127] A RIS (e.g., RIS 610) may be designed to operate in a first mode (referred to as "mode 1"), in which the RIS operates as a reconfigurable mirror, or in a second mode (referred to as "mode 2"), in which the RIS operates as a receiver and transmitter (similar to the amplification and forwarding functionality of a relay node). Some RISs may be designed to be able to operate in either mode 1 or mode 2, while other RISs may be designed to operate only in mode 1 or mode 2. It is assumed that a mode 1 RIS has negligible hardware group delay, while a mode 2 RIS has non-negligible hardware group delay due to being equipped with limited baseband processing power. Since a mode 2 RIS has greater processing power than a mode 1 RIS, the latter may in some cases be able to calculate and report its transmit-to-receive (Tx-Rx) time difference measurement (i.e., the difference between the time a signal is reflected toward a UE and the time a signal is received back from the UE). In the example of FIG. 6 , RIS 610 may be a mode 1 RIS or a mode 2 RIS.

[0128] FIG6 also illustrates a second base station 602-2 that can send downlink wireless signals to one or both of the UEs 604. As an example, the first base station 602-1 can be a serving base station for the UE 604, and the second base station 602-2 can be a neighboring base station. The second base station 602-2 can send a downlink positioning reference signal to one or both of the UEs 604 as part of a positioning procedure involving the UE 604. Alternatively or additionally, the second base station 602-2 can be a secondary cell for one or both of the UEs 604. In some cases, the second base station 602-2 can also be able to reconfigure the RIS 610, assuming that it is not controlled by the first base station 602-1 at the time.

[0129] 6 illustrates one RIS 610 and one base station (i.e., the first base station 602-1) controlling the RIS 610, the first base station 602-1 may control multiple RIS 610. In addition, the RIS 610 may be controlled by multiple base stations 602 (e.g., both the first base station 602-1 and the second base station 602-2, and possibly more base stations).

[0130] FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example architecture of a RIS 700 according to aspects of the present disclosure. RIS 700 (which may correspond to RIS 610 in FIG. 6 ) may be a mode 1 RIS. As shown in FIG. 7 , RIS 700 is primarily composed of a flat surface 710 and a controller 720. Flat surface 710 may be composed of one or more layers of material. In the example of FIG. 7 , flat surface 710 may be composed of three layers. In this case, the outer layer has a large number of reflective elements 712 printed on a dielectric substrate to directly act on the incident signal. The middle layer is a copper plate to avoid signal / energy leakage. The last layer is a circuit board that is used to adjust the reflection coefficient of the reflective element 712 and is operated by a controller 720. Controller 720 may be a low-power processor, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

[0131] In a typical operation scenario, the optimal reflection coefficient of the RIS 700 is calculated at a base station (e.g., the first base station 602-1 in FIG6 ) and then sent to the controller 720 via a dedicated feedback link. The design of the reflection coefficient depends on the channel state information (CSI), which is updated only when the CSI changes, which is on a much longer time scale than the data symbol duration. Therefore, low-rate information exchange is sufficient for a dedicated control link, which can be implemented using low-cost copper wires or simple cost-effective wireless transceivers.

[0132] Each reflective element 712 is coupled to a positive-intrinsic-negative (PIN) diode 714. In addition, a bias line 716 connects each reflective element 712 in the column to a controller 720. By controlling the voltage through the bias line 716, the PIN diode 714 can be switched between an 'on' mode and an 'off' mode. This can achieve a phase shift difference of radians π (pi). To increase the number of phase shift levels, more PIN diodes 714 can be coupled to each reflective element 712. In one aspect, the reflective elements 712 can be grouped into subsets of reflective elements (which are also referred to as sub-panels). The reflective characteristics of the RIS 700 can be controlled on a sub-panel basis, where each sub-panel can be considered a miniature RIS co-located with other sub-panels.

[0133] RIS (such as RIS 700) has important advantages for practical implementation. For example, reflective element 712 only passively reflects the incoming signal without any complex signal processing operations that would require RF transceiver hardware. Therefore, RIS 700 can operate at a cost that is several orders of magnitude lower in hardware and power consumption than conventional active transmitters. Additionally, due to the passive nature of reflective element 712, RIS 700 can be manufactured to have a light weight and limited layer thickness, and can therefore be easily mounted on walls, ceilings, signs, street lights, etc. In addition, RIS 700 can operate in full-duplex (FD) mode without self-interference or induced thermal noise. Therefore, it can achieve higher spectral efficiency than active half-duplex (HD) relays, although its signal processing complexity is lower than that of active FD relays that require complex self-interference cancellation.

[0134] FIG8 illustrates an example method 800 of operating a wireless node in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In one aspect, the method 800 may be performed by a wireless node (e.g., any of the UE, base station, or O-RAN components described herein) performing MIMO radar sensing operations. In one aspect, the wireless node may correspond to a UE, such as the V-UE 106 in FIG1 , the UE 204 in FIGS. 2A and 2B , and the UE 302 in FIG3A . In one aspect, the wireless node may correspond to a base station, such as the BS 102 in FIG1 , the NG-RAN 220 in FIGS. 2A and 2B , and the base station 304 in FIG3B .

[0135] At 810, the wireless node may determine a subpanel configuration associated with a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) including a plurality of subpanels. In one aspect, operation 810 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or transmitting component 342 in UE 302, or by one or more WWAN transceivers 350, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 360, one or more processors 384, memory 386, and / or sensing component 388 in base station 304, and any or all of these components may be considered as means for performing this operation. In one aspect, the RIS may correspond to RIS 700 in FIG. 7 .

[0136] At 820, the wireless node may send or receive one or more signals via one or more of the plurality of sub-panels according to the sub-panel configuration. In an aspect, operation 820 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or transmitting component 342 in UE 302, or by one or more WWAN transceivers 350, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 360, one or more processors 384, memory 386, and / or sensing component 388 in base station 304, and any or all of these components may be considered as means for performing this operation.

[0137] As will be appreciated, a technical advantage of method 800 is a configuration for creating orthogonal signals for MIMO radar sensing operations using sub-panels of a RIS, such that MIMO sensing can be enabled or improved without sacrificing beamforming gain at a wireless node (e.g., a base station or UE). Moreover, the sensing signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) can be improved by positioning the RIS closer to a target area.

[0138] 9 and 10 depict non-limiting examples based on a specific implementation of method 800 .

[0139] FIG. 9 illustrates a MIMO radar system 900 with MIMO radar sensing based on RIS subpanels according to various aspects of the present disclosure. The MIMO radar system 900 includes a RIS 910, which may correspond to the RIS 700 in FIG. 7 and includes a controller (not shown), a plurality of reflective elements (912, which may correspond to the reflective elements 712 in FIG. 7) and corresponding bias lines (not shown) and PIN diodes (not shown). The reflective elements 912 may be grouped into subpanels 922, 924, 926, and 928. Each subpanel may include one or more reflective elements and may be controlled to function as a micro-RIS and be assigned its own RISID or watermark. In other words, the RIS 910 may be divided into a plurality of subpanels, which may be considered as a plurality of co-located micro-RISs. In one aspect, any two of the subpanels may be non-overlapping or partially overlapping.

[0140] The MIMO radar system 900 may include a wireless node 930 and a wireless node 940. In one aspect, when the MIMO radar system 900 is configured to perform a MIMO radar sensing operation according to a monostatic radar scenario, the wireless node 930 may transmit a sensing signal, and the wireless node 930 may receive a return signal corresponding to an echo generated by an interaction between the sensing signal and a target object in the target area 950 via the RIS 910. In such a scenario, the wireless node 940 may be omitted. In one aspect, when the MIMO radar system 900 is configured to perform a MIMO radar sensing operation according to a multistatic radar scenario or a bistatic radar scenario, the wireless node 930 may transmit a sensing signal, and the wireless node 940 may receive a return signal corresponding to an echo generated by an interaction between the sensing signal and a target object in the target area 950. In some implementations, the wireless node 930 and the wireless node 940 may be one UE and one network component, two UEs, or two network components, where the network component may be a base station, an O-RAN component such as a RU, DU, or CU, etc.

