Reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) assisted sensing

Abstract

Techniques for wireless sensing are disclosed. In one aspect, a method for reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) assisted sensing performed by a base station (BS) includes configuring one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs for sensing, where each reciprocal RIS beam pair of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs includes a downlink (DL) beam and an uplink (UL) beam, the downlink (DL) beam has a DL departure angle (DL AoD) from the RIS controlled by a first set of control voltages, and the uplink (UL) beam has a UL AoD from the RIS controlled by a second set of control voltages. The BS may transmit information identifying the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs to the RIS. The BS may perform single-base sensing using at least one reciprocal RIS beam pair of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs.

Description

Background Art 1. Technical Field

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

[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 includes configuring one or more reciprocal reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) beam pairs for sensing, wherein each of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs includes a downlink (DL) beam and an uplink (UL) beam, the downlink (DL) beam having a DL angle of departure (DL AoD) from the RIS controlled by a first set of control voltages, the uplink (UL) beam having a UL AoD from the RIS controlled by a second set of control voltages; transmitting information identifying the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs to the RIS; and performing monostatic sensing using at least one of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs.

[0008] In one aspect, a method includes transmitting a first sensing signal; receiving a reflection of the first sensing signal from a target; transmitting a second sensing signal to a RIS; receiving a reflection of the second sensing signal from the target from the RIS; and performing monostatic sensing using the first sensing signal, the reflection of the first sensing signal, the second sensing signal, and the reflection of the second sensing signal.

[0009] In one aspect, a method of RIS-assisted sensing includes: receiving a first signal at a BS, the first signal including reflections of a sensing signal from a second BS from the RIS; receiving a second signal at the BS, the second signal including reflections of the sensing signal from the second BS from the RIS and from a target; and performing bistatic sensing using the first signal and the second signal.

[0010] In one aspect, a method of RIS-assisted sensing includes: receiving a first signal at a BS, the first signal including a first sensing signal from a second BS; receiving a second signal at the BS, the second signal including a reflection of the first sensing signal from a target; receiving a third signal at the BS, the third signal including a reflection of the second sensing signal from the second BS from the RIS; receiving a fourth signal at the BS, the fourth signal including reflections of the second sensing signal from the RIS and from the target; and performing bistatic sensing using the first signal, the second signal, the third signal, and the fourth signal.

[0011] In one aspect, a BS 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: configure one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs for sensing, wherein each of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs includes a DL beam and a UL beam, the DL beam having a DL AoD from a RIS controlled by a first set of control voltages, and the UL beam having a UL AoD from a RIS controlled by a second set of control voltages; transmit information identifying the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs to the RIS via the at least one transceiver; and perform monostatic sensing using at least one reciprocal RIS beam pair of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs.

[0012] In one aspect, a BS 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: transmit a first sensing signal via the at least one transceiver; receive a reflection of the first sensing signal from a target via the at least one transceiver; transmit a second sensing signal to a RIS via the at least one transceiver; receive a reflection of the second sensing signal from the target from the RIS via the at least one transceiver; and perform monostatic sensing using the first sensing signal, the reflection of the first sensing signal, the second sensing signal, and the reflection of the second sensing signal.

[0013] In one aspect, a BS includes: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: receive a first signal via the at least one transceiver, the first signal comprising reflections of a sensing signal from a second BS from a RIS; receive a second signal via the at least one transceiver, the second signal comprising reflections of the sensing signal from the second BS from the RIS and from a target; and perform bistatic sensing using the first signal and the second signal.

[0014] In one aspect, a BS includes: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: receive a first signal via the at least one transceiver, the first signal including a first sensing signal from a second BS; receive a second signal via the at least one transceiver, the second signal including a reflection of the first sensing signal from a target; receive a third signal via the at least one transceiver, the third signal including a reflection of the second sensing signal from the second BS from a RIS; receive a fourth signal via the at least one transceiver, the fourth signal including reflections of the second sensing signal from the RIS and from the target; and perform bistatic sensing using the first signal, the second signal, the third signal, and the fourth signal.

[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 aspects.

[0017] Figure 1 An example wireless communication system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0018] Figure 2A , Figure 2B and Figure 2C Example wireless network structures according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0019] Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a user equipment (UE), a base station, and a network entity, respectively, and configured to support communications as taught herein.

[0020] Figure 4A An example monostatic radar system is illustrated.

[0021] Figure 4B An example bistatic radar system is illustrated.

[0022] Figure 5A and Figure 5B The use of reconfigurable smart surfaces (RIS) to extend 5G coverage with negligible power consumption is demonstrated.

[0023] Figure 6 An example of extending coverage using RIS is illustrated in more detail.

[0024] Figure 7 illustrates one technical difficulty in attempting to perform monostatic sensing using RIS.

[0025] Fig. 8A and Figure 8B Two methods are illustrated that may be used for monostatic sensing without a direct line-of-sight (LOS) channel to a target in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0026] Fig.9A and Fig. 9B Methods that may be used for monostatic sensing with a direct LOS channel to a target are illustrated in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0027] Fig.10Methods that may be used for monostatic sensing with a direct LOS channel to a target are illustrated in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0028] Fig.11 Methods that may be used for multistatic sensing with a direct LOS channel to a target are illustrated in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0029] Fig.12 is a flow chart of an example process associated with RIS-assisted sensing according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0030] Fig.13 is a flow chart of another example process associated with RIS-assisted sensing according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0031] Fig.14 is a flow chart of another example process associated with RIS-assisted sensing according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0032] Fig.15 is a flow chart of another example process associated with RIS-assisted sensing according to aspects of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] Techniques for wireless sensing are disclosed. In one aspect, a method for reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) assisted sensing performed by a base station (BS) includes configuring at least one reciprocal RIS beam pair for sensing, wherein each reciprocal RIS beam pair includes a downlink (DL) beam having a DL angle of departure (DL AoD) from the RIS controlled by a first set of control voltages and an uplink (UL) beam having a UL AoD from the RIS controlled by a second set of control voltages; transmitting information identifying at least one reciprocal RIS beam pair to the RIS; and performing monostatic sensing using at least one of the reciprocal RIS beam pairs.

[0034] Various aspects of the present disclosure are provided in the following description and related drawings for various examples provided for illustrative purposes. Alternative aspects may be designed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, well-known elements of the present disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted to avoid making the relevant details of the present disclosure difficult to understand.

[0035] The words "exemplary" and / or "example" are used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" and / or "example" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Likewise, the term "aspects of the disclosure" does not require that all aspects of the disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage, or mode of operation.

[0036] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any of a variety of different techniques and methods may be used to represent the information and signals described below. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the following description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof, which depends in part on the specific application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, and so on.

[0037] In addition, many aspects are described in terms of a sequence of actions to be performed by, for example, an element of a computing device. It should be understood that the various actions described herein may be performed by a specific circuit (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by a program instruction 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."

[0038] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any specific radio access technology (RAT). In general, a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a consumer asset location device, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch, glasses, an augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) head-mounted device, etc.), a vehicle (e.g., a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, etc.), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. A UE may be mobile or may be stationary (e.g., at certain times) and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" may be interchangeably referred to as an "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber 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.

[0039] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs to communicate with a UE, depending on the network in which the base station is deployed, and may alternatively be referred to as an access point (AP), a network node, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), a new radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), etc. A base station may be primarily used to support wireless access for UEs, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for supported UEs. In some systems, a base station may provide only edge node signaling functions, while in other systems, a base station 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.

[0040] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmit-receive point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be co-located. For example, where the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station corresponding to the cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. Where the term "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an antenna array of the base station (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where the base station employs beamforming). Where the term "base station" refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transmission medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-located physical TRP may be a serving base station that receives measurement reports from a UE and a neighboring base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signal the UE is measuring. Because, as used herein, a TRP is a point by which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, references to transmitting from a base station or receiving at a base station should be understood to refer to a specific TRP of a base station.

[0041] In some implementations of supporting UE positioning, a base station may not support wireless access by the UE (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE), but may instead send a reference signal to be measured by the UE and / or may receive and measure a signal sent by the UE. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., in the case of sending a signal to the UE) and / or as a position measurement unit (e.g., in the case of receiving and measuring a signal from the UE).

[0042] An "RF signal" includes an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transmits information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels, a receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between a transmitter and a receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a "wireless signal" or simply a "signal" where it is clear from the context that the term "signal" refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal.

[0043] Figure 1An example wireless communication system 100 according to various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. The wireless communication system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 (labeled as "BS") and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macro cell base stations (high power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low power cellular base stations). In one aspect, the macro cell base stations may include eNBs and / or ng-eNBs (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network), or gNBs (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network), or a combination of the two, and the small cell base stations may include femto cells, pico cells, micro cells, etc.

[0044] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC)) through a backhaul link 122, and interface with one or more location servers 172 (e.g., a location management function (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)) through the core network 170. The location server 172 may be part of the core network 170 or may be external to the core network 170. The location server 172 may be integrated with the base station 102. The UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 directly or indirectly. For example, the UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 via the base station 102 currently serving the UE 104. The UE 104 may also communicate with the location server 172 through another path, such as via an application server (not shown), via another network, such as via a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) (e.g., AP 150 described below), 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.

[0045] Among other functions, the base station 102 may perform functions related to one or more of the following: delivering user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through EPC / 5GC) over a backhaul link 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0046] Base station 102 may communicate wirelessly with UE 104. Each of base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, one or more cells may be supported by base station 102 in each geographic coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used to communicate with a base station (e.g., via a frequency resource, which is referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.), and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), an enhanced cell identifier (ECI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI), etc.) used to distinguish cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other protocol types) that may provide access to different types of UEs. Because a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term "cell" may refer to either or both of the logical communication entity and the base station supporting it, depending on the context. In addition, because the TRP is generally the physical transmission point of the cell, the terms "cell" and "TRP" may be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term "cell" may also refer to a geographic coverage area (e.g., a sector) of a base station, as long as a carrier frequency can be detected and used for communications within a portion of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0047] Although the geographic coverage areas 110 of neighboring macrocell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover area), some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may substantially overlap with the larger geographic coverage area 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' (labeled "SC" for "small cell") may have a geographic coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the geographic coverage areas 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell base stations and macrocell base stations may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home eNB (HeNB), which may provide services to a restricted group called a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0048] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include uplink (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may be over one or more carrier frequencies. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric for the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to the downlink than to the uplink).

[0049] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a WLAN access point (AP) 150 that communicates with a wireless local area network (WLAN) station (STA) 152 in an unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz) via a communication link 154. When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) or listen before talk (LBT) procedure prior to communication to determine whether a channel is available.

[0050] The small cell base station 102' can operate in 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, Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) or MulteFire.

