Ranging method and device, communication equipment and readable storage medium

Abstract

The invention discloses a distance measurement method and device, communication equipment and a readable storage medium, and belongs to the technical field of communication, and the distance measurement method comprises the steps that first equipment receives a first signal sent by second equipment; obtaining a first measurement value of the first signal and obtaining first information; the first information comprises at least one of the following items: a second measurement value which is measured by a measurement unit in the first equipment and is associated with the first measurement value; a reference distance and a third measurement of a second signal, the second signal being a signal received by the first device transmitted from a first location, the location of the first device being the reference distance from the first location; and determining the distance between the first device and the second device according to the first measurement value and the first information.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application belongs to the technical field of communication, and particularly relates to a ranging method and device, a communication device and a readable storage medium. BACKGROUND

[0002] In the related art, due to the low cost, no need for battery power supply, small size and other advantages of a backscatter communication device such as a tag, there is a ranging demand based on the tag in scenarios such as article searching, logistics tracking and pet positioning. However, due to the low reflection signal power, large double-path channel attenuation, poor synchronization performance and small modulation bandwidth of the tag, the current ranging method has the problem of poor ranging accuracy. SUMMARY

[0003] The embodiments of the present application provide a ranging method, device, communication device and readable storage medium, which can solve the problem of poor ranging accuracy of the current ranging method.

[0004] In a first aspect, a ranging method is provided, executed by a first device, and the method comprises:

[0005] The first device receives a first signal sent by a second device;

[0006] The first device obtains a first measurement value of the first signal, and obtains first information; wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following: a second measurement value associated with the first measurement value, measured by a measurement unit in the first device; a reference distance and a third measurement value of a second signal, the second signal being a signal sent from a first position and received by the first device, the position of the first device being apart from the first position by the reference distance;

[0007] The first device determines a distance between the first device and the second device according to the first measurement value and the first information.

[0008] In a second aspect, a ranging device is provided, applied to a first device, and comprising:

[0009] A first receiving module is configured to receive a first signal sent by a second device;

[0010] An obtaining module is configured to obtain a first measurement value of the first signal, and obtain first information; wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following: a second measurement value associated with the first measurement value, measured by a measurement unit in the first device; a reference distance and a third measurement value of a second signal, the second signal being a signal sent from a first position and received by the first device, the position of the first device being apart from the first position by the reference distance;

[0011] determining a distance between the first device and the second device according to the first measurement value and the first information.

[0012] In a third aspect, a first device is provided, which comprises a processor and a memory, the memory storing programs or instructions executable on the processor, and the programs or instructions, when executed by the processor, implement the steps of the method according to the first aspect.

[0013] In a fourth aspect, a ranging device is provided, which is configured to perform the steps of the method according to the first aspect.

[0014] In a fifth aspect, a first device is provided, which comprises a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is configured to receive a first signal transmitted by a second device; the processor is configured to obtain a first measurement value of the first signal, and obtain first information, and determine a distance between the first device and the second device according to the first measurement value and the first information; the first information comprises at least one of the following: a second measurement value associated with the first measurement value, which is measured by a measurement unit in the first device; a reference distance and a third measurement value of a second signal, the second signal being a signal transmitted from a first position and received by the first device, the first device being located at a position which is apart from the first position by the reference distance.

[0015] In a sixth aspect, a readable storage medium is provided, which stores programs or instructions, and the programs or instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the method according to the first aspect.

[0016] In a seventh aspect, a wireless communication system is provided, which comprises at least a first device and a second device, and the first device is configured to perform the steps of the method according to the first aspect.

[0017] In an eighth aspect, a chip is provided, which comprises a processor and a communication interface, the communication interface being coupled to the processor, and the processor being configured to execute programs or instructions to implement the steps of the method according to the first aspect.

[0018] In a ninth aspect, a computer program / program product is provided, which is stored in a storage medium, and the computer program / program product is executed by at least one processor to implement the steps of the method according to the first aspect.

[0019] In this embodiment, a first device can receive a first signal sent by a second device, obtain at least one first measurement value of the first signal, and obtain first information. The first information includes at least one of the following: a second measurement value associated with the first measurement value measured by a measurement unit in the first device; a reference distance; and a third measurement value of the second signal, wherein the second signal is a signal sent from a first location and received by the first device, and the location of the first device is at a distance from the first location from the reference distance. Based on the first measurement value and the first information, the distance between the first device and the second device is determined. Therefore, distance measurement of the second device can be achieved based on a known reference distance or with the assistance of a measurement unit, thereby improving distance measurement accuracy. Attached Figure Description

[0020] Figures 1A to 1E A schematic diagram of a backscatter-based communication architecture is shown in an embodiment of this application;

[0021] Figure 2 This is a flowchart of a ranging method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0022] Figure 3 This is a flowchart illustrating the interaction between the first device and the second device in an embodiment of this application.

[0023] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the distance measurement process under Embodiment 2 of this application;

[0024] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the distance measurement process under Embodiment 3 of this application;

[0025] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a ranging device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0026] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0027] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application will be clearly described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some, not all, of the embodiments of this application. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of this application are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0028] The terms "first," "second," etc., used in this application are used to distinguish similar objects and not to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that such terms can be used interchangeably where appropriate so that embodiments of this application can be implemented in orders other than those illustrated or described herein, and the objects distinguished by "first" and "second" are generally of the same class, not limited in number; for example, the first object can be one or more. Furthermore, "or" in this application indicates at least one of the connected objects. For example, the scope of protection for "A or B" covers at least three scenarios: Scenario 1: including A but not B; Scenario 2: including B but not A; Scenario 3: including both A and B. In addition, the terms "A and / or B," "at least one of A and B," and "at least one of A or B" also cover at least the above three scenarios. The character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0029] The term "instruction" in this application can be either a direct instruction (or explicit instruction) or an indirect instruction (or implicit instruction). A direct instruction can be understood as one in which the sender explicitly informs the receiver of specific information, the operation to be performed, or the requested result, etc., in the instruction sent. An indirect instruction can be understood as one in which the receiver determines the corresponding information based on the instruction sent by the sender, or makes a judgment and determines the operation to be performed or the requested result, etc., based on the judgment result.

[0030] It is worth noting that the technologies described in this application are not limited to Long Term Evolution (LTE) / LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, but can also be used in other wireless communication systems, such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), or other systems. The terms "system" and "network" in this application are often used interchangeably, and the described technologies can be used with the systems and radio technologies mentioned above, as well as with other systems and radio technologies. The following description describes New Radio (NR) systems for illustrative purposes, and the term NR is used in most of the following description; however, these technologies can also be applied to systems other than NR systems, such as 6th generation (6G) radio systems. th Generation 6G communication system.

[0031] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of this application, the following will be described first.

[0032] Backscatter Communication (BSC) refers to a communication device that uses radio frequency signals from other devices or the environment to modulate its own information. It is a typical passive Internet of Things (IoT) device. The basic components and main functions of a backscatter communication transmitter include:

[0033] - Antenna unit: Used to receive radio frequency signals and control commands, and also to transmit modulated backscattered signals.

[0034] - Energy Harvesting Module or Power Supply Module: This module is used for radio frequency energy harvesting or other energy harvesting in the backscatter communication device, including but not limited to solar energy, kinetic energy, mechanical energy, and thermal energy. In addition to the energy harvesting module, it may also include a battery power supply module, in which case the backscatter communication device is a semi-passive device. The energy harvesting module or power supply module supplies power to all other modules in the device.

[0035] - Microcontrollers: including control baseband signal processing, energy storage or data scheduling status, switching, system synchronization, etc.

[0036] - Signal receiving module: Used to demodulate control commands or data sent by the backscatter communication receiver or other network nodes.

[0037] - Encoding and Modulation Module: Performs channel coding and signal modulation under the control of the controller, and achieves modulation by selecting different load impedances through a selection switch under the control of the controller.

[0038] -Memory or sensing module: Used to store device identification ID information, location information, or sensing data, etc.

[0039] In addition to the typical components mentioned above, future backscatter communication transmitters can also integrate tunnel diode amplifier modules, low-noise amplifier modules, etc., to improve the receiver sensitivity and transmission power of the transmitter.