[0141] In operation, the wireless node 930 may determine a subpanel configuration associated with the RIS 910 including a plurality of subpanels (e.g., subpanels 922, 924, 926, and 928). The wireless node 930 may send or receive one or more signals via one or more of the plurality of subpanels based on the subpanel configuration. In one aspect, the wireless node 930 may send a first sensing signal for performing a MIMO radar sensing operation to the target area 950 via a first subpanel (e.g., subpanel 922) of the plurality of subpanels based on the subpanel configuration. In one aspect, the wireless node 930 may further send a second sensing signal for performing a MIMO radar sensing operation to the target area 950 via a second subpanel (e.g., subpanel 924) of the plurality of subpanels based on the subpanel configuration. In one aspect, the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal may be obtained by the subpanel from the same source sensing signal sent by the wireless node 930. Therefore, by dividing the RIS 910 into subpanels, each subpanel may define a sensing signal orthogonal to the sensing signals defined by the other subpanels. Therefore, the sub-panels can be considered as different transmit antennas for MIMO radar sensing operations. In some implementations, depending on the sub-panel configuration, the first sensing signal can be distinguished from the second sensing signal by its orthogonality based on one or more of TDM, FDM or CDM.

[0142] In one aspect, CDM corresponds to each sub-panel of RIS 910 being configured to combine different watermarks or orthogonal complementary codes embedded in corresponding sensing signals, respectively. In one aspect, TDM corresponds to wireless node 930 sending signals to each sub-panel at different durations. In another aspect, TDM corresponds to sub-panels of RIS 910 being arranged to form suitable signal paths between wireless node 930 and target area 950 at different durations. In one specific implementation, the sub-panels of RIS 910 may be scheduled to be used for MIMO radar sensing operations closely in time (e.g., back-to-back configuration). In one aspect, FDM corresponds to wireless nodes sending signals to sub-panels of RIS 910 at different frequencies. In some specific implementations, the orthogonality of sensing signals can be achieved by adopting CDM, TDM and FDM alone or in any combination. For example, even when TDM or FDM is used to distinguish different sensing signals, CDM can still be used to distinguish reflections from RIS sub-panels and reflections from the environment.

[0143] In some aspects, the wireless node 930 or the wireless node 940 receiving the return signal may identify the return signal received from a specific receive signal path based on a watermark or orthogonal complement code associated with a corresponding sub-panel (e.g., a third sub-panel) embedded in the return signal. In one aspect, the wireless node 930 or the wireless node 940 may identify the received return signal as corresponding to a sensing signal from a specific transmit signal path based on another watermark or another orthogonal complement code associated with a corresponding sub-panel (e.g., a first sub-panel) embedded in the return signal. In some specific implementations, the watermark or orthogonal complement code associated with a sub-panel (e.g., a third sub-panel) on the receive path includes an indicator indicating that the sub-panel is configured to enable a signal path for reception performed by the receiving wireless node; and another watermark or another orthogonal complement code associated with a sub-panel (e.g., a first sub-panel) on the transmit path includes another indicator indicating that the sub-panel is configured to enable a signal path for transmission performed by the transmitting wireless node.

[0144] In some aspects, the RIS sub-panel-based MIMO radar sensing operation performed by the sub-panel based on RIS 910 may be a coherent MIMO radar sensing operation. In some aspects, the wireless node (i.e., wireless node 930) used to perform the RIS sub-panel-based MIMO radar sensing operation in conjunction with RIS 910 may be a UE or a base station. In some specific implementations, the wireless node may be a base station that controls RIS 910. In some other specific implementations, the wireless node may be a base station or UE that receives the sub-panel configuration from another base station or server device that controls RIS 910. In one aspect, the sub-panel configuration may include the RIS ID, timing, resources, beam coordination, and RIS watermark information of the sub-panel of the RIS.

[0145] In one aspect, the resulting MIMO radar system can be configured to perform MIMO radar sensing operations according to a monostatic radar scenario. Wireless node 930 can receive corresponding return signals from target area 950 in response to corresponding sensing signals for performing MIMO radar sensing operations via one or more sub-panels of RIS 910 based on the sub-panel configuration associated with RIS 910.

[0146] In one aspect, the reflective element of the RIS 910 may be full duplex, and the wireless node 930 may receive a return signal from the target area 950 via the first sub-panel in response to the first sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation based on the sub-panel configuration.

[0147] In one aspect, the reflective element of the RIS 910 can be half-duplex, and the wireless node 930 can receive a return signal from the target area 950 via the third sub-panel in response to the first sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation based on the sub-panel configuration. In some specific implementations, the first sub-panel and the third sub-panel can be paired based on the sub-panel configuration, wherein the first sub-panel can be configured to enable a signal path for transmission performed by the wireless node 930 (e.g., configured to transmit a specific sub-panel) based on the sub-panel configuration, and the third sub-panel can be configured to enable a signal path for reception performed by the wireless node 930 (e.g., configured to receive a specific sub-panel) based on the sub-panel configuration. In some specific implementations, the wireless node 930 can obtain a watermark of the transmission specific sub-panel and a watermark of the reception specific sub-panel paired with the transmission specific sub-panel. Therefore, the wireless node 930 can apply different combinations of watermarks to extract orthogonal signals for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation.

[0148] FIG10 illustrates a MIMO radar system 100 based on at least one transmit-specific sub-panel and at least one receive-specific sub-panel according to various aspects of the present disclosure. In FIG10 , the MIMO radar system 100 is configured based on a monostatic radar scenario and includes a RIS 1010 (which may correspond to any of the RIS described herein) and a wireless node 1030 (which may correspond to any of the UE or base station described herein). The RIS 1010 may be divided into a plurality of sub-panels 1022, 1023, 1024, 1025, 1026, and 1027. In some implementations, the sub-panels 1022, 1024, and 1026 may be configured as transmit-specific sub-panels that enable corresponding signal paths for transmission performed by the wireless node 1030 in order to transmit sensing signals to the target area 1050. In some implementations, subpanels 1023 , 1025 , and 1027 can be configured as receive-specific subpanels that enable corresponding signal paths for reception performed by wireless node 1030 to receive return signals from target area 1050 .

[0149] In some aspects, any of the transmitting specific sub-panels 1022, 1024, and 1026 may be paired with any of the receiving specific sub-panels 1023, 1025, and 1027 to form a corresponding signal path from the wireless node 1030 via the corresponding transmitting specific sub-panel to the target area 1050, and then from the target area 1050 to the wireless node 1030 via the corresponding receiving specific sub-panel.

[0150] The number of subpanels and the relative positions of the subpanels in RIS 1010 are depicted as non-limiting examples in FIG10. In some implementations, RIS 1010 can have any number of transmit-specific subpanels and receive-specific subpanels arranged at locations different than those depicted in FIG10.

[0151] In one aspect, MIMO radar system 1000 may detect target object 1060 based on a sensing signal (depicted as a solid arrow) via subpanel 1022 and a return signal (depicted as a dashed arrow) via subpanel 1023. The location of target object 1060 may be estimated based on a pair of subpanels 1022 and 1023 by triangulation or by an ellipsoid-based target location using subpanels 1022 and 1023 as anchor points.