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

[0052] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing a faster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal to the receiving device. In order to change the directionality of the RF signal when transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters that broadcast the RF signal. For example, a network node can use an array of antennas (called a "phased array" or "antenna array") that creates RF beams that can be "steered" to point in different directions without actually moving the antennas. Specifically, the RF current from the transmitter is fed to each antenna in the correct phase relationship so that the radio waves from the separate antennas are added together in the desired direction to increase radiation, while canceling out in the undesired direction to suppress radiation.

[0053] 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.

[0054] 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.

[0055] The transmit beam and the receive beam may be spatially correlated. The spatial relationship means that the parameters of the second beam (e.g., transmit beam or receive beam) for the second reference signal may be derived based on information about the first beam (e.g., receive beam or transmit beam) of the first reference signal. For example, the UE may use a specific receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE may then form a transmit beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal (e.g., a sounding reference signal (SRS)) to the base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0056] Note that depending on the entity forming the "downlink" beam, the beam can be 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.

[0057] The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc. based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz–7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz–52.6 GHz). It should be understood that, although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often (interchangeably) referred to as the “sub-6 GHz” band in various documents and articles. A similar naming issue sometimes occurs with respect to FR2, which is often (interchangeably) referred to as the “millimeter wave” band in documents and articles, although distinct from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz–300 GHz) that is identified as the “millimeter wave” band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

[0058] Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are generally referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR research has identified the operating bands for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 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 beyond 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.

[0059] In view of the above aspects, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if the term "sub-6 GHz" or the like is used herein, it can be broadly referred to as a frequency 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" or the like is used herein, it can be broadly referred to as a frequency that can include mid-band frequencies, can be within FR2, FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1 and / or FR5, or can be within the EHF band.

[0060] In a multi-carrier system (such as 5G), one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell", and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as "secondary carriers" or "secondary serving cells" or "SCells". In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is a carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) used by the UE 104 / 182 and the cell in which the UE 104 / 182 performs an initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and UE-specific control channels and can be a carrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). A secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2), which can be configured and used to provide additional radio resources once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier. In some cases, the secondary carrier can be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may contain only necessary signaling information and signals, for example, since the primary uplink carrier and the primary downlink carrier are usually UE-specific, those UE-specific signaling information and signals may not be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplink primary carrier. The network is able to change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers. Since a "serving cell" (whether PCell or SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency / component carrier through which a base station communicates, the terms "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0061] For example, still referring to Figure 1 , one of the frequencies used by the macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), and the other frequencies used by the macrocell base station 102 and / or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers ("SCells"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers enables the UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rate. For example, two 20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically result in a doubling of the data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to the data rate obtained with a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0062] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a UE 164, which may communicate with the macrocell base station 102 via a communication link 120 and / or communicate with the mmW base station 180 via a mmW communication link 184. For example, the macrocell base station 102 may support a PCell and one or more SCells for the UE 164, and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCells for the UE 164.

[0063] In some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 are capable of sidelink communication. A 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.

[0064] In one aspect, the sidelink 160 may operate on a wireless communication medium of interest, which may be shared with other wireless communications between other vehicles and / or infrastructure access points and other RATs. A "medium" may include one or more time, frequency, and / or spatial communication resources associated with wireless communications between one or more transmitter / receiver pairs (e.g., covering one or more channels across one or more carriers). In one aspect, the medium of interest may correspond to at least a portion of an unlicensed band shared between various RATs. Although different licensed bands have been reserved for certain communication systems (e.g., by government entities such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States), these systems (particularly those employing small cell access points) have recently expanded operations into unlicensed bands such as the unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band used by wireless local area network (WLAN) 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.

[0065] Note that although Figure 1 Only two of these UEs are illustrated as SL-UEs (i.e., UEs 164 and 182), but any of the illustrated UEs may be SL-UEs. Furthermore, although only UE 182 is described as being capable of beamforming, any of the illustrated UEs (including UE 164) may be capable of beamforming. Where SL-UEs are capable of beamforming, they may beamform toward each other (i.e., toward other SL-UEs), toward other UEs (e.g., UE 104), toward base stations (e.g., base stations 102, 180, small cells 102', access point 150), and the like. Thus, in some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 may utilize beamforming via sidelink 160.

[0066] exist Figure 1 In the example of FIG. 1 , the UE illustrated (for simplicity, in Figure 1Any UE (shown as a single UE 104 in FIG. 1 ) can receive a signal 124 from one or more earth orbiting space vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites). In one aspect, the SV 112 can be part of a satellite positioning system that the UE 104 can use as an independent source of location information. A satellite positioning system typically includes a system of transmitters (e.g., SVs 112) positioned to enable a receiver (e.g., UE 104) to determine its position on or above the earth based at least in part on positioning signals (e.g., signals 124) received from the transmitters. Such a transmitter typically transmits a signal marked with a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code of a set number of chips. Although typically located in the SV 112, the transmitter can sometimes be located on a ground-based control station, base station 102, and / or other UE 104. The UE 104 may include one or more dedicated receivers that are specifically designed to receive the signal 124 in order to derive geographic location information from the SV 112.

[0067] In a satellite positioning system, the use of the 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, and the like, such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multifunction Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), the Global Positioning System (GPS) Assisted Geographic Augmented Navigation, or the GPS and Geographic Augmented Navigation System (GAGAN), and the like. Thus, as used herein, a satellite positioning system may include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellites associated with such one or more satellite positioning systems.

[0068] In one aspect, SV 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). In an NTN, SV 112 is connected to an earth station (also referred to as a ground station, NTN gateway, or gateway), which in turn is connected to an element in a 5G network, such as an improved base station 102 (without a ground antenna) or a network node in a 5GC. This element in turn will provide access to other elements in the 5G network, and ultimately provide access to entities outside the 5G network (such as Internet web servers and other user devices). In this way, instead of or in addition to communication signals from a ground base station 102, UE 104 can receive communication signals (e.g., signal 124) from SV 112.

[0069] The wireless communication system 100 may also include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, which are indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as “side links”). Figure 1 In the example of , UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of UEs 104 connected to one of base stations 102 (e.g., UE 190 can indirectly obtain cellular connectivity through the D2D P2P link), and has a D2D P2P link 194 with WLAN STA 152 connected to WLAN AP 150 (UE 190 can indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity through the D2D P2P link). In one example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 can be supported by any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®, etc.

[0070] Figure 2A An example wireless network structure 200 is illustrated. For example, the 5GC 210 (also referred to as the Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be functionally viewed as a control plane (C-plane) function 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and a user plane (U-plane) function 212 (e.g., UE gateway function, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.), which operate in conjunction to form a core network. The user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and the control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5GC 210, and specifically to the user plane function 212 and the control plane function 214, respectively. In an additional configuration, the ng-eNB 224 can also be connected to the 5GC 210 via the NG-C 215 to the control plane function 214 and the NG-U 213 to the user plane function 212. In addition, the ng-eNB 224 can communicate directly with the gNB 222 via the backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, a next generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of ng-eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. Either (or both) the gNBs 222 or ng-eNBs 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0071] Another optional aspect may include a location server 230 that can communicate with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The location server 230 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 location server 230 can be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204 that can 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 can be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively can be outside the core network (e.g., a third-party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or a service server).

[0072] Figure 2B Another example wireless network structure 240 is illustrated. 5GC 260 (which may correspond to Figure 2AThe 5GC 210 in the 5GC 210 can be functionally considered as a control plane function provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) 264, and a user plane function provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate in conjunction to form a core network (i.e., the 5GC 260). The functions of the AMF 264 include: registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transmission of session management (SM) messages between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein) and a session management function (SMF) 266, a transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transmission of short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and a short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204, and receives an intermediate key established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case of authentication based on the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), the AMF 264 retrieves security material from the AUSF. The functionality of the AMF 264 also includes security context management (SCM). The SCM receives keys from the SEAF, which the SCM 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.

[0073] The functions of the 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. The UPF 262 may also support the delivery of location service messages between the UE 204 and a location server (such as the SLP 272) on the user plane.

[0074] The functions of SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, traffic steering configuration for routing traffic to the correct destination at UPF 262, partial control of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which SMF 266 communicates with AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0075] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270 that can communicate with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The LMF 270 can be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively can each correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which can be connected to the LMF 270 via the core network, the 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). SLP 272 may support similar functionality as LMF 270, but LMF 270 may communicate with AMF 264, NG-RAN 220, and UE 204 on a control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols 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).

[0076] Yet another optional aspect may include a third-party server 274 that can communicate with the LMF 270, SLP 272, 5GC 260 (e.g., via AMF 264 and / or UPF 262), NG-RAN 220, and / or UE 204 to obtain location information (e.g., location estimate) of 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 a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or may alternatively each correspond to a single server.

[0077] The user plane interface 263 and the control plane interface 265 connect the 5GC 260, and specifically the UPF 262 and the AMF 264, respectively, to one or more gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 in the NG-RAN 220. The interface between the gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 and the AMF 264 is referred to as the "N2" interface, and the interface between the gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 and the UPF 262 is referred to as the "N3" interface. The gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 of the NG-RAN 220 may communicate directly with each other via a backhaul connection 223 referred to as an "Xn-C" interface. One or more of the gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 via a wireless interface referred to as a "Uu" interface.

[0078] The functionality of the gNB 222 is divided between a gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU) 226, one or more gNB Distributed Units (gNB-DU) 228, and one or more gNB Radio Units (gNB-RU) 229. The gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes base station functions other than those specifically assigned to the gNB-DU 228, including delivery of user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, etc. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 typically 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 typically 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 can support one or more cells, and one cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and one or more gNB-DUs 228 is referred to as the "F1" interface. The physical (PHY) layer functionality of the gNB 222 is typically hosted by one or more independent gNB-RUs 229, which perform functions such as power amplification and signal transmission / reception. The interface between the gNB-DU 228 and the gNB-RU 229 is referred to as the "Fx" interface. Thus, the UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC layer, the SDAP layer, and the PDCP layer, communicates with the gNB-DU 228 via the RLC layer and the MAC layer, and communicates with the gNB-RU 229 via the PHY layer.

[0079] The deployment of a communication system (such as a 5G NR system) can be arranged with various components or 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.

[0080] 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).

[0081] Base station type operations or network designs may take into account the aggregated nature of base station functionality. For example, a disaggregated base station may be used in an integrated access 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)). Disaggregation may include distributing functionality across two or more units at various physical locations, as well as virtually distributing functionality of at least one unit, which may enable flexibility in network design. Individual units of a disaggregated base station or disaggregated RAN architecture may be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit.

[0082] Figure 2C An example disaggregated base station architecture 250 is illustrated in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The disaggregated base station architecture 250 may include one or more central units (CUs) 280 (e.g., gNB-CUs 226) that may communicate directly with a core network 267 (e.g., 5GC 210, 5GC 260) via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 267 through one or more disaggregated base station units, such as a near real-time (near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 259 via an E2 link or a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC 257 associated with a service management and orchestration (SMO) framework 255, or both. The CU 280 may communicate with one or more distributed units (DUs) 285 (e.g., gNB-DUs 228) via 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.