[0040] Optionally, the basic components and main functions of the backscatter communication receiver include:

[0041] - Antenna element: Used to receive modulated backscattered signals.

[0042] - Backscatter signal detection module: Used to detect the backscatter signal sent by the backscatter communication transmitter, including but not limited to ASK detection, PSK detection, FSK detection or QAM detection, etc.

[0043] - Demodulation and decoding module: Demodulates and decodes the detected signal to recover the original information stream.

[0044] Backscatter communication devices control the reflection coefficient Γ of the modulation circuit by adjusting its internal impedance, thereby changing the amplitude, frequency, and phase of the incident signal to achieve signal modulation. The reflection coefficient Γ can be characterized as:

[0045]

[0046] Where Z0 is the characteristic impedance of the antenna; Z1 is the load impedance; j represents a complex number, θ T Let S represent the phase. Assume the incident signal is represented as S. in (t), then the output signal is Therefore, by reasonably controlling the reflection coefficient, corresponding amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, or phase modulation can be achieved. Based on this, backscatter communication devices can be tags in traditional Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), passive or semi-passive Internet of Things (IoT) devices, or ambient IoT devices, etc.

[0047] In one implementation, tags can be divided into:

[0048] -Device A: The tag is a passive tag with no energy storage capacitor / battery. It is powered by radio frequency (RF) signals. The received RF signals are the power signals of the rectifier. It does not have carrier generation capability. It relies on RF as the radio frequency carrier for backscatter communication transmission and has the lowest power consumption.

[0049] -Device B: The tag is a semi-passive tag with a storage capacitor / battery. It is powered by a non-RF signal. Optionally, it has a PA / LNA or other active devices. It does not have carrier generation capability and relies on RF as a radio frequency carrier for backscatter communication transmission. Its power consumption is the second lowest.

[0050] -Device C: The tag is an active tag with an energy storage capacitor / battery, powered by a non-RF signal, has carrier generation capability, and has the highest power consumption.

[0051] Optionally, a backscatter-based communication architecture may include at least the following patterns:

[0052] (1) Topology 1: such as Figure 1AAs shown, the base station in Topology 1 is both a radio frequency source / transmitter and a receiver; therefore, Topology 1 is a Monostatic Backscatter Communication System (MBCS) architecture. Traditional RFID systems are typical MBCS systems, which include ambient IoT devices (such as tags) and readers (such as base stations), with tags communicating directly with the readers. The readers may have frequency division duplex (FDD) architecture modules. In Topology 1, the device transmitting control signaling and the device receiving backscattered signals are the same device, while the device transmitting the RF carrier source can be the same device as the aforementioned device or a separate device.

[0053] (2) Topology 2: such as Figure 1B As shown, in Topology 2, the Ambient IoT Device (e.g., a Tag) receives control signaling and carrier signals sent by intermediate nodes. The control signaling can be instructed by network devices (e.g., base station gNBs) through intermediate nodes. These intermediate nodes can be User Equipment (UE), repeaters, IAB nodes, etc. Intermediate nodes can also act as relays to forward IoT data to the gNB.

[0054] (3) Topology 3: Topology 3 involves a Bistatic Backscatter Communication System (BBCS), in which the radio frequency source, BSC transmitter, and BSC receiver are separate. In Topology 3, Ambient IoT Devices (e.g., Tags) send IoT data / uplink signaling to the base station and receive data / signaling from auxiliary nodes, such as... Figure 1C As shown; or, the Ambient IoT Device (e.g., a Tag) sends IoT data / uplink signaling to the auxiliary node and receives data / signaling from the base station, such as... Figure 1D As shown; the base station and auxiliary nodes communicate via the Uu interface, and the auxiliary nodes can be UE, repeater, IAB, etc.

[0055] (4) Topology 4: such as Figure 1E As shown, in Topology 4, the UE acts as the Reader to communicate with the Tag. This architecture also belongs to the monostatic backscatter communication architecture, the difference being that the Reader is the UE, not the base station.

[0056] In addition to tags based on backscatter communication, there are also some tag devices that can actively generate carrier waves but consume less than 1mW of power, such as active tags or semi-passive tags in RFID systems (such as Device B).

[0057] Optionally, the solution in this application can be applied to positioning in LTE systems, 5G NR systems and NR evolution systems, such as 6G systems and 6G evolution systems, as well as IEEE 802.11 systems (such as WiFi systems), Bluetooth systems, LoRa systems, Zigbee systems, low-power communication systems, backscatter communication systems, low-power IoT systems, Ambient IoT systems, etc.

[0058] The ranging method, apparatus, communication device, and readable storage medium provided in this application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and through some embodiments and application scenarios.

[0059] Please see Figure 2 , Figure 2 This is a flowchart of a ranging method provided in an embodiment of this application. The method is executed by a first device, such as... Figure 2 As shown, the method includes the following steps:

[0060] Step 21: The first device receives the first signal sent by the second device;

[0061] Step 22: The first device obtains a first measurement value of the first signal and first information; the first information includes at least one of the following: a second measurement value associated with the first measurement value measured by a measurement unit in the first device; a reference distance and a third measurement value of the second signal, wherein the second signal is a signal sent from a first position received by the first device, and the position of the first device is at a distance from the first position from the reference distance; the measurement unit is, for example, an inertial measurement unit (IMU) or a position sensor, used to measure information related to the movement and position of the first device; the second signal may be sent by a second device located at the first position, or it may be sent by another device located at the first position that is different from the second device; Step 23: The first device determines the distance between the first device and the second device based on the first measurement value and the first information.

[0062] In this embodiment, the first device is a ranging / positioning device, which may be a mobile phone, watch, tablet, augmented reality (AR) device, virtual reality (VR) device, extended reality (XR) device, mixed reality (MR) device, robot, or other terminal device. It may also be a base station, repeater, integrated access and backhaul (IAB) device, relay device, or other network device. It may also be a WiFi node, Zigbee node, LoRa node, Bluetooth node, reader device, etc.; no specific limitation is made in this regard.

[0063] The second device can be understood as the device to be located, and can be, but is not limited to, an RFID tag, a 3GPP AIoT tag, a WiFi tag, a LoRa tag, a Zigbee tag, a Bluetooth tag, or other low-power devices. For example, the second device can be a passive tag or a semi-active tag.

[0064] The inertial measurement unit (IMU) is specifically a collection of sensors used to accurately measure and detect key information such as acceleration, angular velocity, and orientation of a device. For example, an IMU may include three single-axis accelerometers, a single-axis gyroscope, and a magnetometer. The accelerometers detect the acceleration signals of the device along the three independent axes of the carrier coordinate system, while the gyroscope detects the angular velocity signals of the device relative to the navigation coordinate system. By measuring the angular velocity and acceleration of the object in three-dimensional space, and after error compensation and inertial navigation calculations, the IMU outputs information such as the coordinate changes and velocity of the device relative to its initial position.

[0065] Optionally, obtaining a first measurement value of the first signal can be obtaining at least one first measurement value of the first signal, that is, obtaining one or more first measurement values ​​of the first signal. For example, the first device can obtain first measurement values ​​of the first signal received at different locations during movement, that is, obtain multiple first measurement values.

[0066] Optionally, the signal parameters of the first signal and the signal parameters of the second signal may be partially or completely the same; and / or, the measurement parameters of the first signal and the measurement parameters of the second signal may be the same or different.

[0067] Optionally, the correlation between the first and second measurements can be: the measurement time of the first measurement is the same as the measurement time of the second measurement, or the measurement time of the first and second measurements falls within the same time window. The size of this time window can be specified by the system or protocol. This ensures that the measurement times of the first and second measurements are the same or close, thereby improving the accuracy of subsequent distance determination.

[0068] For example, the p-th (p≥1) second measurement value of the IMU is measured at the same time as the m-th (m≥1) first measurement value of the first signal, or the p-th (p≥1) second measurement value of the IMU and the m-th (m≥1) first measurement value of the first signal are within a preset time window. For another example, the first device can obtain its position offset (Δx, Δy) based on the p-th second measurement value of the IMU at a first time or time window, and the q-th (p≠q) second measurement value of the IMU at a second time or time window; the first time or time window is also the time or time window at which the first device obtains the m-th first measurement value of the first signal, and the second time or time window is also the time or time window at which the first device obtains the n-th (m≠n) first measurement value of the first signal.

