Sensing reference signal switching across carrier components

Abstract

Systems, apparatus, processes, and computer-readable media for wireless communication are disclosed. For example, an example of a process includes receiving an indication for transmitting a sensing signal on a carrier using a frequency hopping pattern. The process may also include determining a configuration of the sensing signals across two or more of the carriers based on the indication. The process may include transmitting the sensing signals across the two or more of the carriers according to the configuration.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to scheduling and / or processing sensing and communication signals for joint communication and sensing.For example, aspects of the present disclosure relate to applying methods for sensing reference signal (S-RS) switching across carrier components (CCs). Background Art

[0002] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content, such as voice, video, packet data, messaging and broadcasting. These systems may be able to support communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., time, frequency and power). Examples of such multiple access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems (such as long term evolution (LTE) systems, advanced LTE (LTE-A) systems or LTE-A Pro systems) and fifth generation (5G) systems (which may be referred to as new radio (NR) systems). These systems may use techniques such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) or discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple access communication system may include one or more base stations or one or more network access nodes, each base station or network access node simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be further referred to as user equipment (UE). Some wireless communication systems may support communication between UEs, which may involve direct transmission between two or more UEs.

[0003] As larger bandwidths are allocated to wireless cellular communication systems (e.g., including 5G and beyond 5G) and more use cases are introduced into cellular communication systems, multiplexing sensing and communication signals for joint communication and sensing may be an essential feature of existing or future wireless communication systems, such as to enhance the overall spectral efficiency of the wireless communication network. Summary of the invention

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

[0005] Systems and techniques for wireless communications are described. According to at least one example, a method for wireless communications is provided. The method includes: receiving an indication for sending sensing signals on carriers using a frequency hopping pattern; determining a configuration of the sensing signals across two or more of the carriers based on the indication; and sending the sensing signals across the two or more of the carriers according to the configuration.

[0006] In another example, a network device for wireless communication is provided, the network device comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory (e.g., configured in a circuit). The at least one processor is configured to: receive an indication for sending a sensing signal on a carrier using a frequency hopping pattern; determine a configuration of the sensing signals across two or more of the carriers based on the indication; and send the sensing signals across the two or more of the carriers according to the configuration.

[0007] In another example, a non-transitory computer-readable medium of a network device is provided, the non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: receive an indication for sending sensing signals on carriers using a frequency hopping pattern; determine a configuration of the sensing signals across two or more of the carriers based on the indication; and send the sensing signals across the two or more of the carriers according to the configuration.

[0008] In another example, a network device for wireless communication is provided. The network device includes: a component for receiving an indication for sending sensing signals on carriers using a frequency hopping pattern; a component for determining a configuration of the sensing signals across two or more of the carriers based on the indication; and a component for sending the sensing signals across the two or more of the carriers according to the configuration.

[0009] In some aspects, one or more of the network devices, apparatuses, or other devices described herein are part of and / or include the following: a user equipment (UE), a base station (e.g., a gNodeB (gNB), an eNodeB (eNB), etc.), or a part of a base station (e.g., one or more of a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a radio unit (RU), a near real-time (near RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC), or a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC of a base station). The UE may be a wearable device, an extended reality (XR) device (e.g., a virtual reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (AR) device, or a mixed reality (MR) device), a head-mounted display (HMD) device, a wireless communication device, a mobile device (e.g., a mobile phone and / or a mobile handset and / or a so-called "smart phone" or other mobile device), a camera, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a server computer, a vehicle or a computing device or a component of a vehicle, another device, or a combination thereof. In some aspects, one or more of the network devices, apparatuses, or other devices may include a camera or multiple cameras for capturing one or more images. In some examples, one or more of the network devices, apparatuses, or other devices may also include a display for displaying one or more images, notifications, and / or other displayable data. In some cases, one or more of the network devices, apparatuses, or other devices may include one or more receivers, transmitters, or transceivers for receiving and / or sending wireless communications.

[0010] This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used alone to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter. The subject matter should be understood by reference to appropriate portions of the entire specification of this patent, any or all drawings, and each claim.

[0011] The foregoing and other features and aspects will become more apparent upon reference to the following description, claims and accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in describing various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided solely for illustration and not limitation of the various aspects.

[0013] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an example wireless communication system that may be employed by the disclosed systems and techniques for sensing reference signal (S-RS) switching across component carriers (CCs) in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0014] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a decomposed base station architecture that may be employed by the disclosed systems and techniques for S-RS switching across CCs in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0015] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a frame structure that may be employed by the disclosed systems and techniques for S-RS switching across CCs in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0016] Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a computing system of an electronic device that may be employed by the disclosed systems and techniques for S-RS switching across CCs in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless device utilizing radio frequency (RF) monostatic sensing techniques, which may be used by the disclosed systems and techniques described herein to determine one or more characteristics of a target object, in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a receiver utilizing RF bistatic sensing techniques with one transmitter, which may be used by the disclosed systems and techniques described herein to determine one or more characteristics of a target object, in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a receiver utilizing RF bistatic sensing techniques with multiple transmitters, which may be used by the disclosed systems and techniques described herein to determine one or more characteristics of a target object, in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating example geometries for bistatic (or monostatic) sensing in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating bistatic distances for bistatic sensing according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0022] Fig.10 is a diagram illustrating an example of devices involved in wireless communications (eg, sidelink communications) according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0023] Fig.11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a conventional comb-tooth structure for a reference signal.

[0024] Fig.12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system for S-RS switching across CCs, wherein the system is performing dual-station sensing of a target, according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0025] Fig.13 is a diagram illustrating an example of sensing signals and communication signals multiplexed using time division multiplexing (TDM) for joint communication and sensing according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0026] Fig.14 is a diagram illustrating an example of resource blocks including sensing signals and communication signals multiplexed using TDM and frequency division multiplexing (FDM) for joint communication and sensing according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0027] Fig.15 is a table illustrating example requirements for some different sensing use cases for cellular-based wide-area RF sensing in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0028] Fig.16 Included is a table illustrating example sensing capabilities of New Radio (NR) Reference Signals (RS) for different carriers in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0029] Fig.17 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system for S-RS switching across CCs according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0030] Fig.18 is a diagram illustrating an example of S-RS transmission across CCs according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0031] Fig.19 is a diagram illustrating another example of S-RS transmission across CCs according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0032] Fig. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example of S-RS transmission for sensing in different CCs for different use cases in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0033] Fig.21 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a process for wireless communication utilizing a method for S-RS switching across CCs according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0034] Fig. 22 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a computing system that may be employed by the disclosed systems and techniques for S-RS switching across CCs in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] For illustrative purposes, some aspects of the present disclosure are provided below. Without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, alternative aspects can be designed. In addition, well-known elements of the present disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted, so as not to make the relevant details of the present disclosure difficult to understand. Some aspects described herein can be applied independently, and some of them can be applied in combination, which is obvious to those skilled in the art. In the following description, specific details are set forth for explanation purposes to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of the application. However, it will be apparent that various aspects can be implemented without these specific details. Each drawing and description are not intended to be restrictive.

[0036] The following description provides only example aspects and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the present disclosure. Instead, the following description of the example aspects will provide a description that can be used to implement the example aspects to those skilled in the art. It should be understood that various changes may be made to the function and arrangement of the elements without departing from the scope of the present application as set forth in the appended claims.

[0037] Radar sensing systems use radio frequency (RF) waveforms to perform RF sensing to determine or estimate one or more characteristics of a target object, such as the distance, angle, and / or speed of the target object. The target object may include a vehicle, an obstacle, a user, a building, or other objects. A typical radar system includes at least one transmitter, at least one receiver, and at least one processor. When a receiver co-located with the transmitter is used, the radar sensing system can perform single-station sensing. When a receiver of a first device located away from a transmitter of a second device is used, the radar system can perform dual-station sensing. Similarly, when multiple receivers of multiple devices located away from at least one transmitter of at least one device are used, the radar system can perform multi-station sensing.

[0038] During operation of the radar sensing system, a transmitter transmits an electromagnetic (EM) signal in the RF domain toward a target object. The signal reflects from the target object to produce one or more reflected signals that provide information or properties about the target, such as the position and velocity of the target object. At least one receiver receives the one or more reflected signals, and at least one processor that may be associated with the at least one receiver utilizes information from the one or more reflected signals to determine information or properties of the target object. The target object may also be referred to herein as a target.

[0039] Generally speaking, RF sensing involves monitoring moving targets with different motions (e.g., moving cars or pedestrians, human body motions such as breathing, and / or other micro-motions associated with the target). Doppler, which measures phase changes in the signal and indicates motion, is an important characteristic for sensing targets.

[0040] In some cases, a radar sensing signal, which may be referred to as a radar reference signal (RS), such as a sensing reference signal (S-RS), may be designed and used for sensing purposes. A radar RS does not contain any communication information. In contrast, a communication RS, such as a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), is typically designed and used only for communication purposes, such as estimating channel parameters for communication.

[0041] Cellular communication systems are designed to send communication signals on designated communication bands (e.g., 23 gigahertz (GHz), 3.5 GHz, etc. for 5G / NR, 2.2 GHz for LTE, etc.). RF sensing systems are designed to send RF sensing signals on designated radar RF bands (e.g., 77 GHz for autonomous driving). It is likely that the spectrum used for communication and sensing will be shared in future cellular communication systems, in which case communication and sensing should be considered jointly.

[0042] In some cases, as wireless communication systems (e.g., including cellular communication systems such as 4G / LTE, 5G / NR and beyond) are allocated greater bandwidth and more use cases are introduced into wireless communication systems, multiplexing (e.g., via time division multiplexing and / or frequency division multiplexing) sensing and communication signals for joint communication and sensing may be an essential feature of existing and future wireless communication systems. Performing wireless communication and radar sensing simultaneously may provide cost-effective deployment for both radar and communication systems.

[0043] Joint communication and radar sensing can provide mutual performance gains. For example, sensing information such as Doppler measurements can be used to improve communication link quality (e.g., sensing-assisted communication). In addition, cooperative sensing may be more feasible for wireless communication networks (e.g., communication-assisted sensing).

[0044] RF sensing is based on channel estimation using a sensing reference signal (S-RS). Similarly, channel estimation is performed for communications using RS (e.g., NRRS). In contrast to current New Radio (NR) reference signals (RS), S-RS may allow for more diverse use cases and more flexible sensing requirements. For example, different sensing use cases may have different maximum distance and distance resolution requirements (e.g., Fig.15 1500).

[0045] When a network device (e.g., UE or base station) is configured to perform S-RS measurement (e.g., channel estimation using S-RS) and communication RS measurement (e.g., channel estimation using NR RS) at the same frequency at the same time, a conflict may occur (e.g., the sensing RS conflicts with the communication RS). Due to the limited frequency and time domain resources within a single carrier, the probability of collision between the S-RS and the current NR RS may increase. In order to avoid the occurrence of a conflict, in a carrier aggregation (CA) scenario, switching the S-RS across carriers (e.g., carrier components) may be beneficial.

[0046] CA allows increasing bandwidth by combining (e.g., aggregating) multiple carriers together to form an aggregated carrier. An aggregated carrier may be referred to as a carrier component (CC). For example, 5G NR CA may support up to sixteen (16) contiguous and non-contiguous CCs with different parameter sets (e.g., subcarrier spacing, bandwidth, and duration) in a frequency range one (FR1) band (e.g., less than or equal to 6 GHz) and in a frequency range two (FR2) band (e.g., millimeter wavelength range, such as 20 GHz to 60 GHz).

[0047] Switching S-RS across carriers (e.g., CCs) can allow diversity and allow for reduced latency and collisions, especially for time division duplex (TDD) scenarios, where some RSs may be dropped due to collisions with broadcast or uplink signals. In some aspects of the present disclosure, systems, devices, methods (also referred to as processes), and computer-readable media (collectively referred to herein as "systems and techniques") that provide solutions for switching S-RS across CCs to reduce collisions are described herein. In one or more aspects, these solutions may involve sending S-RSs over time on multiple different CCs (e.g., two CCs).

[0048] Additional aspects of the disclosure are described in more detail below.

[0049] As used herein, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "network entity" are not intended to be dedicated to or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT), unless otherwise specified. In general, a UE can be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, and / or a tracking device, etc.), a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch, smart glasses, a wearable ring, and / or an extended reality (XR) device (such as a virtual reality (VR) headset, an augmented reality (AR) headset or glasses, or a mixed reality (MR) headset)), a vehicle (e.g., a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, etc.), and / or an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc., for a user to communicate on a wireless communication network. A UE can be mobile or can be stationary (e.g., at certain times) and can communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" may be interchangeably referred to as an "access terminal" or "AT," a "client device," a "wireless device," a "subscriber device," a "subscriber terminal," a "subscriber station," a "user terminal" or "UT," a "mobile device," a "mobile terminal," a "mobile station," or variations thereof. Generally speaking, 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 for connecting to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible for the UE, such as through a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (e.g., based on IEEE 802.11 communication standards, etc.), and the like.

[0050] The network entity may be implemented in an aggregated or monolithic base station architecture, or alternatively, in a disaggregated base station architecture, and may include one or more of a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a radio unit (RU), a near real-time (near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC), or a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC. A base station (e.g., having an aggregated / monolithic base station architecture or a disaggregated base station architecture) may operate in communication with a UE according to one of several RATs 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 NodeB (NB), an evolved NodeB (eNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), a new radio (NR) NodeB (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 edge node signaling functionality, while in other systems, a base station may provide additional control and / or network management functionality. The communication link by which a UE can transmit signals to a base station is called 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 can transmit signals to a UE is called 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, a reverse or downlink, and / or a forward traffic channel.

[0051] The term "network entity" or "base station" (e.g., having an aggregated / monolithic base station architecture or a disaggregated base station architecture) may refer to a single physical transmit-receive point (TRP) or multiple physical transmit-receive points (TRPs), which may or may not be co-located. For example, where the term "network entity" or "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be a base station antenna corresponding to a cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. Where the term "network entity" or "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, these physical TRPs may be antenna arrays 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 TRPs may be the serving base station receiving the measurement report from the UE and the neighbor base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signal (or "reference signal" for short) the UE is measuring. Because, as used herein, a TRP is the 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.

[0052] In some specific implementations of supporting UE positioning, a network entity or base station may not support wireless access of the UE (e.g., may not support data, voice and / or signaling connections with respect to the UE), but may instead send a reference signal to be measured by the UE to the UE, and / or may receive and measure a signal sent by the UE. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., in the case of sending a signal to the UE) and / or as a position measurement unit (e.g., in the case of receiving and measuring a signal from the UE).

[0053] RF signals include electromagnetic waves of a given frequency that transmit information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may send 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.

[0054] According to various aspects, Figure 1An exemplary wireless communication system 100 is illustrated, which can be adopted by the disclosed systems and techniques for S-RS switching across CCs described herein. The wireless communication system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 and various UEs 104. In some aspects, the base stations 102 may also be referred to as "network entities" or "network nodes". One or more of the base stations 102 may be implemented in an aggregated or monolithic base station architecture. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the base stations 102 may be implemented in a decomposed base station architecture and may include one or more of a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a radio unit (RU), a near real-time (Near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC), or a non-real-time (Non-RT) RIC. The base station 102 may include a macro cell base station (high power cellular base station) and / or a small cell base station (low power cellular base station). In one aspect, the macro cell base station may include an eNB and / or an ng-eNB (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to a long term evolution (LTE) network), or a gNB (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network), or a combination of both, and the small cell base station may include a femto cell, a pico cell, a micro cell, etc.

[0055] 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 to one or more location servers 172 (which may be part of the core network 170 or may be external to the core network 170) through the core network 170. The base stations 102 may perform functions related to one or more of the following, among other functions: 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 the EPC or 5GC) through a backhaul link 134 (which may be wired and / or wireless).