[0152] For example, the sum R of the first distance R1 and the second distance R2 may be sumTo determine the position of the target object 1060, R1 represents the distance between the target object 1060 and the sub-panel 1022, and R2 represents the distance between the target object 1060 and the sub-panel 1023. In one aspect, the reference ellipsoid 1070 can be defined by using the positions of the sub-panel 1022 and the third sub-panel 1023 as anchor points of the reference ellipsoid 1070. The sum of the first distance R1 and the second distance R2 can be determined according to the following equation sum :

[0153] R sum =R1+R2=(T Rx -T TxLOS )*c-(L1-L2),

[0154] Wherein L1 represents the third distance between the wireless node 1030 and the sub-panel 1022, L2 represents the fourth distance between the wireless node 1030 and the sub-panel 1023, c represents the propagation speed of electromagnetic waves, T TxLOS represents the first time when the wireless node 1030 sends a sensing signal, T Rx 1023, and the return signal is an echo generated by the interaction between the sensing signal via the sub-panel 1022 and the target object 1060. In one aspect, the wireless node 1030 may have information about the location of the RIS 1010 and the locations of the sub-panels 1022 and 1023. Therefore, it can be assumed that the distance L1 and the distance L2 are known to the wireless node 1030. In some implementations, a sum of multiple distances measured by multiple pairs of transmitting specific sub-panels and receiving specific sub-panels (e.g., R sum ) to determine the location of the target object 1060.

[0155] FIG. 11 illustrates another example method 1100 of operating a wireless node according to aspects of the present disclosure. In one aspect, the method 1100 may be performed by a wireless node (e.g., any of the UEs or base stations described herein) performing MIMO radar sensing operations. In one aspect, the wireless node may correspond to a UE, such as the V-UE 106 in FIG. 1 , the UE 204 in FIGS. 2A and 2B , and the UE 302 in FIG. 3A . In one aspect, the wireless node may correspond to a network component (e.g., a base station, an O-RAN component such as a RU, DU, or CU, etc.), such as the BS 102 in FIG. 1 , the NG-RAN 220 in FIGS. 2A and 2B , and the base station 304 in FIG. 3B .

[0156] At 1110, the wireless node may determine a first configuration associated with a first reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) group, each RIS in the first RIS group being configured based on the first configuration to enable a corresponding signal path from the wireless node toward a first target area. In one aspect, operation 1110 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or transmitting component 342 in UE 302, or by one or more WWAN transceivers 350, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 360, one or more processors 384, memory 386, and / or sensing component 388 in base station 304, and any or all of these components may be considered as means for performing this operation. In one aspect, each RIS in the RIS may correspond to RIS 700 in FIG. 7.

[0157] At 1120, the wireless node may transmit a first plurality of signals to or receive the first plurality of signals from the first target area via the first RIS group according to the first configuration. In an aspect, operation 1120 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or transmitting component 342 in UE 302, or by one or more WWAN transceivers 350, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 360, one or more processors 384, memory 386, and / or sensing component 388 in base station 304, and any or all of these components may be considered as means for performing this operation.

[0158] As will be appreciated, a technical advantage of method 1100 is a configuration for creating orthogonal signals for MIMO radar sensing operations using a group of RISs, so that MIMO sensing can be enabled or improved without sacrificing beamforming gain at a wireless node (e.g., a base station or UE). SINR can be improved by positioning the RIS closer to the target area. Moreover, multiple RISs can enable spatial diversity gain to combat radar cross section (RCS) fading and further enhance sensing performance.

[0159] 12A and 12B depict non-limiting examples based on a specific implementation of method 1100 .

[0160] 12A and 12B illustrate a MIMO radar system 1200 with RIS grouping for MIMO radar sensing according to aspects of the present disclosure. FIG12A shows the MIMO radar system 1200 in a time period T1. The MIMO radar system 1200 includes a wireless node 1210 (e.g., a base station or eNB) and a plurality of RISs 1221, 1222, 1223, 1224, 1225, 1226, and 1227. In the time period T1, the RISs 1221, 1222, and 1223 may be configured to form a RIS group 1232, wherein the RISs 1221, 1222, and 1223 in the group 1232 are configured to receive signals from the wireless node 1210 via a beam 1242, and redirect the signals from the wireless node 1210 to a target area 1262 via beams 1252 formed by the RISs 1221, 1222, and 1223, respectively. The signals redirected to the target area 1262 by the RISs 1221, 1222, and 1223 may be used as sensing signals for performing a MIMO radar sensing operation on the target area 1262. Moreover, in the time period T1, the RISs 1225, 1226, and 1227 may be configured to form a RIS group 1234, wherein the RISs 1225, 1226, and 1227 in the group 1234 are configured to receive signals from the wireless node 1210 via the beam 1244, and redirect the signals from the wireless node 1210 to the target area 1264 via the beam 1254 formed by the RISs 1225, 1226, and 1227, respectively. The signals redirected to the target area 1264 by the RISs 1225, 1226, and 1227 may be used as sensing signals for performing a MIMO radar sensing operation on the target area 1264.

[0161] In one aspect, MIMO radar system 1200 may be configured to perform MIMO radar sensing operations according to a multi-base radar scenario or a bi-base radar scenario. Thus, a return signal corresponding to an echo generated by an interaction between a sensing signal via group 1232 and a target object in target area 1262 may be received by a radar signal receiver (such as another wireless node 1270 (e.g., UE) depicted in FIG. 12A). Similarly, a return signal corresponding to an echo generated by an interaction between a sensing signal via group 1234 and a target object in target area 1264 may be received by wireless node 1270.

[0162] In one aspect, MIMO radar system 1200 may be configured to perform MIMO radar sensing operations according to a monostatic radar scenario. Thus, a return signal corresponding to an echo generated by an interaction between a sensing signal via group 1232 and a target object in target area 1262 may be received by wireless node 1210 along a return path via beam 1252, a group of RIS 1221, 1222, and 1223, and beam 1242. Similarly, a return signal corresponding to an echo generated by an interaction between a sensing signal via group 1234 and a target object in target area 1264 may be received by wireless node 1210 along a return path via beam 1254, a group of RIS 1225, 1226, and 1227, and beam 1244.

[0163] In operation, the wireless node 1210 may determine a first configuration associated with a first RIS group (e.g., group 1232 including RIS 1221, 1222, and 1223). Each RIS in the first group may be configured based on the first configuration to enable a corresponding signal path from the wireless node 1210 toward a first target area (e.g., target area 1262). The wireless node 1210 may send a first plurality of signals to the target area or receive a first plurality of signals from the target area via the first RIS group according to the first configuration associated with the first RIS group. In one aspect, the wireless node 1210 may determine a second configuration associated with a second RIS group (e.g., group 1234 including RIS 1225, 1226, and 1227). Each RIS in the second group may be configured based on the second configuration to enable a corresponding signal path from the wireless node 1210 toward a second target area (e.g., target area 1264). The wireless node 1210 may send a second plurality of signals to the second target area or receive a second plurality of signals from the second target area via the second RIS group according to the second configuration associated with the second RIS group. In one aspect, the first RIS group is different from the second RIS group, and in some implementations, the first RIS group and the second RIS group can overlap. In one aspect, the first target area is different from the second target area, and in some implementations, the first RIS group and the second RIS group can overlap.

[0164] In an aspect, the wireless node 1210 may transmit, based on a first configuration, via each RIS in a first RIS group, a corresponding sensing signal for performing a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar sensing operation to a first target area. In some implementations, the first RIS group may be configured to redirect the corresponding sensing signal to the first target area, and according to the first configuration, the sensing signals may be distinguished from each other by their orthogonality based on one or more of time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), or code division multiplexing (CDM).