[0069] Optionally, the first measured value of the first signal may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following:

[0070] The reference signal received power (RSRP) of the first signal;

[0071] The received signal strength (RSS) of the first signal;

[0072] The Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) of the first signal;

[0073] The reference signal received quality (RSRQ) of the first signal;

[0074] The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the first signal;

[0075] The signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the first signal;

[0076] The signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) of the first signal;

[0077] Statistical values ​​obtained from multiple measurements of the first signal; such statistical values ​​are, for example, maximum value, average value, minimum value, product value, ratio, weighted value, etc.

[0078] The measurement values ​​of multiple first signals obtained using multiple antennas, or the statistical values ​​of the measurement values ​​of multiple first signals obtained using multiple antennas. These statistical values ​​may be, for example, the maximum value, the average value, the minimum value, or a weighted value. For instance, k measurement values ​​of k first signals can be obtained using k (k≥1) antennas of the first device, or statistical values ​​of these k measurement values, such as the maximum value or the average value.

[0079] Optionally, the second measurement value may include at least one of the following:

[0080] Acceleration information, such as acceleration information output by the accelerometer in the inertial measurement unit during the movement time of the first device;

[0081] Angular velocity information, such as the angular velocity information output by the gyroscope in the inertial measurement unit during the movement time of the first device;

[0082] Orientation information, such as the orientation information output by the gyroscope in the inertial measurement unit during the movement time of the first device;

[0083] Magnetic induction information, such as the magnetic induction intensity output by the magnetizer in the inertial measurement unit during the movement time of the first device;

[0084] Yaw angle information, such as the yaw angle information output by the magnetometer in the inertial measurement unit during the movement time of the first device;

[0085] Displacement information, such as position offset information within the movement time window of the first device;

[0086] The statistical value is obtained from multiple measurements associated with the first measurement value by the inertial measurement unit. This statistical value may be, for example, the maximum value, average value, minimum value, weighted value, earliest measurement value, latest measurement value, etc.

[0087] Optionally, the reference distance may be a system configuration, a protocol agreement, or a pre-measured distance. Obtaining the first information may include at least one of the following:

[0088] ① The first device obtains a reference distance and a third measurement value of the second signal based on pre-stored information. For example, the first device can store previous ranging results and the measurement value of the signal corresponding to the ranging result, and use the ranging result as the reference distance for the next ranging, and use the measurement value of the corresponding signal as the third measurement value of the second signal corresponding to the reference distance. The measurement parameters corresponding to the third measurement value can be the same as or different from the measurement parameters corresponding to the first measurement value. In this way, the reference distance and the corresponding signal measurement value can be adjusted in real time based on the actual measurement situation, thereby improving the accuracy of the measurement.

[0089] ② The first device receives first configuration information and, based on the first configuration information, obtains a reference distance and a third measured value of the second signal. That is, the first configuration information is used to configure the reference distance and the third measured value of the second signal. Optionally, the first configuration information is also used to configure the first device to perform distance measurement based on the reference distance, the third measured value, and the first measured value of the first signal. The measurement parameters corresponding to the third measured value may be the same as or different from the measurement parameters corresponding to the first measured value. This allows distance measurement to be performed based on a configured standard reference distance and corresponding signal measurement values, thereby improving measurement accuracy.

[0090] The solution of this application embodiment can be used to measure the distance of a second device based on a known reference distance or with the assistance of a measuring unit, thereby improving the ranging accuracy.

[0091] In this embodiment, the first signal can be obtained through different generation methods. The generation methods of the first signal may include, but are not limited to, at least one of the following:

[0092] (1) The first signal is obtained by backscattering the third signal, wherein the third signal is the carrier signal sent from the first device to the second device, and the first signal is the backscattered signal of the third signal; that is, the first signal is obtained by backscattering.

[0093] (2) The first signal is obtained by reflecting the fourth signal, which is a ranging signal sent from the first device to the second device. The ranging signal is, for example, a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS), a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), a Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), a Phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS), a Synchronization Signal and PBCHBlock (SSB), etc. For example, the fourth signal can be reflected directly using a fixed reflection coefficient to obtain the first signal; or, the fourth signal after power amplification can be reflected using a fixed reflection coefficient to obtain the first signal.

[0094] (3) The first signal is obtained by frequency shifting of the fifth signal. The frequency shifting can be a full-band or frequency-point frequency shift of the incident fifth signal. The fifth signal is a ranging signal sent by the first device to the second device. The first signal can be obtained by frequency shifting. The ranging signal is, for example, PRS, CSI-RS, PTRS, SSB or SRS.

[0095] (4) The first signal is obtained based on the carrier generated by the second device, that is, the first signal can be obtained by using an active carrier generation method.

[0096] Optionally, the first device can trigger ranging of the second device based on configuration information, that is, receive the first signal based on the received configuration information. Before receiving the first signal sent by the second device, the ranging method in this embodiment may further include:

[0097] The first device receives second configuration information; the second configuration information is used to configure at least one of the following: signal parameters of the first signal, resource information of the first signal; optionally, the second configuration information is also used to configure the first device to perform ranging based on the second measurement value of the IMU and the first measurement value of the first signal.

[0098] The first signal received from the second device may include:

[0099] The first device receives a first signal sent by the second device according to the second configuration information. This enables the first device to accurately receive the signal used for ranging based on the configuration.

[0100] For example, based on the composition of the first device, the corresponding device configuration can be as follows:

[0101] (I) When the first device is a terminal such as User Equipment (UE), the configuration device can be a base station, a positioning server, etc. For example, before sending the second configuration information to the UE, the base station can first receive the third configuration information sent by the core network device, and then configure the UE based on the third configuration information.

[0102] (II) When the first device is a UE, the configuration device can be a UE, such as in a sidelink scenario;

[0103] (III) When the first device is a WiFi STA device, the configuration device can be a WiFi access point (AP) device;

[0104] (IV) When the first device is a Bluetooth device, the configuration device can be a Bluetooth AP device;

[0105] (IIV) When the first device is a LoRa device, the configuration device can be a LoRa AP device;

[0106] (V) When the first device is a Zigbee device, the configuration device can be a Zigbee AP device;

[0107] (VI) When the first device is a StarSpark device, the configuration device can be a StarSpark AP device;

[0108] (VII) The first device is a Reader device, and the configuration device can be a Reader control node.

[0109] Optionally, the first device may receive the first signal based on information it autonomously determines / generates. Receiving the first signal sent by the second device may include: the first device receiving the first signal sent by the second device based on signal parameters and / or resource information of the first signal determined by itself. For example, the first device may trigger ranging of the second device based on an application layer request; in this case, the application layer or application program (APP) of the first device may autonomously determine the signal parameters and / or resource information of the first signal.

[0110] In one alternative implementation, the first device may determine the signal parameters and / or resource information of the first signal based on the system pre-configuration information, and receive the first signal sent by the first device based on the determined information.

[0111] Optionally, the signal parameters of the first signal described above may include, but are not limited to, at least one of the following:

[0112] a) The signal period of the first signal;

[0113] b) Baseband signal parameters of the first signal, such as including but not limited to modulation method, coding method, reference signal generation sequence, etc.;

[0114] c) The waveform of the first signal, such as a pseudo-random signal, an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal, a chirp spread spectrum (CSS) signal, a sine signal, a cosine signal, etc.

[0115] d) The transmission power or transmission power level of the first signal;

[0116] e) The reflection coefficient of the first signal;

[0117] f) The signal amplification factor of the first signal.

[0118] Optionally, the resource information of the first signal mentioned above may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following:

[0119] g) The time-domain resource information of the first signal, such as including but not limited to the signal length of the first signal and the corresponding frame, subframe, time slot, symbol, etc.;

[0120] h) Frequency domain resource information of the first signal, such as including but not limited to frequency, bandwidth, subcarrier spacing (SCS), resource block (RB), resource block group (RBG), and bandwidth part (BWP).

[0121] i) The time-frequency domain pattern or comb size of the first signal, etc.;

[0122] j) Spatial resource information of the first signal, such as, but not limited to, information about antennas, codewords, layers, antenna ports, etc.;

[0123] k) Polarization resource information of the first signal, such as including but not limited to vertical line polarization, horizontal line polarization, left-hand circular polarization, right-hand circular polarization, etc.

