Verification of user equipment location in non-terrestrial networks

Abstract

Techniques for verifying a user equipment (UE) location in a non-terrestrial network (NTN) are disclosed. In some embodiments, such techniques may involve receiving location data for a target UE; obtaining one or more locations of one or more other UEs within a sidelink communication range of the target UE; receiving sidelink measurements obtained by the one or more other UEs relative to the target UE or by the target UE for the one or more other UEs; and validating the location data of the target UE (e.g., the location of the target UE) based at least on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more other UEs. The location verification may ensure that the target UE only accesses the NTN that is allowed to serve the location of the target UE.

Description

[0001] Related Applications

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 18 / 068,961, filed Dec. 20, 2022, entitled “VERIFICATION OF USER EQUIPMENT LOCATION IN NON-TERRESTRIAL NETWORK”, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Technology

[0003] The present disclosure relates generally to the field of wireless communications and, more particularly, to the verification of the location of a user equipment (UE) in a non-terrestrial network (NTN).

[0004] 2. Description of Related Technologies

[0005] Terrestrial or land-based communication networks and infrastructure (such as wireless local area networks (WLANs) or 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)-based (e.g., 4G or 5G) wireless networks) can provide extensive coverage for communication, signaling, and positioning with UEs and other wireless-enabled user devices.

[0006] NTN can use airborne or spaceborne nodes (e.g., satellites or satellite segments in space or the stratosphere) to provide connectivity and, thereby, an alternative form of functionality to terrestrial networks. The integration of NTN with terrestrial networks provides a way to address coverage issues that cannot be solved by land-based infrastructure alone. For example, NTN can have maritime applications or serve other areas where using terrestrial networks may be difficult or expensive. As another example, NTN can use a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) or other NTN satellite systems to locate UEs, but this may not always be reliable.

[0007] With NTN-based positioning, public safety, security, and regulatory applications may also be possible. For example, to access NTN, national regulations may require that a UE or any user device be located within a country or region served by NTN. To verify the location of a UE, NTN and / or the UE may need to perform NTN-based positioning with increased reliability. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for verifying the location of a target user equipment (UE) configured to access a non-terrestrial network (NTN) is disclosed. In some embodiments, the method includes: receiving location data indicating the location of the target UE from the target UE; obtaining one or more locations of one or more UEs within the sidelink communication range of the target UE; receiving sidelink measurements obtained by the one or more UEs relative to the target UE or obtained by the target UE relative to the one or more UEs; and verifying the location data of the target UE based at least on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs.

[0009] In another aspect of the present disclosure, a device is disclosed. In some embodiments, the device includes: one or more transceivers configured to communicate with a target user equipment (UE); a memory; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more transceivers and the memory, and the one or more processors are configured to: receive location data of the target UE; obtain one or more locations of one or more UEs within the sidelink communication range of the target UE; receive sidelink measurements obtained by the one or more UEs relative to the target UE or obtained by the target UE relative to the one or more UEs; and verify the location data of the target UE based at least on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs.

[0010] In some embodiments, the device includes: means for receiving location data of a target user equipment (UE); means for obtaining one or more locations of one or more UEs within the sidelink communication range of the target UE; means for receiving sidelink measurements obtained by the one or more UEs relative to the target UE or obtained by the target UE relative to the one or more UEs; and means for verifying the location data of the target UE based at least on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs.

[0011] In another aspect of the present disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable device is disclosed. In some embodiments, the non-transitory computer-readable device includes a storage medium including a plurality of instructions configured to cause a computerized device, when executed by one or more processors, to: receive location data of a target user equipment (UE); obtain one or more locations of one or more UEs within the sidelink communication range of the target UE; receive sidelink measurements obtained by the one or more UEs relative to the target UE or obtained by the target UE relative to the one or more UEs; and verify the location data of the target UE based at least on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs.

[0012] This summary is not intended to identify key features 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 with reference to the appropriate portions of the entire specification of this disclosure, any or all of the drawings, and each claim. The foregoing and other features and examples will be described in more detail in the following specification, claims, and drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] Figure 1 is a diagram of a positioning system according to an embodiment.

[0014] Figure 2 is a diagram of a positioning system that illustrates an embodiment of a positioning system implemented within a 5G NR communication network (e.g., Figure 1 the positioning system).

[0015] Figure 3 illustrates a positioning scenario of a target user equipment (UE) configured to perform positioning using a non-terrestrial network (NTN) without direct base station access according to some embodiments.

[0016] Figures 4A to 4D illustrates example scenarios that may result in verification or non-verification of the provided location of the target UE.

[0017] Figure 5 is a flowchart of a method for verifying the location of a target UE configured to access an NTN according to some embodiments.

[0018] Figure 6A and Figure 6B is a call flowchart depicting signal exchanges between a target UE, one or more other UEs, and a location management function (LMF) according to an embodiment.

[0019] Figure 7 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a UE that may be utilized in the embodiments described herein.

[0020] Figure 8 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a computer system that may be utilized in the embodiments described herein.

[0021] Like reference symbols in the various figures indicate like elements according to certain example embodiments. Additionally, multiple instances of an element may be indicated by adding a letter or a hyphen and a second number after the first number of the element. For example, multiple instances of element 210 may be indicated as 210-1, 210-2, 210-3, etc. or 210a, 210b, 210c, etc. When only the first number is used to refer to such an element, it should be understood that any instance of the element (e.g., element 210 in the previous example will refer to elements 210-1, 210-2, and 210-3 or to elements 210a, 210b, and 210c). Detailed Description

[0022] The following description is for the purpose of describing innovative aspects of various embodiments for certain example embodiments. However, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the teachings herein can be applied in many different ways. The described example embodiments can be implemented in any device, system, or network capable of transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals according to any communication standard, such as any one of the following: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.4 standard for ultra-wideband (UWB), IEEE 802.11 standards (including the standards identified as technologies), standards, code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), GSM / General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA), Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO), 1xEV-DO, EV-DO Revision A, EV-DO Revision B, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), Evolution High Speed Packet Access (HSPA+), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), or other known signals for communication within wireless, cellular, or Internet of Things (IoT) networks (such as systems utilizing technologies with 3G, 4G, 5G, 6G, or further specific implementations thereof).

[0023] As used herein, "RF signal" includes electromagnetic waves that transmit information through the space between a transmitter (or transmitting device) and a receiver (or receiving device). 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 each RF signal through multiple channels or paths, a receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal.

[0024] Additionally, unless otherwise specified, references to "reference signal", "positioning reference signal", "reference signal for positioning", etc. can be used to refer to signals used to position a user equipment (UE). As described in more detail herein, such signals can include any of a variety of signal types, but may not necessarily be limited to positioning reference signals (PRS) as defined in relevant wireless standards.

[0025] Furthermore, unless otherwise specified, the term "positioning" as used herein can refer to absolute position determination, relative position determination, ranging, or a combination thereof. For the purposes of location or sensing services, such positioning can include and / or be based on timing, angle, phase, or power measurements, or a combination thereof (which can include RF sensing measurements).

[0026] NTN may need to use, for example, GNSS-based positioning to locate UEs and verify the positions of these UEs. However, one problem with positioning in NTN is that position spoofing can allow false positions of UEs to be reported to the NTN, for example, to appear to be in different countries or regulatory regions. This is possible because, unlike in TN where the serving terrestrial cell of a UE can confirm the UE position within approximately 100 meters to 5 kilometers (km) (depending on the terrestrial network (TN) cell size), when using satellites, the NTN service radio cell coverage area can extend from 400 km to over 1000 km, which will not always be able to confirm the position of a UE in a particular country or region. In such cases, the true position of the UE may be spoofed (or simply incorrect), thus allowing the UE to appear to be in a different country or region from the UE's true country or region, and thereby bypass national regulations and allow the UE to gain access to networks (e.g., core networks) in different countries or regions. This can allow the UE to avoid lawful interception in the UE's true country or region, as well as access services that may be prohibited for the UE.

[0027] Due to the possibility of GNSS measurements being spoofed or GNSS signals being spoofed, using GNSS to position UEs may not always be reliable. In some cases, NTN may inadvertently allow users in other countries or regulatory authorities (e.g., near the border) to access the NTN because satellites can serve a large geographical area (e.g., 100 miles - 1000 miles wide) and may inadvertently provide service to border countries or regions.

[0028] For this, techniques are needed for verifying or validating the location of a target UE configured to access an NTN. As will be discussed below, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a location server may cross-check the location of the target UE based on sidelink messages or sidelink measurements reported by other UEs near the target UE. According to some other embodiments of the present disclosure, a location server may cross-check the location of the target UE based on sidelink messages or sidelink measurements reported by the target UE or by other UEs. Additional details will follow the initial description of the relevant systems and techniques.

[0029] Figure 1 FIG. 4 is a simplified illustration of a positioning system 100 according to one embodiment, in which a UE 105, a location server 160, and / or other components of the positioning system 100 may use the techniques provided herein to, for example, verify the location of the UE 105 in a non-terrestrial network (NTN). The techniques described herein may be implemented by one or more components of the positioning system 100. The positioning system 100 may include: a UE 105; one or more satellites 110 (also referred to as space vehicles (SVs)), which may include global navigation satellite system (GNSS) satellites 111 (e.g., satellites of the Global Positioning System (GPS), GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, etc.) and / or NTN satellites 112 (which are configured to act as communication nodes and may be separate and distinct from other SVs); one or more NTN gateways 114 (sometimes referred to herein simply as gateways 114, earth stations 114, or ground stations 114); a base station 120; a location server 160; a network 170; and an external client 180. Generally, the positioning system 100 may estimate the location of the UE 105 based on RF signals received and / or transmitted by the UE 105 and the known locations of other components that send and / or receive RF signals (e.g., GNSS satellites 111, NTN satellites 112, base station 120). Additional details regarding specific location estimation techniques are discussed in more detail. Figure 2 Additional details regarding specific location estimation techniques are discussed in more detail.

[0030] It should be noted that Figure 1 only generalized illustrations of the various components are provided, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate, and each component may be repeated as needed. Specifically, although only one UE 105 is illustrated, it should be understood that many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may utilize the positioning system 100. Similarly, the positioning system 100 is related to Figure 1The illustrated number of base stations 120 may include greater or fewer numbers. The illustrated connections that couple the various components in the connection location system 100 include data and signaling connections, which may include additional (intermediate) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks. Additionally, the components may be rearranged, combined, separated, replaced, and / or omitted according to the desired functionality. In some embodiments, for example, the external client 180 may be directly connected to the location server 160. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize many modifications to the illustrated components.

[0031] Depending on the desired functionality, network 170 may include any one of a variety of wireless and / or wired networks. Network 170 may include, for example, any combination of public and / or private networks, local area networks and / or wide area networks, etc. Additionally, network 170 may utilize one or more wired and / or wireless communication technologies. In some embodiments, network 170 may include, for example, cellular or other mobile networks, wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless wide area network (WWAN), and / or the Internet. Examples of network 170 include Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless networks, fifth generation (5G) wireless networks (also referred to as New Radio (NR) wireless networks or 5G NR wireless networks), Wi-Fi WLAN, and the Internet. LTE, 5G, and NR are wireless technologies defined or being defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Network 170 may also include more than one network and / or more than one type of network.

[0032] Base station 120 is communicatively coupled to network 170. In some embodiments, base station 120 may be owned, maintained, and / or operated by a cellular network provider and may employ any one of a variety of radio technologies, as described below. Depending on the technology of network 170, base station 120 may include a Node B, evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), transceiver base station (BTS), radio base station (RBS), NR Node B (gNB), next-generation eNB (ng-eNB), etc. In the case where network 170 is a 5G network, base station 120 as a gNB or ng-eNB may be part of a next-generation radio access network (NG-RAN) that is connectable to a 5G core network (5GC). Considering open radio access network (O-RAN) and / or virtualized radio access network (V-RAN or vRAN) in 5G or later networks, the functionality performed by base station 120 in earlier-generation networks (e.g., 3G and 4G) may be divided into different functional components (e.g., radio unit (RU), distributed unit (DU), and central unit (CU)) and layers (e.g., L1 / L2 / L3), which may be performed on different devices located at different positions and connected, for example, via fronthaul connections, midhaul connections, and backhaul connections. As mentioned herein, a "base station" (or ng-eNB, gNB, etc.) may include any or all of these functional components. Optionally, in certain specific implementations, an access point (AP) not shown may be communicatively coupled to network 170 and may include, for example, a Wi-Fi AP or AP, or an AP with cellular capabilities (e.g., 4G LTE and / or 5G NR). Thus, UE 105 can communicate with network-connected devices such as location server 160 by accessing network 170 via base station 120 using first communication link 133. For example, when direct access to base station 120 is unavailable, access to location server 160 or network 170 may also be via NTN satellite 112 and earth station 114. Additionally or alternatively, since in certain specific implementations, the AP may also be communicatively coupled to network 170, UE 105 can use second communication link 135 or communicate with network-connected devices and Internet-connected devices (including location server 160) via one or more other mobile devices 145.