[0083] Each of these units (i.e., CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, and near-RT RIC 259, non-RT RIC 257, and SMO framework 255) may include or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or send signals, data, or information (collectively referred to as signals) via a wired transmission medium or a wireless transmission medium. Each of the units or an associated processor or controller that provides instructions to the communication interface of these units may be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via a transmission medium. For example, these units may include a wired interface configured to receive or send signals to one or more of the other units via a wired transmission medium. Additionally, these units may include a wireless interface that may include a receiver, 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 via a wireless transmission medium.

[0084] In some aspects, CU 280 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions may include radio resource control (RRC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), etc. Each control function may be implemented using an interface that is configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by CU 280. CU 280 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (i.e., central unit-user plane (CU-UP)), control plane functionality (i.e., central unit-control plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some specific implementations, CU 280 may be logically 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.

[0085] DU 285 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions for controlling the operation of one or more RUs 287. In some aspects, DU 285 may host one or more of a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and one or more high physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, etc.) at least in part according to a functional split such as defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). In some aspects, DU 285 may further host one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (or module) may be implemented using an interface that is configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by DU 285 or with control functions hosted by CU 280.

[0086] The lower layer functionality may be implemented by one or more RUs 287. In some deployments, the RU 287 controlled by the DU 285 may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions or low PHY layer functions (such as performing fast Fourier transform (FFT), inverse FFT (iFFT), digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, etc.), or both, based at least in part on functional splitting (such as lower layer functional splitting). In such an architecture, the RU 287 may be implemented to handle over-the-air (OTA) communications with one or more UEs 204. In some specific implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control plane communications and user plane communications with the RU 287 may be controlled by the corresponding DU 285. In some scenarios, this configuration may enable the implementation of the DU 285 and the CU 280 in a cloud-based RAN architecture (such as a vRAN architecture).

[0087] The SMO framework 255 may be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of non-virtualized network elements and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 255 may be configured to support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements, which may be managed via an operation and maintenance interface (such as an O1 interface). For virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 255 may be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) 269) to perform network element lifecycle management (such as instantiating virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as an O2 interface). Such virtualized network elements may include, but are not limited to, CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, and near-RT RIC 259. In some specific implementations, the SMO framework 255 may communicate with hardware aspects of the 4G RAN (such as an open eNB (O-eNB) 261) via the O1 interface. Additionally, in some specific implementations, the SMO framework 255 may communicate directly with one or more RUs 287 via the O1 interface. The SMO framework 255 may also include a non-RT RIC 257 configured to support the functionality of the SMO framework 255 .

[0088] The non-RT RIC 257 may be configured to include logic functions that implement 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 implement near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions through an interface (such as via an E2 interface) that connects one or more CUs 280, one or more DUs 285, or both, and the O-eNB with the near-RT RIC 259.

[0089] In some implementations, in order to generate an AI / ML model to be deployed in the near-RT RIC 259, the non-RT RIC 257 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from an external server. Such information may be utilized by the near-RT RIC 259 and may be received from a non-network data source or from a network function at the SMO framework 255 or the non-RT RIC 257. In some examples, the non-RT RIC 257 or the near-RT RIC 259 may be configured to tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the non-RT RIC 257 may monitor long-term trends and patterns in performance and employ AI / ML models to perform corrective actions through the SMO framework 255 (such as via reconfiguration of O1) or via the creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 policies).

[0090] Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C The example 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 a LMF 270, or alternatively may be independent of Figure 2A and Figure 2B Several example components (represented by corresponding boxes) in the NG-RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure depicted in the 5GC 210 / 260 (such as a dedicated network) are shown to support operations as described herein. It should be understood that these components can be implemented in different types of devices (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system on a chip (SoC), etc.) in different specific embodiments. The illustrated components can also be incorporated into other devices in the communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to those described as providing similar functionality. Moreover, a given device may include one or more of these components. For example, a device may include multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0091] UE 302 and base station 304 each include one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively, which provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for preventing transmitting, etc.) for communicating via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown), such as NR networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, etc. The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can each be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356, respectively, for communicating with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc.) via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., a certain set of time / frequency resources in a specific frequency spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may be configured in various ways according to the specified RAT to send and encode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.), and vice versa, to 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 sending and encoding signals 318 and 358, respectively, and one or more receivers 312 and 352 for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358, respectively.

[0092] At least in some cases, the UE 302 and the base station 304 each further include one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and provide components (e.g., components for transmitting, components for receiving, components for measuring, components for tuning, components for preventing transmission, 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 Communication (DSRC), Wireless Access for Vehicle Environments (WAVE), Near Field Communication (NFC), Ultra-Wideband (UWB), etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be configured in various ways according to the specified RAT to send and encode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.), and vice versa, to receive and decode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.). Specifically, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 include: one or more transmitters 324 and 364 for sending and encoding signals 328 and 368, respectively, and one or more receivers 322 and 362 for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368, respectively. As 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.

[0093] At least in some cases, the UE 302 and the base station 304 also include satellite signal receivers 330 and 370. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 can be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and can 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 can 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 can be communication signals (e.g., carrying control and / or user data) originating from a 5G network. 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 information and operations from other systems as appropriate, and, at least in some cases, perform calculations using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithm to determine the location of UE 302 and base station 304, respectively.

[0094] The base station 304 and the network entity 306 each include one or more network transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, which provide components (e.g., components for sending, components 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 can use one or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other base stations 304 or network entities 306 through one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. For another example, the network entity 306 can use one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or more base stations 304 through one or more wired or wireless backhaul links, or communicate with other network entities 306 through one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

[0095] The transceiver can be configured to communicate over a wired or wireless link. The 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 can be an integrated device (e.g., implementing the transmitter circuit and the receiver circuit in a single device), in some implementations can include separate transmitter circuits and separate receiver circuits, or can be implemented in other ways in other implementations. The transmitter circuit and the receiver circuit of the wired transceiver (e.g., in some implementations, the network transceivers 380 and 390) can be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. The wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as antenna arrays, which allow the corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform transmit "beamforming", as described herein. Similarly, the wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receiver 312, 322, 352, 362) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as antenna arrays, which allow the corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry may share the same multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), so that the corresponding device can only receive or only transmit at a given time, rather than both receive and transmit at the same time. The wireless transceivers (eg, WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 , short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 ) may also include a network listening module (NLM) or the like for performing various measurements.

[0096] As used herein, various wireless transceivers (e.g., in some implementations, transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, and network transceivers 380 and 390) and wired transceivers (e.g., in some implementations, network transceivers 380 and 390) may be generally referred to 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.

[0097] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 also include other components that can be used in conjunction with the operations disclosed herein. UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 include one or more processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, for providing functionality related to, for example, wireless communication, and for providing other processing functionality. Thus, processors 332, 384, and 394 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.

[0098] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 include memory circuitry implementing memory 340, 386, and 396 (e.g., each including a memory device) for maintaining information (e.g., information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). Thus, memory 340, 386, and 396 may provide means for storing, means for retrieving, means for maintaining, etc. In some cases, UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may include sensing modules 342, 388, and 398, respectively. Sensing modules 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 modules 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 modules 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. Figure 3A Possible locations for the sensing module 342 are illustrated, which may be, for example, part of one or more WWAN transceivers 310, memory 340, one or more processors 332, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. Figure 3BPossible locations for the sensing module 388 are illustrated, which may be, for example, part of one or more WWAN transceivers 350, memory 386, one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. Figure 3C Possible locations for the sensing module 398 are illustrated, which may be, for example, part of one or more network transceivers 390, memory 396, one or more processors 394, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component.

[0099] The UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to the 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 the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and / or the satellite signal receiver 330. By way of example, the 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, the sensor 344 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide motion information. For example, the sensor 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and an orientation sensor to provide the ability to calculate positioning in a two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system.

[0100] In addition, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346, 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.

[0101] Referring to the one or more processors 384 in more detail, in a downlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to the processor 384. The one or more processors 384 may implement the functionality of the RRC layer, the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, the Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and the 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.

[0102] The transmitter 354 and the receiver 352 may implement layer 1 (L1) functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include: error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 handles the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The decoded and modulated symbols may then be separated into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., a pilot) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then combined together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially pre-decoded to generate multiple spatial streams. 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 state 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.

[0103] At the UE 302, the receiver 312 receives the signal through its corresponding antenna 316. The receiver 312 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to one or more processors 332. The transmitter 314 and the receiver 312 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The receiver 312 can perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 302. If there are multiple spatial streams destined for the UE 302, they can be combined into a single OFDM symbol stream by the receiver 312. The receiver 312 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier and the reference signal are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation point sent by the base station 304. These soft decisions can be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally sent by the base station 304 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to one or more processors 332, which implement layer 3 (L3) and layer 2 (L2) functionality.

[0104] In the 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.

[0105] Similar to the functionality described in conjunction with downlink transmissions performed by the base station 304, the one or more processors 332 provide: RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with delivery of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0106] Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback sent by the base station 304 may be used by the transmitter 314 to select appropriate coding and modulation schemes and 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.

[0107] 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.

[0108] In the uplink, the 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 the UE 302. The IP packets from the one or more processors 384 may be provided to the core network. The one or more processors 384 are also responsible for error detection.

[0109] For convenience, UE 302, base station 304 and / or network entity 306 may Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C , are shown to include various components that can be configured according to the various examples described herein. However, it should be understood that the illustrated components may have different functionality in different designs. In particular, FIG. 3A to FIG. 3C Various components in are optional in alternative configurations, and various aspects include configurations that may vary due to design choice, cost, use of the device, or other considerations. For example, in Figure 3A In the case of a UE 302, a specific implementation may omit the WWAN transceiver 310 (e.g., a wearable device or a tablet or a PC or a laptop may have Wi-Fi and / or Bluetooth capabilities but no cellular capabilities), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver 320 (e.g., only cellular, etc.), or may omit the satellite signal receiver 330, or may omit the sensor 344, etc. In another example, in Figure 3B In the case of a wireless cellular network, a specific implementation of the base station 304 may omit the WWAN transceiver 350 (e.g., a Wi-Fi "hotspot" access point without cellular capabilities), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver 360 (e.g., cellular only, etc.), or may omit the satellite signal receiver 370, etc. For the sake of brevity, illustrations of various alternative configurations are not provided herein, but will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

[0110] Various components of the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to one another via data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392, respectively. In 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 different logical entities.

[0111] Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C The components of can be implemented in various ways. In some specific implementations, Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C The components of may be implemented in one or more circuits, such as, for example, one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and / or be combined with at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide the functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310 to 346 may be implemented by a processor and memory component of UE 302 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor component). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350 to 388 may be implemented by a processor and memory component of base station 304 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor component). Moreover, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390 to 398 may be implemented by a processor and memory component of network entity 306 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor component). For simplicity, various operations, actions and / or functions are described herein as being performed by "UE", "by base station", "by network entity", etc. However, it should be understood that such operations, actions and / or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of UE302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc. (such as processors 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350 and 360, memories 340, 386 and 396, sensing modules 342, 388 and 398, etc.).