[0124] Optionally, the second device may send a first signal according to the instructions of the first device. The ranging method in this embodiment may further include:

[0125] The first device sends a second indication message to the second device; the second indication message is used to send a first signal; the second indication message can be used to indicate at least one of the following:

[0126] The communication method of the first signal; for example, if the second device is a dual-mode tag, the communication method of the first signal needs to be indicated, such as a backscatter-based communication method or an actively generated carrier communication method.

[0127] The signal parameters of the first signal may include, for example, at least one of a) to f) above;

[0128] The resource information of the first signal may include, for example, at least one of g) to k) above;

[0129] The frequency shifting information of the first signal, for example, based on the frequency shifting information, the corresponding signal can be shifted across the entire frequency band or at a specific frequency point.

[0130] In one optional implementation, when the first signal is generated based on backscattering, such as by backscattering a received third signal (i.e., a carrier signal) to obtain the first signal, the second indication information, in addition to indicating relevant information of the first signal, may also indicate signal parameters and / or resource information of the third signal. The signal parameters of the first signal and the third signal may be the same or different.

[0131] In one alternative implementation, such as Figure 3 As shown, the interaction process between the first device and the second device (such as a tag device) may include:

[0132] Step 41: Optionally, the first device and the second device perform processes such as association, inventory, registration, and capability interaction;

[0133] Step 42: Optionally, the first device sends second indication information to the second device to indicate the signal parameters and / or resource information of the first signal, etc.

[0134] Step 43: The first device obtains the reference distance and the third measurement value corresponding to the second signal; or, it records the initial orientation, position, angular velocity information of the IMU, etc., and moves according to a certain trajectory / velocity / acceleration.

[0135] Step 44: Optionally, the first device sends a third signal (i.e., a carrier signal) to the third device;

[0136] Steps 45-46: The second device generates and sends the first signal according to the second instruction information;

[0137] Step 47: The first device receives a first signal sent by the second device, measures at least one first measurement value of the first signal, and performs distance measurement on the second device based on the first measurement value and a third measurement value of the IMU associated with the first measurement value; or, performs distance measurement on the second device based on the first measurement value, the obtained reference distance, and the third measurement value corresponding to the second signal.

[0138] In this embodiment of the application, the first device can trigger ranging of the second device under certain conditions. The ranging method may further include:

[0139] When a first condition is met, the first device triggers ranging of the second device; the first condition can be understood as a triggering condition, which may include at least one of the following:

[0140] (a) The first device acquires second information, which is used to determine the distance measurement of the second device;

[0141] (b) The ranging request obtained by the first device to the second device is satisfied; for example, the ranging request may come from the first device itself or from other devices different from the first device.

[0142] (c) The signal strength of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to the first value;

[0143] (d) The change in signal strength or slope of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to the second value;

[0144] (e) The signal power of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to the third value;

[0145] (f) The change in signal power or slope of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to the fourth value;

[0146] (g) The duration during which the signal strength of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to the fifth value reaches the first duration;

[0147] (h) The duration during which the change in the signal strength or the slope of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to the sixth value reaches the second duration;

[0148] (i) The duration during which the signal power of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to the seventh value reaches the third duration;

[0149] (j) The duration during which the change in signal power or slope of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to the eighth value reaches the fourth duration;

[0150] (k) During the triggering period for the first device to measure the distance to the second device; the triggering period can be understood as the period for measuring the distance to the second device, that is, the first device periodically detects or measures the distance to the second device according to the triggering period.

[0151] (s) The first device is within the effective time for ranging the second device; the effective time may be that the first device receives / measures the first signal of the second device within the effective time, or the configuration information of the first device is valid within the specified effective time.

[0152] It should be noted that after triggering the ranging of the second device, the above ranging process can be further executed, such as receiving the first signal sent by the second device and measuring the distance of the second device based on the first measurement value of the first signal.

[0153] The first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth values ​​mentioned above can be understood as preset thresholds, which can be set based on actual needs, and their specific values ​​are not limited. Similarly, the first, second, third, and fourth durations mentioned above can be understood as preset duration thresholds, which can be set based on actual needs, and their specific values ​​are not limited.

[0154] Optionally, the second information may include at least one of the following:

[0155] The first indication information indicates the presence of a second device; for example, the presence of a second device triggers ranging of that second device.

[0156] The association information of a second device; for example, when a first device obtains the association information of a second device, it can trigger the ranging of that second device;

[0157] The capability information of the second device; for example, when the first device obtains the capability information of a certain second device, it can determine whether to trigger ranging of the second device based on this capability information.

[0158] Optionally, the association information of the second device may include at least one of the following:

[0159] The identification information of the second device may include at least one of the following: a core network identifier for identifying the second device in the core network; an application server identifier for identifying the second device in the application server; an access network identifier for identifying the second device in the access network, such as a C-RNTI or a random access identifier; a temporary identifier for temporarily identifying the second device, which may be generated by the second device itself or configured by the network, such as a Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI); and a permanent identifier for permanently identifying the second device. This permanent identifier is unique, such as an Electronic Product Code (EPC), a Tag Identifier (TID), or a Protocol Control (PC) code.

[0160] The response information of the second device is associated with the information sent by the first device to the second device; the information sent to the second device may be a control command, trigger signal, indication information, etc., and the response information may be, for example, ACK information or NACK information; the response information may be associated with the identification information of the second device, for example, the response information may be scrambled based on random or pseudo-random numbers RN (such as RN16, RN5, etc.) or RNTI.

[0161] The synchronization signal associated with the second device;

[0162] The preamble associated with the second device;

[0163] The reference signal associated with the second device.

[0164] Optionally, the capability information of the second device may include at least one of the following:

[0165] The frequency domain capability information of the second device; this can be understood as the frequency domain information of the signals that the second device supports for transmission or reception, such as operating frequency, bandwidth, etc.

[0166] The second device's time-domain capability information; this can be understood as the time-domain information of the second device's ability to transmit or receive signals, such as the duration of the received / transmitted signal, the time interval between transmission and reception, etc.

[0167] The spatial capability information of the second device; this can be understood as the frequency domain information of the signals that the second device supports for transmission or reception, such as the number of receiving / transmitting antennas, etc.

[0168] The type of the second device; such as active communication type, passive communication / backscatter type, etc., so that the first device can determine whether to communicate with the second device in an active or passive manner;

[0169] The communication method of the second device; such communication method is, for example, a backscatter-based communication method or a self-generated carrier communication method;

[0170] The wireless access method of the second device; the wireless access method can be understood as a radio access technology (RAT) method, which can be selected from, but is not limited to: 3GPP LTE / NR / 6G and other cellular access, WiFi access, Bluetooth access, LoRa access and other RAT methods;

[0171] The second device supports baseband processing capabilities, such as coding capabilities, modulation capabilities, and precoding capabilities.

[0172] The energy storage capacity or energy storage capacity supported by the second device;

[0173] The second device supports a certain amount of working time;

[0174] The second device supports operating states, such as energy storage state, hibernation state, or communication state.

[0175] In this embodiment of the application, when distance measurement is achieved with the assistance of a measurement unit, distance measurement can be performed based on the position offset of the first device and the measurement value of the first signal received at different positions.

[0176] Optionally, if the at least one first measurement value includes at least a first first measurement value and a second first measurement value, and the first and second first measurement values ​​are measurement values ​​of a first signal received by a first device located at different locations, that is, the first device obtains the first and second first measurement values ​​at two different locations; the first information includes a first and second measurement value associated with the first first measurement value and a second and second measurement value associated with the second first measurement value of the measurement unit; the process of determining the distance between the first device and the second device in step 23 above may include:

[0177] The first device obtains its position offset based on the first and second measurement values. For example, the first device can obtain its position offset (Δx, Δy) based on the p-th second measurement value of the IMU at the first time or time window and the q-th (p≠q) second measurement value of the IMU at the second time or time window. In this case, the first device is in a moving state.

[0178] The first device determines the distance between itself and the second device based on a pre-constructed ranging formula, the first and second measured values, and the position offset; that is, the distance between the first and second devices is determined by the difference in the first measured values ​​obtained by the first device at different locations and the position offset of the first device. The ranging formula is derived from the formulaic expression of the measured values ​​of signals received by the first device from two different locations and the path loss model. For a detailed implementation, please refer to Embodiments 1 and 3 below.