[0056] Base station 102 can communicate wirelessly with UE 104. Each of base stations 102 can provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, base station 102 in each coverage area 110 can support one or more cells. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used to communicate with a base station (e.g., on a certain frequency resource, referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.), and can be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI)) to distinguish cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells can 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 can provide access to different types of UEs. Because a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term "cell" can refer to either or both of a logical communication entity and a base station supporting the logical communication entity depending on the context. In addition, since a TRP is typically a physical transmission point of a cell, the terms "cell" and "TRP" can be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term “cell” may also refer to a geographic coverage area (eg, a sector) of a base station, as long as a carrier frequency can be detected and used for communications within some portion of the geographic coverage area 110 .

[0057] Although the geographic coverage areas 110 of neighboring macrocell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover area), some areas of the geographic coverage areas 110 may substantially overlap with the larger geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' may have a coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the 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 referred to as a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0058] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include uplink (also known as reverse link) transmissions from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or downlink (also known 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).

[0059] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a WLAN AP 150 in communication with a WLAN station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 in an unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 gigahertz (GHz)). When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) or a listen-before-talk (LBT) process before communicating to determine whether a channel is available. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may include a device (e.g., UE, etc.) that communicates with one or more UEs 104, base stations 102, APs 150, etc. using an ultra-wideband (UWB) spectrum. The UWB spectrum may range from 3.1 GHz to 10.5 GHz.

[0060] The small cell base station 102' can operate in a licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed spectrum, the small cell base station 102' can adopt LTE or NR technology and use the same 5GHz unlicensed spectrum used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102' adopting LTE and / or 5G in the unlicensed spectrum can boost the coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network. NR in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as LTE-U, License Assisted Access (LAA) or MulteFire.

[0061] 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. The mmW base station 180 may be implemented in an aggregated or monolithic base station architecture, or alternatively, in a decomposed base station architecture (e.g., including one or more of CU, DU, RU, near RT RIC, or non-RT RIC). Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 mm and 10 mm. The radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near mmW may extend downward 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 and / or 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 (transmit and / or receive) 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 alternative configurations, 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.

[0062] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node or entity (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., UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node), and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing a faster and stronger RF signal (in terms of data rate) 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"), which forms an RF beam that can be "steered" to point to different directions without actually moving the antenna. Specifically, the RF current from the transmitter is fed to the individual antennas in the correct phase relationship so that the radio waves from the independent antennas are added together in the desired direction to increase the radiation, and canceled in the undesired direction to suppress the radiation.

[0063] The transmit beams can be quasi-co-located, which means that they have the same parameters for the receiver (e.g., UE) regardless of whether the transmit antennas of the network nodes themselves 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.

[0064] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses a receive beam to amplify an RF signal detected on a given channel. For example, a receiver may increase the gain setting of an antenna array in a particular direction and / or adjust the phase setting of an antenna array in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., increase its gain level) the RF signal received from that direction. Thus, when a receiver is referred to as performing beamforming in a certain direction, this means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain along other directions, or the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gain of other 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.) for the RF signal received from that direction.

[0065] The receive beams may be spatially correlated. The spatial relationship means that the parameters for the transmit beam for the second reference signal may be derived from information about the receive beam for the first reference signal. For example, the UE may receive one or more reference downlink reference signals (e.g., positioning reference signal (PRS), tracking reference signal (TRS), phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), cell-specific reference signal (CRS), channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), primary synchronization signal (PSS), secondary synchronization signal (SSS), synchronization signal block (SSB), etc.) from a network node or entity (e.g., a base station) using a specific receive beam. The UE may then form a transmit beam based on the parameters of the receive beam for transmitting one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., uplink positioning reference signal (UL-PRS), sounding reference signal (SRS), demodulation reference signal (DMRS), PTRS, etc.) to the network node or entity (e.g., a base station).

[0066] Note that, depending on the entity forming the "downlink" beam, the beam can be a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if a network node or entity (e.g., a base station) is forming a downlink beam to send a reference signal to a 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 a network node or entity (e.g., a base station) is forming an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink receive beam, and if the UE is forming an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink transmit beam.

[0067] In 5G, the spectrum in which a wireless network node or entity (e.g., base station 102 / 180, UE 104 / 182) operates is divided into multiple frequency ranges: FR1 (from 450 megahertz (MHz) to 6000 MHz), FR2 (from 24250 MHz to 52600 MHz), FR3 (above 52600 MHz), and FR4 (between FR1 and FR2). In a multi-carrier system such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as a "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell", and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as "secondary carriers" or "secondary serving cells" or "SCells". In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is a carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) used by the UE 104 / 182 and the cell in which the UE 104 / 182 performs an initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection reestablishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and UE-specific control channels and can be a carrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). A secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that 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 may 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 signaling information and signals specific to the UE may not be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. This is also 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 or component carrier that some base stations are using to communicate, the terms "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0068] For example, still refer to Figure 1, one of the frequencies used by the macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), and the other frequencies used by the macrocell base station 102 and / or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers ("SCells"). In carrier aggregation, the base station 102 and / or the UE 104 may use a spectrum with a bandwidth of up to Y MHz (e.g., 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz, 20 MHz, 100 MHz) per carrier, with up to a total of Yx MHz (x component carriers) in each direction for transmission. The component carriers may be adjacent to each other or may not be adjacent to each other in the spectrum. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to the downlink than to the uplink). The 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.

[0069] In order to operate on multiple carrier frequencies, the base station 102 and / or the UE 104 are equipped with multiple receivers and / or transmitters. For example, the UE 104 may have two receivers, namely "receiver 1" and "receiver 2", where "receiver 1" is a multi-band receiver that can be tuned to band (i.e., carrier frequency) 'X' or band 'Y', and "receiver 2" is a single-band receiver that can be tuned to only band 'Z'. In this example, if the UE 104 is being served in band 'X', band 'X' will be referred to as the PCell or active carrier frequency, and "receiver 1" will need to tune from band 'X' to band 'Y' (SCell) to measure band 'Y' (and vice versa). In contrast, regardless of whether the UE 104 is being served in band 'X' or band 'Y', due to the separate "receiver 2", the UE 104 can measure band 'Z' without interrupting the service on band 'X' or band 'Y'.

[0070] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a UE 164 that may communicate with the macrocell base station 102 over the communication link 120 and / or communicate with the mmW base station 180 over the 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.

[0071] The wireless communication system 100 may also include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, which are indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as “side links”). Figure 1 In the example of FIG. 1 , UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of UEs 104 connected to one of base stations 102 (e.g., UE 190 can indirectly obtain cellular connectivity through the D2D P2P link), and has a D2D P2P link 194 with WLAN STA 152 connected to WLAN AP 150 (UE 190 can indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity through the D2D P2P link). In an example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 can use any well-known D2D RAT (such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), As mentioned above, UE 104 and UE 190 may be configured to communicate using sidelink communications. In some cases, the sidelink transmission may include a request for feedback from the receiving UE (e.g., hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)).

[0072] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a decomposed base station architecture that can be adopted by the disclosed systems and techniques for S-RS switching across CCs. The deployment of a communication system such as a 5G NR system can be arranged in a variety of ways with various components or constituent parts. In a 5G NR system or network, a network node, a network entity, a mobility element of a network, a radio access network (RAN) node, a core network node, a network element, or network equipment such as a base station (BS), 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 BS (such as a NodeB (NB), an evolved NB (eNB), an NR BS, a 5G NB, an AP, a transmit receive point (TRP), or a cell, etc.) can be implemented as an aggregated base station (also called a standalone BS or a monolithic BS) or a decomposed base station.

[0073] The aggregated base station can be configured to utilize a radio protocol stack physically or logically integrated within a single RAN node. The decomposed base station can be configured to utilize a protocol stack physically or logically distributed between two or more units, such as one or more central or centralized units (CUs), one or more distributed units (DUs), or one or more radio units (RUs). In some aspects, the CU can be implemented within a RAN node, and one or more DUs can be co-located with the CU, or alternatively, can be geographically or virtually distributed in one or more other RAN nodes. The DU can be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs. Each of the CU, DU, and RU can also be implemented as a virtual unit, namely a virtual central unit (VCU), a virtual distributed unit (VDU), or a virtual radio unit (VRU).

[0074] 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 utilized 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)). Decomposition may include distributing functionality across two or more units at various physical locations, as well as virtually distributing functionality of at least one unit, which may enable flexibility in network design. Individual units of a disaggregated base station or disaggregated RAN architecture may be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit.

[0075] As mentioned earlier, Figure 2 A diagram illustrating an exemplary decomposed base station 201 architecture is shown. The decomposed base station 201 architecture may include one or more central units (CUs) 211 that may communicate directly with a core network 223 via a backhaul link, or indirectly with a core network 223 through one or more decomposed base station units, such as a near real-time (near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 227 via an E2 link, or a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC 217 associated with a service management and orchestration (SMO) framework 207, or both. The CU 211 may communicate with one or more distributed units (DUs) 231 via corresponding midhaul links, such as an F1 interface. The DU 231 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 241 via corresponding fronthaul links. The RU 241 may communicate with a corresponding UE 221 via one or more RF access links. In some implementations, a UE 221 may be served simultaneously by multiple RUs 241.

[0076] Each of the units (i.e., CU 211, DU 231, RU 241, and near-RT RIC 227, non-RT RIC 217, and SMO framework 207) may include or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or send signals, data, or information (collectively referred to as signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of the units or an associated processor or controller that provides instructions to the communication interface of these units may be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via a transmission medium. For example, these units may include a wired interface configured to receive or send signals to one or more of the other units via a wired transmission medium. Additionally, the unit may include a wireless interface that may include a receiver, a transmitter, or a transceiver (such as an RF transceiver) configured to receive or send signals, or both, to one or more of the other units on a wireless transmission medium.

[0077] In some aspects, CU 211 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions may include radio resource control (RRC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), etc. Each control function may be implemented using an interface configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by CU 211. CU 211 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 211 may be logically divided into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. When implemented in an O-RAN configuration, the CU-UP unit may communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP unit via an interface (such as an E1 interface). As needed, CU 211 may be implemented to communicate with DU231 for network control and signaling.

[0078] DU 231 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions for controlling the operation of one or more RUs 241. In some aspects, DU 231 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 partitioning such as that defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). In some aspects, DU 231 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 231 or with control functions hosted by CU 211.

[0079] Lower layer functionality may be implemented by one or more RUs 241. In some deployments, a RU 241 controlled by a DU 231 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 partitioning (such as lower layer functional partitioning). In such an architecture, the RU 241 may be implemented to handle over-the-air (OTA) communications with one or more UEs 221. In some implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control plane and user plane communications with the RU 241 may be controlled by the corresponding DU 231. In some scenarios, this configuration may enable the implementation of the DU 231 and the CU 211 in a cloud-based RAN architecture (such as a vRAN architecture).

[0080] The SMO framework 207 may be configured to support RAN deployment and configuration of non-virtualized network elements and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 207 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 207 may be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) 291) 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 211, DU 231, RU 241, and near-RT RIC 227. In some specific implementations, the SMO framework 207 may communicate with hardware aspects of the 4G RAN such as an open eNB (O-eNB) 213 via the O1 interface. Additionally, in some specific implementations, the SMO framework 207 may communicate directly with one or more RUs 241 via the O1 interface. The SMO framework 207 may also include a non-RTRIC 217 configured to support the functionality of the SMO framework 207 .

[0081] The non-RT RIC 217 may be configured to include logic functions that enable non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updating, or policy-based guidance of applications / features in the near-RT RIC 227. The non-RT RIC 217 may be coupled to or in communication with the near-RT RIC 227 (such as via an A1 interface). The near-RT RIC 227 may be configured to include logic functions that enable near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions through an interface (such as via an E2 interface) that connects one or more CUs 211, one or more DUs 231, or both, and the O-eNB 213 with the near-RTRIC 227.

[0082] In some implementations, in order to generate an AI / ML model to be deployed in the near-RT RIC 227, the non-RT RIC 217 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from an external server. Such information may be utilized by the near-RT RIC 227 and may be received from a non-network data source or from a network function at the SMO framework 207 or the non-RT RIC 217. In some examples, the non-RT RIC 217 or the near-RT RIC 227 may be configured to tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the non-RT RIC 217 may monitor long-term trends and patterns of performance and employ AI / ML models to perform corrective actions through the SMO framework 207 (such as via reconfiguration of O1) or via creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 policies).

[0083] Various radio frame structures may be used to support downlink transmissions, uplink transmissions, and sidelink transmissions between network nodes (eg, base stations and UEs). Figure 3 is a diagram 300 illustrating an example of a frame structure that may be employed by the disclosed systems and techniques for S-RS switching across CCs. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels.

[0084] NR (and LTE) utilizes OFDM on the downlink and single carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. However, unlike LTE, NR also has the option of using OFDM on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also often referred to as tones, frequency bins, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are transmitted in the frequency domain using OFDM and in the time domain using SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers can be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) can depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the spacing of the subcarriers can be 15kHz, and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) can be 12 subcarriers (or 180kHz). Thus, for a system bandwidth of 1.25 megahertz (MHz), 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, or 20 MHz, the nominal fast Fourier transform (FFT) size may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048, respectively. The system bandwidth may also be divided into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for a system bandwidth of 1.25 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, or 20 MHz, respectively.

[0085] LTE supports a single parameter set (subcarrier spacing, symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR can support multiple parameter sets (μ). For example, 15kHz, 30kHz, 60kHz, 120kHz, and 240kHz or larger subcarrier spacing (SCS) may be available. Table 1 provided below lists some different parameters for different NR parameter sets.

[0086]

[0087]

[0088] Table 1

[0089] In one example, a 15 kHz parameter set is used. Thus, in the time domain, a 10 millisecond (ms) frame is divided into 10 equally sized subframes, each subframe is 1 ms, and each subframe includes one time slot. Figure 3 , time is represented in the horizontal direction (eg, on the X-axis), where time increases from left to right, and frequency is represented in the vertical direction (eg, on the Y-axis), where frequency increases (or decreases) from bottom to top.

[0090] A resource grid may be used to represent time slots, each of which includes one or more time-concurrent resource blocks (RBs) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. Figure 3 An example of a resource block (RB) 302 is illustrated. Data or information for joint communication and sensing may be included in one or more RBs 302. RBs 302 are arranged by placing the time domain on the horizontal (or x) axis and the frequency domain on the vertical (or y) axis. As shown, RBs 302 may be 180 kilohertz (kHz) wide in frequency and one slot long in time (where a slot is 1 millisecond (ms) in time). In some cases, a slot may include fourteen symbols (e.g., in slot configuration 0). RBs 302 include twelve subcarriers (along the y-axis) and fourteen symbols (along the x-axis).

[0091] The intersection of a symbol and a subcarrier may be referred to as a resource element (RE) 304 or a tone. Figure 3 The RB 302 of the RF includes a plurality of REs, which include resource elements (REs) 304. For example, RE 304 is 1 subcarrier×1 symbol (e.g., OFDM symbol) and is the smallest discrete part of a subframe. RE 304 includes a single complex value representing data from a physical channel or signal. The number of bits carried by each RE 304 depends on the modulation scheme.

[0092] In some aspects, some REs 304 may be used to send downlink reference (pilot) signals (DL-RS). DL-RS may include positioning reference signals (PRS), tracking reference signals (TRS), phase tracking reference signals (PTRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), demodulation reference signals (DMRS), primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), etc. Figure 3 The resource grid of exemplifies exemplary locations (labeled as “R”) of REs 304 for transmitting DL-RS.