[0033] As used herein, the term "base station" generally may refer to a single physical transmission point or multiple co-located physical transmission points that may be located at base station 120. A transmission and reception point (TRP) (also referred to as a transmit / receive point) corresponds to this type of transmission point, and the term "TRP" may be used interchangeably in this document with the terms "gNB", "ng-eNB", and "base station". In some cases, base station 120 may include multiple TRPs - for example, where each TRP is associated with a different antenna or different antenna array of base station 120. As used herein, the transmission functionality of a TRP may be performed by a transmission point (TP), and / or the reception functionality of a TRP may be performed by a reception point (RP), which may be physically separate or different from the TP. That is, a TRP may include both a TP and an RP. A physical transmission point may include an antenna array of base station 120 (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system and / or in the case where the base station employs beamforming). The term "base station" may additionally refer to multiple non-co-located physical transmission points, which 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). In some cases, base station 120 may not include a TRP and may access UE 105 only via one or more NTN gateways 114 and one or more NTN satellites 112. In such cases, base station 120 may employ a wired (or wireless) connection to each NTN gateway 114, or NTN gateway 114 may be part of base station 120.

[0034] As used herein, the term "cell" generally may refer to a logical communication entity used for communication with base station 120 and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID)) used to distinguish adjacent cells operating via the same or different carriers. In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells and may be configured with different cells according to different protocol types that may provide access for different types of devices (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other protocols). In some cases, the term "cell" may refer to a portion of the geographical coverage area over which the logical entity operates (e.g., a sector). In the case of NTN access, a radio cell may be static (e.g., for a geostationary NTN satellite 112) or may have a coverage area that moves over the surface of the Earth (e.g., for a low Earth orbit (LEO) or medium Earth orbit (MEO) NTN satellite 112).

[0035] Satellite 110 can be used to locate UE 105 in one or more ways. For example, satellite 110 (also referred to as a space vehicle (SV)) can be part of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), GLONASS, Galileo, or Beidou. Positioning using RF signals from GNSS satellites can include measuring multiple GNSS signals at the GNSS receiver of UE 105 to perform code-based and / or carrier-based positioning, which can be highly accurate. Additionally or alternatively, some satellites among satellite 110 such as NTN satellite 112 can be used for NTN-based positioning, where NTN satellite 112 can operate functionally as a TRP (or TP) of a network (e.g., an LTE and / or NR network) and can be communicatively coupled to network 170 via, for example, an earth station 114 configured to communicate with base station 120. Specifically, reference signals (e.g., PRS) transmitted by NTN satellite 112 for NTN-based positioning can be similar to those transmitted by base station 120 and can be coordinated by location server 160. In some embodiments, NTN satellite 112 for NTN-based positioning can be different from those for GNSS-based positioning. In some embodiments, NTN nodes can include non-terrestrial vehicles such as airplanes, balloons, drones, etc., which can supplement or replace NTN satellites.

[0036] Location server 160 can include a server and / or other computing devices that are configured to determine an estimated location of UE 105 and / or provide data (e.g., "assistance data") to UE 105 to facilitate position measurement and / or position determination by UE 105. According to some embodiments, location server 160 can include a Home Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (H-SLP) that can support the SUPL User Plane (UP) positioning solution defined by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) and can support location services for UE 105 based on subscription information of UE 105 stored in location server 160. In some embodiments, location server 160 can include a Discovery SLP (D-SLP) or an Emergency SLP (E-SLP). Location server 160 can also include an Enhanced Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) that uses a Control Plane (CP) positioning solution to support positioning of UE 105 for LTE radio access of UE 105. Location server 160 can also include a Location Management Function (LMF) that supports positioning of UE 105 using a Control Plane (CP) positioning solution for NR or LTE radio access of UE 105 to a 5G core network.

[0037] In a CP positioning solution, from the perspective of network 170, the signaling for controlling and managing the positioning of UE 105 can use existing network interfaces and protocols and be exchanged as signaling between the various elements of network 170 and with UE 105. In a UP positioning solution, from the perspective of network 170, the signaling for controlling and managing the positioning of UE 105 can be exchanged as data (e.g., data transmitted using Internet Protocol (IP) and / or Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)) between location server 160 and UE 105.

[0038] As previously noted (and discussed in more detail below), the estimated location of UE 105 can be based on measurements of RF signals transmitted from and / or received by UE 105. Specifically, these measurements can provide information about the relative distance and / or angle of UE 105 from one or more components in positioning system 100 (e.g., GNSS satellites 110, base stations 120). The estimated location of UE 105 can be estimated geometrically (e.g., using multilateration and / or multilateration) based on the distance and / or angle measurements along with the known locations of one or more components.

[0039] Although terrestrial components such as base station 120 can be fixed, the embodiments are not limited thereto. Mobile components can be used. For example, in some embodiments, the location of UE 105 can be estimated at least in part based on measurements of RF signals 140 communicated between UE 105 and one or more other mobile devices 145 (the one or more other mobile devices can be mobile or fixed). As illustrated, the other mobile devices can include, for example, mobile phone 145-1, vehicle 145-2, static communication / location device 145-3, or other static and / or mobile devices capable of providing wireless signals for positioning UE 105, or combinations thereof. The wireless signals from mobile device 145 for positioning UE 105 can include using, for example (including Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)), IEEE 802.11x (e.g., ), Ultra Wide Band (UWB), IEEE 802.15x, or combinations thereof. Mobile device 145 can additionally or alternatively use non-RF wireless signals such as infrared signals or other optical technologies to position UE 105.

[0040] The mobile device 145 may include other UEs communicatively coupled to a cellular network or other mobile network (e.g., network 170). When one or more other mobile devices 145 including UEs are used in the positioning determination of a particular UE 105, the UE 105 for which the positioning is to be determined may be referred to as the "target UE", and each of the other mobile devices 145 used may be referred to as a "reference UE" or an "anchor UE". For positioning determination of the target UE, the corresponding positions of the one or more anchor UEs may be known and / or determined jointly with the target UE. Direct communication between the one or more other mobile devices 145 and the UE 105 may include sidelink and / or similar device-to-device (D2D) communication technologies. The sidelink defined by 3GPP is a form of D2D communication under the cellular-based LTE and NR standards. UWB may be such a technology by which measurements from one or more anchor devices (e.g., mobile device 145) can be used to facilitate the positioning of a target device (e.g., UE 105).

[0041] According to some embodiments, such as when the UE 105 is included in and / or incorporated into a vehicle, one form of D2D communication used by the mobile device 105 may include vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication. V2X is a communication standard for vehicles to exchange information about the traffic environment with relevant entities. V2X may include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication between vehicles with V2X capabilities, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication between a vehicle and an infrastructure-based device (commonly referred to as a roadside unit (RSU)), vehicle-to-person (V2P) communication between a vehicle and nearby people (pedestrians, cyclists, and other road users), etc. Additionally, V2X may use any one of a variety of wireless RF communication technologies. For example, cellular V2X (CV2X) is a form of V2X that uses cellular-based communication such as LTE (4G), NR (5G), and / or other cellular technologies in a direct communication mode as defined by 3GPP and may include communication using NR or LTE sidelink signaling. Figure 1The illustrated UE 105 may correspond to a component or device located on a vehicle, RSU, or other V2X entity for communicating V2X messages. In embodiments where V2X is used, the static communication / location device 145-3 (which may correspond to an RSU) and / or the vehicle 145-2 may thus communicate with the UE 105 (e.g., using LTE or NR sidelink signaling) and may be used to determine the location of the UE 105 using techniques similar to those used by the base station 120 (e.g., using multilateration and / or multipoint positioning). It may further be noted that, according to some embodiments, the mobile device 145 (which may include a V2X device) and / or the base station 120 may be used together (e.g., in a WWAN positioning solution) to determine the location of the UE 105.

[0042] The estimated location of the UE 105 can be used in a variety of applications - for example to assist the user of the UE 105 in direction finding or navigation or to assist another user (e.g., associated with an external client 180) in locating the UE 105. "Location" is also referred to herein as "location estimate", "estimated location", "position", "positioning", "positioning estimate", "position fix", "estimated positioning", "location fix", or "fix". The process of determining a location may be referred to as "positioning", "position determination", "location determination", etc. The location of the UE 105 may include the absolute location of the UE 105 (e.g., latitude and longitude and possibly also altitude) or the relative location of the UE 105 (e.g., a position expressed as a distance north or south, east or west and possibly also above or below some other known fixed location (including, e.g., the location of the base station 120) or some other location (such as the location of the UE 105 at some known previous time or the location of the mobile device 145 (e.g., another UE) at some known previous time)). The location may be specified as a geodetic location including coordinates, which may be absolute (e.g., latitude, longitude, and optionally altitude), relative (e.g., relative to some known absolute location), or local (e.g., X, Y, and optionally Z coordinates according to a coordinate system defined relative to a local area such as a factory, warehouse, university campus, shopping mall, stadium, or convention center). The location may alternatively be a civic location and may then include a street address (e.g., including the name or label of a country, state, county, city, road, and / or street, and / or a road or street number) and / or one or more of the labels or names of a place, building, part of a building, floor of a building, and / or room within a building, etc. The location may also include an indication of uncertainty or error, such as a horizontal distance and possibly a vertical distance expected for the error in the location, or an indication of the area or volume (e.g., a circle or ellipse) within which the UE 105 is expected to be located at a certain confidence level (e.g., 95% confidence).

[0043] The external client 180 can be a web server or a remote application that can have some association with the UE 105 (e.g., accessible by the user of the UE 105), or can be a server, application, or computer system that provides location services to some other user or users, and the location services can include obtaining and providing the location of the UE 105 (e.g., to enable services such as a friend or relative finder or a child or pet locator). Additionally or alternatively, the external client 180 can obtain the location of the UE 105 and provide it to an emergency service provider, a government agency, etc.

[0044] As previously noted, the example positioning system 100 can be implemented using a wireless communication network such as an LTE-based or 5G NR-based network. Figure 2 A diagram of a positioning system 200 is shown, which illustrates an implementation of a 5G NR-based positioning system (e.g., the positioning system 100). The positioning system 200 can be configured to determine the location of the UE 105 by using access nodes to implement one or more positioning methods, and these access nodes can include NR Node B (gNB) 210-1 and 210-2 (collectively or generically referred to herein as gNB 210) and / or ng-eNB 214. The gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214 can correspond to Figure 1 the base station 120. Optionally, the access nodes can include a WLAN (not shown) corresponding to one or more access points. Optionally, the positioning system 200 can additionally be configured to determine the location of the UE 105 by using the LMF 220 (which can correspond to the location server 160) to implement one or more positioning methods. Here, the positioning system 200 includes the UE 105 and components of a 5G NR network, and the 5G NR network includes a Next Generation (NG) Radio Access Network (RAN) (NG-RAN) 235 and a 5G Core Network (5G CN) 240. The 5G network can also be referred to as an NR network; the NG-RAN 235 can be referred to as a 5G RAN or an NR RAN; and the 5G CN 240 can be referred to as an NG core network.