[0179] Optionally, when the first information includes a reference distance and a third measured value of the second signal, the process of determining the distance between the first device and the second device in step 23 above may include:

[0180] The first device determines the distance between itself and the second device based on a pre-constructed ranging formula, the first measured value, the third measured value, and the reference distance; that is, the actual distance between the first device and the second device is determined by the difference between the third measured value at the reference distance and the first measured value at the actual distance, along with the reference distance. The ranging formula is derived from the formulaic expression of the measured values ​​of signals received by the first device from two different locations and from the path loss model. For a detailed implementation, please refer to Embodiments 1 and 2 below.

[0181] The specific ranging process in this application will be described below with reference to the embodiments.

[0182] Example 1

[0183] This embodiment 1 illustrates the process of constructing the distance measurement formula.

[0184] Understandably, since there is a certain mathematical relationship between the first measured value (such as RSS / RSSI) of the first signal received by the first device from the second device and the distance d between the first and second devices, this relationship can be used to solve for the distance d between the first and second devices. Furthermore, this mathematical relationship can be determined based on the type of the second device. Without loss of generality, the second device can be a passive or semi-passive tag device that transmits the first signal via backscatter; or, the second device can be a semi-passive or active tag device that generates and transmits the first signal by actively generating a carrier signal. This embodiment 1 uses signal power as an example for illustration; the same principle can be extended to other signal measured values ​​or statistical values.

[0185] (1) The second device is a passive or semi-passive tag device that obtains the first signal through backscatter.

[0186] In this (1) case, the first signal (or second signal) received by the first device from the second device has undergone two-way channel signal attenuation, that is, the link signal attenuation from the first device to the second device and the link signal attenuation from the second device to the first device. Then, the signal power of the first signal received by the first device at this time can be modeled as:

[0187]

[0188] The meanings of the parameters in Formula 1 above are as follows:

[0189] P R - The receiving power (dBm) of the first device;

[0190] P T - The transmission power (dBm) of the first device;

[0191] L T - The system loss of the first device (including feeder loss, circuit loss and other losses) (dB);

[0192] X f - Link polarization loss (dB) from the first device to the second device;

[0193] G T - Antenna gain (dBi) of the first device;

[0194] G t - Antenna gain (dBi) of the second device;

[0195] - Path loss (dB);

[0196] Θ - Target penalty gain (dB) of the antenna of the second device;

[0197] L t -System losses of the second device (including feeder losses, circuit losses, and other losses) (dB)

[0198] M - Modulation factor (dB);

[0199] F o - Overall system fading margin (dB);

[0200] PA - Signal amplification factor (dB).

[0201] Given the reference distance d ref At that point, the signal power of the corresponding second signal can be expressed as:

[0202]

[0203] The parameters in Formula 2 above represent the reference distance d between the first device and the second device. ref The corresponding link or signal parameters at that time:

[0204] P R,ref -The first device is at reference distance d ref The power (dBm) of the second signal received at that time;

[0205] P T,ref -The first device is at reference distance d ref The corresponding power (dBm) for transmitting the second signal;

[0206] L T,ref - The system loss of the first device (including feeder loss, circuit loss and other losses) (dB);

[0207] X f,ref The link distance from the first device to the second device is d. ref The corresponding polarization loss (dB);

[0208] G T,ref The distance between the first device and the second device is d. ref The corresponding antenna gain (dBi);

[0209] G t,ref -The distance between the second device and the second device is d. ref The corresponding antenna gain (dBi);

[0210] -Reference distance d ref The resulting path loss (dB);

[0211] M ref -At reference distance d ref The modulation factor (dB) of the second signal corresponding to the time;

[0212] PA ref -At reference distance d ref The signal amplification factor (dB) of the second signal corresponding to the time;

[0213] Θ ref -The second device is at the reference distance d ref The target penalty gain (dB) of the antenna at that time;

[0214] L t,ref -The second device is at the reference distance d ref The corresponding system loss (including feeder loss, circuit loss and other losses) (dB);

[0215] F o,ref-At reference distance d ref The corresponding overall system fading margin (dB).

[0216] The signal parameters of the first signal and the signal parameters of the second signal may be partially the same or completely the same.

[0217] Accordingly, when the distance d between the second device and the first device is unknown, the signal power of the first signal received by the first device can be expressed as:

[0218]

[0219] The parameters in Formula 3 above are expressed as follows:

[0220] P R,d - The power (dBm) of the first signal received by the first device at a distance d;

[0221] P T,d - The power (dBm) at which the first device transmits the first signal at a distance d;

[0222] L T,d - The system loss of the first device (including feeder loss, circuit loss and other losses) (dB);

[0223] X f,d - The polarization loss (dB) when the link distance from the first device to the second device is d;

[0224] G T,d - The antenna gain (dBi) of the first device at a distance d;

[0225] G t,d - The antenna gain (dBi) of the second device at a distance d;

[0226] - Path loss (dB) caused by distance d;

[0227] M d - The modulation factor (dB) of the first signal at a distance d;

[0228] PA ref,d - The signal amplification factor (dB) of the first signal at a distance d;

[0229] Θ d - The target penalty gain (dB) of the antenna corresponding to the second device at a distance d;

[0230] L t,d - The system loss (including feeder loss, circuit loss and other losses) of the second device at a distance d (dB);

[0231] F o,d - The overall system fading margin (dB) at a distance d.

[0232] By transforming formulas 2 and 3 above, we can obtain:

[0233]

[0234] In formula 4 above, ΔP ref,d The difference (or offset) between the signal power of the first signal and the signal power of the second signal received at two different distances can be expressed as:

[0235] ΔP ref,d =ΔP T -2(G T,ref -L T,ref +X f,ref +G t,ref -Θ ref )+L t,ref -M ref +F o,ref -PA ref +2(G T,d -L T,d +X f,d +G t,d -Θ d )-L t,d +M d -F o,d +PA d

[0236] Wherein, ΔP T The first signal and reference distance d represent the distance d. ref The signal power difference of the second signal at that time, i.e.:

[0237] ΔP T =P T,d -P T,ref

[0238] Due to ΔP ref,d The parameters in the formula include those controlled autonomously by the first device, such as the power difference ΔP of the transmitted signal. T The antenna gain at the first device end; and parameters indicated by the first device to the second device or configured by the system to the first device, such as modulation M and signal amplification factor PA; and some parameters that remain unchanged during transmission, such as various loss factors, fading margin, target penalty gain, polarization loss, and device system loss, etc. Therefore, the first device can obtain the signal power offset value ΔP. ref,d .

[0239] Furthermore, the path loss L in the above formula path It depends on different channel models and operating frequencies. Typical path loss models include:

[0240] (a) The free space path loss model can be represented as follows:

[0241] L path =32.45+20log 10 (d)+20log 10 (f)

[0242] Where d (km) represents the distance between the first device and the second device, and f (MHz) represents the operating frequency of the first signal.

[0243] (b) The Cost-231 Hata model can be represented as follows:

[0244] L path =46.3 + 33.9log 10 (f)-13.82log 10 (h b )+a(h r f)

[0245] +(44.9-6.55log 10 (h b ))log 10 (d)+C

[0246] Wherein, C=0dB is suitable for medium-sized cities and suburban scenes, and C=3dB is suitable for urban scenes; h b and h r These represent the heights of the transmitting and receiving ends, respectively; a(h r f) is then represented as:

[0247]

[0248] (c) The 3GPP Urban Micro (UMi) model can be represented as follows:

[0249]

[0250] For the object-finding scenarios applicable to this application, which are generally non-line-of-sight (NLOS) scenarios, the UMiNLOS scenario will be used as an example for explanation. In this case, the RSSI / RSS ranging formula on the first device can be expressed as:

[0251] P R,ref +2×(22.7+36.7log 10 (d ref )+26log10 (f ref ))+ΔP ref,d

[0252] =P R,d +2×(22.7+36.7log 10 (d)+26log 10 (f d ))

[0253] After further processing, we can obtain:

[0254]

[0255] (2) The second device is a semi-passive or active tag device that obtains the first signal by actively generating a carrier wave.