[0112] In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may be operated differently from a network operator or 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).

[0113] Wireless communication signals (e.g., RF signals configured to carry OFDM symbols) sent between a UE and a base station can be reused for environmental sensing (also known as "RF sensing" or "radar"). The use of wireless communication signals for environmental sensing can be considered as a consumer-grade radar with advanced detection capabilities, which enables contactless / device-free interaction with devices / systems, etc. The wireless communication signal can be a cellular communication signal, such as an LTE or NR signal, a WLAN signal, etc. As a specific example, the wireless communication signal can be an OFDM waveform as utilized in LTE and NR. High-frequency communication signals, such as mmW RF signals, are particularly beneficial for use as radar signals because the higher frequencies at least provide more accurate ranging (distance) detection.

[0114] Figure 4A and Figure 4B Two of these various types of radar are illustrated. In general, there are different types of radars, in particular monostatic and bistatic radars. Specifically, Figure 4A is a diagram 400 illustrating a monostatic radar scenario, and Figure 4B is a diagram 410 illustrating a bistatic radar scenario.

[0115] exist Figure 4A , base station 402 may be configured for full duplex operation, and thus the transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) are co-located. For example, a transmitted radio signal 406 may be reflected by a target object (such as a building 404), and a receiver on base station 402 is configured to receive and measure a reflected beam 408. This is a typical use case for a traditional or conventional radar.

[0116] exist Figure 4B, a base station 412 may be configured as a transmitter (Tx) and a UE 414 may be configured as a receiver (Rx). In this example, the transmitter and receiver are not co-located, i.e., they are separated by a distance comparable to the intended target distance, for example. The base station 412 may be configured to transmit a beam, such as an omni-directional downlink RF signal 406, which may be received by the UE 414. A portion of the RF signal 406 may be reflected or refracted by the building 404, and the UE 414 may receive the reflected signal 416. This is a typical use case for RF sensing based on wireless communications (e.g., WiFi-based, LTE-based, NR-based). Note that although Figure 4B The use of downlink RF signals 406 as RF sensing signals is illustrated, but uplink RF signals may also be used as RF sensing signals. In the downlink scenario, as shown, the transmitter is a base station 412 and the receiver is a UE 414, while in the uplink scenario, the transmitter is a UE and the receiver is a base station. A multi-base radar system is a generalization of a bi-base radar system, which includes at least three components, such as one receiver and two transmitters, two receivers and one transmitter, or multiple receivers and multiple transmitters.

[0117] For more details, refer to Figure 4B , the base station 412 sends an RF sensing signal (e.g., PRS) to the UE 414, but some of the RF sensing signal reflects off from a target object, such as a building 404. The UE 414 can measure the time of arrival (ToA) of the RF signal 406 received directly from the base station, and the ToA of the reflected signal 416 reflected from the target object (e.g., the building 404).

[0118] The base station 412 may be configured to transmit a single RF signal 406 or multiple RF signals to a receiver (e.g., a UE 414). However, due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels, the UE 414 may receive multiple RF signals corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. Each path may be associated with a cluster of one or more channel taps. Typically, the time at which the receiver detects the first cluster of channel taps is considered to be the ToA of the RF signal on the site line (LOS) path (i.e., the shortest path between the transmitter and the receiver). Later clusters of channel taps are considered to have been reflected by objects between the transmitter and the receiver, and are therefore along a non-LOS (NLOS) path between the transmitter and the receiver.

[0119] Therefore, return to the reference Figure 4B, RF signal 406 follows a LOS path between base station 412 and UE 414, and reflected signal 416 represents an RF sensing signal that follows a NLOS path between base station 412 and UE 414 due to reflection off building 404 (or another target object). Base station 412 may have sent multiple RF sensing signals ( Figure 4B ), some of the multiple RF sensing signals follow the LOS path and other of the multiple RF sensing signals follow the NLOS path. Alternatively, the base station 412 may have transmitted a single RF sensing signal in a sufficiently wide beam so that a portion of the RF sensing signal follows the LOS path and a portion of the RF sensing signal follows the NLOS path.

[0120] Based on the difference between the ToA of the LOS path, the ToA of the NLOS path, and the speed of light, the UE 414 can determine the distance to the building 404. In addition, if the UE 414 is capable of receiving beamforming, the UE 414 may be able to determine the general direction to the building 404 as the direction of the reflected signal 416, which is the RF sensing signal following the NLOS path as received. The UE 414 then optionally reports this information to the sending base station 412, an application server associated with the core network, an external client, a third-party application, or some other entity. Alternatively, the UE 414 may report the ToA measurement to the base station 412, or other entity, and the base station 412 may determine the distance to the target object and optionally the direction to the target object.

[0121] It should be noted that if the RF sensing signal is an uplink RF signal sent by UE 414 to base station 412, base station 412 will perform object detection based on the uplink RF signal just as UE 414 performs object detection based on downlink RF signals.

[0122] Fifth generation (5G) massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is a key enabler for increasing throughput. High beamforming gain is achieved by using active antenna units (AAUs) and separate radio frequency (RF) chains for each antenna port. However, this results in a significant increase in power consumption due to the use of AAUs.

[0123] Figure 5A and Figure 5B The use of Reconfigurable Smart Surfaces (RIS) to extend 5G coverage with negligible power consumption is demonstrated. RIS is a nearly passive device that reflects incident waves in a desired direction. This direction can be controlled by the gNB. Figure 5A504 but cannot communicate with the second UE 506 because the second transmit beam 508 transmitted in the direction of the second UE 506 is blocked by an obstacle 510. Figure 5B In the example of FIG. 5 , by using RIS 512 controlled by gNB 500, gNB 500 can reach second UE 506 by sending third beam 514 to RIS 512, which transmits reflected beam 516 around obstacle 510 to second UE 506. As described in detail below, RIS 512 can be used not only to extend the 5G coverage of communications, but also to assist in network sensing. Therefore, the techniques for monostatic sensing and bistatic sensing disclosed herein enable accurate target range information to be obtained using RIS reflected signals.

[0124] Figure 6 An example of extending coverage using RIS is illustrated in more detail. Figure 6 The simplified example shown involves a gNB 600 and a RIS 602 (both of which are in fixed locations) and a mobile UE 604 that does not have a line of sight (LOS) channel to the gNB 600 due to an obstacle 606. Figure 6 In the example shown, gNB 600 transmits a series of directional beams labeled A through E. One of the beams, beam C, is directed toward RIS 602. RIS 602 can reflect incident beam C at different possible angles, as shown by reflected beams labeled J through M. One of the reflected angles, reflected beam L, is directed toward UE 604.

[0125] The angle 608 at which the RIS 602 receives the incident beam is called the angle of incidence, and the angle 610 at which the RIS 602 sends the reflected beam is called the angle of reflection. The RIS 602 does not have control over the angle of incidence, but can control the angle of reflection with a set of control voltages applied to the antenna elements of the RIS 602.

[0126] For example Figure 6 For DL ​​transmission shown, angle 608 is the angle of incidence and angle 610 is the angle of reflection, but for UL transmission, angle 610 is the angle of incidence and angle 608 is the angle of reflection. Figure 6 In the illustrated example, the reflection angle for DL ​​transmission (ie, angle 610) is not the same angle as the reflection angle for UL transmission (ie, angle 608), so the set of control voltages required for DL ​​transmission will be different than the set of control voltages required for UL transmission.

[0127] Figure 7 Illustrate a technical difficulty in attempting to perform monostatic sensing using RIS. Figure 6Scenario 700, RIS 602, and obstacle 606 are shown, the description of which will not be repeated here. gNB 600 transmits DL transmission 700, which reflects from RIS 602 as beam 704 at reflection angle 702. Beam 704 reflects from person 706 as reflected beam 708. Reflected beam 708 reflects from RIS 602 at the same reflection angle 702 as beam 710. Since beam 710 is not pointed directly at gNB 600, gNB 600 may not receive beam 710, or may receive beam 710, but at such an attenuated power that gNB 600 cannot use (or even detect) beam 710 for sensing purposes. Therefore, the non-reciprocal reflection angle may cause reflected beam 710 to have a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) that is insufficient for sensing purposes.

[0128] Therefore, a variety of technologies have been proposed to solve this technical problem.

[0129] Fig. 8A and Figure 8B Two methods are illustrated that may be used for monostatic sensing without a direct (LOS) channel to the target in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0130] Fig. 8A A method is illustrated in which only a reciprocal beam set between the gNB 600 and the RIS 602 is used to sense the time slot. For example, a reciprocal beam set is defined as a beam set in which the control voltage for setting the DL reflection angle 800 is the same as the control voltage for setting the UL reflection angle 802, such as Beam used for sensing time slots.

[0131] exist Fig. 8A In the illustrated example, this corresponds to beams where the DL reflection angle 800 is equal to the UL reflection angle 802, i.e., beam C from gNB 600 and beam J from RIS 602. Although the set of beams that satisfy the above control voltage formula is Fig. 8A 804 are shown as having the same angle magnitude but opposite to each other, for example, angle 800 and angle 802 are both 70 degrees away from normal 804, where angle 800 is positive 70 degrees away from normal 804 and angle 802 is negative 70 degrees away from normal 804.

[0132] In this method, a set of reciprocal beams are configured and shared between gNB 600 and RIS 602, e.g., via gNB-RIS signaling. In some aspects, the set of reciprocal beams corresponds to a set of reciprocal voltage settings on the RIS 602 side. In some aspects, for time slots used for sensing, RIS 602 uses only the set of reciprocal beams. In some aspects, RIS 602 is configured / instructed to have time slots use reciprocal beams in a semi-static or dynamic manner.

[0133] Figure 8B A method using a multi-panel RIS with reciprocal voltage settings is illustrated. Figure 8B In the illustrated example, the RIS has a first panel 602A and a second panel 602B. The first panel 602A has a control voltage setting that produces a first reflection angle 806. , and the second panel 602B has a control voltage setting that produces a second reflection angle 808 , which is a different reflection angle than the first reflection angle 806. The first reflection angle 806 causes the DL transmission 810 to reflect from the first panel 602A as beam 812 to the target 814. Some of the beam 812 is reflected from the target 814 back to the second panel 602B as beam 816. The beam 816 is reflected from the second panel 602B to the gNB 600 as beam 818. In some aspects, post-processing is performed to identify and use the first arriving reflection signal and suppress later arriving signals from other reflection paths.

[0134] Fig.9A and Fig. 9B A method for performing single-base sensing with a direct (LOS) channel to a target according to various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In the method, the gNB 600 performs sensing signal transmission multiple times: at least once to measure the direct path with the RIS 602 turned off, such as Fig.9A As shown, and at least once measuring the path reflected by RIS 602 when RIS 602 is turned on, as shown Fig. 9B In this method, the RIS 602 on / off timing is provided by the gNB 600, for example, via control signaling to obtain single-base sensing information.