[0045] The positioning system 200 may further utilize information from the satellites 110. As previously indicated, the satellites 110 may include GNSS satellites 111 from a GNSS system such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) or a similar system (e.g., GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS)). Additionally or alternatively, the satellites 110 may include NTN satellites 112, which may be communicatively coupled to the LMF 220 (e.g., at least via the earth station 114 and the gNB 210) and operatively used as (or similar to) a TRP (or TP) in the NG-RAN 235. Then, the NTN satellites 112 may communicate with one or more gNBs 210, and the UE 105 may be configured to communicate with the NG-RAN 235 via the satellites 112, the earth station 114, and the gNB 210. The gNB 210 may be separate from the earth station 114. Alternatively, the gNB 210 may include one or more earth stations 114, or may be combined with the one or more earth stations using, for example, a split architecture. The earth station 114 may be shared by more than one gNB 210. The earth station 114 may be dedicated to only one spacecraft operator (SVO) and an associated constellation of NTN satellites 112 and may thus be owned and managed by that SVO. The earth station 114 may be included within the gNB 210, such as a gNB-DU within the gNB 210, which may occur when both the gNB 210 and the included earth station 114 are owned by the same SVO or the same mobile network operator (MNO). The earth station 114 may use SVO-proprietary control plane and user plane protocols to communicate with the NTN satellites 112. The control plane and user plane protocols between the earth station 114 and the NTN satellites 112 may: (i) establish and release the communication link 211 from the earth station 114 to the NTN satellites 112, including supporting authentication and encryption; (ii) update the SV software and firmware; (iii) perform SV operation and maintenance (O&M); (iv) control the radio beams and radio cells (e.g., direction, power, on / off state) and the mapping between the radio beams / radio cells and the earth station uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) payloads; and (v) assist in the handover of the NTN satellites 112 or radio cells to another earth station 114.

[0046] It should be noted that Figure 2Only general examples of various components are provided, and any or all of these various components may be utilized as appropriate, and each of these various components may be repeated or omitted as needed. Specifically, although only one UE 105 is illustrated, it should be understood that many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may utilize the positioning system 200. Similarly, the positioning system 200 may include a larger (or smaller) number of satellites 110, gNBs 210, ng-eNBs 214, access and mobility management functions (AMFs) 215, external clients 230, and / or other components. The illustrated connections that connect the various components in the positioning system 200 include data and signaling connections, which may include additional (intermediate) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks. Furthermore, the components may be rearranged, combined, separated, replaced, and / or omitted according to the desired functionality.

[0047] The UE 105 may include and / or be referred to as a device, mobile device, wireless device, mobile terminal, terminal, mobile station (MS), secure user plane location (SUPL)-enabled terminal (SET), or some other name. Additionally, the UE 105 may correspond to a cellular phone, smartphone, laptop computer, tablet computer, personal data assistant (PDA), navigation device, Internet of Things (IoT) device, or some other portable or mobile device. Generally, although not necessarily, the UE 105 may support the use of one or more radio access technologies (RATs) such as using GSM, CDMA, W-CDMA, LTE, high speed packet data (HRPD), IEEE 802.11 Bluetooth, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX TM )), 5G NR (e.g., using NG-RAN 235 and 5G CN 240), etc. for wireless communication. The UE 105 may also support wireless communication using a WLAN, which (like one or more RATs and as previously noted with respect to Figure 1 ) may be connected to other networks such as the Internet. Using one or more of these RATs may allow the UE 105 (e.g., via Figure 2 elements of the 5G CN 240 not shown, or possibly via a gateway mobile location center (GMLC) 225) to communicate with the external client 230 and / or allow the external client 230 (e.g., via the GMLC 225) to receive location information about the UE 105. When implemented in or communicatively coupled with a 5G NR network, Figure 2 the external client 230 may correspond to Figure 1External client 180. The UE 105 can include a single entity or can include multiple entities, such as in a personal area network where the user can employ audio, video, and / or data I / O devices, and / or body sensors, as well as a separate wired or wireless modem.

[0048] Figure 2 The base stations in the NG-RAN 235 shown can correspond to Figure 1 the base stations 120 in and can include gNB 210. The paired gNBs 210 in the NG-RAN 235 can be connected to each other (e.g., directly connected as shown in Figure 2 or indirectly connected via other gNBs 210). The communication interface between base stations (gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214) can be referred to as the Xn interface 237. Access to the 5G network is provided to the UE 105 via wireless communication between the UE 105 and one or more of the gNBs 210 (e.g., this can occur via the NTN satellite 112 and the NTN gateway 114), and these gNBs can use 5G NR to provide wireless communication access to the 5G CN 240 on behalf of the UE 105. The wireless interface between the base stations (gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214) and the UE 105 can be referred to as the Uu interface 239 when the access is terrestrial, or as the Uu interface on link 211 when the access uses NTN. 5G NR radio access can also be referred to as NR radio access or 5G radio access. In Figure 2 the serving gNB of the UE 105 is assumed to be gNB210-1, but other gNBs (e.g., gNB 210-2) can act as the serving gNB in the case where the UE 105 moves to another location, or can act as a secondary gNB to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to the UE 105.

[0049] Figure 2 The base stations in the NG-RAN 235 shown can additionally or alternatively include a next-generation evolved Node B (also referred to as ng-eNB) 214. The ng-eNB 214 can be connected to one or more gNBs 210 in the NG-RAN 235 (e.g., directly or indirectly via other gNBs 210 and / or other ng-eNBs). The ng-eNB 214 can provide LTE radio access and / or evolved LTE (eLTE) radio access to the UE 105 (e.g., this can be terrestrial or can occur via the NTN satellite 112 and the NTN gateway 114 with NTN access). Figure 2Some of the gNBs 210 (e.g., gNB 210-2) and / or ng-eNBs 214 may be configured to act as positioning beacons only, which may send signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) and / or may broadcast assistance data to assist in the positioning of UE 105, but may not receive signals from UE 105 or from other UEs. Some of the gNBs 210 (e.g., gNB 210-2 and / or another gNB not shown) and / or ng-eNBs 214 may be configured to act as detection-only nodes and may scan for signals containing, for example, PRS data, assistance data, or other location data. Such detection-only nodes may not send signals or data to the UE, but may send signals or data (relating to, for example, PRS, assistance data, or other location data) to other network entities (e.g., one or more components of the 5GCN 240, external client 230, or controller), which may receive and store the data or use the data for the positioning of at least UE 105. It should be noted that although Figure 2 only one ng-eNB 214 is shown in

[0050] In an optional specific implementation, the positioning system 200 may further include one or more WLANs (not shown), and the one or more WLANs may be connected to a non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF) 250 in the 5G CN 240 (e.g., in the case of an untrusted WLAN). For example, the WLAN may support IEEE 802.11 WiFi access for the UE 105 and may include one or more WiFi APs. Here, the N3IWF 250 may be connected to other elements in the 5G CN 240, such as the AMF 215. In some embodiments, the WLAN may support another RAT, such as Bluetooth. The N3IWF 250 may provide support for secure access of the UE 105 to other elements in the 5G CN 240 and / or may support the interworking of one or more protocols used by the WLAN and the UE 105 with one or more protocols used by other elements of the 5G CN 240, such as the AMF 215. For example, the N3IWF 250 may support: the establishment of an IPSec tunnel with the UE 105, the termination of the IKEv2 / IPSec protocol with the UE 105, the termination of the N2 and N3 interfaces of the 5G CN 240 for the control plane and the user plane respectively, and the relay of uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) control plane non-access stratum (NAS) signaling across the N1 interface between the UE 105 and the AMF 215. In some other embodiments, the WLAN may be directly connected to an element in the 5G CN 240 (e.g., the AMF 215 as shown by the dashed line in Figure 2 ), and not via the N3IWF 250. For example, the direct connection of the WLAN to the 5G CN 240 may occur when the WLAN is a trusted WLAN for the 5G CN 240, and may be implemented using a trusted WLAN interworking function (TWIF) ( Figure 2 not shown in the figure) that may be an element internal to the WLAN. It should be noted that although Figure 2 only shows one WLAN, some embodiments may include multiple WLANs.

[0051] The access node may include any network entity among a variety of network entities that enables communication between the UE 105 and the AMF 215. As noted, this may include the gNB 210, the ng-eNB 214, the NTN satellite 112, and / or other types of cellular base stations. However, the access node providing the functionality described herein may additionally or alternatively include an entity that enables communication with any one of a variety of RATs (which may include non-cellular technologies) not exemplified in Figure 2 . Therefore, as used in the embodiments described herein below, the term "access node" may include, but is not necessarily limited to, the gNB 210, the ng-eNB 214, or the WLAN.

[0052] In some embodiments, an access node (such as gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, NTN satellite 112, and / or WLAN) (either alone or in combination with other components of the positioning system 200) may be configured to: obtain position measurements of an uplink (UL) signal received from UE 105 and / or obtain DL position measurements obtained by UE 105 for DL signals received by UE 105 from one or more access nodes in response to receiving a request for location information from LMF 220. As noted, while Figure 2 access nodes (gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, NTN satellite 112) configured to communicate according to 5G NR, LTE, and Wi-Fi communication protocols, respectively, are depicted, access nodes configured to communicate according to other communication protocols may be used, such as, for example, Node B using the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) protocol for the Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), eNB using the LTE protocol for the Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN), or a beacon using the Bluetooth protocol for WLAN. For example, in a 4G Evolved Packet System (EPS) providing LTE radio access to UE 105, the RAN may include the E-UTRAN, which may include base stations containing eNBs that support LTE radio access. The core network for EPS may include the Evolved Packet Core (EPC). EPS may then include the E-UTRAN plus the EPC, where in Figure 2 the E-UTRAN corresponds to the NG-RAN 235 and the EPC corresponds to the 5GCN 240. The methods and techniques described herein for obtaining the civic location of UE 105 may be applicable to such other networks.

[0053] gNB 210 and ng-eNB 214 can communicate with AMF 215, which communicates with LMF 220 for positioning functionality. AMF 215 can support the mobility of UE 105, including cell change and handover of UE 105 from an access node of a first RAT (e.g., gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, NTN satellite 112, or WLAN) to an access node of a second RAT. AMF 215 can also participate in supporting the signaling connection with UE 105 and possibly support data and voice bearers for UE 105. LMF 220 can support positioning UE 105 using a CP positioning solution when UE 105 accesses NG-RAN 235 or WLAN, and can support positioning processes and methods, including UE-assisted / UE-based and / or network-based processes / methods, such as Assisted GNSS (A-GNSS), Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) (which may be referred to as Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) in NR), Frequency Difference of Arrival (FDOA), Real-Time Kinematics (RTK), Precise Point Positioning (PPP), Differential GNSS (DGNSS), Enhanced Cell ID (ECID), Angle of Arrival (AoA), Angle of Departure (AoD), WLAN positioning, Round-Trip Signal Propagation Delay (RTT), Multi-Cell RTT, and / or other positioning processes and methods. LMF 220 can also process, for example, location service requests for UE 105 received from AMF 215 or from GMLC 225. LMF 220 can be connected to AMF 215 and / or GMLC 225. In some embodiments, the network (such as 5GCN 240) can additionally or alternatively implement other types of location support modules, such as an Evolved Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) or a SUPL Location Platform (SLP). It should be noted that in some embodiments, at least a part of the positioning functionality (including the determination of the location of UE 105) can be performed at UE 105 (e.g., by measuring downlink PRS (DL-PRS) signals transmitted by radio nodes such as gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, NTN satellite 112, and / or WLAN and / or using, for example, assistance data provided to UE 105 by LMF 220).

[0054] Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 225 can support location requests for UE 105 received from external client 230, and can forward such location requests to AMF 215 for forwarding by AMF 215 to LMF 220. A location response from LMF 220 (e.g., containing an estimated location of UE 105) can be similarly returned directly or via AMF 215 to GMLC 225, and GMLC 225 can then return the location response (e.g., containing the location estimate) to external client 230.

[0055] The Network Exposure Function (NEF) 245 may be included in the 5G CN 240. The NEF 245 may support the secure exposure of capabilities and events regarding the 5G CN 240 and the UE 105 to an external client 230, and these capabilities and events may thus be referred to as Access Functions (AFs) and may enable the secure provisioning of information from the external client 230 to the 5G CN 240. The NEF 245 may be connected to the AMF 215 and / or the GMLC 225 to obtain the location of the UE 105 (e.g., civic location) and provide the location to the external client 230.

[0056] As Figure 2 Further illustrated, the LMF 220 may communicate with the gNB 210 and / or with the ng-eNB 214 using the NR Positioning Protocol Annex (NRPPa) defined in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.455. NRPPa messages may be transferred between the gNB 210 and the LMF 220 and / or between the ng-eNB 214 and the LMF 220 via the AMF 215. As Figure 2 Further illustrated, the LMF 220 and the UE 105 may communicate using the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) defined in 3GPP TS 37.355. Here, LPP messages may be transferred between the UE 105 and the LMF 220 via the AMF 215 and the serving gNB 210-1 or serving ng-eNB 214 of the UE 105. For example, LPP messages may be transferred between the LMF 220 and the AMF 215 using service-based operation messages (e.g., based on Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)), and LPP messages may be transferred between the AMF 215 and the UE 105 using the 5G NAS protocol. The LPP protocol may be used to support the positioning of the UE 105 using UE-assisted and / or UE-based positioning methods such as A-GNSS, RTK, TDOA, multi-cell RTT, AoD, and / or ECID. The NRPPa protocol may be used to support the positioning of the UE 105 using network-based positioning methods such as ECID, AoA, uplink TDOA (UL-TDOA) and / or may be used by the LMF 220 to obtain location-related information from the gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214, such as parameters defining the DL-PRS transmission from the gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214.