[0256] In this (2) scenario, the first signal (or second signal) received by the first device from the second device only undergoes one-way channel signal attenuation, i.e., link signal attenuation from the second device to the first device. Therefore, the signal power of the first signal received by the first device at this time can be modeled as follows:

[0257]

[0258] The meanings of the parameters in Formula 5 above are as follows:

[0259] P r - The receiving power (dBm) of the first device;

[0260] P Tag - Transmission power (dBm) of the second device;

[0261] L T - The system loss of the second device (including feeder loss, circuit loss and other losses) (dB);

[0262] X b - Link polarization loss (dB);

[0263] G Tag - Antenna gain (dBi) of the first device;

[0264] G R - Antenna gain (dBi) of the second device;

[0265] - Path loss (dB);

[0266] Θ - Target penalty gain (dB) of the antenna of the second device;

[0267] M - Modulation factor (dB) of the second device;

[0268] PA - Signal amplification factor (dB) of the second device;

[0269] L R - The system loss of the second device (including feeder loss, circuit loss and other losses) (dB);

[0270] F o - Overall system fading margin (dB).

[0271] Following a similar derivation to (1) above, we can obtain:

[0272]

[0273] In formula 6 above, and The distance d between the first device and the second device is the reference distance. ref And the path loss caused by a distance d, The difference between the signal power of the first signal and the signal power of the second signal at the two distances can be expressed as:

[0274]

[0275] Wherein, ΔP Tag The first signal and reference distance d represent the distance d. ref The signal power difference of the second signal at that time, i.e.:

[0276] ΔP Tag =P Tag,d -P Tag,ref

[0277] because The parameters in the formula are either autonomously controlled by the first device, such as the antenna gain of the first device; or they are indicated by the first device to the second device or configured by the system for the first device, such as the difference in signal power ΔP transmitted by the second device. Tag The modulation index (M) and signal amplification factor (PA) are used; or some parameters remain constant during transmission, such as various loss factors, fading margin, target penalty gain, polarization loss, and equipment system losses. Therefore, the first device can obtain the signal power offset value.

[0278] For the object-finding scenario to which this application's solution applies, the UMi NLOS scenario will also be used as an example for explanation. In this case, the RSSI / RSS ranging formula on the first device can be expressed as:

[0279]

[0280] After obtaining the above distance measurement formula, the distance can be determined based on the formula, as detailed in Examples 2 and 3 below.

[0281] Example 2

[0282] In this embodiment 2, as Figure 4 As shown, the first device measures the distance to the second device based on a pre-obtained reference distance d0 and the corresponding third measurement value of the second signal.

[0283] Optionally, the first device can establish a mapping relationship between the third measurement value and the reference distance based on previous ranging results and the corresponding third measurement value of the received second signal (e.g., using a mapping table for storage); or, the first device can retain only the third measurement value of the second signal received at a typical reference distance; or, the application server or network device can configure the mapping relationship between the third measurement value of the second signal and the reference distance for the first device. Without loss of generality, here we take the third measurement value of the second signal received by the first device at a typical reference distance d0 (e.g., signal strength / power) as an example. For example, based on the first measured value of the first signal at an unknown location, such as signal strength / power P... d This is used to determine the distance between the second device and the first device. Furthermore, the following example uses the UMi NLOS channel model; the same method can be extended to other channel models. Here, the first and third measurements are used as examples of signal power; the same principle can be extended to other signal measurements or statistical values.

[0284] (1) If the second device transmits the first signal or the second signal in a backscatter manner, the distance d between the second device and the first device can be determined by the following ranging formula:

[0285]

[0286] In the above formula, For the first device at a distance d ref The difference between the signal power of the second signal received at time d and the signal power of the first signal, which is known to the first device; and f d For distance d ref The signal frequencies when the second and first signals are transmitted are d and d, respectively. In this formula, due to the signal power of the second signal... The signal power P of the first signal d Difference in signal power Reference distance d ref The frequency of the second signal and the frequency f of the first signal dSince both are known, the distance d between the second device and the first device can be calculated, thus completing the distance measurement.

[0287] (2) If the second device transmits the first signal or the second signal by actively generating a carrier wave, the distance d between the second device and the first device can be determined by the following ranging formula:

[0288]

[0289] In the above formula, The difference between the signal power of the second signal and the signal power of the first signal received by the first device at distances d0 and d, respectively, is known to the first device. and f d Let be the signal frequencies when the second signal and the first signal are transmitted at distances d0 and d, respectively. In this formula, due to the signal power of the second signal... The signal power P of the first signal d Difference in signal power Reference distance d0, frequency of the second signal and the frequency f of the first signal d Since both are known, the distance d between the second device and the first device can be calculated, thus completing the distance measurement.

[0290] In summary, in this embodiment, the signal power of the second signal received by the first device at a known reference distance d0 can be determined. The signal power P of the first signal received at an unknown distance d d This allows us to determine the distance d between the second device and the first device. This method is relatively simple, and the distance measurement can even be completed by looking up a mapping.

[0291] Example 3

[0292] In this embodiment 3, as Figure 5 As shown, the first device measures the distance to the second device with the assistance of a position sensor / IMU.

[0293] For a first device equipped with a distance sensor or IMU, ranging can be assisted based on the sensor or IMU. Specifically, the first device can use the position offset (Δx, Δy) obtained from the position sensor / IMU and the first measurement value of the first signal corresponding to the measurement value of the position sensor / IMU. and The distances d2 and / or d1 between the first device and the second device are determined, where the positional offset of distance d2 relative to distance d1 is (Δx, Δy). The time when the first device receives the first signal at distance d1 is correlated with the time when it obtains the second IMU measurement value, i.e., within the same measurement moment or the same time window; the time when the first device receives the first signal at distance d2 is correlated with the time when it obtains the second IMU measurement value, i.e., within the same measurement moment or the same time window; the first device obtains the positional offset (Δx, Δy) through the second measurement values ​​at different locations.

[0294] Without loss of generality, the following example uses the UMi NLOS channel model, but the same approach can be extended to other channel models. Furthermore, the first measurement value used here is signal power; the same principle can be extended to other signal measurements or statistical values.

[0295] (1) If the second device sends the first signal in a backscatter manner, the distance d between the second device and the first device can be determined by the following ranging formula:

[0296]

[0297] In the above formula, The difference in signal power between the first signals received by the first device at distances d2 and d1 is known to the first device. and Let be the signal frequency when the first signal is transmitted at distances d2 and d1, respectively. In this formula, the signal power received from the first signal... Difference in signal power Position offset (Δx, Δy), frequency of the first signal and Since both are known, the distances d2 and / or d1 between the second device and the first device can be calculated, thus completing the distance measurement.

[0298] (2) If the second device generates and transmits the first signal by actively generating a carrier wave, the distance d between the second device and the first device can be determined by the following ranging formula:

[0299]

[0300] In the above formula, The difference in signal power between the first signals received by the first device at distances d2 and d1 is known to the first device. and Let be the signal frequency when the first signal is transmitted at distances d2 and d1, respectively. In this formula, the signal power received from the first signal... Difference in signal power Position offset (Δx, Δy), frequency of the first signal and Since both are known, the distances d2 and / or d1 between the second device and the first device can be calculated, thus completing the distance measurement.

[0301] In summary, this embodiment can determine the distance d2 and / or d1 between the first device and the second device using the second measurement value obtained by the first device based on the position sensor / IMU and the signal power of the first signal associated with the second measurement value of the position sensor / IMU (i.e., the first measurement value). This method has high ranging accuracy and is applicable to any scenario. Furthermore, the first device does not need to store one or more measurement values ​​at known distances, thus avoiding resource waste.

[0302] The ranging method provided in this application can be executed by a ranging device. This application uses a ranging device executing the ranging method as an example to illustrate the ranging device provided in this application.

[0303] Please see Figure 6 , Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of a ranging device provided in an embodiment of this application. The device is applied to a first device, such as... Figure 6 As shown, the ranging device 60 includes:

[0304] The first receiving module 61 is used to receive the first signal sent by the second device;

[0305] The acquisition module 62 is used to acquire a first measurement value of the first signal and acquire first information; wherein the first information includes at least one of the following: a second measurement value associated with the first measurement value measured by the measurement unit in the first device; a reference distance and a third measurement value of the second signal, wherein the second signal is a signal transmitted from a first position and received by the first device, and the position of the first device is at a distance from the first position from the reference distance;

[0306] The determining module 63 is used to determine the distance between the first device and the second device based on the first measurement value and the first information.