[0135] exist Fig.9A In FIG. 1 , the first sensing signal transmission 900 generates a reflected signal 902 from a target 904. Because the RIS 602 is turned off, it does not reflect any signal to the target 904 or to the gNB 600. Based on the reception timing of the reflected signal 902, the direct range R1 can be calculated.

[0136] exist Fig. 9B , the second transmitted signal 906 and its reflection 908 from the RIS 602 together with the reflected signal 910 from the target and its reflection 912 from the RIS 602 can be used to determine the reflection range (R2+R3). The target location can then be derived based on the measurements in post-processing. In some aspects, assuming that R2 is known to the gNB 600 (or measured separately), individual values ​​of R1, R2, and R3 can be obtained.

[0137] Fig.10A method is illustrated that can be used for bistatic sensing without a direct (LOS) channel to a target in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In the method involving a first gNB 600A, a second gNB 600B, and a RIS 602, the first gNB 600A transmits a sensing signal 1000 that is reflected by the RIS 602 directly to the second gNB 600B as signal 1002 with a first angle of arrival (AoA) 1004. The same signal 1000 is also reflected from the RIS 602 to a target 1008 as signal 1006, and reflected from the target 1008 to the second gNB 600B as signal 1010 with a second AoA 1012. For ease of description, the path including signal 1000 and signal 1002 is referred to herein as the "first arrival path," and the path including signal 1000, signal 1006, and signal 1010 is referred to herein as the "echo path." Both the first arrival path and the echo path will be observed by the second gNB 600B. The delay component between the first gNB 600A and the RIS 602 should be removed during post-processing.

[0138] In some aspects, the delay between the first gNB 600A and the RIS 602 (corresponding to the distance R1) is signaled to the second gNB 600B.

[0139] In some aspects, the distance R T Calculated by the second gNB 600B. Fig.10 In the example shown, the path length (R1+L) and the first AoA 1004 may be measured by estimating the first arrival path, or may be provided to the second gNB 600B via signaling. Fig.10 In the example shown, the path length (R1+R2+R t ) and the second AoA 1012 may be measured by estimating the echo path. After subtracting R1, the target range with respect to the second gNB 600B may be calculated as:

[0140]

[0141] in , is the first AoA 1004, and The second AoA is 1012.

[0142] In some aspects, Rt is calculated by the first gNB 600A. Fig.10 In the example shown, R2, R tand the second AoA 1012 (and optionally R1). In addition, L and the first AoA 1004 (and optionally R1) are measured and reported, or are known to the first gNB 600A. R can then be calculated based on the above formula t .

[0143] Fig.11 A method is illustrated for multibase sensing with a direct (LOS) channel to a target in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In the method, a second gNB 600B receives a direct signal 1100 (referred to herein as a LOS signal) from a first gNB 600A and a signal 1102 (referred to herein as a reflected LOS signal) reflected from a target 1104 and received by the second gNB 600B as a signal 1106. The second gNB 600B also receives a signal 1108 from the first gNB 600A that is reflected from a RIS 602 and received by the second gNB 600B as a signal 1110 (referred to herein as a RIS signal). The second gNB 600B also receives a signal 1108 that is reflected from a RIS 602 as a signal 1112 and then reflected from a target 1104 and received by the second gNB 600B as a signal 1114 (referred to herein as a reflected RIS signal). These LOS and RIS paths between the first gNB 600A and the second gNB 600B may provide spatial diversity gain to derive sensing information.

[0144] In some aspects, the delay between the first gNB 600A and the RIS 602 (corresponding to the distance R1) is signaled to the second gNB 600B. The second gNB 600B may observe signals on multiple paths, including the LOS signal (L1), the reflected LOS signal (R 21 +R t1 ), RIS signal (R1+L2) and reflected RIS signal (R1+R 22 +R t2 ).

[0145] In some aspects, bistatic sensing can be achieved by taking a first measurement when the RIS 602 is off and then taking a second measurement when the RIS 602 is on. Fig.11 In the illustrated example, when RIS 602 is turned off, LOS bistatic information L1, (R 21 +R t1 ) and R t1 In post-processing, R can be calculated based on the triangle law. 21 and R t1 RIS dual base information (R1+L2), L2 AoA, (R1+R 22 +Rt2 ) and R t2 The AoA of R can be derived when RIS 602 is turned on. In post-processing, when the second gNB 600B knows R1 through signaling, R 22 and R t2 In some aspects, R is obtained in post-processing t1 and R t2 After both, the final target range can be derived more accurately.

[0146] Fig.12 is a flow chart of an example process 1200 associated with RIS-assisted sensing according to aspects of the present disclosure. In some implementations, Fig.12 One or more process blocks of may be performed by a BS (e.g., BS 102, gNB, etc.). In some implementations, Fig.12 One or more process blocks of may be performed by another device or a group of devices separate from the BS or including the UE. Additionally or alternatively, Fig.12 One or more process blocks may be performed by one or more components of BS 304, such as processor 384, memory 386, WWAN transceiver 350, short-range wireless transceiver 360, satellite signal receiver 370, network transceiver 380, and sensing module 388, any or all of which may be components for performing operations of process 1200.

[0147] like Fig.12 As shown, process 1200 may include defining or configuring one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs for sensing at block 1210, wherein each of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs includes a downlink (DL) beam having a DL angle of departure (DL AoD) from the RIS controlled by a first set of control voltages and an uplink (UL) beam having a UL AoD from the RIS controlled by a second set of control voltages. Means for performing the operations of block 1210 may include a processor 384, a memory 386, a WWAN transceiver 350, and a sensing module 388 of the BS 304. For example, the BS 304 may define or configure at least one reciprocal RIS beam pair for sensing using the processor 384 and the memory 386.

[0148] like Fig.12 As further shown, process 1200 may include transmitting information identifying one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs to the RIS at block 1220. Means for performing the operations of block 1220 may include processor 384, memory 386, WWAN transceiver 350, and sensing module 388 of BS 304. For example, BS 304 may transmit information to the RIS using transmitter 354.

[0149] like Fig.12 As further shown, process 1200 may include performing monostatic sensing using at least one of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs at block 1230. Means for performing the operations of block 1230 may include processor 384, memory 386, WWAN transceiver 350, and sensing module 388 of BS 304. For example, BS 304 may perform monostatic sensing by transmitting sensing signals using transmitter 354, receiving reflections of these sensing signals using receiver 352, and determining range and / or position using the timing of the transmitted and received signals using processor 384 and memory 386.

[0150] In some aspects, transmitting information identifying one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs includes transmitting information mapping sensing slots to reciprocal RIS beam pairs.

[0151] In some aspects, transmitting information identifying one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs includes transmitting information mapping sensing slots to reciprocal RIS beam pairs in a semi-static or dynamic manner.

[0152] In some aspects, for each of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs, the first set of control voltages for the DL beam and the second set of control voltages for the UL beam are the same.

[0153] In some aspects, for each of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs, a first set of control voltages is used by a first panel of the RIS to reflect a DL beam, and wherein a second set of control voltages is used by a second panel of the RIS to reflect a UL beam.

[0154] In some aspects, performing monostatic sensing includes transmitting a sensing signal to the RIS, receiving reflections of the sensing signal from the target from the RIS, and determining a distance from the RIS to the target based on the sensing signal, the reflections of the sensing signal, and a position of the RIS relative to the BS.

[0155] In some aspects, process 1200 also includes determining a location of the target based on a distance from the RIS to the target and a DL AoD from the RIS.

[0156] Process 1200 may include additional implementations, such as any single implementation or any combination of implementations described below and / or in conjunction with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein. Fig.12 An example block diagram of process 1200 is shown, but in some implementations, process 1200 may include Fig.12The process 1200 may include more boxes, fewer boxes, different boxes, or boxes arranged in a different manner than those depicted in the process 1200. Additionally or alternatively, two or more boxes in the boxes of process 1200 may be performed in parallel.

[0157] Fig.13 is a flow chart of an example process 1300 associated with RIS-assisted sensing according to aspects of the present disclosure. In some implementations, Fig.13 One or more process blocks of may be performed by a BS (e.g., BS 102, gNB, etc.). In some implementations, Fig.13 One or more process blocks of may be performed by another device or a group of devices separate from the BS or including the UE. Additionally or alternatively, Fig.13 One or more process blocks may be performed by one or more components of BS 304, such as processor 384, memory 386, WWAN transceiver 350, short-range wireless transceiver 360, satellite signal receiver 370, network transceiver 380, and sensing module 388, any or all of which may be components for performing operations of process 1300.

[0158] like Fig.13 As shown, process 1300 may include transmitting a first sensing signal at block 1310, and receiving a reflection of the first sensing signal from a target at block 1320. Means for performing the operations of blocks 1310 and 1320 may include processor 384, memory 386, WWAN transceiver 350, and sensing module 388 of BS 304. For example, BS 304 may transmit the first sensing signal using transmitter 354 and may receive the reflection of the first sensing signal using receiver 352.

[0159] like Fig.13 As further shown, process 1300 may include transmitting a second sensing signal to the RIS at block 1330, and receiving a reflection of the second sensing signal from the target from the RIS at block 1340. Means for performing the operations of blocks 1330 and 1340 may include processor 384, memory 386, WWAN transceiver 350, and sensing module 388 of BS 304. For example, BS 304 may transmit the second sensing signal using transmitter 354 and may receive the reflection of the second sensing signal using receiver 352.

[0160] like Fig.13As further shown, process 1300 may include performing monostatic sensing using the first sensing signal, the reflection of the first sensing signal, the second sensing signal, and the reflection of the second sensing signal at block 1350. Means for performing the operations of block 1350 may include processor 384, memory 386, WWAN transceiver 350, and sensing module 388 of BS 304. For example, BS 304 may use the timing of transmitted and received signals to determine range and / or location using processor 384 and memory 386.

[0161] In some aspects, process 1300 also includes transmitting configuration information to the RIS to configure when the RIS is in an active state and when the RIS is in an inactive state.

[0162] In some aspects, transmitting the first sensing signal and receiving a reflection of the first sensing signal are performed while the RIS is in an inactive state.

[0163] In some aspects, transmitting the second sensing signal and receiving a reflection of the second sensing signal are performed while the RIS is in an active state.

[0164] In some aspects, performing monostatic sensing using the first sensing signal, the reflection of the first sensing signal, the second sensing signal, and the reflection of the second sensing signal includes determining a first distance from the BS to the target based on the timing of the first sensing signal and the reflection of the first sensing signal, determining a second distance from the BS to the target based on the timing of the second sensing signal and the reflection of the second sensing signal, and determining a position of the target based on the distance from the BS to the RIS, the first distance from the BS to the target, and the second distance from the BS to the target.