[0165] In one aspect, CDM corresponds to each RIS in the first RIS group being configured to combine different watermarks or orthogonal complementary codes embedded in the corresponding signals, respectively. In one aspect, TDM corresponds to the wireless node 1210 sending signals to each RIS in the first RIS group at different durations. In another aspect, TDM corresponds to each RIS in the first RIS group being set to form a suitable signal path between the wireless node 1210 and the target area 1262 at different durations. In one specific implementation, the RIS in the first RIS group can be scheduled to be used closely in time for MIMO radar sensing operations (e.g., back-to-back configuration). In one aspect, FDM corresponds to the wireless node 1210 sending signals to each RIS in the first RIS group at different frequencies. In some specific implementations, the orthogonality of the sensing signals can be achieved by using CDM, TDM, and FDM alone or in any combination. For example, even when TDM or FDM is used to distinguish different sensing signals, CDM can still be used to distinguish reflections from RIS and reflections from the environment.

[0166] In one aspect, the wireless node 1210 may receive a corresponding return signal in response to a corresponding sensing signal for performing a MIMO radar sensing operation from a first target area via each RIS in the first RIS group based on a first configuration. In this case, the MIMO radar system 1200 is configured to perform a MIMO radar sensing operation according to a monostatic radar scenario. In one aspect, the wireless node 1270 may receive a corresponding return signal in response to a corresponding sensing signal for performing a MIMO radar sensing operation from a first target area via each RIS in the first RIS group based on a first configuration. In this case, the MIMO radar system 1200 is configured to perform a MIMO radar sensing operation according to a multi-base radar scenario or a bi-base radar scenario.

[0167] Operations based on first RIS group 1232 are presented above as non-limiting examples. In some implementations, second RIS group 1234 can be configured to perform MIMO radar sensing operations on second target area 1264 in a manner similar to one or more examples described above with respect to first RIS group 1232.

[0168] In one aspect, the wireless node 1210 may send a first configuration associated with the first RIS group 1232 to at least the wireless node 1270, which is configured to receive a corresponding return signal in response to a corresponding sensing signal for performing a MIMO radar sensing operation from the target area 1262 via each RIS in the first RIS group 1232 based on the first configuration. In one aspect, the wireless node 1210 may send a second configuration associated with the second RIS group 1234 to at least the wireless node 1270, which is configured to receive a corresponding return signal in response to a corresponding sensing signal for performing a MIMO radar sensing operation from the second target area 1264 via each RIS in the second RIS group 1234 based on the second configuration. The first configuration and the second configuration may include RIS IDs, timing, resources, beam coordination, and RIS watermark information of the RISs in the group. In some implementations, the wireless node 1270 may process the received return signal and forward the processing result to the wireless node 1210. In some implementations, the wireless node 1270 may simply forward the received return signal to the wireless node 1210 for processing based on the configuration information of the RIS group.

[0169] In addition, FIG12B shows the MIMO radar system 1200 in time period T2. As shown in FIG12A and FIG12B, the grouping of RIS can be arranged in an adaptive manner. For example, the grouping of RIS in time period T2 can be different from the grouping of RIS in time period T1, and different groups can be used for different target areas.

[0170] 12B , in time period T2, RIS 1221 and 1222 may be configured to form RIS group 1231, wherein RIS 1221 and 1222 in group 1231 are configured to receive signals from wireless node 1210 via beam 1241, and redirect the signals from wireless node 1210 to target area 1261 via beam 1251 formed by RIS 1221 and 1222, respectively. The signals redirected to target area 1261 by RIS 1221 and 1222 may be used as sensing signals for performing MIMO radar sensing operations on target area 1261. Similarly, in time period T2, RIS 1223, 1224 and 1225 may be configured to form RIS group 1233 to form a signal path between wireless node 1210 and target area 1263 via beam 1243 and beam 1253, and RIS 1226 and 1227 may be configured to form RIS group 1235 to form a signal path between wireless node 1210 and target area 1265 via beam 1245 and beam 1255.

[0171] In some implementations, beams 1241, 1243, and 1245 may be different from beams 1242 and 1244. In some implementations, target areas 1261, 1263, and 1265 may be different from target areas 1262 and 1264. In one aspect, wireless node 1210 may determine the grouping and corresponding target areas of RIS in time period T2 based on the radar sensing results obtained in time period T1. In one aspect, MIMO radar system 1200 in time period T2 may operate in a manner similar to MIMO radar system 1200 in time period T1 as described above.

[0172] In some aspects, the MIMO radar sensing operation performed by MIMO radar system 1200 may be a non-coherent MIMO radar sensing operation or a coherent MIMO radar sensing operation. In some aspects, the MIMO radar sensing operation performed by MIMO radar system 1200 may be based on a multi-base radar scenario or a bi-base radar scenario, and wireless node 1210 and wireless node 1270 may be one UE and one base station, two UEs, or two base stations. In at least one aspect, the MIMO radar sensing operation performed by MIMO radar system 1200 may be based on a mono-base radar scenario, wireless node 1270 may be omitted, and wireless node 1210 may be a UE or a base station.

[0173] 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, where each clause itself can be used as a separate example. Although each subordinate clause may refer to a specific combination of one clause with other clauses in the clause, the aspects of the subordinate clause are not limited to specific combinations. It should be understood that other example clauses may also include a combination of the subject matter of the subordinate clause aspect with any other subordinate clause or independent clause or any feature with other subordinate clauses and independent clauses. The various aspects disclosed herein explicitly include these combinations, unless it is clearly expressed or can be easily inferred that a specific combination is not intended to be used (for example, contradictory aspects, such as defining an element as both an electrical insulator and an electrical conductor). In addition, it is also expected that various aspects of the clause may be included in any other independent clause, even if the clause is not directly dependent on the independent clause.

[0174] Specific implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0175] Clause 1. A method of operating a wireless node, the method comprising: determining a sub-panel configuration associated with a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) comprising a plurality of sub-panels; and sending or receiving one or more signals via one or more of the plurality of sub-panels based on the sub-panel configuration.

[0176] Clause 2. The method according to clause 1, wherein sending or receiving the one or more signals comprises: based on the sub-panel configuration, sending a first sensing signal for performing a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar sensing operation to a target area via a first sub-panel among the plurality of sub-panels.

[0177] Clause 3. A method according to Clause 2, wherein sending or receiving the one or more signals includes: based on the sub-panel configuration, sending a second sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation to the target area via a second sub-panel among the multiple sub-panels.

[0178] Clause 4. The method of clause 3, wherein, depending on the subpanel configuration, the first sensing signal is distinguishable from the second sensing signal by its orthogonality based on one or more of time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), or code division multiplexing (CDM).

[0179] Clause 5. The method according to clause 4, wherein the CDM is configured corresponding to the first sub-panel and the second sub-panel to combine different watermarks or orthogonal complementary codes embedded in the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal, respectively.

[0180] Clause 6. The method of clause 5, wherein the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal are obtained from a same source sensing signal transmitted by the wireless node.

[0181] Clause 7. A method according to any one of clauses 2 to 6, wherein sending or receiving the one or more signals includes: based on the sub-panel configuration, receiving a return signal from the target area via the first sub-panel in response to the first sensing signal used to perform the MIMO radar sensing operation.

[0182] Clause 8. A method according to any one of clauses 2 to 6, wherein sending or receiving the one or more signals includes: based on the sub-panel configuration, receiving a return signal from the target area via a third sub-panel among the multiple sub-panels in response to the first sensing signal used to perform the MIMO radar sensing operation.

[0183] Clause 9. A method according to Clause 8, wherein: the first sub-panel and the third sub-panel are paired based on the sub-panel configuration, the first sub-panel is configured to enable a signal path for transmission performed by the wireless node based on the sub-panel configuration, and the third sub-panel is configured to enable a signal path for reception performed by the wireless node based on the sub-panel configuration.