[0307] In this embodiment, the first device is a ranging / positioning device, which may be a terminal device such as a mobile phone, watch, tablet, AR device, VR device, XR device, MR device, robot, etc., or a network device such as a base station, repeater, IAB device, relay device, or a WiFi node, Zigbee node, LoRa node, Bluetooth node, reader device, etc.; no specific limitation is made in this regard.

[0308] The second device can be understood as the device to be ranging, and can be, but is not limited to, an RFID tag, a 3GPP AIoT tag, a WiFi tag, a LoRa tag, a Zigbee tag, a Bluetooth tag, or other low-power devices. For example, the second device can be a passive tag or a semi-active tag.

[0309] The inertial measurement unit (IMU) is specifically a collection of sensors that can be used to accurately measure and detect key information of the device, such as acceleration, angular velocity, and orientation.

[0310] The solution of this application embodiment can be used to measure the distance of a second device based on a known reference distance or with the assistance of a measuring unit, thereby improving the ranging accuracy.

[0311] Optionally, the first measurement value of the first signal includes at least one of the following:

[0312] The reference signal received power RSRP of the first signal;

[0313] The received signal strength (RSS) of the first signal;

[0314] The received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the first signal;

[0315] The reference signal reception quality (RSRQ) of the first signal;

[0316] The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the first signal;

[0317] The signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of the first signal;

[0318] The signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) of the first signal;

[0319] Statistical values ​​obtained from multiple measurements of the first signal;

[0320] The measured values ​​of the first signals obtained using multiple antennas, or the statistical values ​​of the measured values ​​of the first signals obtained using multiple antennas.

[0321] Optionally, the measurement time of the first measurement value is the same as the measurement time of the second measurement value, or the measurement time of the first measurement value and the measurement time of the second measurement value are within the same time window.

[0322] Optionally, the second measurement includes at least one of the following:

[0323] Acceleration information;

[0324] Angular velocity information;

[0325] Location information;

[0326] Magnetic induction information;

[0327] Yaw angle information;

[0328] Displacement information;

[0329] Statistical values ​​obtained from multiple measurements associated with the first measurement value by the measurement unit.

[0330] Optionally, the signal parameters of the first signal may be the same as or different from the signal parameters of the second signal;

[0331] And / or, the measurement parameters of the first signal are the same as or different from the measurement parameters of the second signal.

[0332] Optionally, the at least one first measurement value includes at least a first first measurement value and a second first measurement value, wherein the first first measurement value and the second first measurement value are measurement values ​​of first signals received by the first device located at different locations respectively; the first information includes a first second measurement value associated with the first first measurement value and a second second measurement value associated with the second first measurement value of the measurement unit;

[0333] The determining module 63 is specifically used to: obtain the position offset of the first device based on the first second measurement value and the second second measurement value; and determine the distance between the first device and the second device based on the pre-constructed distance measurement formula, the first first measurement value, the second first measurement value and the position offset.

[0334] Optionally, when the first information includes a reference distance and a third measurement value of the second signal, the determining module 63 is specifically used to: determine the distance between the first device and the second device based on a pre-constructed ranging formula, the first measurement value, the third measurement value, and the reference distance.

[0335] Optionally, the ranging formula is derived from the formulaic expression of the measured values ​​of signals sent from two different locations received by the first device and the path loss model.

[0336] Optionally, the acquisition module 62 is specifically used for at least one of the following:

[0337] Based on the pre-stored information, the reference distance and the third measurement value of the second signal are obtained;

[0338] Receive first configuration information, and obtain the reference distance and a third measurement value of the second signal based on the first configuration information.

[0339] Optionally, the ranging device 60 further includes:

[0340] The triggering module is used to trigger ranging of the second device when the first condition is met;

[0341] The first condition includes at least one of the following:

[0342] The first device acquires the second information, which is used to determine the distance measurement of the second device.

[0343] The ranging request from the first device to the second device is satisfied.

[0344] The signal strength of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to the first value;

[0345] The change in signal strength or slope of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to the second value;

[0346] The signal power of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to the third value;

[0347] The change in signal power or slope of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to the fourth value;

[0348] The duration during which the signal strength of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to the fifth value reaches the first duration;

[0349] The duration during which the change in signal strength or slope of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to the sixth value reaches the second duration;

[0350] The duration during which the signal power of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to the seventh value reaches the third duration;

[0351] The duration during which the change in signal power or slope of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to the eighth value reaches the fourth duration;

[0352] During the triggering period when the first device measures the distance to the second device;

[0353] The first device is within the effective time for measuring the distance to the second device.

[0354] Optionally, the second information includes at least one of the following:

[0355] First indication information, the first indication information indicates the presence of the second device;

[0356] The association information of the second device;

[0357] The capability information of the second device.

[0358] Optionally, the association information of the second device includes at least one of the following:

[0359] The identification information of the second device;

[0360] The response information of the second device associated with the information sent by the first device to the second device;

[0361] The synchronization signal associated with the second device;

[0362] The preamble associated with the second device;

[0363] The reference signal associated with the second device.

[0364] Optionally, the capability information of the second device includes at least one of the following:

[0365] Frequency domain capability information of the second device;

[0366] The time-domain capability information of the second device;

[0367] The airspace capability information of the second device;

[0368] The type of the second device;

[0369] The communication method of the second device;

[0370] The wireless access method of the second device;

[0371] The baseband processing capabilities supported by the second device;

[0372] The energy storage capacity or energy storage capacity supported by the second device;

[0373] The second device supports a certain amount of working time;

[0374] The operating states supported by the second device.

[0375] Optionally, the ranging device 60 further includes:

[0376] The second receiving module is configured to receive second configuration information; wherein the second configuration information is configured to configure at least one of the following: signal parameters of the first signal, and resource information of the first signal;

[0377] The first receiving module 61 is specifically used to: receive the first signal sent by the second device according to the second configuration information.

[0378] Optionally, the first receiving module 61 is further configured to: receive the first signal sent by the second device based on the signal parameters and / or resource information of the first signal determined by itself.

[0379] Optionally, the signal parameters of the first signal include at least one of the following:

[0380] The signal period of the first signal;

[0381] The baseband signal parameters of the first signal;

[0382] The signal waveform of the first signal;

[0383] The transmission power or transmission power level of the first signal;

[0384] The reflection coefficient of the first signal;

[0385] The signal amplification factor of the first signal.

[0386] Optionally, the resource information of the first signal includes at least one of the following:

[0387] The time-domain resource information of the first signal;

[0388] Frequency domain resource information of the first signal;

[0389] The time-frequency domain pattern of the first signal;

[0390] The spatial resource information of the first signal;

[0391] Polarization resource information of the first signal.

[0392] Optionally, the first signal is generated in a manner including at least one of the following:

[0393] The first signal is obtained by backscattering a third signal, which is a carrier signal sent from the first device to the second device;

[0394] The first signal is obtained by reflecting the fourth signal, which is a ranging signal sent by the first device to the second device;

[0395] The first signal is obtained by frequency shifting of the fifth signal, which is a ranging signal sent by the first device to the second device.

[0396] The first signal is obtained based on the carrier wave generated by the second device.

[0397] Optionally, the ranging device 60 further includes:

[0398] A transmitting module is configured to transmit second indication information to the second device; wherein the second indication information is used to transmit the first signal; and the second indication information is used to indicate at least one of the following:

[0399] The communication method of the first signal;

[0400] The signal parameters of the first signal;

[0401] Resource information of the first signal;

[0402] Frequency shifting information of the first signal.

[0403] The ranging device 60 provided in this embodiment can achieve... Figure 2 The various processes implemented in the method embodiments shown achieve the same technical effects, and will not be described again here to avoid repetition.

[0404] like Figure 7 As shown, this application embodiment also provides a communication device 70, including a processor 71 and a memory 72. The memory 72 stores a program or instructions that can run on the processor 71. When the program or instructions are executed by the processor 71, they implement the various steps of the above-described ranging method embodiment and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, they will not be described again here.