[0165] Process 1300 may include additional implementations, such as any single implementation or any combination of implementations described below and / or in conjunction with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein. Fig.13 An example block diagram of process 1300 is shown, but in some implementations, process 1300 may include Fig.13 The process 1300 may include more boxes, fewer boxes, different boxes, or boxes arranged in a different manner than those depicted in the process 1300. Additionally or alternatively, two or more boxes in the boxes of process 1300 may be executed in parallel.

[0166] Fig.14 is a flow chart of an example process 1400 associated with RIS-assisted sensing according to aspects of the present disclosure. In some implementations, Fig.14 One or more process blocks of may be performed by a BS (e.g., BS 102, gNB, etc.). In some implementations, Fig.14 One or more process blocks of may be performed by another device or a group of devices separate from the BS or including the UE. Additionally or alternatively, Fig.14 One or more process blocks may be performed by one or more components of BS 304, such as processor 384, memory 386, WWAN transceiver 350, short-range wireless transceiver 360, satellite signal receiver 370, network transceiver 380, and sensing module 388, any or all of which may be components for performing operations of process 1400.

[0167] like Fig.14 As shown, process 1400 may include, at block 1410, receiving a first signal at the BS, the first signal comprising a reflection of a sensing signal from a second BS from the RIS. Means for performing the operations of block 1410 may include processor 384, memory 386, WWAN transceiver 350, and sensing module 388 of BS 304. For example, BS 304 may receive the first signal via receiver 352.

[0168] like Fig.14 As further shown, process 1400 may include, at block 1420, receiving at the BS a second signal, the second signal including reflections of the sensed signal from the RIS and from the target. Means for performing the operations of block 1420 may include processor 384, memory 386, WWAN transceiver 350, and sensing module 388 of BS 304. For example, BS 304 may receive the second signal via receiver 352.

[0169] like Fig.14 As further shown, process 1400 may include performing bistatic sensing using the first signal and the second signal at block 1430. Means for performing the operations of block 1430 may include processor 384, memory 386, WWAN transceiver 350, and sensing module 388 of BS 304. For example, BS 304 may perform bistatic sensing based on the relative timing of the received signals and calculations performed by processor 384 and memory 386.

[0170] In some aspects, performing bistatic sensing using the first signal and the second signal includes determining a distance from the target to the BS based on a timing of the first signal, a timing of the second signal, a distance from the RIS to the BS, an angle of arrival (AoA) of the first signal, and an AoA of the second signal.

[0171] In some aspects, process 1400 also includes determining a location of the target based on a distance from the target to the BS and an AoA of the second signal.

[0172] In some aspects, performing bistatic sensing using the first signal and the second signal includes transmitting information indicating a timing of the first signal, a timing of the second signal, and an AoA of the second signal to the second BS, and receiving information indicating a location of the target from the second BS.

[0173] In some aspects, performing bistatic sensing using the first signal and the second signal includes transmitting to the second BS information indicating a timing of the first signal, a timing of the second signal, a distance from the RIS to the BS, an angle of arrival (AoA) of the first signal, and an AoA of the second signal, and receiving from the second BS information indicating a location of the target.

[0174] Process 1400 may include additional implementations, such as any single implementation or any combination of implementations described below and / or in conjunction with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein. Fig.14 An example block diagram of process 1400 is shown, but in some implementations, process 1400 may include Fig.14 The process 1400 may include more boxes, fewer boxes, different boxes, or boxes arranged in a different manner than those depicted in the process 1400. Additionally or alternatively, two or more boxes in the boxes of process 1400 may be performed in parallel.

[0175] Fig.15 is a flow chart of an example process 1500 associated with RIS-assisted sensing according to aspects of the present disclosure. In some implementations, Fig.15 One or more process blocks of may be performed by a BS (e.g., BS 102, gNB, etc.). In some implementations, Fig.15 One or more process blocks of may be performed by another device or a group of devices separate from the BS or including the UE. Additionally or alternatively, Fig.15 One or more process blocks may be performed by one or more components of BS 304, such as processor 384, memory 386, WWAN transceiver 350, short-range wireless transceiver 360, satellite signal receiver 370, network transceiver 380, and sensing module 388, any or all of which may be components for performing operations of process 1500.

[0176] like Fig.15 As shown, process 1500 may include, at block 1510, receiving a first signal at a base station (BS), the first signal including a first sensing signal from a second BS. The components for performing the operations of block 1510 may include processor 384, memory 386, WWAN transceiver 350, and sensing module 388 of BS 304. For example, BS 304 may receive the first signal via receiver 352.

[0177] like Fig.15As shown, process 1500 may include, at block 1520, receiving a second signal at the BS, the second signal including a reflection of the first sensed signal from the target. The components for performing the operations of block 1520 may include processor 384, memory 386, WWAN transceiver 350, and sensing module 388 of BS 304. For example, BS 304 may receive the second signal via receiver 352.

[0178] like Fig.15 As shown, process 1500 may include, at block 1530, receiving a third signal at the BS, the third signal including a reflection of a second sensing signal from the second BS from the RIS. Means for performing the operations of block 1530 may include processor 384, memory 386, WWAN transceiver 350, and sensing module 388 of BS 304. For example, BS 304 may receive the third signal via receiver 352.

[0179] like Fig.15 As shown, process 1500 may include, at block 1540, receiving a fourth signal at the BS, the fourth signal including reflections of the second sensed signal from the RIS and from the target. The components for performing the operations of block 1540 may include processor 384, memory 386, WWAN transceiver 350, and sensing module 388 of BS 304. For example, BS 304 may receive the fourth signal via receiver 352.

[0180] like Fig.15 As shown, process 1500 may include performing bistatic sensing using the first signal, the second signal, the third signal, and the fourth signal at block 1550. Means for performing the operations of block 1550 may include processor 384, memory 386, WWAN transceiver 350, and sensing module 388 of BS 304. For example, BS 304 may perform bistatic sensing based on information calculated by processor 384 and memory 386, information received from a second BS via receiver 352, or a combination thereof. In some aspects, BS 304 may transmit information to the second BS so that the second BS may perform bistatic sensing calculations and optionally share the results of these calculations with BS 304.

[0181] In some aspects, process 1500 also includes transmitting configuration information to the RIS that configures when the RIS is in an active state and when the RIS is in an inactive state.

[0182] In some aspects, receiving the first signal and receiving the second signal occur while the RIS is in an inactive state.

[0183] In some aspects, receiving the third signal and receiving the fourth signal occur while the RIS is in an active state.

[0184] In some aspects, performing bistatic sensing using the first signal, the second signal, the third signal, and the fourth signal includes determining a distance from the BS to the target based on: a timing of the first signal, a timing of the second signal, a distance from the RIS to the BS, an angle of arrival (AoA) of the first signal, and an AoA of the second signal; a timing of the third signal, a timing of the fourth signal, a distance from the RIS to the BS, an AoA of the third signal, and an AoA of the fourth signal; or a combination thereof.

[0185] Process 1500 may include additional implementations, such as any single implementation or any combination of implementations described below and / or in conjunction with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein. Fig.15 An example block diagram of process 1500 is shown, but in some implementations, process 1500 may include Fig.15 The process 1500 may include more boxes, fewer boxes, different boxes, or boxes arranged in a different manner than those depicted in the process 1500. Additionally or alternatively, two or more boxes in the boxes of process 1500 may be executed in parallel.

[0186] As should be appreciated, a technical advantage of the techniques disclosed herein is that the use of a RIS allows previously unachievable sensing techniques (such as monostatic or bistatic sensing without a direct channel to a target), as well as greater accuracy of the monostatic or bistatic due to the additional signal paths that the RIS can provide.

[0187] In the above specific embodiments, it can be seen that different features are grouped together in each example. This disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the example clauses have more features than the features explicitly mentioned in each clause. On the contrary, various aspects of the present disclosure may include less than all the features of the disclosed individual example clauses. Therefore, the following clauses should be considered to be incorporated into the description accordingly, where each clause itself can be used as a separate example. Although each subordinate clause can 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 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 can be included in any other independent clause, even if the clause is not directly subordinate to the independent clause.

[0188] Specific implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0189] Clause 1. A method for reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) assisted sensing performed by a base station (BS), the method comprising: configuring one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs for sensing, wherein each of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs comprises a downlink (DL) beam and an uplink (UL) beam, the downlink (DL) beam having a DL angle of departure (DL AoD) from the RIS controlled by a first set of control voltages, and the uplink (UL) beam having a UL AoD from the RIS controlled by a second set of control voltages; transmitting information identifying the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs to the RIS; and performing monostatic sensing using at least one of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs.

[0190] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein transmitting the information identifying the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs comprises transmitting information mapping sensing time slots to reciprocal RIS beam pairs.

[0191] Clause 3. The method of clause 2, wherein transmitting the information identifying the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs comprises transmitting information mapping sensing time slots to reciprocal RIS beam pairs in a semi-static or dynamic manner.

[0192] Clause 4. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 3, wherein, for each of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs, the first set of control voltages for the DL beam and the second set of control voltages for the UL beam are the same.

[0193] Clause 5. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 4, wherein, for each of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs, the first set of control voltages is used by a first panel of the RIS to reflect the DL beam, and wherein the second set of control voltages is used by a second panel of the RIS to reflect the UL beam.

[0194] Clause 6. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 5, wherein performing single-base sensing includes: transmitting a sensing signal to the RIS; receiving a reflection of the sensing signal from a target from the RIS; and determining a distance from the RIS to the target based on the sensing signal, the reflection of the sensing signal, and the position of the RIS relative to the BS.

[0195] Clause 7. The method of clause 6, further comprising determining a location of the target based on the distance from the RIS to the target and the DL AoD from the RIS.

[0196] Clause 8. A method of reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) assisted sensing performed by a base station (BS), the method comprising: transmitting a first sensing signal; receiving a reflection of the first sensing signal from a target; transmitting a second sensing signal to the RIS; receiving a reflection of the second sensing signal from the target from the RIS; and performing monostatic sensing using the first sensing signal, the reflection of the first sensing signal, the second sensing signal, and the reflection of the second sensing signal.

[0197] Clause 9. The method of clause 8, further comprising transmitting configuration information to the RIS to configure when the RIS is in an active state and when the RIS is in an inactive state.

[0198] Clause 10. The method of clause 9, wherein transmitting the first sensing signal and receiving the reflection of the first sensing signal are performed while the RIS is in the inactive state.

[0199] Clause 11. The method of any of clauses 9 to 10, wherein transmitting the second sensing signal and receiving the reflection of the second sensing signal are performed while the RIS is in the active state.

[0200] Clause 12. A method according to any one of clauses 8 to 11, wherein performing single-base sensing using the first sensing signal, the reflection of the first sensing signal, the second sensing signal, and the reflection of the second sensing signal includes: determining a first distance from the BS to the target based on the timing of the first sensing signal and the reflection of the first sensing signal; determining a second distance from the BS to the target based on the timing of the second sensing signal and the reflection of the second sensing signal; and determining the position of the target based on the distance from the BS to the RIS, the first distance from the BS to the target, and the second distance from the BS to the target.