[0184] Clause 10. The method according to any one of clauses 8 to 9, further comprising: identifying the received return signal based on a watermark or an orthogonal complementary code associated with the third sub-panel embedded in the return signal.

[0185] Clause 11. The method of clause 10, further comprising: identifying the received return signal based on another watermark or another orthogonal complementary code associated with the first sub-panel embedded in the return signal.

[0186] Clause 12. A method according to clause 11, wherein: the watermark or the orthogonal complement code associated with the third subpanel includes an indicator indicating that the third subpanel is configured to enable a signal path for reception performed by the wireless node, and the other watermark or the other orthogonal complement code associated with the first subpanel includes another indicator indicating that the first subpanel is configured to enable a signal path for transmission performed by the wireless node.

[0187] Clause 13. A method according to any one of clauses 8 to 12, wherein: the return signal corresponds to an echo generated by the interaction between the first sensing signal and the target object, and the method also includes determining the position of the target object based on a reference ellipsoid, wherein the reference ellipsoid is defined by using the positions of the first sub-panel and the third sub-panel as anchor points of the reference ellipsoid.

[0188] Clause 14. The method according to clause 13, further comprising: according to equation R sum =R1+R2=(T Rx -T TxLOS )*c-(L1-L2) to determine the sum R of the first distance R1 and the second distance R2 sum , R1 represents the first distance between the target object and the first sub-panel, R2 represents the second distance between the target object and the third sub-panel, L1 represents the third distance between the wireless node and the first sub-panel, L2 represents the fourth distance between the wireless node and the third sub-panel, c represents the propagation speed of electromagnetic waves, T TxLOS represents the first time when the wireless node sends the first sensing signal, and TRx represents the second time when the wireless node receives the return signal; and according to the sum R of the first distance R1 and the second distance R2 sum to determine the position of the target object.

[0189] Clause 15. The method of any of clauses 7 to 14, wherein: the MIMO radar sensing operation is a coherent MIMO radar sensing operation and the wireless node is a user equipment (UE) or a base station.

[0190] Item 16. A method of operating a wireless node, the method comprising: determining a first configuration associated with a first reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) group, each RIS in the first RIS group being configured based on the first configuration to enable a corresponding signal path from the wireless node toward a first target area; and sending a first plurality of signals to the first target area or receiving the first plurality of signals from the first target area via the first RIS group in accordance with the first configuration.

[0191] Clause 17. The method according to Clause 16 further includes: determining a second configuration associated with a second RIS group, each RIS in the second RIS group being configured based on the second configuration to enable a corresponding signal path from the wireless node toward a second target area; and according to the second configuration, sending a second plurality of signals to the second target area or receiving the second plurality of signals from the second target area via the second RIS group, wherein: the first RIS group is different from the second RIS group, and the first target area is different from the second target area.

[0192] Clause 18. A method according to any one of clauses 16 to 17, wherein the first RIS group is configured to redirect sensing signals to the first target area, and according to the first configuration, the sensing signals are capable of being distinguished from each other by their orthogonality based on one or more of time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM) or code division multiplexing (CDM).

[0193] Clause 19. The method according to clause 18, wherein the CDM is configured corresponding to each RIS in the first RIS group to respectively combine different watermarks or orthogonal complementary codes embedded in the corresponding signal.

[0194] Clause 20. The method of any one of clauses 16 to 19, wherein sending or receiving the first plurality of signals comprises: based on the first configuration, sending a corresponding sensing signal for performing a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar sensing operation to the first target area via each RIS in the first RIS group.

[0195] Clause 21. A method according to clause 20, wherein sending or receiving the first plurality of signals includes: based on the first configuration, receiving a corresponding return signal from the first target area via each RIS in the first RIS group in response to the corresponding sensing signal used to perform the MIMO radar sensing operation.

[0196] Clause 22. The method according to any one of clauses 20 to 21, further comprising: the wireless node sending the first configuration associated with the first RIS group to at least one other wireless node, the at least one other wireless node being configured to receive, based on the first configuration, a corresponding return signal from the first target area via each RIS in the first RIS group in response to the corresponding sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation.

[0197] Clause 23. The method of clause 22, wherein: the MIMO radar sensing operation is a non-coherent MIMO radar sensing operation, and the wireless node and the at least one other wireless node are a user equipment (UE) and a base station, two UEs, or two base stations.

[0198] Clause 24. A wireless node comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: determine a sub-panel configuration associated with a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) comprising a plurality of sub-panels; and to send or receive one or more signals via the at least one transceiver, based on the sub-panel configuration, via one or more of the plurality of sub-panels.

[0199] Clause 25. A wireless node according to clause 24, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: based on the sub-panel configuration, send a first sensing signal for performing a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar sensing operation to a target area via the at least one transceiver and via a first sub-panel among the multiple sub-panels.

[0200] Clause 26. A wireless node according to clause 25, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: based on the sub-panel configuration, send a second sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation to the target area via the at least one transceiver and via a second sub-panel among the multiple sub-panels.

[0201] Clause 27. A wireless node according to clause 26, wherein based on the sub-panel configuration, the first sensing signal is capable of being distinguished from the second sensing signal by its orthogonality based on one or more of time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM) or code division multiplexing (CDM).

[0202] Clause 28. The wireless node of clause 27, wherein the CDM is configured corresponding to the first sub-panel and the second sub-panel to combine different watermarks or orthogonal complementary codes embedded in the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal, respectively.

[0203] Clause 29. The wireless node of clause 28, wherein the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal are obtained from a same source sensing signal transmitted by the wireless node.

[0204] Clause 30. A wireless node according to any one of clauses 25 to 29, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: based on the sub-panel configuration, receive a return signal from the target area via the at least one transceiver and via the first sub-panel in response to the first sensing signal used to perform the MIMO radar sensing operation.

[0205] Clause 31. A wireless node according to any one of clauses 25 to 29, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: based on the sub-panel configuration, receive a return signal from the target area via the at least one transceiver and via a third sub-panel among the multiple sub-panels in response to the first sensing signal used to perform the MIMO radar sensing operation.

[0206] Clause 32. A wireless node according to clause 31, wherein: the first sub-panel and the third sub-panel are paired based on the sub-panel configuration, the first sub-panel is configured to enable a signal path for transmission performed by the wireless node based on the sub-panel configuration, and the third sub-panel is configured to enable a signal path for reception performed by the wireless node based on the sub-panel configuration.

[0207] Clause 33. A wireless node according to any one of clauses 31 to 32, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: identify the received return signal based on a watermark or an orthogonal complementary code associated with the third sub-panel embedded in the return signal.

[0208] Clause 34. A wireless node according to clause 33, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: identify the received return signal based on another watermark or another orthogonal complementary code associated with the first sub-panel embedded in the return signal.

[0209] Clause 35. A wireless node according to clause 34, wherein: the watermark or the orthogonal complement code associated with the third subpanel includes an indicator indicating that the third subpanel is configured to enable a signal path for reception performed by the wireless node, and the other watermark or the other orthogonal complement code associated with the first subpanel includes another indicator indicating that the first subpanel is configured to enable a signal path for transmission performed by the wireless node.

[0210] Clause 36. A wireless node according to any one of clauses 31 to 35, wherein: the return signal corresponds to an echo generated by the interaction between the first sensing signal and the target object, and the at least one processor is configured to determine the position of the target object based on a reference ellipsoid, wherein the reference ellipsoid is defined by using the positions of the first sub-panel and the third sub-panel as anchor points of the reference ellipsoid.