[0057] In some embodiments, a sidelink positioning protocol (SLPP) may be used between UE 105 and another UE 145 to coordinate the positioning of UE 105 and another UE 145 using sidelink signaling and possibly also sidelink PRS transmissions and sidelink PRS measurements performed by UE 105 and / or another UE 145. For example, the SLPP procedure may be used to determine the range between UE 105 and another UE 145 and / or the orientation of one of UE 105 and another UE 145 relative to the other of UE 105 and another UE 145. In such cases, UE 105 and / or another UE 145 may receive assistance data or positioning instructions from LMF 220, and / or may use LPP messages, SLPP messages, or SLPP messages embedded in LPP messages to convey sidelink positioning measurements or position results (e.g., the range between UE 105 and another UE 145 and / or the orientation of one of UE 105 and another UE 145 relative to the other of UE 105 and another UE 145) to LMF 220.

[0058] In the case where UE 105 is accessing a WLAN, LMF 220 may use NRPPa and / or LPP in a manner similar to that just described for UE 105 accessing gNB 210 or ng-eNB 214 to obtain the location of UE 105. Thus, NRPPa messages may be passed between the WLAN and LMF 220 via AMF 215 and N3IWF 250 to support network-based positioning of UE 105 and / or the transfer of other location information from the WLAN to LMF 220. Alternatively, NRPPa messages may be passed between N3IWF 250 and LMF 220 via AMF 215 to support network-based positioning of UE 105 based on location-related information and / or location measurements known or accessible to N3IWF 250 and passed from N3IWF 250 to LMF 220 using NRPPa. Similarly, LPP and / or LPP messages may be passed between UE 105 and LMF 220 via AMF 215, N3IWF 250, and the serving WLAN of UE 105 to support UE-assisted or UE-based positioning of UE 105 by LMF 220.

[0059] In positioning system 200, positioning methods can be classified as "UE-assisted", "UE-based", or "network-based". With UE-assisted positioning methods, UE 105 can obtain position measurements and transmit these measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 220) for calculating a position estimate of UE 105. For RAT-related positioning methods, the position measurements can include one or more of the following for one or more access points of gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, and / or WLAN: received signal strength indicator (RSSI), round-trip signal propagation time (RTT), reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), reference signal time difference (RSTD), time of arrival (TOA), AoA, receive time - transmit time difference (Rx-Tx), differential AoA (DAoA), AoD, or timing advance (TA). Additionally or alternatively, similar measurements can be made on sidelink signals transmitted by other UEs, which can be used as anchor points for positioning UE 105 when the positions of these other UEs are known. The position measurements can additionally or alternatively include measurements for RAT-independent positioning methods, such as GNSS (e.g., GNSS pseudorange, GNSS code phase, and / or GNSS carrier phase with respect to satellite 110), WLAN, etc.

[0060] In the case of UE-based positioning methods, UE 105 can obtain position measurements (e.g., which can be the same or similar to the position measurements of UE-assisted positioning methods), and can further calculate the position of UE 105 (e.g., with the aid of assistance data received from a location server (such as LMF 220, SLP) or broadcast by gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, or WLAN).

[0061] In the case of network-based positioning methods, one or more base stations (e.g., gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214), one or more APs in (e.g., WLAN) or N3IWF 250 can obtain position measurements for signals transmitted by UE 105 (e.g., measurements of RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, AoA, or TOA) and / or can receive measurements obtained by UE 105 or in the case of N3IWF 250 by APs in WLAN, and can transmit these measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 220) for calculating a position estimate of UE 105.

[0062] The positioning of UE 105 can also be classified as UL-based, DL-based, or DL-UL-based according to the type of signal used for positioning. For example, if the positioning is based only on signals received at UE 105 (e.g., from base station 120, NTN satellite 112, or another UE 145), the positioning can be classified as DL-based. On the other hand, if the positioning is based only on signals transmitted by UE 105 (which can be received by, for example, base station 120 or another UE 145), the positioning can be classified as UL-based. DL-UL-based positioning includes positioning based on signals transmitted and received by UE 105, such as RTT-based positioning. Sidelink (SL)-assisted positioning includes signals communicated between UE 105 and one or more other UEs 145. According to some embodiments, UL, DL, or DL-UL positioning as described herein may be capable of using SL signaling as a supplement or replacement for SL, DL, or DL-UL signaling.

[0063] Depending on the positioning type (e.g., UL-based, DL-based, or DL-UL-based), the type of reference signal used may be different. For example, for DL-based positioning, these signals may include PRS (e.g., DL-PRS transmitted by a base station or SL-PRS transmitted by another UE) that can be used for TDOA, AoD, AoA, and RTT measurements. Other reference signals that can be used for positioning (UL, DL, or DL-UL) may include: sounding reference signal (SRS), channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), synchronization signal (e.g., synchronization signal block (SSB) synchronization signal (SS)), physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), demodulation reference signal (DMRS), etc. In addition, the reference signals may be transmitted in a Tx beam and / or received in an Rx beam (e.g., using beamforming techniques), which may affect angle measurements such as AoD and / or AoA.

[0064] Positioning Scenario

[0065] Figure 3 is an illustration of a positioning scenario 300 of a target user equipment (UE) 302 configured to perform positioning in a non-terrestrial network (NTN) including one or more SVs 306 without direct base station access according to some embodiments described herein. In some specific implementations, the NTN may include access nodes 304, such as NTN satellites (which may be an example of NTN satellite 112). In some configurations of the positioning scenario 300, between the target UE 302 and a specific base station 120 (e.g., gNB or eNB) such as Figure 1There may be no direct signaling (e.g., via communication link 133) between the base stations depicted in FIGS. 1 or 2. In positioning scenario 300, an example signaling path for a UE 302 using NTN access (which may be referred to as an NTN link) may include: a base station 120 (e.g., a gNB or eNB) via a terrestrial (e.g., wired or wireless) communication link 211 to an earth station 114, the earth station 114 to an NTN satellite (via an NTN uplink such as link 307 to an access node 304 for example), and the NTN satellite to the target UE 302 (via an NTN downlink of link 308). The target UE 302 may refer to a requesting UE that is configured to communicate with an access node 304 of the NTN to seek access to the NTN. For example, the target UE 302 may seek access to the NTN to obtain voice, data, and other communication services, and may then require an accurate positioning of the UE 302 for access verification of a national or regulatory entity against satellite coverage.

[0066] In positioning scenario 300, the target UE 302 may be configured to perform data communication with a location server 312 (e.g., location server 160, LMF 220) or may use the NTN as mentioned above to perform data communication with the location server via an example signaling path. One or more other nearby UEs 308a - 308c and UE 308d may be configured to perform sidelink positioning with other UEs, and / or may similarly use the NTN or perform data communication with the location server 312 via a terrestrial data communication link. For illustrative purposes, one such example data communication link 311 with UE 308c is shown, and this example data communication link may be a terrestrial link or an NTN link (e.g., similar to the NTN link described above for UE 302). As will be discussed below, one or more of these nearby UEs (e.g., one or more of UEs 308a - 308c) may be used to verify the location of the target UE 302 seeking NTN access.

[0067] In some specific implementations, data communication between the target UE 302 and one or more nearby UEs 308a - 308c can be accomplished using sidelink signals and sidelink messages transmitted or received via communication links (e.g., communication links 310a - 310c). In some cases, not all nearby UEs may be able to perform sidelink communication with the target UE 302, such as UE 308d, because UE 308d may not be capable of sidelink communication, may not be able to measure certain positioning parameters (e.g., AoA, AoD), may not be part of the terrestrial network where the target UE 302 is located, may not be known to the network (e.g., its location), may be too far from the target UE 302, may be moving too fast for reliable position measurement, etc. Thus, in some scenarios, only some of the nearby UEs, such as one or more of UEs 308a - 308c, can be relevant to the verification of the location of the target UE 302.

[0068] In some embodiments, the location server 312 (or the AMF such as AMF 215) may request the target UE 302 to periodically send (or broadcast) sidelink discovery messages to nearby UEs (such as one or more of UEs 308a - 308c whose location can be known). The location server 312 (or the AMF) may initially have information about the reported locations of the target UE 302 and one or more other known UEs (e.g., the previously reported locations of the target UE 302 and / or one or more other known UEs stored in the memory associated with the location server 312 (or the AMF)). However, if the target UE 302 seeks NTN access, the location (and associated uncertainty) provided by the target UE 302 may not initially be considered trustworthy by the location server 312 (or the AMF).

[0069] In some embodiments, the sidelink discovery messages sent by UE 302 may be received by these one or more other UEs (e.g., one or more of UEs 308a - 308c) and reported to location server 312. In some cases, one or more other UEs may also report (or may have previously reported) their locations to location server 312. Location server 312 may also obtain identification information of one or more other UEs that report their locations (e.g., the ID of the UE, Subscription Permanent Identifier (SUPI), Global Public Subscription Identifier (GPSI), or Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI)). One or more other UEs may also obtain measurements regarding target UE 302 based on the received sidelink discovery messages and / or based on other sidelink messages or sidelink signals received from target UE 302, such as the Angle of Arrival (AoA), Angle of Departure (AoD), range, or direction and / or bearing between target UE 302 and one or more other UEs. These measurements may be coordinated using SLPP messages exchanged between target UE 302 and one or more other UEs, or may not rely on the use of SLPP. One or more other UEs 308a - 308c may provide the measurements (or location results, such as range and bearing determined from the measurements by the other UEs) to location server 312 as part of the report to location server 312. In some specific implementations, location server 312 (or AMF) may determine the one or more UEs based on the proximity of one or more UEs 308a - 308c to the location reported by UE 302, and may request each of the one or more UEs 308a - 308c to report the measurements (or location results) obtained for the sidelink messages received from UE 302.

[0070] However, in some other embodiments, it may be that the target UE 302 receives sidelink signals and sidelink messages (e.g., discovery messages) from other UEs 308a - 308c, and reports information such as measurements based on the received sidelink signals and messages and / or the identities of other nearby UEs (e.g., one or more of UEs 308a - 308c) from which the sidelink signals and messages are received to the location server 312. The reported identity information may include information identifying each of the other nearby UEs (e.g., the ID, SUPI, GPSI, or TMSI of the UE). In these other embodiments, the location server 312 (or the AMF) may request one or more other UEs known to be close to the location reported by the target UE 302 to periodically send sidelink discovery messages and / or other sidelink signals to the target UE 302. Alternatively, one or more other UEs may send (or broadcast) sidelink discovery messages and / or other sidelink signals to support other proximity-based services and may not require a request from the location server 312 (or the AMF) to send (or broadcast) sidelink discovery messages. In this case, only some UEs near the target UE 302 may send (or broadcast) sidelink discovery messages (e.g., UEs 308a and 308b), while other UEs near the UE 302 may not send (or broadcast) these messages (e.g., UEs 308c and 308d). The location server 312 (or the AMF) may also request the target UE 302 to report measurements and / or identity information of other UEs from which it has received sidelink signals and / or messages. This is contrary to the previous embodiments in which one or more other UEs reported information (e.g., measurements) to the location server 312.

[0071] In some embodiments, the above two methods may be combined such that both the target UE 302 and one or more nearby UEs may report sidelink communication-based measurements, location information, and / or identity information.

[0072] In some embodiments, the location server 312 may cross-check the provided location of the target UE 302 based on information related to one or more other UEs (the location server 312 may identify the information using, for example, identification information reported by the target UE 302 or identification information obtained when one or more other UEs report sidelink discovery messages or locations as described above). Information related to one or more other UEs may include the known locations of one or more other UEs that are close to the reported location of the target UE 302. In some cases, such locations of one or more other UEs may have been previously reported to the location server 312 by one or more other UEs, or previously obtained by the location server 312 (e.g., using UE-assisted and / or network-based positioning methods) and stored by the location server 312 (e.g., as geodetic positions). The known or reported locations of one or more other UEs may have associated errors and / or uncertainties, and thus, in some cases, the known or reported locations may be approximate locations. One or more other UEs may have reported or obtained locations (L1, L2... L n )(assuming there are n other UEs) and uncertainties (U1, U2... U n ). Although this information may have been stored from previous reports, in some cases, the locations and / or uncertainties of one or more other UEs may have been reported or obtained at or near the time when it is necessary to verify the reported location of the target UE 302.