[0093] Figure 4 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a computing system 470 of an electronic device 407 that may be employed by the disclosed systems and techniques for S-RS switching across CCs. The electronic device 407 is an example of a device that may include hardware and software for connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems using a communication network (e.g., a third generation partner network such as a fifth generation (5G) / new radio (NR) network, a fourth generation (4G) / long term evolution (LTE) network, a WiFi network, or other communication network). For example, the electronic device 407 may include or be a portion of a mobile device (e.g., a mobile phone), a wearable device (e.g., a web-connected or smartwatch), an extended reality device (e.g., a virtual reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (AR) device, or a mixed reality (MR) device), a personal computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a wireless access point, a router, a vehicle or a component of a vehicle, a server computer, a robotic device, and / or other devices used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. In some cases, such as when referring to a device configured to communicate using 5G / NR, 4G / LTE, or other telecommunication standards, the device 407 may be referred to as a user equipment (UE). In some cases, such as when referring to a device configured to communicate using the Wi-Fi standard, the device may be referred to as a station (STA).

[0094] The computing system 470 includes software and hardware components that may be electrically or communicatively coupled via a bus 489 (or may communicate in other ways, as appropriate). For example, the computing system 470 includes one or more processors 484. The one or more processors 484 may include one or more CPUs, ASICs, FPGAs, APs, GPUs, VPUs, NSPs, microcontrollers, dedicated hardware, any combination thereof, and / or other processing devices and / or systems. The bus 489 may be used by the one or more processors 484 to communicate between cores and / or with one or more memory devices 486.

[0095] The computing system 470 may also include one or more memory devices 486, one or more digital signal processors (DSPs) 482, one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs) 474, one or more modems 476, one or more wireless transceivers 478, one or more antennas 487, one or more input devices 472 (e.g., a camera, a mouse, a keyboard, a touch-sensitive screen, a touchpad, a keypad, a microphone or microphone array, etc.), and one or more output devices 480 (e.g., a display, a speaker, a printer, etc.).

[0096] One or more wireless transceivers 478 can receive wireless signals (e.g., signal 488) via antenna 487 from one or more other devices such as other user devices, network devices (e.g., base stations such as evolved NodeB (eNB) and / or gNodeB (gNB)), WiFi access points (APs) such as routers, range extenders, etc.), cloud networks, etc. In some examples, computing system 470 may include multiple antennas or antenna arrays that can facilitate simultaneous transmission and reception functionality. Antenna 487 can be an omnidirectional antenna so that RF signals can be received from all directions and RF signals can be transmitted in all directions. Wireless signal 488 can be sent via a wireless network. The wireless network can be any wireless network, such as a cellular or telecommunications network (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G, etc.), a wireless local area network (e.g., a WiFi network), a Bluetooth TM network and / or other networks. In some examples, one or more wireless transceivers 478 may include an RF front end that includes one or more components such as an amplifier, a mixer for down-converting a signal (also referred to as a signal multiplier), a frequency synthesizer (also referred to as an oscillator) that provides a signal to the mixer, a baseband filter, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), one or more power amplifiers, and other components. The RF front end generally can handle the selection of the wireless signal 488 and the conversion of the wireless signal to baseband or intermediate frequency, and can convert the RF signal to the digital domain.

[0097] In some cases, computing system 470 may include a coding-decoding device (or CODEC) configured to encode and / or decode data transmitted and / or received using one or more wireless transceivers 478. In some cases, computing system 470 may include an encryption-decryption device or component configured to encrypt and / or decrypt data transmitted and / or received by one or more wireless transceivers 478 (e.g., in accordance with the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and / or Data Encryption Standard (DES) standards).

[0098] One or more SIMs 474 can each securely store an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number and associated keys assigned to a user of the electronic device 407. The IMSI and keys can be used to identify and authenticate subscribers when accessing a network provided by a network service provider or operator associated with one or more SIMs 474. One or more modems 476 can modulate one or more signals to encode information for transmission using one or more wireless transceivers 478. One or more modems 476 can also demodulate signals received by one or more wireless transceivers 478 to decode the transmitted information. In some examples, one or more modems 476 can include a WiFi modem, a 4G (or LTE) modem, a 5G (or NR) modem, and / or other types of modems. One or more modems 476 and one or more wireless transceivers 478 can be used to communicate data of one or more SIMs 474.

[0099] The computing system 470 may also include (and / or communicate with) one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media or storage devices (e.g., one or more memory devices 486), which may include, but are not limited to, local and / or network accessible storage, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices (such as RAM and / or ROM), which may be programmable, flash-updatable, and / or the like. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data storage, including, but not limited to, various file systems, database structures, etc.

[0100] In various aspects, the functionality may be stored as one or more computer program products (e.g., instructions or code) in the memory device 486 and executed by the one or more processors 484 and / or the one or more DSPs 482. The computing system 470 may also include software elements (e.g., located within the one or more memory devices 486) including, for example, an operating system, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or other code, such as one or more applications, which may include a computer program that implements the functionality provided by various aspects, and / or may be designed to implement methods and / or configure systems, as described herein.

[0101] In some aspects, the electronic device 407 may include components for performing the operations described herein. The components may include one or more components of the computing system 470. For example, the components for performing the operations described herein may include one or more of the input device 472, the SIM 474, the modem 476, the wireless transceiver 478, the output device 480, the DSP 482, the processor 484, the memory device 486, and / or the antenna 487.

[0102] In some aspects, the electronic device 407 may include components for providing joint communication and sensing and components for S-RS switching across CCs when multiplexing sensing signals and communication signals for joint communication and sensing. In some examples, any or all of these components may include one or more wireless transceivers 478, one or more modems 476, one or more processors 484, one or more DSPs 482, one or more memory devices 486, any combination thereof, or other components of the electronic device 407.

[0103] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless device 500 utilizing RF single-station sensing techniques for determining one or more characteristics (eg, position, velocity or speed, heading, etc.) of a target 502 object. Specifically, Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless device 500 (e.g., a transmit / receive sensing node) that utilizes RF sensing technology (e.g., single-station sensing) to perform one or more functions, such as detecting the presence and location of a target 502 (e.g., an object, user, or vehicle), which is illustrated in the figure in the form of a vehicle.

[0104] In some examples, wireless device 500 may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wearable device, a vehicle, an extended reality (XR) device, a computing device or a component of a vehicle, or other device that includes at least one RF interface (e.g., Figure 4 In some examples, the wireless device 500 may be a user device (e.g., Figure 4 An electronic device 407) provides connectivity, such as a base station (e.g., gNB, eNB, etc.), a wireless access point (AP), or other device including at least one RF interface.

[0105] In some aspects, the wireless device 500 may include one or more components for transmitting RF signals. The wireless device 500 may include at least one processor 522 for generating a digital signal or waveform. The wireless device 500 may also include a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 504 capable of receiving a digital signal or waveform from the processor 522 (e.g., a microprocessor) and converting the digital signal or waveform into an analog waveform. The analog signal as an output of the DAC 504 may be provided to the RF transmitter 506 for transmission. The RF transmitter 506 may be a Wi-Fi transmitter, a 5G / NR transmitter, a Bluetooth transmitter, or a wireless transmitter. TM transmitter or any other transmitter capable of transmitting RF signals.

[0106] The RF transmitter 506 can be coupled to one or more transmit antennas, such as a Tx antenna 512. In some examples, the transmit (Tx) antenna 512 can be an omnidirectional antenna capable of transmitting RF signals in all directions. For example, the Tx antenna 512 can be an omnidirectional Wi-Fi antenna capable of radiating Wi-Fi signals (e.g., 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, etc.) in a 360-degree radiation pattern. In another example, the Tx antenna 512 can be a directional antenna that transmits RF signals in a specific direction.

[0107] In some examples, the wireless device 500 may also include one or more components for receiving RF signals. For example, the receiver array in the wireless device 500 may include one or more receive antennas, such as a receive (Rx) antenna 514. In some examples, the Rx antenna 514 may be an omnidirectional antenna capable of receiving RF signals from multiple directions. In other examples, the Rx antenna 514 may be a directional antenna configured to receive signals from a specific direction. In another example, the Tx antenna 512 and / or the Rx antenna 514 may include multiple antennas (e.g., elements) configured as an antenna array (e.g., a phased antenna array).

[0108] The wireless device 500 may also include an RF receiver 510 coupled to an Rx antenna 514. The RF receiver 510 may include a signal for receiving RF waveforms such as Wi-Fi signals, Bluetooth signals, TM The RF receiver 510 may be configured to receive a received analog RF waveform, a 5G / NR signal, or any other RF signal. The output of the RF receiver 510 may be coupled to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 508. The ADC 508 may be configured to convert the received analog RF waveform into a digital waveform. The digital waveform as the output of the ADC 508 may be provided to a processor 522 for processing. The processor 522 (e.g., a digital signal processor (DSP)) may be configured to process the digital waveform.

[0109] In one example, the wireless device 500 can implement an RF sensing technique, such as a single-station sensing technique, by having a Tx waveform 516 transmitted from the Tx antenna 512. Although the Tx waveform 516 is illustrated as a single line, in some cases, the Tx waveform 516 can be transmitted in all directions by the omnidirectional Tx antenna 512. In one example, the Tx waveform 516 can be a Wi-Fi waveform transmitted by a Wi-Fi transmitter in the wireless device 500. In some cases, the Tx waveform 516 can correspond to a Wi-Fi waveform transmitted at the same time or nearly at the same time as a Wi-Fi data communication signal or a Wi-Fi control function signal (e.g., a beacon transmission). In some examples, the Tx waveform 516 can be transmitted using the same or similar frequency resources as the Wi-Fi data communication signal or the Wi-Fi control function signal (e.g., a beacon transmission). In some aspects, the Tx waveform 516 can correspond to a Wi-Fi waveform transmitted separately from the Wi-Fi data communication signal and / or the Wi-Fi control signal (e.g., the Tx waveform 516 can be transmitted at a different time and / or using different frequency resources).

[0110] In some examples, Tx waveform 516 may correspond to a 5G NR waveform transmitted simultaneously or nearly simultaneously with a 5G NR data communication signal or a 5G NR control function signal. In some examples, Tx waveform 516 may be transmitted using the same or similar frequency resources as the 5G NR data communication signal or the 5G NR control function signal. In some aspects, Tx waveform 516 may correspond to a 5G NR waveform transmitted separately from the 5G NR data communication signal and / or the 5G NR control signal (e.g., Tx waveform 516 may be transmitted at a different time and / or using different frequency resources).

[0111] In some aspects, one or more parameters associated with the Tx waveform 516 may be modified, which may be used to increase or decrease RF sensing resolution. These parameters may include frequency, bandwidth, number of spatial streams, number of antennas configured to transmit the Tx waveform 516, number of antennas configured to receive reflected RF signals (e.g., Rx waveform 518) corresponding to the Tx waveform 516, number of spatial links (e.g., number of spatial streams multiplied by number of antennas configured to receive RF signals), sampling rate, or any combination thereof. The transmitted waveform (e.g., Tx waveform 516) and the received waveform (e.g., Rx waveform 518) may include one or more RF sensing signals, which are also referred to as radar reference signals (RS).

[0112] In another example, the Tx waveform 516 can be implemented as a sequence with perfect or nearly perfect autocorrelation properties. For example, the Tx waveform 516 can include a single carrier Zadoff sequence or can include symbols similar to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) long training field (LTF) symbols. In some cases, the Tx waveform 516 can include a chirp signal as used, for example, in a frequency modulated continuous wave (FM-CW) radar system. In some configurations, the chirp signal can include a signal in which the signal frequency increases and / or decreases periodically in a linear and / or exponential manner.

[0113] In some aspects, the wireless device 500 can implement RF sensing techniques by performing alternating transmit and receive functions (e.g., performing half-duplex operation). For example, the wireless device 500 can alternately enable its RF transmitter 506 to transmit Tx waveform 516 when the RF receiver 510 is not enabled to receive (i.e., not receiving), and enable its RF receiver 510 to receive Rx waveform 518 when the RF transmitter 506 is not enabled to transmit (i.e., not transmitting). When the wireless device 500 performs half-duplex operation, the wireless device 500 can transmit Tx waveform 516, which can be a radar RS (e.g., a sensing signal).

[0114] In other aspects, the wireless device 500 can implement RF sensing techniques by performing concurrent transmit and receive functions (e.g., performing sub-band or full-band full-duplex operation). For example, the wireless device 500 can enable its RF receiver 510 to receive at or nearly the same time as it enables the RF transmitter 506 to transmit the Tx waveform 516. When the wireless device 500 performs full-duplex operation (e.g., sub-band full-duplex or full-band full-duplex), the wireless device 500 can transmit the Tx waveform 516, which can be a radar RS (e.g., a sensing signal).

[0115] In some examples, the transmission of a sequence or pattern included in the Tx waveform 516 may be repeated continuously such that the sequence is transmitted a specific number of times or for a specific duration. In some examples, if the RF receiver 510 is enabled after the RF transmitter 506, the repetition of the pattern in the transmission of the Tx waveform 516 may be used to avoid missing the reception of any reflected signals. In one example implementation, the Tx waveform 516 may include a sequence having a sequence length L that is transmitted two or more times, which may allow the RF receiver 510 to be enabled at a time less than or equal to L to receive reflections corresponding to the entire sequence without losing any information.

[0116] By implementing alternating or simultaneous transmit and receive functionality (e.g., half-duplex or full-duplex operation), the wireless device 500 can receive a signal corresponding to the Tx waveform 516. For example, the wireless device 500 can receive a signal reflected from an object or person within the range of the Tx waveform 516, such as the Rx waveform 518 reflected from the target 502. The wireless device 500 can also receive a leakage signal (e.g., Tx leakage signal 520) that is directly coupled from the Tx antenna 512 to the Rx antenna 514 without reflecting from any object. For example, the leakage signal may include a signal that is passed from a transmitter antenna (e.g., Tx antenna 512) on the wireless device to a receive antenna (e.g., Rx antenna 514) on the wireless device without reflecting from any object. In some cases, the Rx waveform 518 may include multiple sequences corresponding to multiple copies of the sequence included in the Tx waveform 516. In some examples, the wireless device 500 may combine multiple sequences received by the RF receiver 510 to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

[0117] The wireless device 500 may also implement RF sensing techniques by obtaining RF sensing data associated with each of the received signals corresponding to the Tx waveform 516. In some examples, the RF sensing data may include channel state information (CSI) data related to a direct path of the Tx waveform 516 (e.g., the leakage signal 520) and data related to a reflected path corresponding to the Tx waveform 516 (e.g., the Rx waveform 518).

[0118] In some aspects, the RF sensing data (e.g., CSI data) may include information that may be used to determine the manner in which an RF signal (e.g., Tx waveform 516) propagates from the RF transmitter 506 to the RF receiver 510. The RF sensing data may include data corresponding to the effects on the transmitted RF signal due to scattering, fading, and / or power attenuation with distance, or any combination thereof. In some examples, the RF sensing data may include imaginary data and real data (e.g., I / Q components) corresponding to each tone in the frequency domain over a particular bandwidth.

[0119] In some examples, the RF sensing data can be used by the processor 522 to calculate the distance and angle of arrival corresponding to the reflected waveform, such as the Rx waveform 518. In other examples, the RF sensing data can also be used to detect motion, determine position, detect changes in position or motion patterns, or any combination thereof. In some cases, the distance and angle of arrival of the reflected signal can be used to identify the size, position, movement, and / or orientation of a target (e.g., target 502) in the surrounding environment in order to detect target presence / proximity.

[0120] The processor 522 of the wireless device 500 can calculate the distance and arrival angle corresponding to the reflected waveform (e.g., the distance and arrival angle corresponding to the Rx waveform 518) by utilizing signal processing, machine learning algorithms, any other suitable technology, or any combination thereof. In other examples, the wireless device 500 can send or transmit the RF sensing data to at least one processor of another computing device such as a server or a base station, and the other computing device can perform calculations to obtain the distance and arrival angle corresponding to the Rx waveform 518 or other reflected waveforms.