[0211] Clause 37. A wireless node according to clause 36, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: sum =R1+R2=(T Rx -T TxLOS )*c-(L1-L2) to determine the sum R of the first distance R1 and the second distance R2 sum , R1 represents the first distance between the target object and the first sub-panel, R2 represents the second distance between the target object and the third sub-panel, L1 represents the third distance between the wireless node and the first sub-panel, L2 represents the fourth distance between the wireless node and the third sub-panel, c represents the propagation speed of electromagnetic waves, T TxLOS represents the first time when the wireless node sends the first sensing signal, and T Rx represents the second time when the wireless node receives the return signal; and according to the sum R of the first distance R1 and the second distance R2 sum to determine the position of the target object.

[0212] Clause 38. A wireless node as described in any of clauses 30 to 37, wherein: the MIMO radar sensing operation is a coherent MIMO radar sensing operation and the wireless node is a user equipment (UE) or a base station.

[0213] Item 39. A wireless node, comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: determine a first configuration associated with a first reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) group, each RIS in the first RIS group being configured based on the first configuration to enable a corresponding signal path from the wireless node toward a first target area; and, via the at least one transceiver, send a first plurality of signals to the first target area or receive the first plurality of signals from the first target area via the first RIS group in accordance with the first configuration.

[0214] Clause 40. A wireless node according to clause 39, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine a second configuration associated with a second RIS group, each RIS in the second RIS group being configured to enable a corresponding signal path from the wireless node toward a second target area based on the second configuration; and via the at least one transceiver, according to the second configuration, send a second plurality of signals to the second target area or receive the second plurality of signals from the second target area via the second RIS group, wherein: the first RIS group is different from the second RIS group, and the first target area is different from the second target area.

[0215] Clause 41. A wireless node according to any one of clauses 39 to 40, wherein the first RIS group is configured to redirect sensing signals to the first target area, and according to the first configuration, the sensing signals are capable of being distinguished from each other by their orthogonality based on one or more of time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM) or code division multiplexing (CDM).

[0216] Clause 42. The wireless node of clause 41, wherein the CDM is configured corresponding to each RIS in the first RIS group to respectively incorporate a different watermark or orthogonal cross-complement code embedded in a corresponding signal.

[0217] Clause 43. A wireless node according to any one of clauses 39 to 42, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: based on the first configuration, send a corresponding sensing signal for performing a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar sensing operation to the first target area via the at least one transceiver and via each RIS in the first RIS group.

[0218] Clause 44. A wireless node according to clause 43, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: based on the first configuration, receive a corresponding return signal from the first target area via the at least one transceiver and via each RIS in the first RIS group in response to the corresponding sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation.

[0219] Clause 45. A wireless node according to any one of clauses 43 to 44, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: send the first configuration associated with the first RIS group via the at least one transceiver, and the at least one other wireless node is configured to receive, based on the first configuration, a corresponding return signal from the first target area via each RIS in the first RIS group in response to the corresponding sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation.

[0220] Clause 46. The wireless node of clause 45, wherein: the MIMO radar sensing operation is a non-coherent MIMO radar sensing operation, and the wireless node and the at least one other wireless node are a user equipment (UE) and a base station, two UEs, or two base stations.

[0221] Clause 47. A wireless node comprising: a component for determining a sub-panel configuration associated with a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) comprising a plurality of sub-panels; and a component for sending or receiving one or more signals via one or more of the plurality of sub-panels based on the sub-panel configuration.

[0222] Clause 48. A wireless node according to clause 47, wherein the component for sending or receiving the one or more signals includes: a component for sending a first sensing signal for performing a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar sensing operation to a target area via a first sub-panel among the multiple sub-panels based on the sub-panel configuration.

[0223] Clause 49. A wireless node according to clause 48, wherein the component for sending or receiving the one or more signals includes: a component for sending a second sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation to the target area via a second sub-panel among the multiple sub-panels based on the sub-panel configuration.

[0224] Clause 50. A wireless node according to clause 49, wherein based on the sub-panel configuration, the first sensing signal is capable of being distinguished from the second sensing signal by its orthogonality based on one or more of time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM) or code division multiplexing (CDM).

[0225] Clause 51. A wireless node according to clause 50, wherein the CDM is configured corresponding to the first sub-panel and the second sub-panel to combine different watermarks or orthogonal complementary codes embedded in the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal, respectively.

[0226] Clause 52. The wireless node of clause 51, wherein the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal are obtained from a same source sensing signal transmitted by the wireless node.

[0227] Clause 53. A wireless node according to any one of clauses 48 to 52, wherein the component for sending or receiving the one or more signals includes: a component for receiving a return signal from the target area via the first sub-panel based on the sub-panel configuration in response to the first sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation.

[0228] Clause 54. A wireless node according to any one of clauses 48 to 52, wherein the component for sending or receiving the one or more signals includes: a component for receiving a return signal in response to the first sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation from the target area via a third sub-panel among the multiple sub-panels based on the sub-panel configuration.

[0229] Clause 55. A wireless node according to Clause 54, wherein: the first sub-panel and the third sub-panel are paired based on the sub-panel configuration, the first sub-panel is configured to enable a signal path for transmission performed by the wireless node based on the sub-panel configuration, and the third sub-panel is configured to enable a signal path for reception performed by the wireless node based on the sub-panel configuration.

[0230] Clause 56. A wireless node according to any one of clauses 43 to 55, the wireless node further comprising: a component for identifying the received return signal based on a watermark or an orthogonal complementary code associated with the third sub-panel embedded in the return signal.

[0231] Clause 57. The wireless node of clause 56, further comprising means for identifying the received return signal based on another watermark or another orthogonal complementary code associated with the first sub-panel embedded in the return signal.

[0232] Clause 58. A wireless node according to clause 57, wherein: the watermark or the orthogonal complement code associated with the third subpanel includes an indicator indicating that the third subpanel is configured to enable a signal path for reception performed by the wireless node, and the other watermark or the other orthogonal complement code associated with the first subpanel includes another indicator indicating that the first subpanel is configured to enable a signal path for transmission performed by the wireless node.

[0233] Clause 59. A wireless node according to any one of clauses 54 to 58, wherein: the return signal corresponds to an echo generated by the interaction between the first sensing signal and the target object, and the wireless node also includes a component for determining the position of the target object based on a reference ellipsoid, wherein the reference ellipsoid is defined by using the positions of the first sub-panel and the third sub-panel as anchor points of the reference ellipsoid.

[0234] Clause 60. The wireless node of clause 59, further comprising: a node for performing sum =R1+R2=(T Rx -T TxLOS )*c-(L1-L2) to determine the sum R of the first distance R1 and the second distance R2 sum , R1 represents the first distance between the target object and the first sub-panel, R2 represents the second distance between the target object and the third sub-panel, L1 represents the third distance between the wireless node and the first sub-panel, L2 represents the fourth distance between the wireless node and the third sub-panel, c represents the propagation speed of electromagnetic waves, T TxLOS represents the first time when the wireless node sends the first sensing signal, and T Rx represents the second time when the wireless node receives the return signal; and is used for calculating the sum R of the first distance R1 and the second distance R2 according to the sum R sum A component for determining the position of the target object.

[0235] Clause 61. A wireless node as described in any of clauses 53 to 60, wherein: the MIMO radar sensing operation is a coherent MIMO radar sensing operation and the wireless node is a user equipment (UE) or a base station.

[0236] Item 62. A wireless node, comprising: a component for determining a first configuration associated with a first reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) group, each RIS in the first RIS group being configured based on the first configuration to enable a corresponding signal path from the wireless node toward a first target area; and a component for sending a first plurality of signals to the first target area or receiving the first plurality of signals from the first target area via the first RIS group according to the first configuration.