[0073] In a specific implementation, the target UE 302 may report a location L with an uncertainty U (e.g., where the location L and the uncertainty U may be obtained by the target UE 302 using GNSS). The location server 312 may verify the location L based on whether the location L is consistent with the locations (L1, L2... L n ) and uncertainties (U1, U2... U n ) of other UEs. The location L may be considered consistent (and thus verified) in the following cases: (i) the location L is within a threshold distance of each or some of the locations (L1, L2... L n ) of other UEs; (ii) the location L is within a threshold distance of the average location of other UEs (e.g., the average of n locations (L1, L2... L n )); (iii) the uncertainty region of the target UE 302 (e.g., which may be the interior of a circle centered at the location L and having a radius equal to the uncertainty U) is close to (e.g., within its threshold distance of) or overlaps with the uncertainty regions of each or some of the other UEs (e.g., where the uncertainty region of another UE i may be the interior of a circle centered at the location L i and having a radius equal to the uncertainty Ui inside the circle); or (iv) some combination of these applications.

[0074] The more the location server 312 knows about the known locations of nearby UEs surrounding the target UE 302, the more likely the verification of the location of the target UE 302 will be reliable. In other words, if there are more reference locations of one or more other UEs (or nodes) available for cross-checking with the suspected location of the target UE 302, then it will become more difficult, for example, to forge the location of the target UE 302. For example, this means that if the reported location L of the target UE 302 is found to be consistent with the reported or obtained locations of n other UEs, as described above for alternatives (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv), then the reported location L can be considered to be more trustworthy and / or reliable when the number n of other UEs is large (e.g., n is equal to 5 or greater) rather than small (e.g., n is equal to 1 or 2).

[0075] While the location of one or more other UEs may individually contribute to verifying the location provided by the target UE 302 as described above (e.g., to see if such location is forged), the location server 312 may use additional sidelink measurements with the other UEs to more accurately and reliably verify the location. Such sidelink measurements may include positioning measurements (such as AoA and AoD between the target UE 302 and each of the one or more other UEs) and measurements that enable determination of the range between the target UE 302 and each of the one or more other UEs. Range-related measurements may include the received time-transmit time difference (Rx-Tx) obtained by each of the two UEs between which the range will be determined. These measurements may be transmitted to the location server 312 by the target UE 302 in some embodiments, or by one or more other UEs in some embodiments, or by both in some other embodiments. In some specific implementations, sidelink discovery messages may be used to measure AoA, AoD, and / or ranging measurements, where as noted above, sidelink discovery messages may be periodically sent by the target UE 302 to one or more other UEs upon request of the location server 312, or may be periodically sent by one or more other UEs to the target UE 302. The one or more other UEs and / or the target UE 302 may employ various known methods for measuring AoA, AoD, and / or ranging measurements to obtain AoA, AoD, and / or ranging measurement data. In some specific implementations, sidelink discovery messages may be utilized to measure other measurements useful for positioning (such as TOA, TDOA, and / or RSSI), and / or measurements of sidelink signals such as sidelink PRS transmitted by the one or more other UEs and / or by the target UE 302 may be obtained. In other specific implementations, the above measurements may be measured between the target UE 302 and other types of fixed nodes such as access points or base stations using downlink communication or uplink communication as noted above.

[0076] Based on some or all of the above information, the location server 312 may use the reported or obtained locations of the other UEs and the measurements described above to estimate the location of the target UE 302 and the uncertainty associated with the estimated location. In some embodiments, the location of the UE 302 may be obtained using triangulation based on AoA, AoD (and associated bearings), and the locations of one or more other UEs. In some embodiments, multilateration may be used based on, for example, the locations of one or more other UEs and the range (distance) between the target UE 302 and each (or some) of the other UEs. In some cases, TOA, TDOA, or RSSI measurements may also be used for multilateration.

[0077] In some embodiments, the location server 312 may cross-check the location L and / or uncertainty U provided (e.g., reported) by the target UE 302 with the location L* and uncertainty U* of the target UE 302 determined by the location server 312 as described above (e.g., based on sidelink measurements and the known or obtained locations of other UEs). Here, the uncertainty may be a representation of accuracy or probable error (e.g., + / - 200 meters from the location). The cross-check may, for example, verify that the provided location L is within a threshold distance of the determined location L*. The cross-check may also or alternatively be based on the overlap of two regions in which the target UE 302 may be located. One region in which the target UE 302 may be located may be the interior of a circle centered at the reported location L and having a radius equal to the reported uncertainty U. Another region in which the UE 302 may be located may be the interior of a circle centered at the determined location L* and having a radius equal to the determined uncertainty U*. The location server 312 may use the uncertainty U where there is a high confidence (e.g., 90% or 95%) but not complete confidence (100%) that the target UE 302 is located within the circle centered at the reported location L and having a radius equal to the uncertainty U. The location server 312 may similarly use or determine the uncertainty U* where there is a high confidence (e.g., 90% or 95%) but not complete confidence (100%) that the target UE 302 is also located within the circle centered at the location L* and having a radius equal to the uncertainty U*. The overlapping region between the two circles may represent the region in which the UE 302 may be located, which is consistent with both the reported location L and uncertainty U and the location L* and uncertainty U* determined from sidelink measurements and locations of other UEs. If the probability that the UE 302 is inside this overlapping region (e.g., based on the UE 302 having the location L* and uncertainty U*) exceeds a certain threshold (e.g., 5%), then the location server 312 may consider the reported location L and uncertainty U to be verified and reliable. The verification of the location of the target UE 302 may not be a determination that the location is 100% reliable, but rather a determination that there is a high probability (e.g., 90%, 99%, 99.9%) that the location of the target UE is accurate (e.g., not forged and not incorrect).

[0078] In some specific implementations, historical data and / or context information may also be used to verify the location of the target UE 302. For example, if the provided location of the target UE 302 indicates an area or environment where many UEs have been seen passing by or many UEs have moved at high speed (e.g., a highway) historically, the location server 312 may request the target UE 302 to determine and report its speed (e.g., using the sensor 740 as described below). Then, the location server 312 may determine whether the speed information is relevant to the known characteristics of the location, such as the expected speed (e.g., the speed limit of the road), the expected direction (e.g., along the highway at the reported location rather than transverse to the highway at the reported location), and / or the crowdsourced traffic information at that time (e.g., similar speed information obtained from one or more other UEs at the provided location).

[0079] Figures 4A to 4D Illustrative example scenarios that may lead to verification or non-verification of the provided location of the target UE 302 using the previously described techniques are shown. In these figures, L and U correspond to the provided (e.g., reported) location and uncertainty of the target UE 302, while L* and U* correspond to the location and uncertainty of the target UE 302 determined by the location server 312 (as described above) based on sidelink measurements and the known or obtained locations of other nearby UEs.

[0080] In Figure 4A the example, the location server 312 may determine that there is an overlap (shown by the shaded area 406) in the region associated with the location L and uncertainty U provided by the target UE 302 and the estimated location L* and estimated uncertainty U* determined using one of the above methods. The uncertainty U may define a circular region 402 with a radius U around the provided location L, which may be referred to as the uncertainty region of the provided location L. The uncertainty U* may similarly define a circular region 404 with a radius U* around the estimated location L*, which may be referred to as the uncertainty region of the determined location L*. The overlap region 406 may be the intersection of the uncertainty regions 402 and 404. The location server 312 may consider that the higher the amount of the overlap region 406, the higher the probability that the target UE 302 is located within this overlap region. In some embodiments, if this probability exceeds a probability threshold, the provided location L of the target UE 302 may be verified.

[0081] In this example, it can also be seen that the location L provided by the target UE 302 is within the uncertainty region 404 associated with the determined location L* and the determined uncertainty U*. In other words, the distance between L and L* is less than the uncertainty U*. In some embodiments, a distance between L and L* that is less than the uncertainty U* (or some threshold fraction less than a threshold multiple of U*) can result in verifying the provided location L of the target UE 302.

[0082] In Figure 4B the example, the distance d between the location L provided by the target UE 302 and the location L* derived from information related to one or more other UEs of the target UE 302 is determined. In some embodiments, if d is within a distance threshold, the location server 312 can verify the provided location L of the target UE 302. If d is too large (e.g., d exceeds the distance threshold), then L may not be verified.

[0083] In Figure 4C the example, it can be seen that there is no overlap between the uncertainty region 402 defined by the provided location L and the uncertainty U and the uncertainty region 404 defined by the determined location L* and the uncertainty U*. In such cases, the location server 312 can determine that the provided location L by the target UE 302 cannot be verified. However, in some cases, L can be flagged for further evaluation. For example, there may initially not be enough nearby UEs to derive an accurate or high-confidence location L* of the target UE 302, but additional nearby UEs can be used for a second cross-check.

[0084] In Figure 4D the example, it can be seen that there is a small overlap region 407 similar to the Figure 4A example. However, the locations L and L* are not within the uncertainty regions 404 and 402 defined by the uncertainties U* and U, respectively. Based on the small amount of overlap 407, the location server 312 can determine that there is a low probability that the target UE 302 is located within this overlap region. According to this probability threshold, the location server 312 can verify or not verify the provided location L of the target UE 302.

[0085] In some embodiments, multiple criteria can be considered combinatorially. For example, the distance d between the locations L and L* can be compared with a distance threshold. In Figure 4D the example, the distance d may or may not be within the distance threshold, and based on this, the location server 312 can verify or not verify the provided location L of the target UE 302.

[0086] In some cases, verification may fail when there is consistent location spoofing by both the target UE 302 and all other UEs, or when there is third-party GNSS spoofing that is not detected by any of the UEs. Thus, in some embodiments, verification may be reliable only when there are at least a certain threshold number of one or more nearby UEs (e.g., multiple such as three or more) that provide non-spoofed locations and measurements.

[0087] Method

[0088] Figure 5 is a flowchart of method 500 for verifying the location of a target user equipment (UE) (such as UE 105 or target UE 302) configured to access a non-terrestrial network (NTN) according to some embodiments. For performing Figure 5 The structures for performing the functionality illustrated in one or more of the boxes shown may be executed by hardware and / or software components of a computerized device or system (e.g., a server (e.g., location server 160, LMF 220, location server 312)). Components of such a computerized device or system may include, for example, a controller device, a computerized system, or a computer-readable device that includes a storage medium storing computer-readable and / or computer-executable instructions configured to cause at least one processor device or computerized device to perform operations when executed by a processor device. In Figure 8 example components of a server are illustrated and are described in more detail below.

[0089] It should also be noted that the operations of method 500 may be performed in any suitable order and need not be Figure 5 the order depicted. Additionally, method 500 may include additional or fewer operations to verify the location of the target UE compared to Figure 5 those depicted.

[0090] At block 510, method 500 may include: receiving location data indicating the location of the target UE from the target UE. In some embodiments, the target UE may provide location data to the server, for example, using NTN at least via communication links 211, 307, 308 between the target UE 302 and location server 312. In some embodiments, the location data of the target UE may include the provided location of the target UE and / or the uncertainty (L and / or U) of the provided location.

[0091] The structure for performing the functionality at block 510 may include a communication subsystem 830, a wireless communication interface 833, and / or other components of the server, as Figure 8 illustrated.

[0092] At block 520, method 500 may include: obtaining one or more positions of one or more UEs within the sidelink communication range of a target UE. In some embodiments, the one or more positions of the one or more UEs are for known UEs with known or approximate positioning. The one or more positions of the one or more UEs may be previously reported positions stored on a location server. In some embodiments, the one or more positions of the one or more UEs may be transmitted to the location server by the one or more UEs (e.g., using communication link 311 or using NTN) upon request. The one or more UEs may include a plurality of UEs within the sidelink communication range of the target UE, and the number of the plurality of UEs meets or exceeds a threshold number that increases the reliability of the location data of the target UE and reduces the probability of location spoofing by the target UE and the plurality of UEs.

[0093] The structure for performing the functionality at block 520 may include storage device 825, communication subsystem 830, wireless communication interface 833, and / or other components of the server, as Figure 8 illustrated.