[0121] In one example, the distance of the Rx waveform 518 may be calculated by measuring the time difference from when the leakage signal is received to when the reflected signal is received. For example, the wireless device 500 may determine a baseline distance of zero based on the difference from when the wireless device 500 transmits the Tx waveform 516 to when it receives the leakage signal 520 (e.g., propagation delay). The processor 522 of the wireless device 500 may then determine the distance associated with the Rx waveform 518 based on the difference from when the wireless device 500 transmits the Tx waveform 516 to when it receives the Rx waveform 518 (e.g., time of flight, which is also referred to as round trip time (RTT)), and may then adjust the distance based on the propagation delay associated with the leakage signal 520. By doing so, the processor 522 of the wireless device 500 may determine the distance traveled by the Rx waveform 518, which may be used to determine the presence and movement of the target (e.g., target 502) that caused the reflection.

[0122] In further examples, the angle of arrival of the Rx waveform 518 may be calculated by the processor 522 by measuring the time difference of arrival of the Rx waveform 518 between various elements of the receive antenna array, such as the antenna 514. In some examples, the time difference of arrival may be calculated by measuring the difference in the received phase at each element in the receive antenna array.

[0123] In some cases, the distance and angle of arrival of the Rx waveform 518 may be used by the processor 522 to determine the distance between the wireless device 500 and the target 502 and the position of the target 502 relative to the wireless device 500. The distance and angle of arrival of the Rx waveform 518 may also be used to determine the presence, movement, proximity, identity, or any combination thereof of the target 502. For example, the processor 522 of the wireless device 500 may utilize the calculated distance and angle of arrival corresponding to the Rx waveform 518 to determine that the target 502 is moving toward the wireless device 500.

[0124] As mentioned above, the wireless device 500 may include a mobile device (e.g., an IoT device, a smart phone, a laptop, a tablet, etc.) or other types of devices. In some examples, the wireless device 500 may be configured to obtain device location data and device orientation data as well as RF sensing data. In some cases, the device location data and device orientation data may be used to determine or adjust the distance and angle of arrival of a reflected signal such as the Rx waveform 518. For example, when the target 502 (e.g., a vehicle) moves toward the wireless device 500 during the RF sensing process, the wireless device may be set on the ground facing the sky. In this case, the wireless device 500 may use its location data and orientation data as well as the RF sensing data to determine the direction in which the target 502 is moving.

[0125] In some examples, the wireless device 500 can collect device location data using techniques including RTT measurements, time of arrival (TOA) measurements, time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements, passive positioning measurements, angle of arrival (AOA) measurements, angle of departure (AoD) measurements, received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurements, CSI data, using any other suitable techniques, or any combination thereof. In further examples, device orientation data can be obtained from electronic sensors on the wireless device 500 such as a gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, magnetometer, barometer, any other suitable sensor, or any combination thereof.

[0126] Figure 6 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a receiver 604 utilizing RF monostatic sensing techniques with one transmitter 600 for determining one or more characteristics (e.g., position, velocity or speed, heading, etc.) of a target 602 object. For example, the receiver 604 may use RF bistatic sensing to detect the presence and position of a target 602 (e.g., an object, user, or vehicle) that is located at a predetermined location. Figure 6 In one example, the receiver 604 may be in the form of a base station such as a gNB.

[0127] Figure 6 The bistatic radar system of includes a transmitter 600 (e.g., a transmitting sensing node), which is depicted in the figure as being in the form of a base station (e.g., a gNB), and a receiver 604 (e.g., a receiving sensing node), which are separated by a distance comparable to the expected target distance. Figure 5 Compared with the single-station system, Figure 6 The transmitter 600 and the receiver 604 of the bistatic radar system are located far from each other. In contrast, a monostatic radar is a radar system that includes transmitters (e.g., Figure 5 RF transmitter 506 of the wireless device 500) and receiver (e.g., Figure 5The RF receiver 510 of the wireless device 500) is a radar system (e.g., Figure 5 system).

[0128] An advantage of a bistatic radar (or more generally, a multistatic radar with more than one receiver) over a monostatic radar is the ability to collect radar echoes reflected from a scene at angles different than the angle at which the pulse was transmitted. This may be of interest in some applications (e.g., vehicle applications, scenes with multiple objects, military applications, etc.) where targets may reflect transmitted energy in many directions (e.g., where targets are specifically designed to reflect in many directions), which may minimize the energy reflected back to the transmitter. It should be noted that in one or more examples, a monostatic system may coexist with a multistatic radar system, such as when the transmitter also has a co-located receiver.

[0129] In some examples, Figure 6 The transmitter 600 and / or the receiver 604 may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wearable device, a vehicle, or other device including at least one RF interface (e.g., Figure 4 In some examples, the transmitter 600 and / or the receiver 604 may be a user device (e.g., Figure 4 IoT device 407) provides connectivity to the device, such as a base station (e.g., gNB, eNB, etc.), a wireless access point (AP), or other device including at least one RF interface.

[0130] In some aspects, the transmitter 600 may include one or more components for transmitting RF signals. The transmitter 600 may include at least one processor (e.g., Figure 5 The transmitter 600 may also include an RF transmitter (e.g., Figure 5 The RF transmitter 506 may be a transmitter configured to transmit a cellular signal or a telecommunication signal (e.g., a transmitter configured to transmit a 5G / NR signal, a 4G / LTE signal, or other cellular signal / telecommunication signal, etc.), a Wi-Fi transmitter, a Bluetooth transmitter, or a wireless transmitter. TM transmitter, any combination thereof, or any other transmitter capable of transmitting RF signals.

[0131] The RF transmitter may be coupled to one or more transmit antennas, such as a Tx antenna (e.g., Figure 5TX antenna 512). In some examples, the Tx antenna can be an omnidirectional antenna capable of transmitting RF signals in all directions, or a directional antenna that transmits RF signals in a specific direction. In some examples, the Tx antenna can include multiple antennas (e.g., elements) configured as an antenna array.

[0132] The receiver 604 may also include one or more components for receiving RF signals. For example, the receiver 604 may include one or more receiving antennas, such as an Rx antenna (e.g., Figure 5 In some examples, the Rx antenna may be an omnidirectional antenna capable of receiving RF signals from multiple directions, or a directional antenna configured to receive signals from a specific direction. In another example, the Rx antenna may include multiple antennas (e.g., elements) configured as an antenna array.

[0133] The receiver 604 may also include an RF receiver (eg, Figure 5 The RF receiver may include a RF receiver 510 for receiving RF waveforms (such as Wi-Fi signals, Bluetooth TM The output of the RF receiver may be coupled to at least one processor (e.g., Figure 5 The processor may be configured to process the received waveform (eg, Rx waveform 618).

[0134] In one or more examples, the transmitter 600 can implement RF sensing techniques, such as bistatic sensing techniques, by transmitting a Tx waveform 616 from a Tx antenna. It should be noted that although the Tx waveform 616 is illustrated as a single line, in some cases, the Tx waveform 616 can be transmitted in all directions by an omnidirectional Tx antenna.

[0135] In one or more aspects, one or more parameters associated with the Tx waveform 616 can be used to increase or decrease the RF sensing resolution. These parameters can include frequency, bandwidth, number of spatial streams, number of antennas configured to transmit the Tx waveform 616, number of antennas configured to receive reflected RF signals (e.g., Rx waveform 618) corresponding to the Tx waveform 616, number of spatial links (e.g., number of spatial streams multiplied by number of antennas configured to receive RF signals), sampling rate, or any combination thereof. The transmitted waveform (e.g., Tx waveform 616) and the received waveform (e.g., Rx waveform 618) can include one or more radar RF sensing signals (also referred to as RF sensing RS).

[0136] During operation, the receiver 604 (e.g., operating as a receiving sensing node) can receive a signal corresponding to the Tx waveform 616, which is transmitted by the transmitter 600 (e.g., operating as a transmitting sensing node). For example, the receiver 604 can receive a signal reflected from an object or person within the range of the Tx waveform 616, such as the Rx waveform 618 reflected from the target 602. In some cases, the Rx waveform 618 can include multiple sequences corresponding to multiple copies of the sequence included in the Tx waveform 616.

[0137] In some examples, receiver 604 may combine multiple received sequences to improve the SNR.

[0138] In some examples, at least one processor within receiver 604 can use the RF sensing data to calculate a distance, angle of arrival, or other characteristics corresponding to a reflected waveform, such as Rx waveform 618. In other examples, the RF sensing data can also be used to detect motion, determine position, detect a change in position or motion pattern, or any combination thereof. In some cases, the distance and angle of arrival of the reflected signal can be used to identify the size, position, movement, and / or orientation of an object (e.g., object 602) in the surrounding environment in order to detect object presence / proximity.

[0139] The processor of the receiver 604 may calculate the distance and arrival angle corresponding to the reflected waveform (e.g., the distance and arrival angle corresponding to the Rx waveform 618) by using signal processing, machine learning algorithms, any other suitable techniques, or any combination thereof. In other examples, the receiver 604 may send or transmit the RF sensing data to at least one processor of another computing device such as a server, which may perform calculations to obtain the distance and arrival angle corresponding to the Rx waveform 618 or other reflected waveforms.

[0140] In one or more examples, the angle of arrival of the Rx waveform 618 can be calculated by the processor of the receiver 604 by measuring the arrival time difference of the Rx waveform 618 between various elements of the receive antenna array of the receiver 604. In some examples, the arrival time difference can be calculated by measuring the difference in the received phase at each element in the receive antenna array.

[0141] In some cases, the distance and angle of arrival of the Rx waveform 618 may be used by the processor of the receiver 604 to determine the distance between the receiver 604 and the target 602 and the position of the target 602 relative to the receiver 604. The distance and angle of arrival of the Rx waveform 618 may also be used to determine the presence, movement, proximity, identity, or any combination thereof of the target 602. For example, the processor of the receiver 604 may use the calculated distance and angle of arrival corresponding to the Rx waveform 618 to determine that the target 602 is moving toward the receiver 604.

[0142] Figure 7 700a, 700b, and 700c) that can be used to determine one or more characteristics (e.g., position, speed or velocity, heading, etc.) of a target 702 object. For example, receiver 704 can use RF bistatic sensing to detect the presence and location of target 702 (e.g., an object, user, or vehicle). Target 702 may be located at a location other than a location of a user. Figure 7 The objects without communication capabilities (which may be referred to as device-less objects) are depicted in the form of people, vehicles (e.g., vehicles without the ability to send and receive messages, such as using C-V2X or DSRC protocols), or other device-less objects. Figure 7 The bistatic radar system is similar to Figure 6 The difference between the dual-station radar system and the Figure 7 The bistatic radar system has multiple transmitters 700a, 700b, 700c, and Figure 6 The bistatic radar system has only one transmitter 600 .

[0143] Figure 7 The bistatic radar system of includes a plurality of transmitters 700a, 700b, 700c (eg, transmitting sensing nodes), which are illustrated as being in the form of base stations. Figure 7 The bistatic radar system of also includes a receiver 704 (eg, a receiving sensing node) depicted in the form of a smartphone. The distance separating each of the transmitters 700a, 700b, 700c from the receiver 704 can be compared to the expected distance from the target 702. Similar to Figure 6 The dual station system Figure 7 The transmitters 700a, 700b, 700c and the receiver 704 of the bistatic radar system are located far away from each other.

[0144] In one or more examples, the transmitters 700a, 700b, 700c, and / or the receiver 704 can each be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wearable device, a vehicle (e.g., a vehicle configured to send and receive communications according to C-V2X, DSRC, or other communication protocols), or other devices including at least one RF interface (e.g., Figure 4 In some examples, transmitters 700a, 700b, 700c and / or receiver 704 may each be a user device (e.g., Figure 4 IoT device 407) provides connectivity to the device, such as a base station (e.g., gNB, eNB, etc.), a wireless access point (AP), or other device including at least one RF interface.

[0145] The transmitters 700a, 700b, 700c may include one or more components for transmitting RF signals. Each of the transmitters 700a, 700b, 700c may include at least one processor (e.g., Figure 5 Each of the transmitters 700a, 700b, 700c may also include an RF transmitter (e.g., Figure 5 RF transmitter 506). In one or more examples, Tx waveforms 716a, 716b, 716c are RF sensing signals, and Tx waveforms 720a, 720b, 720c are communication signals. In one or more examples, Tx waveforms 720a, 720b, 720c are communication signals that can be used to schedule a transmitter (e.g., transmitters 700a, 700b, 700c) and a receiver (e.g., receiver 704) to perform RF sensing of a target (e.g., target 702) to obtain location information about the target. The RF transmitter can be a transmitter configured to transmit a cellular signal or a telecommunication signal (e.g., a transmitter configured to transmit a 5G / NR signal, a 4G / LTE signal, or other cellular signal / telecommunication signal, etc.), a Wi-Fi transmitter, a Bluetooth transmitter, or a wireless transmitter. TM transmitter, any combination thereof, or any other transmitter capable of transmitting RF signals.

[0146] The RF transmitter may be coupled to one or more transmit antennas, such as a Tx antenna (e.g., Figure 5 TX antenna 512). In one or more examples, the Tx antenna can be an omnidirectional antenna capable of transmitting RF signals in all directions, or a directional antenna that transmits RF signals in a specific direction. The Tx antenna may include multiple antennas (e.g., elements) configured as an antenna array.

[0147] Figure 7 The receiver 704 may include one or more components for receiving RF signals. For example, the receiver 704 may include one or more receiving antennas, such as Rx antennas (e.g., Figure 5 In one or more examples, the Rx antenna may be an omnidirectional antenna capable of receiving RF signals from multiple directions, or a directional antenna configured to receive signals from a specific direction. In some examples, the Rx antenna may include multiple antennas (e.g., elements) configured as an antenna array (e.g., a phased antenna array).

[0148] The receiver 704 may also include an RF receiver (eg, Figure 5 The RF receiver may include a RF receiver 510 for receiving RF waveforms (such as Wi-Fi signals, Bluetooth TM The output of the RF receiver may be coupled to at least one processor (e.g., Figure 5 The processor 522 may be configured to process the received waveform (eg, Rx waveform 718, which is the reflected (echo) RF sensing signal).

[0149] In some examples, the transmitters 700a, 700b, 700c can implement RF sensing techniques (e.g., bistatic sensing techniques) by having Tx waveforms 716a, 716b, 716c (e.g., radar sensing signals) transmitted from a Tx antenna associated with each of the transmitters 700a, 700b, 700c. Although the Tx waveforms 716a, 716b, 716c are illustrated as a single line, in some cases, the Tx waveforms 716a, 716b, 716c can be transmitted in all directions (e.g., through an omnidirectional Tx antenna associated with each of the transmitters 700a, 700b, 700c).

[0150] In one or more aspects, one or more parameters associated with the Tx waveforms 716a, 716b, 716c can be used to increase or decrease RF sensing resolution. These parameters can include, but are not limited to, frequency, bandwidth, number of spatial streams, number of antennas configured to transmit the Tx waveforms 716a, 716b, 716c, number of antennas configured to receive reflected (echo) RF signals (e.g., Rx waveform 718) corresponding to each of the Tx waveforms 716a, 716b, 716c, number of spatial links (e.g., number of spatial streams multiplied by number of antennas configured to receive RF signals), sampling rate, or any combination thereof. The transmitted waveforms (e.g., Tx waveforms 716a, 716b, 716c) and the received waveforms (e.g., Rx waveform 718) can include one or more radar RF sensing signals (also referred to as RF sensing RS). It should be noted that although Figure 7 Only one reflected sensing signal (eg, Rx waveform 718) is shown in FIG. 7 , but it should be understood that a separate reflected (echo) sensing signal will be generated by each sensing signal reflected from the target 702 (eg, Tx waveforms 716a, 716b, 716c).