[0237] Clause 63. A wireless node according to clause 62, wherein the wireless node also includes: a component for determining a second configuration associated with a second RIS group, each RIS in the second RIS group being configured based on the second configuration to enable a corresponding signal path from the wireless node toward a second target area; and a component for sending a second plurality of signals to the second target area via the second RIS group or receiving the second plurality of signals from the second target area according to the second configuration, wherein: the first RIS group is different from the second RIS group, and the first target area is different from the second target area.

[0238] Clause 64. A wireless node according to any one of clauses 62 to 63, wherein the first RIS group is configured to redirect sensing signals to the first target area, and according to the first configuration, the sensing signals are capable of being distinguished from each other by their orthogonality based on one or more of time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM) or code division multiplexing (CDM).

[0239] Clause 65. A wireless node as described in clause 64, wherein the CDM is configured corresponding to each RIS in the first RIS group to respectively combine a different watermark or orthogonal complementary code embedded in the corresponding signal.

[0240] Clause 66. A wireless node according to any one of clauses 62 to 65, wherein the component for sending or receiving the first plurality of signals includes: a component for sending a corresponding sensing signal for performing a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar sensing operation to the first target area via each RIS in the first RIS group based on the first configuration.

[0241] Clause 67. A wireless node according to clause 66, wherein the component for sending or receiving the first plurality of signals includes: a component for receiving a corresponding return signal from the first target area via each RIS in the first RIS group based on the first configuration in response to the corresponding sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation.

[0242] Clause 68. A wireless node according to any one of clauses 66 to 67, the wireless node further comprising: a component for sending the first configuration associated with the first RIS group, the at least one other wireless node being configured to receive, based on the first configuration, a corresponding return signal from the first target area via each RIS in the first RIS group in response to the corresponding sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation.

[0243] Clause 69. A wireless node as described in clause 68, wherein: the MIMO radar sensing operation is a non-coherent MIMO radar sensing operation, and the wireless node and the at least one other wireless node are a user equipment (UE) and a base station, two UEs, or two base stations.

[0244] Clause 70. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a wireless node, cause the wireless node to: determine a sub-panel configuration associated with a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) comprising a plurality of sub-panels; and based on the sub-panel configuration, send or receive one or more signals via one or more of the plurality of sub-panels.

[0245] Clause 71. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 70, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the wireless node, cause the wireless node to: based on the sub-panel configuration, send a first sensing signal for performing a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar sensing operation to a target area via a first sub-panel among the multiple sub-panels.

[0246] Clause 72. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 71, wherein the computer executable instructions, when executed by the wireless node, cause the wireless node to: based on the sub-panel configuration, send a second sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation to the target area via a second sub-panel among the multiple sub-panels.

[0247] Clause 73. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in clause 72, wherein, based on the sub-panel configuration, the first sensing signal is capable of being distinguished from the second sensing signal by its orthogonality based on one or more of time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), or code division multiplexing (CDM).

[0248] Clause 74. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 73, wherein the CDM is configured corresponding to the first sub-panel and the second sub-panel to respectively combine different watermarks or orthogonal complement codes embedded in the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal.

[0249] Clause 75. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of Clause 74, wherein the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal are obtained from a same source sensing signal transmitted by the wireless node.

[0250] Clause 76. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 71 to 75, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the wireless node, cause the wireless node to: based on the sub-panel configuration, receive a return signal from the target area via the first sub-panel in response to the first sensing signal used to perform the MIMO radar sensing operation.

[0251] Clause 77. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 71 to 75, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the wireless node, cause the wireless node to: based on the sub-panel configuration, receive a return signal from the target area via a third sub-panel among the multiple sub-panels in response to the first sensing signal used to perform the MIMO radar sensing operation.

[0252] Clause 78. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 77, wherein: the first sub-panel and the third sub-panel are paired based on the sub-panel configuration, the first sub-panel is configured to enable a signal path for transmission performed by the wireless node based on the sub-panel configuration, and the third sub-panel is configured to enable a signal path for reception performed by the wireless node based on the sub-panel configuration.

[0253] Clause 79. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 77 to 78, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the wireless node, cause the wireless node to: identify the received return signal based on a watermark or orthogonal complement code associated with the third sub-panel embedded in the return signal.

[0254] Clause 80. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 79, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the wireless node, cause the wireless node to: identify the received return signal based on another watermark or another orthogonal complementary code associated with the first sub-panel embedded in the return signal.

[0255] Clause 81. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 80, wherein: the watermark or the orthogonal complement code associated with the third subpanel includes an indicator indicating that the third subpanel is configured to enable a signal path for reception performed by the wireless node, and the other watermark or the other orthogonal complement code associated with the first subpanel includes another indicator indicating that the first subpanel is configured to enable a signal path for transmission performed by the wireless node.

[0256] Clause 82. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 77 to 81, wherein: the return signal corresponds to an echo generated by the interaction between the first sensing signal and the target object, and the computer executable instructions, when executed by the wireless node, cause the wireless node to determine the position of the target object based on a reference ellipsoid, wherein the reference ellipsoid is defined by using the positions of the first sub-panel and the third sub-panel as anchor points of the reference ellipsoid.

[0257] Clause 83. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 82, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the wireless node, cause the wireless node to: sum =R1+R2=(T Rx -T TxLOS )*c-(L1-L2) to determine the sum R of the first distance R1 and the second distance R2 sum , R1 represents the first distance between the target object and the first sub-panel, R2 represents the second distance between the target object and the third sub-panel, L1 represents the third distance between the wireless node and the first sub-panel, L2 represents the fourth distance between the wireless node and the third sub-panel, c represents the propagation speed of electromagnetic waves, T TxLOS represents the first time when the wireless node sends the first sensing signal, and T Rx represents the second time when the wireless node receives the return signal; and according to the sum R of the first distance R1 and the second distance R2 sum to determine the position of the target object.

[0258] Clause 84. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 76 to 83, wherein: the MIMO radar sensing operation is a coherent MIMO radar sensing operation and the wireless node is a user equipment (UE) or a base station.

[0259] Clause 85. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a wireless node, cause the wireless node to: determine a first configuration associated with a first reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) group, each RIS in the first RIS group being configured based on the first configuration to enable a corresponding signal path from the wireless node toward a first target area; and, based on the first configuration, send a first plurality of signals to the first target area or receive the first plurality of signals from the first target area via the first RIS group.

[0260] Clause 86. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 85, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the wireless node, cause the wireless node to: determine a second configuration associated with a second RIS group, each RIS in the second RIS group being configured based on the second configuration to enable a corresponding signal path from the wireless node toward a second target area; and according to the second configuration, send a second plurality of signals to the second target area or receive the second plurality of signals from the second target area via the second RIS group, wherein: the first RIS group is different from the second RIS group, and the first target area is different from the second target area.

[0261] Clause 87. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 85 to 86, wherein the first RIS group is configured to redirect sensing signals to the first target area, and according to the first configuration, the sensing signals are capable of being distinguished from each other by their orthogonality based on one or more of time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), or code division multiplexing (CDM).

[0262] Clause 88. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 87, wherein the CDM is configured corresponding to each RIS in the first RIS group to respectively combine different watermarks or orthogonal cross-complement codes embedded in the corresponding signal.

[0263] Clause 89. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 85 to 88, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the wireless node, cause the wireless node to: based on the first configuration, send a corresponding sensing signal for performing a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar sensing operation to the first target area via each RIS in the first RIS group.

[0264] Clause 90. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 89, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the wireless node, cause the wireless node to: based on the first configuration, receive a corresponding return signal from the first target area via each RIS in the first RIS group in response to the corresponding sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation.