[0094] At block 530, method 500 may include: receiving sidelink measurements obtained by one or more UEs relative to the target UE or obtained by the target UE relative to one or more UEs. In some embodiments, the sidelink measurements may be made between the target UE and the one or more UEs. Depending on the implementation, the sidelink measurements may include angle of arrival (AoA), angle of departure (AoD), receive time - transmit time difference (Rx - Tx), range, direction, azimuth, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the sidelink measurements may be reported by the target UE to the location server. In some embodiments, the sidelink measurements may be reported by one or more UEs relative to the target UE to the location server.

[0095] The structure for performing the functionality at block 530 may include communication subsystem 830, wireless communication interface 833, and / or other components of the server, as Figure 8 illustrated.

[0096] At block 540, method 500 may include: verifying the location data of the target UE based at least on the sidelink measurements and the one or more positions of the one or more UEs. In some embodiments, for example, according to an example scenario Figures 4A to 4D , the verification of the location data of the target UE may be based on a comparison between the location data of the target UE and the derived location information of the target UE.

[0097] More specifically, before the comparison, the location server may derive the location information of the target UE based on the sidelink measurements and the locations of one or more UEs, where the derived location information of the target UE includes the estimated location of the target UE and / or the uncertainty of the estimated location (L* and / or U*). In some specific implementations, deriving the location information of the target UE may be performed using triangulation or multilateration based on the sidelink measurements and the locations of one or more UEs.

[0098] In some specific implementations, the location data of the target UE may include the provided location of the target UE, and verifying the location data of the target UE may be based on verifying that the distance between the provided location and the estimated location is less than at least one of a threshold, the uncertainty of the provided location, or the uncertainty of the estimated location.

[0099] In some specific implementations, the location data of the target UE may include the provided location (L) of the target UE and the uncertainty (U) of the provided location. Then, the comparison may involve a comparison between: (i) the location data of the target UE and the estimated location and the uncertainty of the estimated location (e.g., comparing L, U, L*, and U* as in Figure 4A , Figure 4C and Figure 4D ); (ii) the provided location and the estimated location and the uncertainty of the estimated location (e.g., comparing L, L*, and U* as in Figure 4A , Figure 4C and Figure 4D ); (iii) the location data of the target UE and the estimated location of the target UE (e.g., comparing L, U, and L* as in Figure 4C and Figure 4D ); or (iv) a combination thereof.

[0100] In some specific implementations, the verification of the location data of the target UE may further be based on the probability of the target UE being within the overlap between the uncertainty region of the provided location and the uncertainty region of the estimated location, e.g., whether the probability meets or exceeds a probability threshold (e.g., as discussed for Figure 4A and Figure 4D ).

[0101] In some embodiments, the verification of the location data of the target UE may further be based on context information related to the target UE. Examples of context information may be the region in which the target UE is located, the speed of the target UE, the direction of travel of the target UE, historical data related to one or more UEs in the region, or a combination thereof.

[0102] Verification of the location data of the target UE may include verifying the geographical region (e.g., country or regulatory area) of the target UE. This may verify that the target UE is likely to be in the claimed location (e.g., according to the location data).

[0103] The structure for performing the functionality at block 540 may include the processor 810, the memory 835, and / or other components of the server, as Figure 8 illustrated.

[0104] Figure 6A and Figure 6B are signaling flowcharts 600 and 620 of various signals and / or messages exchanged between one or more UEs and a positioning system supporting NTN-based access and positioning (such as Figure 1 and Figure 2 the illustrated positioning system). The signals and / or messages may be exchanged between the target UE 602, one or more other nearby UEs 604, one or more NTN satellites 606, one or more earth stations 608 configured to communicate with one or more NTN satellites 606, one or more gNBs or eNBs 610, the AMF 612, and the LMF 614 configured to communicate data with the foregoing entities. The target UE 602 may be Figure 1 or Figure 2 the UE 105 of Figure 3 or an example of the target UE 302 of Figure 3 One or more of the nearby UEs 604 may be an example of one or more of the UEs in the UE 308 of Figure 2 which may be within the sidelink communication range of the target UE 602. The LMF 614 may be an example of the LMF 220 as Figure 2 illustrated. In some embodiments, each gNB / eNB in the gNB / eNB 610 may be an example of the gNB 210-1 or 210-2 of the NG-RAN or the ng-eNB 214 as

[0105] As Figure 6A and Figure 6B depicted, and as will become apparent in the following discussion, the NTN satellites 606, the earth stations 608, the gNB / eNB 610, and / or the AMF 612 are intermediate entities that may be transparent to the signals and / or messages exchanged between, for example, the target UE 602 or UE 604 and the LMF 614. That is, one or more of the intermediate entities may be used to relay or forward signals and / or messages to perform operations 622-629.

[0106] At 622, the target UE 602 may transmit location data to the LMF 614. In some embodiments, the location data may indicate the location of the target UE 602. In some specific implementations, the location data may be relayed to the LMF 614 via the NTN satellite 606, the earth station 608, the gNB / eNB 610, and the AMF 612. The location data may include the location of the target UE 602 and / or the uncertainty of the location of the target UE 602.

[0107] At 624, one or more nearby UEs 604 may transmit their locations to the LMF 614. In some specific implementations, the location information may be relayed to the LMF 614 via the NTN satellite 606, the earth station 608, the gNB / eNB 610, and the AMF 612. In some specific implementations, for example, in cases where base station access is available for one or more other UEs, the gNB / eNB 610 and the AMF 612 (and / or other components of the NG-RAN not shown) may relay the location information to the LMF 614. However, in some cases, the locations of one or more UEs may be known locations previously reported to the LMF 614, and 624 may not be performed. In some specific implementations, the LMF 614 may obtain the locations of one or more nearby UEs 604 at 624 by using one or more positioning methods to position each of the one or more nearby UEs 604, in which case the UE 604 may only transmit location information to the LMF 614 that enables the LMF 614 to obtain the location.

[0108] At 626, the target UE 602 and / or one or more nearby UEs 604 may send (e.g., broadcast) discovery messages and / or sidelink signals (e.g., sidelink PRS) that enable the target UE 602 and / or one or more nearby UEs 604 to perform sidelink measurements relative to each other. For example, the sidelink measurements may be obtained by one or more nearby UEs 602 relative to the target UE 604. As another example, the sidelink measurements may be obtained by the target UE 602 relative to one or more nearby UEs 604.

[0109] In some embodiments, at Figure 6A As shown at 628, the target UE 602 may transmit the sidelink measurements obtained at 626 to the LMF 614. In some specific implementations, the sidelink measurements may be relayed to the LMF 614 via the NTN satellite 606, the earth station 608, the gNB / eNB 610, and the AMF 612.

[0110] In some embodiments, at Figure 6BAt 629 as shown, one or more nearby UEs 604 may transmit sidelink measurements obtained at 626 to the LMF 614. In some embodiments, the sidelink measurements may be relayed to the LMF 614 via the NTN satellite 606, the earth station 608, the gNB / eNB 610, and the AMF 612. In some embodiments, the gNB / eNB 610 and the AMF 612 may relay the sidelink measurements to the LMF 614. In some embodiments, Figure 6B 622, 624, and 626 as shown may correspond to Figure 6A those operations as shown.

[0111] In some embodiments, at Figure 6A and Figure 6B 630 as shown, the LMF 614 may determine the location information of the target UE 602 based on the sidelink measurements received at 628 and / or 629 and the location of the nearby UE 604 obtained at 624 (or before that). For example, the location information of the target UE 602 may include the estimated location of the target UE 602 and / or the uncertainty of the estimated location of the target UE 602, as described with respect to FIG. 4 and Figure 5 as described.

[0112] In some embodiments, at Figure 6A and Figure 6B 632 as shown, the LMF 614 may verify the location data provided (or reported) by the target UE 602 at 622 based on the location information of the target UE 602 determined at 630. For example, the LMF614 may verify the reported location of the target UE 602, as described with respect to Figure 3 , FIG. 4, and Figure 5 as described.

[0113] In some embodiments, the signal flow diagrams 600 and 620 may represent the signals and / or messages exchanged to implement Figure 5 the method 500.

[0114] Device

[0115] Figure 7 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the UE 105 that may be utilized as described hereinabove (e.g., in conjunction with Figure 3 and FIG. 6). For example, the UE 105 may implement one or more of the functions of the method as shown in Figure 5 , such that the location server may receive the location data of the target UE. Figure 7 The UE 105 in Figure 1 , Figure 3and one of the other UEs 145, 308, and 604 shown in FIG. 6. The UE 105 may use the wireless communication interface 730 to perform sidelink communication with another UE. It should be noted that Figure 7 is only intended to provide a generalization of the various components, and any or all of the various components may be utilized as appropriate. It may be noted that, in some cases, Figure 7 the illustrated components may be localized to a single physical device and / or distributed among various networked devices that may be located at different physical locations. Additionally, as previously noted, the functionality of the UE discussed in the previously described embodiments may be performed by Figure 7 one or more of the illustrated hardware and / or software components.

[0116] The UE 105 is shown as including hardware elements that may be electrically coupled (or communicate in other ways as appropriate) via a bus 705. The hardware elements may include a processor 710, which may include, but is not limited to, one or more general-purpose processors (e.g., application processors), one or more dedicated processors (such as a digital signal processor (DSP) chip, a graphics acceleration processor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.), and / or other processing structures or components. The processor 710 may include one or more processing units, which may be housed in a single integrated circuit (IC) or multiple ICs. As Figure 7 shown, some embodiments may have a separate DSP 720 according to the desired functionality. Wireless communication-based location determination and / or other determinations may be provided in the processor 710 and / or the wireless communication interface 730 (discussed below). The UE 105 may also include: one or more input devices 770, which may include, but are not limited to, one or more keyboards, touchscreens, touch pads, microphones, buttons, dials, switches, etc.; and one or more output devices 715, which may include, but are not limited to, one or more displays (e.g., touchscreens), light-emitting diodes (LEDs), speakers, etc.

[0117] The UE 105 may also include a wireless communication interface 730, which may include, but is not limited to, a modem, a network card, an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device, and / or a chipset (such as Devices, IEEE 802.11 devices, IEEE 802.15.4 devices, Wi-Fi devices, WiMAX devices, WAN devices, and / or various cellular devices, etc.), the wireless communication interface may enable the UE 105 to communicate with other devices as described in the above embodiments. The wireless communication interface 730 may permit communicating (e.g., sending and receiving) data and signaling with the NTN satellite and / or the TRP of the network via, for example, an eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, access point, various base stations, and / or other access node types and / or other network components, computer systems, and / or any other electronic devices communicatively coupled to the TRP, as described herein. The communication may be performed via one or more wireless communication antennas 732 that transmit and / or receive wireless signals 734. According to some embodiments, the wireless communication antennas 732 may include a plurality of discrete antennas, antenna arrays, or any combination thereof. The antennas 732 may be capable of transmitting and receiving wireless signals using beams (e.g., Tx beams and Rx beams). Beamforming may be performed using digital and / or analog beamforming techniques with corresponding digital and / or analog circuits. The wireless communication interface 730 may include such circuits.

[0118] Depending on the desired functionality, the wireless communication interface 730 may include separate receivers and transmitters, or any combination of transceivers, transmitters, and / or receivers to communicate with NTN satellites, base stations (e.g., ng-eNBs and gNBs), and other terrestrial transceivers such as wireless devices and access points. The UE 105 may communicate with different data networks that may include various network types. For example, a WWAN may be a CDMA network, a time division multiple access (TDMA) network, a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) network, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) network, a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) network, a WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) network, etc. A CDMA network may implement one or more RATs, such as WCDMA, etc. including the IS-95, IS-2000, and / or IS-856 standards. A TDMA network may implement GSM, digital advanced mobile phone system (D-AMPS), or some other RAT. An OFDMA network may employ LTE, LTE-Advanced, 5G NR, etc. 5G NR, LTE, LTE-Advanced, GSM, and WCDMA are described in documents from 3GPP. It is described in documents from an organization called the "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2). 3GPP and 3GPP2 documents are publicly available. A wireless local area network (WLAN) can also be an IEEE 802.11x network, and a wireless personal area network (WPAN) can be a Bluetooth network, IEEE 802.15x, or some other type of network. The techniques described herein can also be used in any combination of WWAN, WLAN, and / or WPAN.