[0151] exist Figure 7During operation of the system, the receiver 704 (e.g., operating as a receiving sensing node) can receive signals corresponding to the Tx waveforms 716a, 716b, 716c transmitted by the transmitters 700a, 700b, 700c (e.g., each operating as a transmitting sensing node). The receiver 704 can receive signals reflected from objects or people within the range of the Tx waveforms 716a, 716b, 716c, such as the Rx waveform 718 reflected from the target 702. In one or more examples, the Rx waveform 718 can include multiple sequences corresponding to multiple copies of the sequence included in its corresponding Tx waveform 716a, 716b, 716c. In some examples, the receiver 704 can combine the received multiple sequences to improve the SNR.

[0152] In some examples, the RF sensing data can be used by at least one processor within the receiver 704 to calculate the distance, angle of arrival (AOA), TDOA, angle of departure (AoD), or other characteristics corresponding to the reflected waveform (e.g., Rx waveform 718). In other examples, the RF sensing data can also be used to detect motion, determine position, detect changes in position or motion patterns, or any combination thereof. In one or more examples, the distance and angle of arrival of the reflected signal can be used to identify the size, position, movement, and / or orientation of the target (e.g., target 702) in order to detect target presence / proximity.

[0153] The processor of the receiver 704 can calculate the distance and arrival angle corresponding to the reflected waveform (e.g., the distance and arrival angle corresponding to the Rx waveform 718) by using signal processing, machine learning algorithms, any other suitable technology, or any combination thereof. In one or more examples, the receiver 704 can send or transmit the RF sensing data to at least one processor of another computing device such as a server, which can perform calculations to obtain the distance and arrival angle corresponding to the Rx waveform 718 or other reflected waveforms (not shown).

[0154] In one or more examples, the processor of the receiver 704 can calculate the angle of arrival (AOA) of the Rx waveform 718 by measuring the TDOA of the Rx waveform 718 between the various elements of the receive antenna array of the receiver 704. In some examples, the TDOA can be calculated by measuring the difference in the receive phase at each element in the receive antenna array. In an illustrative example, to determine the TDOA, the processor can determine the arrival time difference of the Rx waveform 718 to the receive antenna array element using one of the receive antenna array elements as a reference. The time difference is proportional to the distance difference.

[0155] In some cases, the processor of the receiver 704 may use the distance, AOA, TDOA, other measurement information (e.g., AoD, etc.), any combination thereof of the Rx waveform 718 to determine the distance between the receiver 704 and the target 702, and determine the position of the target 702 relative to the receiver 704. In one example, the processor may use the distance, AOA, and / or TDOA information as input to apply multilateration or other location-based algorithms to determine the position (e.g., 3D position) of the target 702. In other examples, the processor may use the distance, AOA, and / or TDOA of the Rx waveform 718 to determine the presence, movement (e.g., speed or velocity, heading or direction or movement, etc.), proximity, identity, any combination thereof, or other characteristics of the target 702. For example, the processor of the receiver 704 may use the distance, AOA, and / or TDOA corresponding to the Rx waveform 718 to determine that the target is moving toward the receiver 704.

[0156] Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating the geometry for bistatic (or monostatic) sensing. Figure 8 The bistatic radar north reference coordinate system in two dimensions is shown. Specifically, Figure 8 The coordinate system and parameters for bistatic radar operation are shown defined in a plane containing transmitter 800, receiver 804, and target 802, referred to as the bistatic plane. The bistatic triangle is located in the bistatic plane. Transmitter 800, target 802, and receiver 804 are shown relative to each other. Transmitter 800 and receiver 804 are separated by a baseline distance L. An extended baseline is defined as extending the baseline distance L beyond either transmitter 800 or receiver 804. Target 802 and transmitter 800 are separated by a distance R T , and the target 802 and the receiver 804 are separated by a distance R R .

[0157] Angle θ T and θ R are the transmitter 800 observation angle and the receiver 804 observation angle, respectively, which are considered positive when measured clockwise from North (N). Angle θ T and θ R Also known as the angle of arrival (AOA) or line of sight (LOS). The bistatic angle (β) is the angle between the transmitter 800, the target 802, and the receiver 804 in the radar. Specifically, the bistatic angle is the angle between the transmitter 800 and the receiver 804, with the vertex at the target 802. The bistatic angle is equal to the observation angle of the transmitter 800 minus the observation angle of the receiver 804 θ R (For example, β = θ T -θ R ).

[0158] When the bistatic angle is exactly zero (0°), the radar is considered to be a monostatic radar; when the bistatic angle is close to zero, the radar is considered to be a pseudo-monostatic radar; and when the bistatic angle is close to 180 degrees, the radar is considered to be a forward scatter radar. Otherwise, the radar is only considered and is called a bistatic radar. The bistatic angle (β) can be used to determine the radar cross section of the target.

[0159] Fig. 9 910 is a diagram illustrating an example of a bistatic distance 910 for bistatic sensing. In the figure, a transmitter (Tx) 900, a target 902, and a receiver (Rx) 904 of a radar are shown relative to each other. The transmitter 900 is separated from the receiver 904 by a baseline distance L, the target 902 is separated from the transmitter 900 by a distance Rtx, and the target 902 is separated from the receiver 904 by a distance Rrx.

[0160] Bistatic range 910 (shown as an ellipse) refers to a measured range made by a radar having a separate transmitter 900 and receiver 904 (e.g., the transmitter 900 and receiver 904 are positioned far from each other). Receiver 904 measures the arrival time from when transmitter 900 transmits a signal to when receiver 904 receives the signal from transmitter 900 via target 902. Bistatic range 910 defines an ellipse of constant bistatic distance, called an equidistant profile, on which target 902 is located, with the focus centered on transmitter 900 and receiver 904. If target 902 is at a distance Rrx from receiver 904 and a distance Rtx from transmitter 900, and receiver 904 and transmitter 900 are at a distance L from each other, then the bistatic range is equal to Rrx+Rtx-L. It should be noted that the motion of target 902 causes a rate of change in the bistatic range, which results in a bistatic Doppler shift.

[0161] Typically, the constant bistatic distance points draw an ellipsoid with the transmitter 900 and receiver 904 locations as foci. The bistatic equidistant contours are where the ground cuts the ellipsoid. When the ground is flat, this intercept forms an ellipse (e.g., bistatic distance 910). Note that these ellipses are not centered on the mirror point unless the two platforms have equal heights.

[0162] Fig.10 An example 1000 of wireless communication between devices based on sidelink communication is illustrated. The communication may be based on a time slot structure (e.g., Figure 31004, 1006, 1008). For example, a transmitting UE 1002 may transmit a transmission 1014 that may be received by a receiving UE 1004, 1006, 1008, which may include, for example, a control channel and / or a corresponding data channel. At least one UE may be in the form of an autonomous vehicle or an unmanned aerial vehicle. The control channel may include information for decoding the data channel and may also be used by the receiving device to avoid interference by avoiding transmission on the occupied resources during data transmission. The transmission time interval (TTI) and the number of RBs that the data transmission will occupy may be indicated in a control message from the transmitting device. In addition to operating as a receiving device, each of the UEs 1002, 1004, 1006, 1008 may also be capable of operating as a transmitting device. Therefore, the UEs 1006, 1008 are illustrated as transmitting transmissions 1016, 1020. Transmissions 1014, 1016, 1020 (and 1018 by network device 1007, such as a roadside unit) may be broadcast or multicast to nearby devices. For example, UE 1014 may transmit communications intended to be received by other UEs within range 1001 of UE 1014. Additionally / alternatively, network device 1007 may receive communications 1018 from and / or transmit communications to UEs 1002, 1004, 1006, 1008. UE 1002, 1004, 1006, 1008, or network device 1007 may include a detection component. UE 1002, 1004, 1006, 1008, or network device 1007 may also include a vehicle-based safety message or mitigation component.

[0163] Fig.11 100 shows an example of a comb structure for a reference signal (e.g., PRS, SRS, etc.). For example, the comb structure 1110 is a comb-2 structure with two symbols (denoted as a comb-2 / 2-symbol structure). According to the comb-2 / 2-symbol structure of the comb structure 1110, each alternating symbol is assigned to a reference signal resource. Fig.11 The comb pattern in is used for a transmit-receive point (TRP). An overview of the comb structures 1110, 1112, 1114, 1116, 1118, 1120, 1122 and 1124 is provided in Table 2 below:

[0164] 2- Symbols 4- Symbols 6-Symbols 12-Symbols Comb Teeth-2 {0,1} {0,1,0,1} {0,1,0,1,0,1} {0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1} Comb Teeth - 4 N / A {0,2,1,3} N / A {0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3} Comb teeth - 6 N / A N / A {0,3,1,4,2,5} {0,3,1,4,2,5,0,1,3,4,2,5} Comb teeth - 12 N / A N / A N / A {0,6,3,9,1,7,4,10,2,8,5,11}

[0165] Table 2

[0166] As previously mentioned, systems and techniques are described herein that apply solutions associated with switching S-RSs across CCs to provide collision reduction between S-RSs and communication RSs. Fig.121 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system 1200 for applying a solution (eg, method or rule) for S-RS switching across CCs. Fig.12 , system 1200 is shown to include a network device 1210 in the form of a UE. The network device 1210 (e.g., UE) can operate as a radar Rx for sensing purposes. A network device 1220 in the form of a base station (e.g., a gNB or a portion of a gNB, such as a CU, DU, RU, near-RT RIC, non-RT RIC, etc.) is also shown. The network device 1220 (e.g., gNB) can operate as a radar Tx for sensing purposes. The system 1200 also includes a plurality of network entities 1240, 1250, wherein the network entity 1240 is in the form of a radar server and the network entity 1250 is in the form of a location server.

[0167] System 1200 may include, for example Fig.12 More or fewer network devices and / or more or fewer network entities as shown. In addition, system 1200 may include Fig.12 Different types of network devices (e.g., vehicles) and / or different types of network entities (e.g., network servers) are shown. In addition, the UE can be used as a radar Tx instead of as Fig.12 The base station (e.g., gNB) shown. In addition, in one or more examples, the network device 1210 (e.g., UE) can be equipped with heterogeneous capabilities, which can include but are not limited to 4G / 5G cellular connectivity, GPS capabilities, camera capabilities, radar capabilities, and / or LIDAR capabilities. The network devices 1210, 1220 and the network entities 1240, 1250 can be capable of performing wireless communications with each other via communication signals (e.g., signals 1270a, 1270b, 1270c, 1270d).

[0168] In one or more examples, the network devices 1210, 1220 may be capable of sending and receiving some type of sensing signal (e.g., camera, RF sensing signal, optical sensing signal, etc.). In some cases, the network devices 1210, 1220 may send and receive sensing signals (e.g., RF sensing signals 1260a, 1260b) for detecting nearby targets (e.g., target 1230 in the form of a vehicle) using one or more sensors. In some cases, the network devices 1210, 1220 may detect nearby targets based on one or more images or frames captured using one or more cameras.

[0169] The network device 1220, which can operate as a radar Tx, can perform RF sensing (e.g., bistatic sensing or monostatic sensing) of at least one target (e.g., target 1230) to obtain RF sensing measurements (e.g., Doppler measurements, RTT measurements, TOA measurements, and / or TDOA measurements) of the target (e.g., target 1230). The RF sensing measurements of the target (e.g., target 1230) can be used (e.g., by at least one processor of at least one of the network devices 1210, 1220 and / or at least one of the network entities 1240, 1250) to determine one or more characteristics (e.g., speed, location, distance, movement, heading, size, and / or other characteristics) of the target (e.g., target 1230).

[0170] As previously mentioned, in general, sensing involves monitoring a moving target (e.g., target 1230) with different motions (e.g., a moving car or pedestrian, a person's body motion such as breathing, and / or other micro-motions associated with the target). Doppler, which measures phase changes in a signal and indicates motion, is an important characteristic for sensing a target (e.g., target 1230). Therefore, in order to obtain an accurate estimate of the motion of the target, the phase of the signal should be continuous (e.g., the signal should maintain phase continuity).

[0171] During operation of the system 1200, for example, when performing bistatic sensing of a target (e.g., target 1230), a network device 1220 (e.g., a base station) operating as a radar Tx may transmit an RF sensing signal 1260a toward the target (e.g., target 1230). The RF sensing signal 1260a may be included in a communication signal and a sensing signal that are multiplexed together (e.g., via time division multiplexing and / or frequency division multiplexing) for joint communication and sensing purposes. The sensing signal 1260a may be reflected from the target (e.g., target 1230) to produce an RF reflection sensing signal 1260b, which may be reflected toward the network device 1210 (e.g., a UE). The network device 1210 (e.g., a UE) operating as a radar Rx may receive the reflected sensing signal 1260b. After the network device (e.g., UE) receives the reflection sensing signal 1260b, the network device (e.g., UE) may obtain a measurement (e.g., Doppler measurement, RTT measurement, TOA measurement, and / or TDOA measurement) of the reflection sensing signal 1260b. At least one processor (e.g., Fig. 22The processor 2210) can then determine or calculate characteristics (e.g., speed, position, distance, movement, heading, size, etc.) of a target (e.g., target 1230) by using sensing measurements (e.g., Doppler measurements, RTT measurements, TOA measurements, and / or TDOA measurements) from the received reflected sensing signal 1260b.

[0172] In some examples, network device 1210 (e.g., UE) may send measurements (e.g., Doppler measurements, RTT measurements, TOA measurements, and / or TDOA measurements) and / or determined characteristics (e.g., velocity, location, distance, movement, heading, size, etc.) of a target (e.g., target 1230) to network device 1220 (e.g., base station) and / or network entity 1240 (e.g., radar server) via communication signals 1270a, 1270b. The network device 1220 (e.g., a base station) and / or the network entity 1240 (e.g., a radar server) can then send measurements (e.g., Doppler measurements, RTT measurements, TOA measurements, and / or TDOA measurements) and / or determined characteristics (e.g., velocity, location, distance, movement, heading, size, etc.) of the target (e.g., target 1230) to the network entity 1240 (e.g., a radar server) and / or the network entity 1250 (e.g., a location server) via communication signals 1270c, 1270d.

[0173] As previously mentioned, as wireless communication systems (e.g., including cellular communication systems such as 4G / LTE, 5G / NR and beyond) are allocated greater bandwidth and more use cases are introduced into wireless communication systems, multiplexing sensing and communication signals (e.g., via time division multiplexing and / or frequency division multiplexing) for joint communication and sensing may be an essential feature of existing and future wireless communication systems. Performing wireless communication and radar sensing simultaneously may provide cost-effective deployment for both radar and communication systems.

[0174] Joint communication and radar sensing can provide mutual performance gains. For example, sensing information such as Doppler measurements can be used to improve communication link quality (e.g., sensing-assisted communication). In addition, cooperative sensing may be more feasible for wireless communication networks (e.g., communication-assisted sensing).

[0175] Currently, in conventional radars, system integration of communications and radar sensing does not include joint operation. In one or more examples, a sensing reference signal (S-RS) may employ a different type of waveform than a new radio (NR) reference signal (RS). For example, the S-RS may be in the form of a frequency modulated carrier (FMCW) waveform. In one or more examples, the S-RS may reuse an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform.