[0201] Clause 13. A method for reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) assisted sensing, the method comprising: receiving a first signal at a base station (BS), the first signal comprising reflections of a sensing signal from a second BS from the RIS; receiving a second signal at the BS, the second signal comprising reflections of the sensing signal from the second BS from the RIS and from a target; and performing bistatic sensing using the first signal and the second signal.

[0202] Clause 14. The method of clause 13, wherein performing bistatic sensing using the first signal and the second signal comprises determining a distance from the target to the BS based on a timing of the first signal, a timing of the second signal, a distance from the RIS to the BS, an angle of arrival (AoA) of the first signal, and an AoA of the second signal.

[0203] Clause 15. The method of clause 14, further comprising determining a location of the target based on the distance from the target to the BS and the AoA of the second signal.

[0204] Clause 16. A method according to any one of clauses 13 to 15, wherein performing dual-base sensing using the first signal and the second signal includes: transmitting information indicating the timing of the first signal, the timing of the second signal, and the AoA of the second signal to the second BS; and receiving information indicating the location of the target from the second BS.

[0205] Clause 17. A method according to any one of clauses 13 to 16, wherein performing bistatic sensing using the first signal and the second signal comprises: transmitting to the second BS information indicating a timing of the first signal, a timing of the second signal, a distance from the RIS to the BS, an angle of arrival (AoA) of the first signal, and an AoA of the second signal; and receiving from the second BS information indicating a location of the target.

[0206] Clause 18. A method for reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) assisted sensing, the method comprising: receiving a first signal at a base station (BS), the first signal comprising a first sensing signal from a second BS; receiving a second signal at the BS, the second signal comprising a reflection of the first sensing signal from a target; receiving a third signal at the BS, the third signal comprising a reflection of the second sensing signal from the second BS from the RIS; receiving a fourth signal at the BS, the fourth signal comprising reflections of the second sensing signal from the RIS and from the target; and performing bistatic sensing using the first signal, the second signal, the third signal, and the fourth signal.

[0207] Clause 19. The method of clause 18, the method comprising transmitting configuration information to the RIS, the configuration information configuring when the RIS is in an active state and when the RIS is in an inactive state.

[0208] Clause 20. The method of clause 19, wherein receiving the first signal and receiving the second signal occur while the RIS is in the inactive state.

[0209] Clause 21. The method of any one of clauses 19 to 20, wherein receiving the third signal and receiving the fourth signal occur while the RIS is in the active state.

[0210] Clause 22. A method according to any one of clauses 19 to 21, wherein performing bistatic sensing using the first signal, the second signal, the third signal, and the fourth signal includes determining the distance from the BS to the target based on: the timing of the first signal, the timing of the second signal, the distance from the RIS to the BS, the angle of arrival (AoA) of the first signal, and the AoA of the second signal; the timing of the third signal, the timing of the fourth signal, the distance from the RIS to the BS, the AoA of the third signal, and the AoA of the fourth signal; or a combination thereof.

[0211] Clause 23. A base station (BS), the base station (BS) 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: configure one or more reciprocal reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) beam pairs for sensing, wherein each of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs comprises a downlink (DL) beam and an uplink (UL) beam, the downlink (DL) beam having a DL angle of departure (DL AoD) from the RIS controlled by a first set of control voltages, the uplink (UL) beam having a UL AoD from the RIS controlled by a second set of control voltages; transmit information identifying the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs to the RIS via the at least one transceiver; and perform monostatic sensing using at least one of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs.

[0212] Clause 24. The BS of clause 23, wherein, to transmit the information identifying the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs, the at least one processor is configured to transmit information mapping sensing time slots to reciprocal RIS beam pairs.

[0213] Clause 25. The BS of clause 24, wherein, to transmit the information identifying the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs, the at least one processor is configured to transmit information mapping sensing slots to reciprocal RIS beam pairs in a semi-static or dynamic manner.

[0214] Clause 26. A BS according to any one of clauses 23 to 25, wherein, for each of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs, the first set of control voltages for the DL beam and the second set of control voltages for the UL beam are the same.

[0215] Clause 27. A BS according to any one of clauses 23 to 26, wherein, for each of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs, the first set of control voltages is used by a first panel of the RIS to reflect the DL beam, and wherein the second set of control voltages is used by a second panel of the RIS to reflect the UL beam.

[0216] Clause 28. A BS according to any one of clauses 23 to 27, wherein, in order to perform single-base sensing, the at least one processor is configured to: transmit a sensing signal to the RIS via the at least one transceiver; receive a reflection of the sensing signal from a target from the RIS via the at least one transceiver; and determine a distance from the RIS to the target based on the sensing signal, the reflection of the sensing signal and the position of the RIS relative to the BS.

[0217] Clause 29. The BS of Clause 28, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine a location of the target based on the distance from the RIS to the target and the DL AoD from the RIS.

[0218] Clause 30. A base station (BS), the base station (BS) 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: transmit a first sensing signal via the at least one transceiver; receive a reflection of the first sensing signal from a target via the at least one transceiver; transmit a second sensing signal to a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) via the at least one transceiver; receive a reflection of the second sensing signal from the target from the RIS via the at least one transceiver; and perform monostatic sensing using the first sensing signal, the reflection of the first sensing signal, the second sensing signal, and the reflection of the second sensing signal.

[0219] Clause 31. The BS of clause 30, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to transmit configuration information to the RIS via the at least one transceiver to configure when the RIS is in an active state and when the RIS is in an inactive state.

[0220] Clause 32. The BS of clause 31, wherein transmitting the first sensing signal and receiving the reflection of the first sensing signal are performed while the RIS is in the inactive state.

[0221] Clause 33. The BS of any of clauses 31 to 32, wherein transmitting the second sensing signal and receiving the reflection of the second sensing signal are performed while the RIS is in the active state.

[0222] Clause 34. A BS according to any one of clauses 30 to 33, wherein, in order to perform single-base sensing using the first sensing signal, the reflection of the first sensing signal, the second sensing signal, and the reflection of the second sensing signal, the at least one processor is configured to: determine a first distance from the BS to the target based on the timing of the first sensing signal and the reflection of the first sensing signal; determine a second distance from the BS to the target based on the timing of the second sensing signal and the reflection of the second sensing signal; and determine the position of the target based on the distance from the BS to the RIS, the first distance from the BS to the target, and the second distance from the BS to the target.

[0223] Clause 35. A base station (BS), the base station (BS) comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: receive a first signal via the at least one transceiver, the first signal comprising reflections of a sensing signal from a second BS from a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS); receive a second signal via the at least one transceiver, the second signal comprising reflections of the sensing signal from the second BS from the RIS and from a target; and perform bistatic sensing using the first signal and the second signal.

[0224] Clause 36. A BS according to clause 35, wherein, in order to perform bistatic sensing using the first signal and the second signal, the at least one processor is configured to: determine the distance from the target to the BS based on the timing of the first signal, the timing of the second signal, the distance from the RIS to the BS, the angle of arrival (AoA) of the first signal, and the AoA of the second signal.

[0225] Clause 37. The BS of Clause 36, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine a location of the target based on the distance from the target to the BS and the AoA of the second signal.

[0226] Clause 38. A BS according to any one of clauses 35 to 37, wherein, in order to perform dual-base sensing using the first signal and the second signal, the at least one processor is configured to: transmit information indicating the timing of the first signal, the timing of the second signal and the AoA of the second signal to the second BS via the at least one transceiver; and receive information indicating the location of the target from the second BS via the at least one transceiver.

[0227] Clause 39. A BS according to any one of clauses 35 to 38, wherein, in order to perform dual-base sensing using the first signal and the second signal, the at least one processor is configured to: transmit information indicating the timing of the first signal, the timing of the second signal, the distance from the RIS to the BS, the angle of arrival (AoA) of the first signal, and the AoA of the second signal to the second BS via the at least one transceiver; and receive information indicating the location of the target from the second BS via the at least one transceiver.

[0228] Clause 40. A base station (BS), the base station (BS) comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: receive a first signal via the at least one transceiver, the first signal comprising a first sensing signal from a second BS; receive a second signal via the at least one transceiver, the second signal comprising a reflection of the first sensing signal from a target; receive a third signal via the at least one transceiver, the third signal comprising a reflection of the second sensing signal from the second BS from a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS); receive a fourth signal via the at least one transceiver, the fourth signal comprising reflections of the second sensing signal from the RIS and from the target; and perform bistatic sensing using the first signal, the second signal, the third signal, and the fourth signal.

[0229] Clause 41. The BS of Clause 40, comprising transmitting configuration information to the RIS via the at least one transceiver, the configuration information configuring when the RIS is in an active state and when the RIS is in an inactive state.

[0230] Clause 42. The BS of clause 41, wherein receiving the first signal and receiving the second signal occur while the RIS is in the inactive state.

[0231] Clause 43. The BS of any of clauses 41 to 42, wherein receiving the third signal and receiving the fourth signal occur while the RIS is in the active state.

[0232] Clause 44. A BS according to any one of clauses 41 to 43, wherein, in order to perform bistatic sensing using the first signal, the second signal, the third signal and the fourth signal, the at least one processor is configured to determine the distance from the BS to the target based on: the timing of the first signal, the timing of the second signal, the distance from the RIS to the BS, the angle of arrival (AoA) of the first signal and the AoA of the second signal; the timing of the third signal, the timing of the fourth signal, the distance from the RIS to the BS, the AoA of the third signal and the AoA of the fourth signal; or a combination thereof.

[0233] Clause 45. An apparatus, comprising: a memory; a transceiver; and a processor, the processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the transceiver, the memory, the transceiver, and the processor being configured to perform the method of any one of clauses 1 to 22.

[0234] Clause 46. An apparatus comprising means for performing the method of any one of clauses 1 to 22.

[0235] Clause 47. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions comprising at least one instruction for causing a computer or a processor to perform the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 22.

[0236] 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.

[0237] 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, blocks, modules, circuits and steps have been generally described above 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.

[0238] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or executed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic component, a discrete hardware component, 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.

[0239] 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 a 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.

[0240] In one or more example aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or sent through a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, which include any media that facilitates the transfer of computer programs from one place to another. Storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage devices, magnetic disk storage devices or other magnetic storage devices, or any other media that can be used to carry or store desired program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer. Moreover, any connection is appropriately referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is sent from a website, 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. As used herein, disk and disc 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.

[0241] 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 as described herein do not need to be performed in any particular order. In addition, although the elements of the present disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, plural forms may also be considered unless explicitly stated to be limited to the singular.