[0119] UE 105 may also include a sensor 740. The sensor 740 may include, but is not limited to, one or more inertial sensors and / or other sensors (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes, cameras, magnetometers, altimeters, microphones, proximity sensors, light sensors, barometers, etc.), and some of these sensors can be used to obtain location-related measurements and / or other information.

[0120] Embodiments of UE 105 may also include a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver 780 that is capable of receiving signals 784 from one or more GNSS satellites using an antenna 782 (which may be the same as antenna 732). Location based on GNSS signal measurements can be used to supplement and / or incorporate the techniques described herein. The GNSS receiver 780 can use conventional techniques to extract the location of UE 105 from GNSS satellites of GNSS systems such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), Galileo, GLONASS, the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) covering Japan, the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) covering China, etc. In addition, the GNSS receiver 780 can be used with various augmentation systems (e.g., satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS)) that are associated with or otherwise enable use with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems, such as, for example, the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), and the GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system, etc.

[0121] It may be noted that although in Figure 7The GNSS receiver 780 is illustrated as a separate component, but the implementation is not limited thereto. As used herein, the term "GNSS receiver" may include hardware and / or software components configured to obtain GNSS measurements (measurements from GNSS satellites). Thus, in some implementations, the GNSS receiver may include (as software) a measurement engine executed by one or more processors (such as the processor 710, DSP 720, and / or a processor within the wireless communication interface 730 (e.g., in a modem)). The GNSS receiver may also optionally include a positioning engine that may use the GNSS measurements from the measurement engine to determine the positioning of the GNSS receiver using an extended Kalman filter (EKF), weighted least squares (WLS), particle filters, etc. The positioning engine may also be executed by one or more processors such as the processor 710 or DSP 720.

[0122] The UE 105 may also include and / or communicate with a memory 760. The memory 760 may include, but is not limited to, local and / or network accessible storage devices, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid state storage devices (such as programmable, flash updatable random access memory (RAM) and / or read only memory (ROM)), etc. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data storage, including but not limited to various file systems, database structures, etc.

[0123] The memory 760 of the UE 105 may also include software elements ( Figure 7 not shown), which include an operating system, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or other code such as one or more applications, the one or more applications may include computer programs provided by various implementations, and / or may be designed to implement methods provided by other implementations and / or configure systems provided by other implementations, as described herein. By way of example only, one or more of the processes described with respect to the methods discussed above may be implemented as code and / or instructions in the memory 760 executable by the UE 105 (and / or the processor 710 or DSP 720 within the UE 105). Then, in some implementations, such code and / or instructions may be used to configure and / or adapt a general purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations in accordance with the described methods.

[0124] Figure 8 is a block diagram of an implementation of a computer system 800, which may be used in whole or in part to provide one or more network components as described in implementations herein (e.g., Figure 1 the location server 160 of Figure 2 the LMF 220 of Figure 2the functions of the LMF 215). For example, the computer system 800 may execute Figure 5 one or more of the functions of the method shown. It should be noted that Figure 8 it is only intended to provide a generalization of various components, and any or all of the various components may be utilized as appropriate. Thus, Figure 8 broadly illustrates how individual system elements may be implemented in a relatively separate or relatively more integrated manner. Additionally, it may be noted that Figure 8 the illustrated components may be localized to a single device and / or distributed among various networked devices that may be located at different geographical locations.

[0125] The computer system 800 is shown as including hardware elements that may be electrically coupled via a bus 805 (or may communicate in other ways as appropriate). The hardware elements may include a processor 810, which may include, but is not limited to, one or more general-purpose processors, one or more dedicated processors (such as digital signal processing chips, graphics acceleration processors, etc.), and / or another processing structure that may be configured to execute one or more of the methods described herein. The computer system 800 may also include: one or more input devices 815, which may include, but are not limited to, a mouse, a keyboard, a camera, a microphone, etc.; and one or more output devices 820, which may include, but are not limited to, a display device, a printer, etc.

[0126] The computer system 800 may also include one or more non-transitory storage devices 825 (and / or communicate with the one or more non-transitory storage devices), which may include, but are not limited to, local and / or network-accessible storage, and / or may include, but are not limited to, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices (such as programmable, flash-updateable RAM and / or ROM), etc. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data storage, including, but not limited to, various file systems, database structures, etc. Such data storage may include a database and / or other data structures for storing and managing messages and / or other information to be transmitted to one or more devices via a hub, as described herein.

[0127] The computer system 800 may also include a communication subsystem 830, which may include wireless communication technologies managed and controlled by a wireless communication interface 833, as well as wired technologies (such as Ethernet, coaxial communication, Universal Serial Bus (USB), etc.). The wireless communication interface 833 may include one or more wireless transceivers, which may transmit and receive wireless signals 855 (e.g., signals according to 5G NR or LTE) via a wireless antenna 850. Thus, the communication subsystem 830 may include a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device, and / or a chipset, etc., which may enable the computer system 800 to communicate with any device on the corresponding network (including user equipment (UE), base stations, and / or other TRPs, and / or any other electronic device described herein) on any or all of the communication networks described herein. Thus, the communication subsystem 830 may be used to receive and transmit data, as described in the embodiments herein.

[0128] In many embodiments, the computer system 800 will also include a working memory 835, which may include RAM or ROM devices, as described above. Software elements shown to be located within the working memory 835 may include an operating system 840, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or other code such as one or more applications 845, which may include computer programs provided by various embodiments, and / or may be designed to implement methods provided by other embodiments and / or configure systems provided by other embodiments, as described herein. By way of example only, one or more of the processes described for the methods discussed above may be implemented as code and / or instructions executable by a computer (and / or a processor within the computer); then, in one aspect, such code and / or instructions may be used to configure and / or adapt a general-purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations according to the described methods.

[0129] These sets of instructions and / or code can be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium such as the storage device 825 described above. In some cases, the storage medium can be incorporated within a computer system such as computer system 800. In other embodiments, the storage medium can be separate from the computer system (e.g., a removable medium such as an optical disc), and / or can be provided in the form of an installation package such that the storage medium can be used to program, configure, and / or adapt a general-purpose computer with the instructions / code stored thereon. These instructions can take the form of executable code executable by computer system 800, and / or can take the form of source and / or installable code that takes the form of executable code when compiled and / or installed on computer system 800 (e.g., using any one of a variety of commonly available compilers, installers, compression / decompression utilities, etc.).

[0130] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that basic variations can be made in accordance with specific requirements. For example, custom hardware can also be used, and / or specific elements can be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software such as applets, etc.), or both. Additionally, connections to other computing devices such as network input / output devices can be employed.

[0131] Referring to the accompanying drawings, components that may include memory can include non-transitory machine-readable media. As used herein, the terms "machine-readable medium" and "computer-readable medium" refer to any storage medium that participates in providing data that causes a machine to operate in a particular manner. In the embodiments provided above, various machine-readable media can be involved in providing instructions / code for execution to a processor and / or other devices. Additionally or alternatively, the machine-readable medium can be used to store and / or carry such instructions / code. In many implementations, the computer-readable medium is a physical and / or tangible storage medium. Such media can take many forms, including but not limited to non-volatile media and volatile media. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example: magnetic and / or optical media, any other physical media with a hole pattern, RAM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or memory cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer can read instructions and / or code.

[0132] The methods, systems, and devices discussed herein are examples. Various embodiments may omit, substitute, or add various processes or components as appropriate. For example, the features described for certain embodiments can be combined in various other embodiments. Different aspects and elements of the embodiments can be combined in a similar manner. The various components of the accompanying drawings provided herein can be embodied in hardware and / or software. Additionally, technology evolves, and thus many elements are examples that do not limit the scope of the present disclosure to those specific examples.

[0133] It has proven convenient, for commonly used reasons, to sometimes refer to such signals as bits, information, values, elements, symbols, characters, variables, items, numbers, numerical symbols, etc. However, it should be understood that all of these or similar terms should be associated with appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels. Unless specifically stated otherwise, as is apparent from the above discussion, it should be understood that throughout this specification, discussions using terms such as "processing", "computing", "calculating", "determining", "ascertaining", "identifying", "associating", "measuring", "performing", etc. refer to the actions or processes of a particular apparatus, such as a special purpose computer or similar special purpose electronic computing device. Thus, in the context of this specification, a special purpose computer or similar special purpose electronic computing device is capable of manipulating or transforming signals, typically represented as physical, electronic, electrical, or magnetic quantities in the memory, registers, or other information storage devices, transmitting devices, or display devices of the special purpose computer or similar special purpose electronic computing device.

[0134] As used herein, the terms "and" and "or" may include a variety of meanings that also are expected to depend at least in part upon the context in which such terms are used. Generally, "or" if used to associate a list, such as A, B, or C, is intended to mean A, B, and C (here used in the inclusive sense) as well as A, B, or C (here used in the exclusive sense). In addition, as used herein, the term "one or more" may be used to describe any feature, structure, or property in the singular or may be used to describe some combination of features, structures, or properties. However, it should be noted that this is merely an illustrative example and the claimed subject matter is not limited to this example. Additionally, the term "at least one of...", if used to associate a list, such as A, B, or C, may be interpreted to mean any combination of A, B, and / or C, such as A, AB, AA, AAB, AABBCCC, etc.

[0135] Several embodiments have been described and various modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalent forms may be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the above elements may be merely components of a larger system, where other rules may take precedence over the application of the various embodiments or may otherwise modify the application of the various embodiments. Additionally, multiple steps may be performed before, during, or after consideration of the above elements. Accordingly, the above description does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0136] In view of this specification, the various embodiments may include different combinations of features. Specific examples of the various embodiments are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0137] Clause 1: A method for verifying the location of a target user equipment (UE) configured to access a non-terrestrial network (NTN), the method comprising: receiving location data indicating the location of the target UE from the target UE; obtaining one or more locations of one or more UEs within the sidelink communication range of the target UE; receiving sidelink measurements obtained by the one or more UEs relative to the target UE or obtained by the target UE relative to the one or more UEs; and verifying the location data of the target UE based at least on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs.

[0138] Clause 2: The method according to Clause 1, wherein: the sidelink measurements include angle of arrival (AoA), angle of departure (AoD), receive time - transmit time difference (Rx - Tx), range, direction, azimuth, or a combination thereof; and the sidelink measurements are made between the target UE and the one or more UEs.

[0139] Clause 3: The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 2, the method further comprising: deriving location information of the target UE based on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs, the derived location information of the target UE including an estimated location of the target UE, an uncertainty of the estimated location, or both; wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE is based on a comparison between the location data of the target UE and the derived location information of the target UE.

[0140] Clause 4: The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 3, wherein the location data of the target UE includes a provided location of the target UE; and the verification of the location data of the target UE is based on verifying that a distance between the provided location and the estimated location is less than at least one of a threshold, an uncertainty of the provided location, or an uncertainty of the estimated location.

[0141] Clause 5: The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 4, wherein the location data of the target UE includes a provided location of the target UE and an uncertainty of the provided location; and the comparison includes a comparison between: (i) the location data of the target UE and the estimated location and the uncertainty of the estimated location; (ii) the provided location and the estimated location and the uncertainty of the estimated location; (iii) the location data of the target UE and the estimated location of the target UE; or (iv) a combination thereof.

[0142] Clause 6: The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 5, wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE is further based on the probability of the target UE being within the overlap between the uncertainty region of the provided location and the uncertainty region of the estimated location.

[0143] Clause 7: The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 6, the method further comprising: deriving the location information of the target UE using triangulation or multilateration based on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs.

[0144] Clause 8: The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 7, wherein the one or more UEs include a plurality of UEs within the sidelink communication range of the target UE, and the number of the plurality of UEs meets or exceeds a threshold number that increases the reliability of the location data of the target UE and reduces the probability of location spoofing by the target UE and the plurality of UEs.

[0145] Clause 9: The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 8, wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE includes verifying the geographical region of the target UE.

[0146] Clause 10: The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 9, wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE is further based on context information related to the target UE, the context information including the region in which the target UE is located, the speed of the target UE, the direction of travel of the target UE, historical data related to one or more UEs in the region, or a combination thereof.

[0147] Clause 11: An apparatus, the apparatus comprising: one or more transceivers configured to communicate with a target user equipment (UE); a memory; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more transceivers and the memory, and the one or more processors being configured to: receive location data of the target UE; obtain one or more locations of one or more UEs within the sidelink communication range of the target UE; receive sidelink measurements obtained by the one or more UEs relative to the target UE or obtained by the target UE for the one or more UEs; and verify the location data of the target UE based at least on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs.