[0265] Clause 91. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 89 to 90, wherein the computer executable instructions, when executed by the wireless node, cause the wireless node to: send the first configuration associated with the first RIS group, and the at least one other wireless node is configured to receive, based on the first configuration, a corresponding return signal from the first target area via each RIS in the first RIS group in response to the corresponding sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation.

[0266] Clause 92. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in clause 91, wherein: the MIMO radar sensing operation is a non-coherent MIMO radar sensing operation, and the wireless node and the at least one other wireless node are a user equipment (UE) and a base station, two UEs, or two base stations.

[0267] 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.

[0268] 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.

[0269] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or executed 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.

[0270] 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.

[0271] 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 computer programs from one place to another. The storage medium 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, magnetic disk storage devices or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can also be used to carry or store the desired program code 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, 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.

[0272] 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 wireless node, the method comprising: determining a subpanel configuration associated with a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) comprising a plurality of subpanels; as well as One or more signals are sent or received via one or more of the plurality of sub-panels according to the sub-panel configuration.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending or receiving the one or more signals comprises: Based on the sub-panel configuration, a first sensing signal for performing a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar sensing operation is transmitted to a target area via a first sub-panel among the plurality of sub-panels.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein sending or receiving the one or more signals comprises: Based on the sub-panel configuration, a second sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation is transmitted to the target area via a second sub-panel among the plurality of sub-panels.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first sensing signal is distinguishable from the second sensing signal by its orthogonality based on one or more of time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), or code division multiplexing (CDM) according to the sub-panel configuration. 5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the CDM is configured to respectively combine different watermarks or orthogonal complementary codes embedded in the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal corresponding to the first sub-panel and the second sub-panel. 6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal are obtained from a same source sensing signal transmitted by the wireless node.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein sending or receiving the one or more signals comprises: Based on the sub-panel configuration, a return signal in response to the first sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation is received from the target area via the first sub-panel.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein sending or receiving the one or more signals comprises: Based on the sub-panel configuration, a return signal in response to the first sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation is received from the target area via a third sub-panel among the plurality of sub-panels.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein: The first sub-panel and the third sub-panel are paired based on the sub-panel configuration, The first subpanel is configured to enable a signal path for transmissions performed by the wireless node based on the subpanel configuration, and The third subpanel is configured to enable a signal path for reception performed by the wireless node based on the subpanel configuration.

10. The method according to claim 8, further comprising: The received return signal is identified based on a watermark or an orthogonal complement code associated with the third sub-panel embedded in the return signal.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising: The received return signal is identified based on another watermark or another orthogonal complementary code associated with the first sub-panel embedded in the return signal.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein: The watermark or the orthogonal complement code associated with the third subpanel includes an indicator indicating that the third subpanel is configured to enable a signal path for reception performed by the wireless node, and The further watermark or the further orthogonal complementary code associated with the first sub-panel includes another indicator indicating that the first sub-panel is configured to enable a signal path for transmissions performed by the wireless node.

13. The method according to claim 8, wherein: The return signal corresponds to an echo generated by an interaction between the first sensing signal and a target object, and The method also includes determining a position of the target object based on a reference ellipsoid defined by using positions of the first sub-panel and the third sub-panel as anchor points of the reference ellipsoid.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising: The sum R of the first distance R1 and the second distance R2 is determined according to the following equation sum : R sum =R1+R2=(T Rx -T TxLOS )*c-(L1-L2), R1 represents the first distance between the target object and the first sub-panel, R2 represents the second distance between the target object and the third sub-panel, L1 represents a third distance between the wireless node and the first sub-panel, L2 represents a fourth distance between the wireless node and the third sub-panel, c represents the propagation speed of electromagnetic waves, T TxLOS represents the first time when the wireless node sends the first sensing signal, and T Rx Indicates a second time at which the wireless node receives the return signal; as well as According to the sum R of the first distance R1 and the second distance R2 sum to determine the position of the target object.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein: The MIMO radar sensing operation is a coherent MIMO radar sensing operation, and The wireless node is a user equipment (UE) or a base station.

16. A method of operating a wireless node, the method comprising: determining a first configuration associated with a first set of reconfigurable smart surfaces (RIS), each RIS in the first set of RIS being configured to enable a respective signal path from the wireless node toward a first target area based on the first configuration; as well as According to the first configuration, a first plurality of signals are transmitted to or received from the first target area via the first RIS group.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising: determining a second configuration associated with a second RIS group, each RIS in the second RIS group being configured to enable a corresponding signal path from the wireless node toward a second target area based on the second configuration; as well as According to the second configuration, a second plurality of signals are sent to or received from the second target area via the second RIS group, wherein: The first RIS group is different from the second RIS group, and The first target area is different from the second target area.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the first RIS group is configured to redirect sensing signals to the first target area, and according to the first configuration, the sensing signals are distinguishable from each other by their orthogonality based on one or more of time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), or code division multiplexing (CDM).

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the CDM is configured to respectively combine different watermarks or orthogonal complementary codes embedded in corresponding signals corresponding to the respective RISs in the first RIS group.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein sending or receiving the first plurality of signals comprises: Based on the first configuration, a corresponding sensing signal for performing a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar sensing operation is transmitted to the first target area via each RIS in the first RIS group.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein sending or receiving the first plurality of signals comprises: Based on the first configuration, a respective return signal in response to the respective sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation is received from the first target area via each RIS in the first RIS group.

22. The method according to claim 20, further comprising: The first configuration associated with the first RIS group is sent by the wireless node to at least one other wireless node, and the at least one other wireless node is configured to receive, based on the first configuration, a corresponding return signal from the first target area via each RIS in the first RIS group in response to the corresponding sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein: The MIMO radar sensing operation is a non-coherent MIMO radar sensing operation, and The wireless node and the at least one other wireless node are a user equipment (UE) and a base station, two UEs, or two base stations.

24. A wireless node, comprising: Memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: determining a subpanel configuration associated with a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) comprising a plurality of subpanels; as well as One or more signals are sent or received via the at least one transceiver via one or more of the plurality of sub-panels according to the sub-panel configuration.

25. The wireless node of claim 24, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: Based on the sub-panel configuration, a first sensing signal for performing a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar sensing operation is transmitted to a target area via the at least one transceiver and via a first sub-panel of the plurality of sub-panels.

26. The wireless node of claim 25, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: Based on the sub-panel configuration, a second sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation is transmitted to the target area via the at least one transceiver and via a second sub-panel among the plurality of sub-panels.

27. The wireless node of claim 25, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: Based on the sub-panel configuration, a return signal in response to the first sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation is received from the target area via the at least one transceiver and via the first sub-panel.

28. The wireless node of claim 25, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: Based on the sub-panel configuration, a return signal in response to the first sensing signal for performing the MIMO radar sensing operation is received from the target area via the at least one transceiver and via a third sub-panel of the plurality of sub-panels.

29. A wireless node, comprising: Memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: determining a first configuration associated with a first set of reconfigurable smart surfaces (RIS), each RIS in the first set of RIS being configured to enable a respective signal path from the wireless node toward a first target area based on the first configuration; as well as Via the at least one transceiver, a first plurality of signals are transmitted to or received from the first target area via the first RIS group according to the first configuration.

30. The wireless node of claim 29, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determining a second configuration associated with a second RIS group, each RIS in the second RIS group being configured to enable a corresponding signal path from the wireless node toward a second target area based on the second configuration; and and transmitting, via the at least one transceiver, a second plurality of signals to or receiving, via the second RIS group, the second plurality of signals from the second target area according to the second configuration, wherein: The first RIS group is different from the second RIS group, and The first target area is different from the second target area.

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