Claims

1. A method for reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) assisted sensing performed by a base station (BS), the method comprising: configuring one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs for sensing, wherein each of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs comprises a downlink (DL) beam having a DL angle of departure (DL AoD) from the RIS controlled by a first set of control voltages and an uplink (UL) beam having a UL AoD from the RIS controlled by a second set of control voltages; transmitting information identifying the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs to the RIS; as well as Monostatic sensing is performed using at least one of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the information identifying the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs comprises transmitting information mapping sensing time slots to reciprocal RIS beam pairs.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein transmitting the information identifying the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs comprises transmitting information mapping sensing time slots to reciprocal RIS beam pairs in a semi-static or dynamic manner.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein: For each of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs, the first set of control voltages for the DL beam and the second set of control voltages for the UL beam are the same.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein: For each of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs, the first set of control voltages is used by a first panel of the RIS to reflect the DL beam, and wherein the second set of control voltages is used by a second panel of the RIS to reflect the UL beam.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing monostatic sensing comprises: transmitting a sensing signal to the RIS; receiving, from the RIS, a reflection of the sensing signal from a target; as well as A distance from the RIS to the target is determined based on the sensing signal, the reflection of the sensing signal, and a position of the RIS relative to the BS. 7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising determining a location of the target based on the distance from the RIS to the target and the DL AoD from the RIS.

8. A method of reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) assisted sensing performed by a base station (BS), the method comprising: transmitting a first sensing signal; receiving a reflection of the first sensing signal from a target; transmitting a second sensing signal to the RIS; receiving, from the RIS, a reflection of the second sensing signal from the target; as well as Monostatic sensing is performed using the first sensing signal, the reflection of the first sensing signal, the second sensing signal, and the reflection of the second sensing signal.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting configuration information to the RIS to configure when the RIS is in an active state and when the RIS is in an inactive state.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein transmitting the first sensing signal and receiving the reflection of the first sensing signal are performed while the RIS is in the inactive state.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein transmitting the second sensing signal and receiving the reflection of the second sensing signal are performed while the RIS is in the active state.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein performing monostatic sensing using the first sensing signal, the reflection of the first sensing signal, the second sensing signal, and the reflection of the second sensing signal comprises: determining a first distance from the BS to the target based on a timing of the first sensing signal and the reflection of the first sensing signal; determining a second distance from the BS to the target based on the timing of the second sensing signal and the reflection of the second sensing signal; as well as The location of the target is determined based on the distance from the BS to the RIS, the first distance from the BS to the target, and the second distance from the BS to the target.

13. A method for assisted sensing of a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), the method comprising: receiving, at a base station (BS), a first signal comprising a reflection of a sensed signal from a second BS from the RIS; receiving, at the BS, a second signal comprising reflections of the sensing signal from the second BS from the RIS and from a target; as well as Bistatic sensing is performed using the first signal and the second signal.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein performing bistatic sensing using the first signal and the second signal comprises: A distance from the target to the BS is determined based on a timing of the first signal, a timing of the second signal, a distance from the RIS to the BS, an angle of arrival (AoA) of the first signal, and the AoA of the second signal. 15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising determining a location of the target based on the distance from the target to the BS and the AoA of the second signal.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein performing bistatic sensing using the first signal and the second signal comprises: transmitting, to the second BS, information indicating a timing of the first signal, a timing of the second signal, and an AoA of the second signal; as well as Information indicating the location of the target is received from the second BS.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein performing bistatic sensing using the first signal and the second signal comprises: transmitting, to the second BS, information indicating a timing of the first signal, a timing of the second signal, a distance from the RIS to the BS, an angle of arrival (AoA) of the first signal, and the AoA of the second signal; and Information indicating the location of the target is received from the second BS.

18. A method for assisted sensing of a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), the method comprising: receiving, at a base station (BS), a first signal including a first sensing signal from a second BS; receiving, at the BS, a second signal comprising a reflection of the first sensing signal from a target; receiving, at the BS, a third signal comprising a reflection of a second sensing signal from the second BS from the RIS; receiving, at the BS, a fourth signal comprising reflections of the second sensing signal from the RIS and from the target; as well as Bistatic sensing is performed using the first signal, the second signal, the third signal, and the fourth signal.

19. The method of claim 18, comprising transmitting configuration information to the RIS, the configuration information configuring when the RIS is in an active state and when the RIS is in an inactive state.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein receiving the first signal and receiving the second signal occur while the RIS is in the inactive state.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein receiving the third signal and receiving the fourth signal occur while the RIS is in the active state.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein performing bistatic sensing using the first signal, the second signal, the third signal, and the fourth signal comprises determining a distance from the BS to the target based on: a timing of the first signal, a timing of the second signal, a distance from the RIS to the BS, an angle of arrival (AoA) of the first signal, and an AoA of the second signal; the timing of the third signal, the timing of the fourth signal, the distance from the RIS to the BS, the AoA of the third signal, and the AoA of the fourth signal; or A combination of them.

23. A base station (BS), the base station (BS) 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: configuring one or more reciprocal reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) beam pairs for sensing, wherein each of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs comprises a downlink (DL) beam and an uplink (UL) beam, the downlink (DL) beam having a DL angle of departure (DL AoD) from the RIS controlled by a first set of control voltages, the uplink (UL) beam having a UL AoD from the RIS controlled by a second set of control voltages; transmitting, via the at least one transceiver, to the RIS, information identifying the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs; as well as Monostatic sensing is performed using at least one of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs.

24. The BS according to claim 23, wherein: To transmit the information identifying the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs, the at least one processor is configured to transmit information mapping sensing time slots to reciprocal RIS beam pairs.

25. The BS according to claim 24, wherein: To transmit the information identifying the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs, the at least one processor is configured to transmit information mapping sensing time slots to reciprocal RIS beam pairs in a semi-static or dynamic manner.

26. The BS according to claim 23, wherein: For each of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs, the first set of control voltages for the DL beam and the second set of control voltages for the UL beam are the same.

27. The BS according to claim 23, wherein: For each of the one or more reciprocal RIS beam pairs, the first set of control voltages is used by a first panel of the RIS to reflect the DL beam, and wherein the second set of control voltages is used by a second panel of the RIS to reflect the UL beam.

28. The BS according to claim 23, wherein: To perform monostatic sensing, the at least one processor is configured to: transmitting a sensing signal to the RIS via the at least one transceiver; receiving, from the RIS via the at least one transceiver, a reflection of the sensing signal from a target; as well as A distance from the RIS to the target is determined based on the sensing signal, the reflection of the sensing signal, and a position of the RIS relative to the BS.

29. The BS of claim 28, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine a location of the target based on the distance from the RIS to the target and the DL AoD from the RIS.

30. A base station (BS), the base station (BS) 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: transmitting a first sensing signal via the at least one transceiver; receiving, via the at least one transceiver, a reflection of the first sensing signal from a target; transmitting a second sensing signal to a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS) via the at least one transceiver; receiving, from the RIS via the at least one transceiver, a reflection of the second sensing signal from the target; as well as Monostatic sensing is performed using the first sensing signal, the reflection of the first sensing signal, the second sensing signal, and the reflection of the second sensing signal.

31. The BS of claim 30, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to transmit configuration information to the RIS via the at least one transceiver to configure when the RIS is in an active state and when the RIS is in an inactive state.

32. The BS of claim 31, wherein transmitting the first sensing signal and receiving the reflection of the first sensing signal are performed when the RIS is in the inactive state.

33. The BS of claim 31, wherein transmitting the second sensing signal and receiving the reflection of the second sensing signal are performed when the RIS is in the active state.

34. The BS according to claim 30, wherein: To perform monostatic sensing using the first sensing signal, the reflection of the first sensing signal, the second sensing signal, and the reflection of the second sensing signal, the at least one processor is configured to: determining a first distance from the BS to the target based on a timing of the first sensing signal and the reflection of the first sensing signal; determining a second distance from the BS to the target based on the timing of the second sensing signal and the reflection of the second sensing signal; as well as The location of the target is determined based on the distance from the BS to the RIS, the first distance from the BS to the target, and the second distance from the BS to the target.

35. A base station (BS), the base station (BS) 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: receiving, via the at least one transceiver, a first signal comprising a reflection of a sensing signal from a second BS from a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS); receiving, via the at least one transceiver, a second signal including reflections of the sensing signal from the second BS from the RIS and from a target; and Bistatic sensing is performed using the first signal and the second signal.

36. The BS according to claim 35, wherein: To perform bistatic sensing using the first signal and the second signal, the at least one processor is configured to: A distance from the target to the BS is determined based on a timing of the first signal, a timing of the second signal, a distance from the RIS to the BS, an angle of arrival (AoA) of the first signal, and the AoA of the second signal.

37. The BS of claim 36, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine a location of the target based on the distance from the target to the BS and the AoA of the second signal.

38. The BS according to claim 35, wherein: To perform bistatic sensing using the first signal and the second signal, the at least one processor is configured to: transmitting, via the at least one transceiver, to the second BS, information indicating a timing of the first signal, a timing of the second signal, and an AoA of the second signal; and Information indicative of a location of the target is received from the second BS via the at least one transceiver.

39. The BS according to claim 35, wherein: To perform bistatic sensing using the first signal and the second signal, the at least one processor is configured to: transmitting, via the at least one transceiver, to the second BS, information indicating a timing of the first signal, a timing of the second signal, a distance from the RIS to the BS, an angle of arrival (AoA) of the first signal, and an AoA of the second signal; as well as Information indicative of a location of the target is received from the second BS via the at least one transceiver.

40. A base station (BS), the base station (BS) 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: receiving, via the at least one transceiver, a first signal comprising a first sensing signal from a second BS; receiving, via the at least one transceiver, a second signal comprising a reflection of the first sensing signal from a target; receiving, via the at least one transceiver, a third signal comprising a reflection of a second sensing signal from the second BS from a reconfigurable smart surface (RIS); receiving, via the at least one transceiver, a fourth signal comprising reflections of the second sensing signal from the RIS and from the target; as well as Bistatic sensing is performed using the first signal, the second signal, the third signal, and the fourth signal.

41. The BS of claim 40, comprising transmitting configuration information to the RIS via the at least one transceiver, the configuration information configuring when the RIS is in an active state and when the RIS is in an inactive state.

42. The BS of claim 41, wherein receiving the first signal and receiving the second signal occur while the RIS is in the inactive state.

43. The BS of claim 41, wherein receiving the third signal and receiving the fourth signal occur when the RIS is in the active state.

44. The BS according to claim 41, wherein: To perform bistatic sensing using the first signal, the second signal, the third signal, and the fourth signal, the at least one processor is configured to determine a distance from the BS to the target based on: a timing of the first signal, a timing of the second signal, a distance from the RIS to the BS, an angle of arrival (AoA) of the first signal, and an AoA of the second signal; the timing of the third signal, the timing of the fourth signal, the distance from the RIS to the BS, the AoA of the third signal, and the AoA of the fourth signal; or A combination of them.

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