[0176] Fig.131300 is a diagram illustrating an example of sensing signals (e.g., radar signal 1310 and sensing signal 1340) and communication signals (e.g., downlink signals 1320, 1330 and uplink signal 1350) multiplexed together for joint communication and sensing using time division multiplexing (TDM). Specifically, Fig.13 A radar signal 1310, downlink (DL) signals 1320, 1330, a sensing signal 1340, and an uplink (UL) signal 1350 are included (e.g., time is represented along the horizontal axis). In one or more examples, the sensing signals (e.g., radar signal 1310 and sensing signal 1340) can use different types of waveforms than the communication signals (e.g., downlink signals 1320, 1330, and uplink signal 1350). For example, the sensing signals (e.g., radar signal 1310 and sensing signal 1340) can be in the form of an FMCW waveform, and the communication signals (e.g., downlink signals 1320, 1330, and uplink signal 1350) can be in the form of an OFDM waveform.

[0177] In one or more examples, radar signal 1310 may be in the form of a rectangular waveform (eg, a non-continuous waveform). Radar signal 1310 may include a plurality of rectangular waveforms each having a duration T. R The plurality of radar waveforms 1360 (eg, pulses) and the plurality of guard periods 1370 (eg, each referred to as T G For example, when the target is located approximately 30 meters (m) to 300 m away from the UE (eg, the target distance is approximately 30 m to 300 m), T R can be much less than 0.1 microsecond (μs), and T G It may be greater than 1.0 μs. In one or more examples, radar signal 1310 may be repeated to increase a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR).

[0178] In one or more examples, DL signals 1320 and / or 1330 may include a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) signal, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) signal, and / or a single sideband (SSB) signal. In some examples, for radar (sensing) purposes, one or more of the DL symbols (or time slots) may be replaced with a sensing signal.

[0179] Fig.14 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a resource block (RB) 1400 including a sensing signal (e.g., radar RS 1410) and a communication signal (e.g., DL tone 1420) multiplexed together for joint communication and sensing using TDM and frequency division multiplexing (FDM). Fig.14In FIG. 1 , RB 1400 may represent at least one OFDM waveform (e.g., a continuous waveform). RB 1400 may be arranged by placing the time domain on the horizontal (or x) axis and the frequency domain on the vertical (or y) axis. RB 1400 may be one slot long in time (e.g., where a slot is 1 ms in time).

[0180] In one or more examples, RB 1400 may include twelve subcarriers (along the y-axis) and fourteen symbols (along the x-axis). Thus, RB 1400 may include a total of 168 resource elements (REs), each of which may include a sensing resource (e.g., radar RS 1410) or a communication resource (e.g., DL tone 1420).

[0181] In some examples, for radar (sensing) purposes, one or more of the communication resources (e.g., DL tone 1420) can be replaced with a sensing resource (e.g., radar RS 1410). RS design can take into account range and / or velocity resolution and ambiguity. In one or more examples, for range estimation, an inverse fast Fourier transform (iFFT) can be performed along the subcarrier dimension of RB 1400 (e.g., along the y-axis). In some examples, for Doppler estimation, a fast Fourier transform (FFT) can be performed across multiple symbols of RB 1400 (e.g., along the x-axis).

[0182] As mentioned previously, RF sensing is based on channel estimation using a sensing reference signal (e.g., S-RS). Similarly, channel estimation is performed for communications using RS (e.g., NR RS). Unlike current NR RS, S-RS may allow for more diverse use cases and more flexible sensing requirements. For example, different sensing use cases may have different maximum distance and distance resolution requirements, such as Fig.15 As shown in Table 1500.

[0183] Fig.15 is a table 1500 illustrating example requirements for some different sensing use cases 1510 for cellular-based wide-area RF sensing. Fig.15, table 1500 shows that different sensing use cases 1510 may have different sensing requirements, such as different maximum distances 1520 (e.g., in meters), maximum speeds 1530 (e.g., in meters per second), distance resolutions 1540, speed resolutions 1550, and angular resolutions 1560. The different sensing use cases 1510 in table 1500 include traffic monitoring, parking lot identification, road safety, dynamic three-dimensional (3D) mapping, drone monitoring and management, and environmental monitoring. For example, a traffic monitoring sensing use case 1510 may require a maximum distance 1520 of 500 meters, while a road safety sensing use case 1510 may require a maximum distance 1520 of 100 meters.

[0184] Table 1500 includes information that may be used by the disclosed system (e.g., Fig.12 System 1200 and / or Fig.17 Some example sensing use cases 1510 employed by the disclosed system 1700. Fig.12 System 1200 and / or Fig.17 System 1700 ) may additionally and / or alternatively employ other sensing use cases than those shown in Table 1500 .

[0185] Fig.16 Tables 1600, 1610 are included that illustrate example sensing capabilities of NR RS for different carriers (e.g., frequencies). Fig.16 In the example sensing capabilities of positioning reference signals (PRS) that can be used to communicate at different carriers (e.g., 3.5 GHz and 13 GHz), tables 1600 and 1610 show example sensing capabilities of positioning reference signals (PRS) that can be used to communicate at different carriers (e.g., 3.5 GHz and 13 GHz). The PRS can be a PRS that can span a comb 2 / 4 / 6 / 12 structure (e.g., Fig.11 The OFDM waveform may be a comb-tooth structure on the PRS (e.g., a 2 / 4 / 6 / 12 consecutive symbols). For PRS, resources (e.g., sensing resources) may be repeated over multiple (e.g., N) time slots, and resource time gaps may be configured.

[0186] Specifically, Tables 1600, 1610 assume a 12-symbol PRS on four time slots (e.g., N=4) with zero gap. In Table 1600, the subcarrier spacing (Δf), guard period (T g ) (e.g., the duration of the carrier phase), bandwidth (W), the duration (gap) between the first and last symbols of a PRS (T B ) (eg, a PRS may span one or more time slots, such as four time slots), symbol duration (T S ) and OFDM subcarrier spacing (F SIn Table 1610, the subcarrier spacing (Δf), the maximum operating distance (d max ), distance resolution (Δd), velocity resolution (Δv) and maximum velocity (v max ). Fig.16 Other variables in Table 1610 include the speed of light (c) and the carrier frequency (f c ).

[0187] As shown in table 1610, the sensing maximum operating distance (e.g., d max ) is greater than the maximum operating range of the sensing of the higher frequency band (e.g., 13 GHz). However, the sensing range resolution (Δd) of the higher frequency band (e.g., 13 GHz) is better (lower) than the sensing range resolution of the lower frequency band (e.g., 3.5 GHz).

[0188] In addition, as shown in Table 1610, the range resolution (Δd) is less than one meter at 60 / 120 kilohertz (kHz), and the velocity resolution (Δv) may not be feasible for speeds greater than 30 kilometers per hour (km / h). To obtain better velocity resolution (Δv), long PRS repetitions (e.g., with narrow bandwidth over long durations) may be configured. To obtain better range resolution (Δd), PRSs across multiple intra-band CCs may be utilized. To obtain a larger maximum operating range (d max ), an extended cyclic prefix (ECP) may be employed for sensing.

[0189] As mentioned previously, RF sensing can be based on channel estimation using S-RS, and channel estimation can be performed for communications using RS (e.g., NR RS). In contrast to current NR RS, S-RS can allow for more diverse use cases and more flexible sensing requirements. For example, different sensing use cases can have different maximum distance and distance resolution requirements (e.g., Fig.15 1500).

[0190] When a network device (e.g., UE or base station) is configured to perform S-RS measurement (e.g., channel estimation using S-RS) and communication RS measurement (e.g., channel estimation using NR RS) at the same frequency at the same time, a conflict may occur (e.g., the sensing RS conflicts with the communication RS). Due to the limited frequency domain and time domain resources within a single carrier (e.g., frequency), the probability of collision between the S-RS and the current NRRS may increase. In a CA scenario, switching S-RS across CCs may be beneficial to avoid collisions.

[0191] CA, for example, in 5G NR CA, allows increasing bandwidth by combining (e.g., aggregating) multiple carriers together to form an aggregated carrier. An aggregated carrier may be referred to as a CC. For example, 5G NR CA may support up to 16 contiguous and non-contiguous CCs with different parameter sets (e.g., subcarrier spacing, bandwidth, and duration) in FR1 bands (e.g., less than or equal to 6 GHz) and in FR2 bands (e.g., millimeter wavelength range, such as 20 GHz to 60 GHz).

[0192] Switching S-RS across CCs can allow diversity and reduce latency and collisions, especially for TDD scenarios where some RSs may be dropped due to collisions with broadcast or uplink signals. In one or more aspects, solutions (in conjunction with systems) for switching S-RS across CCs are described below. These solutions involve sending S-RS on different CCs over time.

[0193] Fig.17 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system 1700 for S-RS switching across CCs, where the system 1700 is performing dual-station sensing of a target 1730 (eg, a vehicle). Fig.17 , system 1700 is shown to include a network device 1710 in the form of a UE (eg, a smart phone). The network device 1710 (eg, UE) can operate as a radar Tx for sensing purposes. Fig.17 Also shown is a network device 1720 in the form of a base station (e.g., a gNB or a portion of a gNB such as a CU, DU, RU, near-RT RIC, non-RT RIC, etc.). The network device 1720 (e.g., gNB) can operate as a radar Rx for sensing purposes.

[0194] System 1700 may include, for example Fig.17 More or fewer network devices as shown. In addition, system 1700 may include Fig.17 The different types of network devices (eg, vehicles) shown. UE (eg, network device 1710) may be used as a radar Rx instead of Fig.17 Base station 1720 (e.g., gNB) is shown. In some cases, the base station (e.g., network device 1720) can be used as a radar Tx instead of as Fig.17 The network device 1710 (e.g., UE) is shown. In addition, in one or more examples, the network device 1710 (e.g., UE) can be equipped with heterogeneous capabilities, which can include but are not limited to 4G / 5G cellular connectivity, GPS capabilities, camera capabilities, radar capabilities, and / or LIDAR capabilities. The network devices 1710, 1720 can be capable of performing wireless communications with each other via communication signals.

[0195] In one or more examples, network devices 1710, 1720 may be capable of sending and receiving some type of sensing signal (e.g., camera, RF sensing signal, optical sensing signal, etc.). In some cases, network devices 1710, 1720 may send and receive sensing signals (e.g., RF sensing signals 1760a, 1760b) for detecting nearby targets (e.g., target 1730 in the form of a vehicle) using one or more sensors. In some cases, network devices 1710, 1720 may detect nearby targets based on one or more images or frames captured using one or more cameras.

[0196] The network device 1710 operating as a radar Tx may perform RF sensing (e.g., bistatic sensing) of at least one target (e.g., target 1730) to obtain RF sensing measurements (e.g., Doppler measurements, RTT measurements, TOA measurements, and / or TDOA measurements) of the target (e.g., target 1730). The RF sensing measurements of the target (e.g., target 1730) may be used (e.g., by at least one processor of at least one of the network devices 1710, 1720) to determine one or more characteristics (e.g., velocity, location, distance, movement, heading, size, and / or other characteristics) of the target (e.g., target 1730).

[0197] During operation of the system 1700, for example, when performing bistatic sensing of a target (e.g., target 1730), the network device 1710 (e.g., UE) operating as a radar Tx may transmit an RF sensing signal (e.g., signal 1760a) toward the target (e.g., target 1730). The RF sensing signal (e.g., signal 1760a) may be included in a communication signal and a sensing signal that are multiplexed together (e.g., via time division multiplexing and / or frequency division multiplexing) for joint communication and sensing purposes. The sensing signal (e.g., signal 1760a) may be reflected from the target (e.g., target 1730) to generate an RF reflection sensing signal (e.g., signal 1760b), which may be reflected toward the network device 1720 (e.g., base station). The network device 1720 (e.g., base station) operating as a radar Rx may receive the reflected sensing signal (e.g., signal 1760b). After the network device 1720 (e.g., the base station) receives the reflection sensing signal (e.g., signal 1760b), the network device 1720 (e.g., the base station) may obtain a measurement (e.g., a Doppler measurement, an RTT measurement, a TOA measurement, and / or a TDOA measurement) of the reflection sensing signal (e.g., signal 1760b). At least one processor (e.g., Fig. 22The processor 2210) can then determine or calculate characteristics (e.g., speed, position, distance, movement, heading, size, etc.) of a target (e.g., target 1730) by using sensing measurements (e.g., Doppler measurements, RTT measurements, TOA measurements, and / or TDOA measurements) from the received reflected sensing signal (e.g., signal 1760b).

[0198] In one or more aspects, when a network device (e.g., Fig.17 When a network device 1710 in the form of a UE is configured for CA operation, the network device (eg, UE) may be configured to transmit S-RS across multiple CCs (eg, Fig.18 In some aspects, a set of CCs for S-RS transmission may be indicated to a network device (e.g., a UE) (e.g., via a request from another network device (e.g., Fig.17 In some aspects, the S-RS transmission pattern across CCs may be indicated to the network device (e.g., UE) (e.g., from another network device, such as a base station). In some aspects, the selection of a CC for S-RS transmission may depend on a symbol index, a slot index, and / or a system frame number (SFN) associated with a particular symbol, slot, and / or frame.

[0199] S-RS transmission across CCs (e.g., CC A and CC B) may be performed as frequency hopping. For example, a network device (e.g., a base station) may configure two hops between two CCs (e.g., CC A 1830 and CC B 1840), such as Fig.18 As shown in Figure 1800. Fig.18 1800 is a diagram illustrating an example of S-RS transmission across CCs (eg, CC A 1830 and CC B 1840). Fig.18 In the graph 1800 of FIG. 1800 , the x-axis represents time and the y-axis represents frequency. Fig.18As shown in the diagram 1800 of , for a first periodicity 1820, four repetitions of S-RS 1810 may be sent in a first CC (e.g., CC A 1830). For a second periodicity, four repetitions of S-RS may be sent in a second CC (e.g., CC B 1840). This configuration of S-RS across CCs (e.g., CC A 1830 and CC B 1840) establishes a hopping pattern. This transmission of S-RS may depend on a symbol index, a slot index, and / or a SFN associated with a particular symbol, slot, and / or frame. The established hopping pattern may indicate a CC (e.g., CC A or CC B) in which S-RS should be sent for a subsequent periodicity. For example, for a fifth periodicity, the hopping pattern may indicate that S-RS should be sent in a first CC (e.g., CC A). The hopping pattern may be associated with a slot index (e.g., when the repetitions of S-RS span slots) or with a symbol index (e.g., when the repetitions of S-RS span symbols).

[0200] In one or more aspects, the frequency hopping pattern can be flexible. Fig.19 An alternative example frequency hopping pattern is shown in FIG. Fig.19 1900 is a diagram illustrating another example of S-RS transmission across CCs (eg, CC A 1930 and CC B 1940). Fig.19 In the graph 1900 of FIG. 1 , the x-axis represents time and the y-axis represents frequency. Fig.19 As shown in diagram 1900 of , for each periodicity 1920, two S-RSs of repetition 1910 may be sent in a first CC (e.g., CC A 1930), and two S-RSs of repetition 1910 may be sent in a second CC (e.g., CC B 1940). This configuration of S-RSs across CCs (e.g., CC A 1930 and CC B 1940) establishes a hopping pattern.

[0201] During operation of the system 1700 for S-RS transmission across CCs, a network device (e.g., a network device 1720 in the form of a base station) may configure a subset of CCs for S-RS transmission. For example, a network device (e.g., a base station) may configure two CCs (e.g., CCA 1830 and CC B 1840) for S-RS transmission. The network device (e.g., a base station) may indicate (e.g., via signaling) to another network device (e.g., a network device 1710 in the form of a UE) that S-RS is transmitted on these two CCs using a specific hopping pattern. Based on the hopping pattern, the network device (e.g., a UE) may calculate which CC (e.g., CC A 1830 or CC B 1840) to use to transmit the S-RS in a particular time slot.