[0148] Clause 12: The apparatus according to Clause 11, wherein: the sidelink measurements include angle of arrival (AoA), angle of departure (AoD), receive time - transmit time difference (Rx - Tx), range, direction, bearing, or a combination thereof; and the sidelink measurements are performed between the target UE and the one or more UEs.

[0149] Clause 13: The apparatus according to any one of Clauses 11 to 12, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: derive location information of the target UE based on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs, the derived location information of the target UE including the estimated location of the target UE, the uncertainty of the estimated location, or both; and wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE is based on a comparison between the location data of the target UE and the derived location information of the target UE.

[0150] Clause 14: The apparatus according to any one of Clauses 11 to 13, wherein the location data of the target UE includes the provided location of the target UE; and the verification of the location data of the target UE is based on verifying that the distance between the provided location and the estimated location is less than at least one of a threshold, the uncertainty of the provided location, or the uncertainty of the estimated location.

[0151] Clause 15: The apparatus according to any one of Clauses 11 to 14, wherein the location data of the target UE includes the provided location of the target UE and the uncertainty of the provided location; and the comparison includes a comparison between: (i) the location data of the target UE and the estimated location and the uncertainty of the estimated location; (ii) the provided location and the estimated location and the uncertainty of the estimated location; (iii) the location data of the target UE and the estimated location of the target UE; or (iv) a combination thereof.

[0152] Clause 16: The apparatus according to any one of Clauses 11 to 15, wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE is further based on the probability of the target UE being within the overlap between the uncertainty region of the provided location and the uncertainty region of the estimated location.

[0153] Clause 17: The apparatus according to any one of Clauses 11 to 16, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: use triangulation or multilateration to derive the location information of the target UE based on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs.

[0154] Clause 18: The apparatus according to any one of Clauses 11 to 17, wherein the one or more UEs include a plurality of UEs within the sidelink communication range of the target UE, and the number of the plurality of UEs meets or exceeds a threshold number that increases the reliability of the location data of the target UE and reduces the probability of location forgery by the target UE and the plurality of UEs.

[0155] Clause 19: The apparatus according to any one of Clauses 11 to 18, wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE includes verifying the geographical area of the target UE.

[0156] Clause 20: The apparatus according to any one of Clauses 11 to 19, wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE is further based on context information related to the target UE, and the context information includes the area in which the target UE is located, the speed of the target UE, the traveling direction of the target UE, historical data related to one or more UEs in the area, or a combination thereof.

[0157] Clause 21: A non-transitory computer-readable apparatus, the non-transitory computer-readable apparatus comprising: a storage medium including a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a computerized apparatus to: receive location data of a target user equipment (UE); obtain one or more locations of one or more UEs within the sidelink communication range of the target UE; receive sidelink measurements obtained by the one or more UEs relative to the target UE or obtained by the target UE for the one or more UEs; and verify the location data of the target UE based at least on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs.

[0158] Clause 22: The non-transitory computer-readable apparatus according to Clause 21, wherein: the sidelink measurements include angle of arrival (AoA), angle of departure (AoD), receive time - transmit time difference (Rx - Tx), range, direction, bearing, or a combination thereof; and the sidelink measurements are made between the target UE and the one or more UEs.

[0159] Clause 23: The non-transitory computer-readable device according to any one of Clauses 21 to 22, wherein the plurality of instructions are further configured to cause the computerized device: to derive location information of the target UE based on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs, the derived location information of the target UE including the estimated location of the target UE, the uncertainty of the estimated location, or both; and wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE is based on a comparison between the location data of the target UE and the derived location information of the target UE.

[0160] Clause 24: The non-transitory computer-readable device according to any one of Clauses 21 to 23, wherein the location data of the target UE includes the provided location of the target UE; and the verification of the location data of the target UE is based on verifying that the distance between the provided location and the estimated location is less than a threshold, the uncertainty of the provided location, or the uncertainty of the estimated location.

[0161] Clause 25: The non-transitory computer-readable device according to any one of Clauses 21 to 24, wherein the location data of the target UE includes the provided location of the target UE and the uncertainty of the provided location; and the comparison includes a comparison between: (i) the location data of the target UE and the estimated location and the uncertainty of the estimated location; (ii) the provided location and the estimated location and the uncertainty of the estimated location; (iii) the location data of the target UE and the estimated location of the target UE; or (iv) a combination thereof.

[0162] Clause 26: The non-transitory computer-readable device according to any one of Clauses 21 to 25, wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE is further based on the probability of the target UE being within the overlap between the uncertainty region of the provided location and the uncertainty region of the estimated location.

[0163] Clause 27: The non-transitory computer-readable device according to any one of Clauses 21 to 26, wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE includes verifying the geographical region of the target UE.

[0164] Clause 28: A device, the device comprising: components for receiving location data of a target user equipment (UE); components for obtaining one or more locations of one or more UEs within the sidelink communication range of the target UE; components for receiving sidelink measurements obtained by the one or more UEs relative to the target UE or obtained by the target UE for the one or more UEs; and components for verifying the location data of the target UE based at least on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs.

[0165] Clause 29: The device according to Clause 28, wherein: the sidelink measurements include angle of arrival (AoA), angle of departure (AoD), receive time - transmit time difference (Rx - Tx), range, direction, azimuth, or a combination thereof; and the sidelink measurements are made between the target UE and the one or more UEs.

[0166] Clause 30: The device according to any one of Clauses 28 to 29, wherein the components for verifying the location data of the target UE include components for verifying the geographical region of the target UE.

Claims

1. A method for verifying the location of a target user equipment (UE) configured to access a non-terrestrial network (NTN), the method comprising: Receiving location data indicating the location of the target UE from the target UE; Obtaining one or more locations of one or more UEs within the sidelink communication range of the target UE; Receiving sidelink measurements obtained by the one or more UEs relative to the target UE or obtained by the target UE relative to the one or more UEs; And Verifying the location data of the target UE based at least on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The sidelink measurements include angle of arrival (AoA), angle of departure (AoD), receive time - transmit time difference (Rx - Tx), range, direction, azimuth, or a combination thereof; and The sidelink measurements are made between the target UE and the one or more UEs.

3. The method according to claim 1, the method further comprising: Deriving location information of the target UE based on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs, the derived location information of the target UE including the estimated location of the target UE, the uncertainty of the estimated location, or both; Wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE is based on a comparison between the location data of the target UE and the derived location information of the target UE.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The location data of the target UE includes the provided location of the target UE; and The verification of the location data of the target UE is based on verifying that the distance between the provided location and the estimated location is less than at least one of a threshold, the uncertainty of the provided location, or the uncertainty of the estimated location.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The location data of the target UE includes the provided location of the target UE and the uncertainty of the provided location; and The comparison includes a comparison between: (i) the location data of the target UE and the estimated location and the uncertainty of the estimated location; (ii) the provided location and the estimated location and the uncertainty of the estimated location; (iii) the location data of the target UE and the estimated location of the target UE; or (iv) a combination thereof.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE is further based on the probability of the target UE being within the overlap between the uncertainty region of the provided location and the uncertainty region of the estimated location.

7. The method according to claim 3, the method further comprising: Deriving the location information of the target UE using triangulation or multilateration based on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more UEs include a plurality of UEs within the sidelink communication range of the target UE, and the number of the plurality of UEs meets or exceeds a threshold number that increases the reliability of the location data of the target UE and reduces the probability of location forgery by the target UE and the plurality of UEs.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE includes verifying the geographical area of the target UE.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE is further based on context information related to the target UE, and the context information includes the area in which the target UE is located, the speed of the target UE, the traveling direction of the target UE, historical data related to one or more UEs in the area, or a combination thereof.

11. An apparatus, the apparatus comprising: one or more transceivers configured to communicate with a target user equipment (UE); a memory; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more transceivers and the memory, and the one or more processors are configured to: receive the location data of the target UE; obtain one or more locations of one or more UEs within the sidelink communication range of the target UE; receive sidelink measurements obtained by the one or more UEs relative to the target UE or obtained by the target UE for the one or more UEs; and verify the location data of the target UE based at least on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein: the sidelink measurements include angle of arrival (AoA), angle of departure (AoD), receive time - transmit time difference (Rx - Tx), range, direction, bearing, or a combination thereof; and the sidelink measurements are made between the target UE and the one or more UEs.

13. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: derive location information of the target UE based on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs, and the derived location information of the target UE includes the estimated location of the target UE, the uncertainty of the estimated location, or both; and wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE is based on a comparison between the location data of the target UE and the derived location information of the target UE.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein: the location data of the target UE includes the provided location of the target UE; and the verification of the location data of the target UE is based on verifying that the distance between the provided location and the estimated location is less than a threshold, the uncertainty of the provided location, or the uncertainty of the estimated location.

15. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein: the location data of the target UE includes the provided location of the target UE and the uncertainty of the provided location; and the comparison includes a comparison between: (i) the location data of the target UE and the estimated location and the uncertainty of the estimated location; (ii) the provided location and the estimated location and the uncertainty of the estimated location; (iii) the location data of the target UE and the estimated location of the target UE; or (iv) a combination thereof.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE is further based on the probability of the target UE being within the overlap between the uncertainty region of the provided location and the uncertainty region of the estimated location.

17. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: derive the location information of the target UE using triangulation or multilateration based on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs.

18. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the one or more UEs include a plurality of UEs within the sidelink communication range of the target UE, and the number of the plurality of UEs meets or exceeds a threshold number that increases the reliability of the location data of the target UE and reduces the probability of location spoofing by the target UE and the plurality of UEs.

19. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE includes verifying the geographical region of the target UE.

20. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the verification of the location data of the target UE is further based on context information related to the target UE, the context information including the region in which the target UE is located, the speed of the target UE, the direction of travel of the target UE, historical data related to one or more UEs in the region, or a combination thereof.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable apparatus including a storage medium, the storage medium including a plurality of instructions configured to: cause a computerized apparatus, when executed by one or more processors, to: receive location data of a target user equipment (UE); obtain one or more locations of one or more UEs within the sidelink communication range of the target UE; receive sidelink measurements obtained by the one or more UEs with respect to the target UE or obtained by the target UE with respect to the one or more UEs; and verify the location data of the target UE based at least on the sidelink measurements and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable apparatus according to claim 21, wherein: the sidelink measurements include angle of arrival (AoA), angle of departure (AoD), receive time - transmit time difference (Rx - Tx), range, direction, bearing, or a combination thereof; and The sidelink measurement is performed between the target UE and the one or more UEs.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable device according to claim 21, wherein the plurality of instructions are further configured to cause the computerized device: derive location information of the target UE based on the sidelink measurement and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs, the derived location information of the target UE including an estimated location of the target UE, an uncertainty of the estimated location, or both; and wherein verification of the location data of the target UE is based on a comparison between the location data of the target UE and the derived location information of the target UE.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable device according to claim 23, wherein: the location data of the target UE includes a provided location of the target UE; and verification of the location data of the target UE is based on verifying that a distance between the provided location and the estimated location is less than at least one of a threshold, an uncertainty of the provided location, or an uncertainty of the estimated location.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable device according to claim 23, wherein: the location data of the target UE includes a provided location of the target UE and an uncertainty of the provided location; and the comparison includes a comparison between: (i) the location data of the target UE and the estimated location and the uncertainty of the estimated location; (ii) the provided location and the estimated location and the uncertainty of the estimated location; (iii) the location data of the target UE and the estimated location of the target UE; or (iv) a combination thereof.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable device according to claim 25, wherein verification of the location data of the target UE is further based on a probability that the target UE is within an overlap between an uncertainty region of the provided location and an uncertainty region of the estimated location.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable device according to claim 21, wherein verification of the location data of the target UE includes verifying a geographical area of the target UE.

28. A device, the device comprising: means for receiving location data of a target user equipment (UE); means for obtaining one or more locations of one or more UEs within a sidelink communication range of the target UE; means for receiving sidelink measurements obtained by the one or more UEs with respect to the target UE or obtained by the target UE with respect to the one or more UEs; and means for verifying the location data of the target UE based at least on the sidelink measurement and the one or more locations of the one or more UEs.

29. The device according to claim 28, wherein: the sidelink measurement includes an angle of arrival (AoA), an angle of departure (AoD), a receive time - transmit time difference (Rx - Tx), range, direction, bearing, or a combination thereof; and The sidelink measurement is performed between the target UE and the one or more UEs.

30. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the component for verifying the location data of the target UE includes a component for verifying the geographical area of the target UE.

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