[0202] An example of a frequency hopping calculation that may be employed by a network device (e.g., a UE) is a frequency hopping calculation for message 3 (Msg3) repetitions. Msg 3 is a type of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The hopping pattern for Msg3 repetitions may be configured based on the Msg 3 repetition calculations. For these Msg 3 repetition calculations, the hopping pattern will include two hops. In one example, for frequency hopping for Msg3 repetitions, in the case of intra-slot frequency hopping, the starting resource block (RB) in each hop may be given by:

[0203]

[0204] Where i=0 and i=1 are the first hop and the second hop respectively. start is the starting RB within the uplink (UL) bandwidth part (BWP) calculated based on the resource block assignment information of resource allocation type 1, where in the uplink resource allocation of type 1, the resource block assignment information indicates to the scheduled UE that the size is A set of contiguously allocated non-interleaved virtual resource blocks within the effective bandwidth part of the PRBs, except for the case where DCI format 0_0 can be decoded in any common search space (e.g., in this case the initial UL bandwidth part should be used size). RB offset is the frequency offset in RBs between two frequency hops.

[0205] For Msg 3 repetition, in case of inter-slot frequency hopping, the slot The starting RB of the period is given by:

[0206]

[0207] in is the current slot number within the radio frame where multiple PUSCH transmissions may occur. RB start It is the starting RB in the UL BWP calculated based on the resource block assignment information of resource allocation type 1. RB offset is the frequency offset in RBs between two frequency hops. When mod 2 is equal to 0, the calculation indicates the first hop. When mod 2 is equal to 0, the calculation indicates the second hop. RBstart and RBoffset are preconfigured by the network device (e.g., base station). Therefore, within a particular time slot, the network device (e.g., UE) can determine the hopping pattern based on the time slot index and these or similar hopping calculations.

[0208] In one or more aspects, during operation, a network device (e.g., network device 1710 in the form of a UE) may transmit an S-RS (e.g., signal 1760a), which will generate a reflected S-RS (e.g., signal 1760b) received by another network device (e.g., network device 1720 in the form of a base station). Another network device (e.g., a base station) may transmit (e.g., via signal 1770) a downlink RS (e.g., SSB or CSI-RS) to the network device (e.g., a UE), wherein the downlink RS is transmitted in the same CC as the S-RS. The downlink RS may be a single sideband (SSB) signal or a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS). In some cases, the S-RS may be transmitted from other network devices (e.g., network device 1720 in the form of a base station) instead of the network device (e.g., network device 1710 in the form of a UE). In one or more aspects, when a network device (e.g., UE or base station) performs S-RS transmission across multiple CCs, the network device (e.g., UE or base station) may use a downlink RS in a CC in which the S-RS is transmitted as a reference for path loss measurement, power control, and / or spatial domain filter determination. In another example, for intra-band CA with contiguous CCs, the UE may use a downlink RS in another CC for which the S-RS is not transmitted as a reference for path loss measurement, power control, and / or spatial domain filter determination.

[0209] In one or more aspects, the number of CCs that a network device (e.g., UE) can hop can be fixed (e.g., two CCs). Alternatively, the number of CCs that a network device (e.g., UE) can hop can be indicated to the network device (e.g., UE) (e.g., via signaling from another network device such as a base station) depending on the capabilities of the indicated network device (e.g., UE). For example, when a network device (e.g., UE) joins a network, the network device (e.g., UE) can report (e.g., via signaling to another network device such as a base station) the capabilities of the network device (e.g., UE), which can include the number of CCs that the network device (e.g., UE) can use to implement sensing.

[0210] In one or more aspects, if an aperiodic S-RS is configured, the transmission of the S-RS may be triggered in one of the CCs in which the S-RS is transmitted. For example, if an aperiodic S-RS is transmitted in two different CCs (e.g., CC A and CC B), a control signal (e.g., for triggering the transmission of the aperiodic S-RS) may be transmitted in one of the CCs (e.g., CC A or CC B). In some aspects, the control signal may be a downlink control signal, including downlink control information (DCI) for triggering the transmission.

[0211] As mentioned previously, S-RS can be used for different sensing use cases (e.g., Fig.15 1500 of sensing use cases 1510). In one or more aspects, in a CA scenario, different carriers (e.g., CCs) may be configured for different sensing use cases. The parameter sets (e.g., subcarrier spacing, bandwidth, and duration) of the S-RS on different CCs may be different for different sensing purposes. Fig. 20 S-RS with different frequency bandwidths for different sensing use cases are shown. Specifically, Fig. 20 2000 is a diagram illustrating an example of S-RS transmission for sensing in different CCs for different use cases. Fig. 20 In the graph 2000 of FIG. 1 , the x-axis represents time, and the y-axis represents frequency. Fig.19 As shown in diagram 2000 of , for a first periodicity 2020a, three repetitions 2010a of the S-RS may be sent in a first CC (e.g., CC A 2030). For a second periodicity 2020b, two repetitions 2010b of the S-RS may be sent in a second CC (e.g., CC B 2040). This configuration of the S-RS across CCs (e.g., CC A 2030 and CC B 2040) establishes a hopping pattern.

[0212] like Fig. 20 As shown, the repetition 2010a of the S-RS in the high-frequency first CC (e.g., CC A 2030) has a larger frequency bandwidth and a larger subcarrier spacing (SCS) compared to the repetition 2010b of the S-RS in the low-frequency second CC (e.g., CC B 2040). The repetition 2010b of the low-frequency S-RS with a smaller SCS can be used for coarse target area detection (e.g., for a larger sensing distance), while the repetition 2010a of the high-frequency S-RS with a larger SCS can be used for shorter distance sensing with better distance resolution. Therefore, in some aspects, target detection and target tracking can be configured in different CCs.

[0213] Fig.21is a flow chart illustrating an example of a process 2100 for wireless communications utilizing a method for S-RS switching across CCs. Process 2100 may be performed by a network device, such as a UE, a base station (e.g., a gNB), a portion of a base station (e.g., one or more of a CU, DU, RU, and / or other portions of a base station having a decomposed architecture), or a component or system (e.g., a chipset) of a UE or a base station. The UE may be a mobile device (e.g., a mobile phone), a vehicle, a wearable device (e.g., a network-connected watch or other wearable device), an extended reality (XR) device (e.g., a virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) headset or glasses), or other type of UE. The operations of process 2100 may be implemented as a processor or processors (e.g., Fig. 22 The software components executed and run on the processor 2210 or other processors of the wireless communication device. In addition, the wireless communication device can be enabled to send and receive signals in the process 2100, for example, through one or more antennas and / or one or more transceivers (e.g., wireless transceivers).

[0214] At block 2110, the network device (or a component thereof) may receive an indication for sending a sensing signal on a carrier using a frequency hopping pattern. In one illustrative example, the sensing signal is a sensing reference signal (S-RS). In some examples, the carrier is a frequency carrier component (CC). The network device (or a component thereof) may determine the frequency hopping pattern using a frequency hopping calculation (e.g., the frequency hopping described above for Msg 3 repetition).

[0215] At block 2120, the network device (or its component) may determine the configuration of the sensing signal across two or more of the carriers based on the indication. In some cases, the network device (or its component) may further determine the configuration of the sensing signal across two or more of the carriers based on at least one of a symbol index, a time slot index, or a system frame number (SFN) associated with a specific symbol, time slot, and / or frame of the sensing signal and / or the carrier. In some aspects, the network device (or its component) may receive the configuration from an additional network device. In some aspects, the parameter set is different for the sensing signal on two or more of the carriers. The parameter set may include a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of each corresponding sensing signal, a bandwidth of each corresponding sensing signal, a duration of each corresponding sensing signal, or any combination thereof.

[0216] In some cases, the configuration may indicate that the number of carriers that the network device can hop is fixed. Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, the configuration may define the first group of sensing signals based on a first sensing use case associated with the first group of sensing signals in the sensing signals for transmission on a first carrier of two or more of the carriers, and define the second group of sensing signals based on a second sensing use case associated with the second group of sensing signals in the sensing signals for transmission on a second carrier of the two or more of the carriers. In an illustrative example, the first sensing use case includes sensing at least one of within a first distance or having a first sensing resolution, and the second sensing use case includes sensing at least one of within a second distance or having a second sensing resolution.

[0217] At block 2130, the network device (or a component thereof) may transmit a sensing signal across two or more of the carriers according to the configuration. In some cases, the network device (or a component thereof) may receive an indication for a carrier aggregation (CA) operation. The network device (or a component thereof) may perform a CA operation based on receiving an indication for a CA operation. For example, as part of the CA operation, the network device (or a component thereof) may transmit a sensing signal across two or more of the carriers (e.g., the network device may be configured to transmit an S-RS across multiple CCs when configured for CA operation).

[0218] In some aspects, a network device (or a component thereof) may use a downlink reference signal (RS) sent on two or more of the carriers as a reference for at least one of path loss measurement, power control, or spatial domain filter determination. In an illustrative example, the downlink RS may be a single sideband (SSB) signal, a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS), or other types of downlink RS.

[0219] Fig. 22 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a computing system 2200 that may be employed by the disclosed systems and techniques for rules for S-RS switching across CCs. Specifically, Fig. 22 An example of a computing system 2200 is illustrated, which may be any computing device, for example, constituting an internal computing system, a remote computing system, a camera, or any components thereof, wherein the components of the system communicate with each other using a connection 2205. The connection 2205 may be a physical connection using a bus, or a direct connection into the processor 2210, such as in a chipset architecture. The connection 2205 may also be a virtual connection, a networked connection, or a logical connection.

[0220] In some aspects, computing system 2200 is a distributed system, where the functionality described in the present disclosure can be distributed within a data center, multiple data centers, a peer-to-peer network, etc. In some aspects, one or more of the described system components represent a number of such components, each of which performs a portion or all of the functionality of the described component. In some aspects, each component can be a physical or virtual device.

[0221] The example system 2200 includes at least one processing unit (CPU or processor) 2210 and connections 2205 that communicatively couple various system components including system memory 2215, such as read-only memory (ROM) 2220 and random access memory (RAM) 2225, to the processor 2210. The computing system 2200 may include a cache 2212 of high-speed memory directly connected to, close to, or integrated as part of the processor 2210.

[0222] Processor 2210 may include any general purpose processor and hardware or software services, such as services 2232, 2234, and 2236 stored in storage device 2230, that are configured to control processor 2210 as well as a dedicated processor where software instructions are incorporated into the actual processor design. Processor 2210 may essentially be a completely independent computing system containing multiple cores or processors, buses, memory controllers, caches, etc. Multi-core processors may be symmetric or asymmetric.

[0223] To enable user interaction, the computing system 2200 includes an input device 2245 that can represent any number of input mechanisms, such as a microphone for voice, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphical input, a keyboard, a mouse, motion input, voice, etc. The computing system 2200 may also include an output device 2235 that can be one or more of a plurality of output mechanisms. In some cases, a multimodal system may enable a user to provide multiple types of input / output to communicate with the computing system 2200.

[0224] The computing system 2200 may include a communication interface 2240, which may generally govern and manage user input and system output. The communication interface may perform or facilitate receiving and / or sending wired or wireless communications using wired and / or wireless transceivers, including using an audio jack / plug, a microphone jack / plug, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port / plug, an Apple TM Lightning TM Ports / plugs, Ethernet ports / plugs, Fiber optic ports / plugs, Dedicated wired ports / plugs, 3G, 4G, 5G and / or other cellular data network wireless signal delivery, Bluetooth TMWireless signal transmission, Bluetooth TM Low energy (BLE) wireless signal transmission, IBEACON TM Wireless signal transmission, radio frequency identification (RFID) wireless signal transmission, near field communication (NFC) wireless signal transmission, dedicated short range communication (DSRC) wireless signal transmission, 802.11 Wi-Fi wireless signal transmission, wireless local area network (WLAN) signal transmission, visible light communication (VLC), World Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), infrared (IR) communication wireless signal transmission, public switched telephone network (PSTN) signal transmission, integrated services digital network (ISDN) signal transmission, ad hoc network signal transmission, radio wave signal transmission, microwave signal transmission, infrared signal transmission, visible light signal transmission, ultraviolet light signal transmission, wireless signal transmission along the electromagnetic spectrum, or some combination thereof.

[0225] The communication interface 2240 may also include one or more range finding sensors (e.g., LIDAR sensors, laser range finders, RF radars, ultrasonic sensors, and infrared (IR) sensors) configured to collect data and provide measurements to the processor 2210, whereby the processor 2210 may be configured to perform the determinations and calculations required to obtain various measurements of the one or more range finding sensors. In some examples, the measurements may include flight time, wavelength, azimuth, elevation, distance, linear velocity, and / or angular velocity, or any combination thereof. The communication interface 2240 may also include one or more global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers or transceivers for determining the location of the computing system 2200 based on receiving one or more signals from one or more satellites associated with one or more GNSS systems. GNSS systems include, but are not limited to, the United States' GPS, Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), and Europe's Galileo GNSS. There is no restriction to operating on any particular hardware arrangement, and thus the underlying features herein may be easily substituted for improved hardware or firmware arrangements as they are developed.

[0226] The storage device 2230 may be a non-volatile and / or non-transitory and / or computer-readable memory device, and may be a hard disk or other type of computer-readable medium that can store data accessible by a computer, such as a magnetic cassette, a flash memory card, a solid-state memory device, a digital versatile disk, a cassette, a floppy disk, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape, a magnetic stripe / magnetic stripe, any other magnetic storage medium, flash memory, a memristor memory, any other solid-state memory, a compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM) optical disk, a rewritable compact disk (CD) optical disk, a digital video disk (DVD) optical disk, a Blu-ray disc (BDD) optical disk, a holographic optical disk, another optical medium, a secure digital (SD) card, a micro secure digital (microSD) card, card, a smart card chip, an EMV chip, a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, a mini / micro / nano / pico SIM card, another integrated circuit (IC) chip / card, a random access memory (RAM), a static RAM (SRAM), a dynamic RAM (DRAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a flash EPROM (FLASH EPROM), a cache memory (e.g., a layer 1 (L1) cache, a layer 2 (L2) cache, a layer 3 (L3) cache, a layer 4 (L4) cache, a layer 5 (L5) cache, other (L#) cache), a resistive random access memory (RRAM / ReRAM), a phase change memory (PCM), a spin transfer torque RAM (STT-RAM), another memory chip or box, and / or a combination thereof.

[0227] Storage device 2230 may include software services, servers, services, etc., which, when the code defining such software is executed by processor 2210, causes the system to perform functions. In some aspects, hardware services that perform specific functions may include software components for performing functions stored in a computer-readable medium connected to necessary hardware components (such as processor 2210, connection 2205, output device 2235, etc.). The term "computer-readable medium" includes, but is not limited to, portable or non-portable storage devices, optical storage devices, and various other media capable of storing, containing or carrying instructions and / or data. Computer-readable media may include non-transient media that can store data and does not include carrier waves and / or transient electronic signals that propagate wirelessly or on a wired connection. Examples of non-transient media may include, but are not limited to, disks or tapes, optical storage media (such as compact discs (CDs) or digital versatile discs (DVDs)), flash memory, memory, or memory devices. Computer readable media may store thereon code and / or machine executable instructions, which may represent a process, function, subprogram, program, routine, subroutine, module, software package, category, or any combination of instructions, data structures, or program statements. A code segment may be coupled to another code segment or a hardware circuit by transmitting and / or receiving information, data, independent variables, parameters, or memory contents. Information, independent variables, parameters, data, etc. may be transmitted, forwarded, or sent via any suitable means, including memory sharing, message passing, token passing, network sending, etc.

[0228] Specific details are provided in the above description to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects and examples provided herein, but those skilled in the art will recognize that the application is not limited thereto. Thus, although the exemplary aspects of the present application have been described in detail herein, it is to be understood that each inventive concept can be implemented and adopted in various other ways, and the appended claims are not intended to be interpreted as including these variations, unless limited by the prior art. The various features and aspects of the above-mentioned applications can be used individually or in combination. In addition, without departing from the broader scope of this specification, each aspect can be used in any number of environments and applications beyond the environment and application described herein. Therefore, the description and the accompanying drawings should be considered as illustrative rather than restrictive. For the purpose of illustration, each method is described in a specific order. It should be understood that, in alternative aspects, each method can be performed in a different order than described.

[0229] For the sake of explanation, in some cases, the present technology can be presented as including separate functional blocks, which include devices, device components, steps or routines in the method embodied in software or a combination of hardware and software. Additional components other than those components shown in the drawings and / or described herein can be used. For example, circuits, systems, networks, processes and other components can be shown as components in block diagram form to avoid confusing these aspects in unnecessary details. In other cases, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures and techniques can be shown without unnecessary details to avoid confusing various aspects.

[0230] 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. The technician 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.

[0231] Various aspects may be described above as a process or method, which is depicted as a flow chart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram or a block diagram. Although a flow chart may describe an operation as a sequential process, many operations in the operation may be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be rearranged. The process may be terminated when the operation of the process is completed, but the process may have additional steps not included in the accompanying drawings. The process may correspond to a method, a function, a process, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process corresponds to a function, the termination of the process may correspond to the function returning to a calling function or a main function.

[0232] The processes and methods according to the above examples can be implemented using stored computer executable instructions or otherwise obtained from computer readable media. Such instructions may include, for example, instructions and data that enable or configure a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or a processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions in other ways. Parts of the computer resources used can be accessed through a network. Computer executable instructions can be, for example, binary, intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, firmware, source code. Examples of computer readable media that can be used to store instructions, information used, and / or information created during the method according to the described examples include disks or optical disks, flash memory, USB devices with non-volatile memory, networked storage devices, etc.

[0233] In some aspects, computer readable storage devices, media, and memories may include cables or wireless signals containing bit streams, etc. However, when referred to, non-transitory computer readable storage media expressly excludes media such as energy, carrier signals, electromagnetic waves, and signals themselves.

[0234] 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 in the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof, depending in some cases on the specific application, the desired design, the corresponding technology, etc.

[0235] The various illustrative logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or executed using hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or any combination thereof, and may be implemented in any of a variety of form factors. When implemented in software, firmware, middleware, or microcode, program code or code segments (e.g., computer program products) for performing the necessary tasks may be stored in a computer-readable or machine-readable medium. The processor may perform the necessary tasks. Examples of form factors include: laptops, smart phones, mobile phones, tablet devices, or other small form factor personal computers, personal digital assistants, rack-mounted devices, stand-alone devices, etc. The functionality described herein may also be embodied in peripheral devices or add-in cards. By way of additional examples, such functionality may also be implemented on circuit boards between different chips or different processes executed on a single device.

[0236] The instructions, the media for conveying such instructions, the computing resources for executing them, and other structures for supporting such computing resources are example means for providing the functionality described in this disclosure.

[0237] The techniques described herein may also be implemented in electronic hardware, computer software, firmware, or any combination thereof. Such techniques may be implemented in any of a variety of devices, such as general-purpose computers, wireless communication device handsets, or integrated circuit devices with multiple uses, including applications in wireless communication device handsets and other devices. Any features described as modules or components may be implemented together in an integrated logic device or separately as discrete but interoperable logic devices. If implemented in software, the techniques may be implemented at least in part by a computer-readable data storage medium including a program code, which includes instructions for executing one or more of the above methods, algorithms, and / or operations when executed. The computer-readable data storage medium may form part of a computer program product, which may include packaging materials. The computer-readable medium may include a memory or data storage medium, such as a random access memory (RAM) (such as a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM)), a read-only memory (ROM), a non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a flash memory, a magnetic or optical data storage medium, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the technology may be implemented at least in part by a computer-readable communication medium that carries or communicates program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed, read, and / or executed by a computer, such as a propagated signal or wave.

[0238] The program code may be executed by a processor, which may include one or more processors, such as one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), general-purpose microprocessors, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable logic arrays (FPGAs), or other equivalent integrated or discrete logic circuits. Such processors may be configured to perform any of the techniques described in this disclosure. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor; however, 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, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors combined with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. Therefore, the term "processor" as used herein may refer to any of the aforementioned structures, any combination of the aforementioned structures, or any other structure or device suitable for implementing the techniques described herein.

[0239] It should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the less than ("<") and greater than (">") symbols or terms used herein may be replaced by less than or equal to ("≤") and greater than or equal to ("≥") symbols, respectively, without departing from the scope of the present specification.

[0240] Where a component is described as being “configured to” perform certain operations, such configuration may be achieved, for example, by designing electronic circuits or other hardware to perform the operations, by programming programmable electronic circuits (e.g., a microprocessor or other suitable electronic circuits) to perform the operations, or any combination thereof.

[0241] The phrases “coupled to” or “communicatively coupled to” refer to any component being physically connected directly or indirectly to another component, and / or any component being in communication directly or indirectly with another component (e.g., connected to the other component via a wired or wireless connection and / or other suitable communication interface).

[0242] Claim language or other language stating "at least one of" a set and / or "one or more of" a set indicates that one member of the set or multiple members of the set (in any combination) satisfies the claim. For example, claim language stating "at least one of A and B" or "at least one of A or B" means A, B, or A and B. In another example, claim language stating "at least one of A, B, and C" or "at least one of A, B, or C" means A, B, C, or A and B, or A and C, or B and C, or A and B and C. The language "at least one of" a set and / or "one or more of" a set does not limit the set to the items listed in the set. For example, claim language stating "at least one of A and B" or "at least one of A or B" may mean A, B, or A and B, and may additionally include items not listed in the set of A and B.

[0243] Illustrative aspects of the present disclosure include:

[0244] Aspect 1. A method for performing wireless communications at a network device, the method comprising: receiving an indication for sending a sensing signal on a carrier using a frequency hopping pattern; determining a configuration of the sensing signal across two or more of the carriers based on the indication; and sending the sensing signal across the two or more of the carriers according to the configuration.

[0245] Aspect 2. The method according to aspect 1, wherein the network device is one of a user equipment (UE) or a base station.

[0246] Aspect 3. The method according to any one of aspects 1 to 2, wherein the sensing signal is a sensing reference signal (S-RS).

[0247] Aspect 4. A method according to any one of aspects 1 to 3, wherein the carrier is a frequency carrier component (CC).

[0248] Aspect 5. The method according to any one of aspects 1 to 4, further comprising: determining the frequency hopping pattern by using frequency hopping calculation.

[0249] Aspect 6. The method according to any one of aspects 1 to 5 further comprises: receiving an indication for a carrier aggregation (CA) operation.

[0250] Aspect 7. The method according to aspect 6 further comprises: performing the CA operation.

[0251] Aspect 8. A method according to any one of Aspects 1 to 7, wherein determining the configuration of the sensing signals across the two or more of the carriers is also based on at least one of a symbol index, a time slot index, or a system frame number (SFN).

[0252] Aspect 9. According to any one of Aspects 1 to 8, the method further includes: using a downlink reference signal (RS) sent on the two or more carriers among the carriers as a reference for at least one of path loss measurement, power control, or spatial domain filter determination.

[0253] Aspect 10. The method according to aspect 9, wherein the downlink RS is one of a single sideband (SSB) signal or a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0254] Aspect 11. The method according to any one of aspects 1 to 10, wherein parameter sets are different for the sensing signals on the two or more of the carriers.

[0255] Aspect 12. The method according to aspect 11, wherein the parameter set includes at least one of subcarrier spacing (SCS), bandwidth or duration.

[0256] Aspect 13. The method according to any one of aspects 1 to 12, wherein the configuration indicates that the number of carriers that the network device can hop is fixed.

[0257] Aspect 14. The method according to any one of aspects 1 to 13, further comprising: receiving the configuration at the network device from an additional network device.

[0258] Aspect 15. The method according to aspect 14, wherein the network device is a user equipment (UE) and the additional network device is a base station.

[0259] Aspect 16. A method according to any one of Aspects 1 to 15, wherein the configuration defines the first group of sensing signals for transmission on a first carrier among the two or more carriers among the carriers based on a first sensing use case associated with a first group of sensing signals among the sensing signals, and defines the second group of sensing signals for transmission on a second carrier among the two or more carriers among the carriers based on a second sensing use case associated with a second group of sensing signals among the sensing signals.

[0260] Aspect 17. A method according to Aspect 16, wherein the first sensing use case includes at least one of sensing within a first distance or having a first sensing resolution, and wherein the second sensing use case includes at least one of sensing within a second distance or having a second sensing resolution.

[0261] Aspect 18: A network device for wireless communication. The network device includes at least one memory and at least one processor (e.g., implemented in a circuit) coupled to the at least one memory. The at least one processor is configured to: receive an indication for sending a sensing signal on a carrier using a frequency hopping pattern; determine a configuration of the sensing signal across two or more of the carriers based on the indication; and send the sensing signal across the two or more of the carriers according to the configuration.

[0262] Aspect 19: The network device according to aspect 18, wherein the network device is one of a user equipment (UE) or a base station.

[0263] Aspect 20: The network device according to any one of aspects 18 to 19, wherein the sensing signal is a sensing reference signal (S-RS).

[0264] Aspect 21: A network device according to any one of aspects 18 to 20, wherein the carrier is a frequency carrier component (CC).

[0265] Aspect 22: The network device according to any one of aspects 18 to 21, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the frequency hopping pattern by using a frequency hopping calculation.

[0266] Aspect 23: The network device according to any one of aspects 18 to 22, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receive an indication for carrier aggregation (CA) operation.

[0267] Aspect 24: The network device according to Aspect 23, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: perform the CA operation.

[0268] Aspect 25: A network device according to any one of Aspects 18 to 24, wherein the at least one processor is configured to further determine the configuration of the sensing signal across the two or more of the carriers based on at least one of a symbol index, a time slot index, or a system frame number (SFN).

[0269] Aspect 26: A network device according to any one of Aspects 18 to 25, wherein the at least one processor is configured to use a downlink reference signal (RS) sent on the two or more of the carriers as a reference for at least one of path loss measurement, power control, or spatial domain filter determination.

[0270] Aspect 27: The network device according to aspect 26, wherein the downlink RS is one of a single sideband (SSB) signal or a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0271] Aspect 28: The network device according to any one of aspects 18 to 27, wherein for the sensing signals on the two or more of the carriers, parameter sets are different.

[0272] Aspect 29: The network device according to aspect 28, wherein the parameter set includes at least one of subcarrier spacing (SCS), bandwidth or duration.

[0273] Aspect 30: A network device according to any one of aspects 18 to 29, wherein the configuration indicates that the number of carriers that the network device can hop is fixed.

[0274] Aspect 31: A network device according to any one of aspects 18 to 30, wherein the configuration comes from an additional network device.

[0275] Aspect 32: The network device according to aspect 31, wherein the network device is a user equipment (UE) and the additional network device is a base station.

[0276] Aspect 33: A network device according to any one of Aspects 18 to 32, wherein the configuration defines the first group of sensing signals for transmission on a first carrier among the two or more carriers among the carriers based on a first sensing use case associated with a first group of sensing signals among the sensing signals, and defines the second group of sensing signals for transmission on a second carrier among the two or more carriers among the carriers based on a second sensing use case associated with a second group of sensing signals among the sensing signals.

[0277] Aspect 34: A network device according to Aspect 33, wherein the first sensing use case includes at least one of sensing within a first distance or having a first sensing resolution, and wherein the second sensing use case includes at least one of sensing within a second distance or having a second sensing resolution.

[0278] The foregoing description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Therefore, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but are to be consistent with the full scope of the language claims, wherein, unless otherwise specified, elements mentioned in the singular are not intended to mean "one and only one", but "one or more".

Claims

1. A network device for wireless communication, the network device comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to at least one memory and configured to: receiving an indication to transmit a sensing signal on a carrier using a frequency hopping pattern; determining, based on the indication, a configuration of the sensing signal across two or more of the carriers; as well as The sensing signal is sent across the two or more of the carriers according to the configuration.

2. The network device of claim 1, wherein the network device is one of a user equipment (UE) or a base station. The network device according to claim 1 , wherein the sensing signal is a sensing reference signal (S-RS). The network device of claim 1 , wherein the carrier is a frequency carrier component (CC).

5. The network device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the frequency hopping pattern by using a frequency hopping calculation.

6. The network device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to receive an indication for a carrier aggregation (CA) operation. The network device of claim 6 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform the CA operation.

8. The network device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the configuration of the sensing signals across the two or more of the carriers further based on at least one of a symbol index, a time slot index, or a system frame number (SFN).

9. The network device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to use a downlink reference signal (RS) sent on the two or more of the carriers as a reference for at least one of path loss measurement, power control, or spatial domain filter determination. 10 . The network device of claim 9 , wherein the downlink RS is one of a single sideband (SSB) signal or a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS).

11. The network device of claim 1, wherein a set of parameters is different for the sensing signals on the two or more of the carriers.

12. The network device of claim 11, wherein the parameter set comprises at least one of a subcarrier spacing (SCS), a bandwidth, or a duration.

13. The network device of claim 1, wherein the configuration indicates that the number of carriers that the network device can hop is fixed.

14. The network device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to receive the configuration from an additional network device.

15. The network device of claim 14, wherein the network device is a user equipment (UE) and the additional network device is a base station.

16. A network device according to claim 1, wherein the configuration defines the first group of sensing signals for transmission on a first carrier among the two or more carriers among the carriers based on a first sensing use case associated with a first group of sensing signals among the sensing signals, and defines the second group of sensing signals for transmission on a second carrier among the two or more carriers among the carriers based on a second sensing use case associated with a second group of sensing signals among the sensing signals.

17. The network device of claim 16, wherein the first sensing use case comprises at least one of sensing within a first distance or having a first sensing resolution, and wherein the second sensing use case comprises at least one of sensing within a second distance or having a second sensing resolution.

18. A method for wireless communication at a network device, the method comprising: receiving an indication to transmit a sensing signal on a carrier using a frequency hopping pattern; determining, based on the indication, a configuration of the sensing signal across two or more of the carriers; as well as The sensing signal is sent across the two or more of the carriers according to the configuration.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the network device is one of a user equipment (UE) or a base station.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the sensing signal is a sensing reference signal (S-RS), and wherein the carrier is a frequency carrier component (CC).

21. The method according to claim 18, further comprising: The frequency hopping pattern is determined by using a frequency hopping calculation.

22. The method according to claim 18, further comprising: receiving an indication for a carrier aggregation (CA) operation; as well as The CA operation is performed.

23. The method according to claim 18, further comprising: Determining the configuration of the sensing signals across the two or more of the carriers is also based on at least one of a symbol index, a slot index, or a system frame number (SFN).

24. The method according to claim 18, further comprising: A downlink reference signal (RS) transmitted on the two or more of the carriers is used as a reference for at least one of path loss measurement, power control, or spatial domain filter determination.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein for the sensing signals on the two or more of the carriers, a set of parameters is different, the set of parameters comprising at least one of subcarrier spacing (SCS), bandwidth, or duration.

26. The method of claim 18, wherein the configuration indicates that the number of carriers that the network device can hop to is fixed.

27. The method according to claim 18, further comprising: The configuration is received from an additional network device.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the network device is a user equipment (UE) and the additional network device is a base station.

29. The method of claim 18, wherein the configuration defines the first group of sensing signals for transmission on a first carrier among the two or more carriers among the carriers based on a first sensing use case associated with a first group of sensing signals among the sensing signals, and defines the second group of sensing signals for transmission on a second carrier among the two or more carriers among the carriers based on a second sensing use case associated with a second group of sensing signals among the sensing signals.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the first sensing use case comprises at least one of sensing within a first distance or having a first sensing resolution, and wherein the second sensing use case comprises at least one of sensing within a second distance or having a second sensing resolution.

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