[0405] This application also provides a readable storage medium storing a program or instructions. When the program or instructions are executed by a processor, they implement the various processes of the above-described ranging method embodiments and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, they will not be described again here.

[0406] The processor mentioned above is the processor in the terminal described in the above embodiments. The readable storage medium includes computer-readable storage media, such as computer read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk, or optical disk. In some examples, the readable storage medium may be a non-transient readable storage medium.

[0407] This application embodiment also provides a chip, which includes a processor and a communication interface. The communication interface is coupled to the processor. The processor is used to run programs or instructions to implement the various processes of the above-described ranging method embodiments and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0408] It should be understood that the chip mentioned in the embodiments of this application may also be referred to as a system-on-a-chip, system chip, chip system, or system-on-a-chip, etc.

[0409] This application also provides a computer program / program product, which is stored in a storage medium and executed by at least one processor to implement the various processes of the above-described ranging method embodiments, and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0410] This application also provides a communication system, including at least a first device and a second device, wherein the first device can be used to perform the steps of the ranging method described above.

[0411] It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes that element. Furthermore, it should be noted that the scope of the methods and apparatuses in the embodiments of this application is not limited to performing functions in the order shown or discussed, but may also include performing functions substantially simultaneously or in the reverse order, depending on the functions involved. For example, the described methods may be performed in a different order than described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Additionally, features described with reference to certain examples may be combined in other examples.

[0412] From the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the methods of the above embodiments can be implemented by means of computer software products plus necessary general-purpose hardware platforms, and of course, they can also be implemented by hardware. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM, RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk, etc.) and includes several instructions to cause the terminal or network-side device to execute the methods described in the various embodiments of this application.

[0413] The embodiments of this application have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, this application is not limited to the specific embodiments described above. The specific embodiments described above are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Those skilled in the art can make many other implementations under the guidance of this application without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims. All of these implementations are within the protection scope of this application.

Claims

1. A method of distance measurement, characterized by, The method comprises: a first device receiving a first signal sent by a second device; the first device obtaining a first measurement value of the first signal, and obtaining first information; wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following: a second measurement value associated with the first measurement value, measured by a measurement unit in the first device; a reference distance and a third measurement value of a second signal, the second signal being a signal sent from a first position and received by the first device, the position of the first device being apart from the first position by the reference distance; the first device determining a distance between the first device and the second device according to the first measurement value and the first information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The first measurement value of the first signal comprises at least one of the following: a reference signal receiving power (RSRP) of the first signal; a received signal strength (RSS) of the first signal; a received signal strength indication (RSSI) of the first signal; a reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ) of the first signal; a signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the first signal; a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the first signal; a signal to interference ratio (SIR) of the first signal; a statistical value obtained according to multiple measurement values of the first signal; multiple measurement values of the first signal obtained by using multiple antennas, or a statistical value of multiple measurement values of the first signal obtained by using multiple antennas.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, The measurement time of the first measurement value is the same as the measurement time of the second measurement value, or the measurement time of the first measurement value and the measurement time of the second measurement value are within a same time window.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that, The second measurement value comprises at least one of the following: acceleration information; angular velocity information; azimuth information; magnetic induction information; yaw angle information; displacement information; a statistical value obtained according to multiple measurement values of the measurement unit associated with the first measurement value.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, The signal parameter of the first signal is the same as or different from the signal parameter of the second signal; and / or the measurement parameter of the first signal is the same as or different from the measurement parameter of the second signal. The at least one first measurement value comprises at least a first first measurement value and a second first measurement value, the first first measurement value and the second first measurement value being measurement values of the first signal received by the first device located at different positions respectively; the first information comprises a first second measurement value associated with the first first measurement value and a second second measurement value associated with the second first measurement value of the measurement unit; 6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, the first device determining the distance between the first device and the second device according to the first measurement value and the first information comprises: the first device obtaining a position offset of the first device according to the first second measurement value and the second second measurement value; the first device determining the distance between the first device and the second device according to a pre-constructed ranging formula and the first first measurement value, the second first measurement value and the position offset. ​ 7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, When the first information comprises a reference distance and a third measurement value of a second signal, the first device determines the distance between the first device and the second device according to the first measurement value and the first information, comprising: The first device determines the distance between the first device and the second device according to a pre-constructed ranging formula and the first measurement value, the third measurement value and the reference distance.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The first information comprises at least one of: The first device obtains the reference distance and the third measurement value of the second signal according to pre-stored information; The first device receives first configuration information and obtains the reference distance and the third measurement value of the second signal according to the first configuration information.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that, The method further comprises: The first device triggers the ranging of the second device when a first condition is met; The first condition comprises at least one of: The first device acquires second information used to determine the ranging of the second device; The ranging request of the second device obtained by the first device is met; The signal strength of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to a first value; The change amount or slope of the signal strength of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to a second value; The signal power of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to a third value; The change amount or slope of the signal power of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to a fourth value; The time length during which the signal strength of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to a fifth value reaches a first time length; The time length during which the change amount or slope of the signal strength of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to a sixth value reaches a second time length; The time length during which the signal power of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to a seventh value reaches a third time length; The time length during which the change amount or slope of the signal power of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to an eighth value reaches a fourth time length; The first device is in a triggering period of the ranging of the second device; The first device is in a valid time of the ranging of the second device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, The second information comprises at least one of: First indication information indicating that the second device exists; Association information of the second device; Capability information of the second device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, The association information of the second device comprises at least one of: Identification information of the second device; Response information of the second device associated with the information sent by the first device to the second device; A synchronization signal associated with the second device; A preamble associated with the second device; A reference signal associated with the second device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein, The capability information of the second device comprises at least one of: Frequency capability information of the second device; Time capability information of the second device; Space capability information of the second device; Type of the second device; Communication mode of the second device; Wireless access mode of the second device; Baseband processing capability supported by the second device; The energy storage capability or energy storage capacity supported by the second device; The working time supported by the second device; The working state supported by the second device.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that, The method further comprises: The first device receives second configuration information; wherein the second configuration information is used to configure at least one of the following: signal parameters of the first signal, resource information of the first signal; The first device receives the first signal sent by the second device, comprising: The first device receives the first signal sent by the second device according to the second configuration information.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that, The first device receives the first signal sent by the second device, comprising: The first device receives the first signal sent by the second device according to the signal parameters and / or resource information of the first signal determined by itself.

15. The method according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that, The signal parameters of the first signal include at least one of the following: The signal period of the first signal; The baseband signal parameters of the first signal; The signal waveform of the first signal; The transmission power or transmission power level of the first signal; The reflection coefficient of the first signal; The signal amplification multiple of the first signal; And / or, The resource information of the first signal includes at least one of the following: The time domain resource information of the first signal; The frequency domain resource information of the first signal; The time-frequency domain pattern mode of the first signal; The spatial domain resource information of the first signal; The polarization resource information of the first signal.

16. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that, The generation mode of the first signal includes at least one of the following: The first signal is obtained by backscattering a third signal, and the third signal is a carrier signal sent by the first device to the second device; The first signal is obtained by reflecting a fourth signal, and the fourth signal is a ranging signal sent by the first device to the second device; The first signal is obtained by frequency shifting a fifth signal, and the fifth signal is a ranging signal sent by the first device to the second device; The first signal is obtained based on a carrier generated by the second device.

17. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, characterized in that, The method further comprises: The first device sends second indication information to the second device; The second indication information is used to send the first signal; The second indication information is used to indicate at least one of the following: The communication mode of the first signal; The signal parameters of the first signal; The resource information of the first signal; The frequency shifting information of the first signal.

18. A ranging device, characterized by Comprise: The first receiving module is used for receiving the first signal sent by the second device; The acquisition module is used for obtaining the first measurement value of the first signal, and obtaining the first information; wherein the first information includes at least one of the following: the second measurement value measured by the measurement unit in the first device and associated with the first measurement value; the reference distance and the third measurement value of the second signal, which is a signal sent from the first position and received by the first device, and the position of the first device is away from the first position by the reference distance; The determination module is used for determining the distance between the first device and the second device according to the first measurement value and the first information.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein, The device further comprises: triggering a ranging to the second device when a first condition is met; wherein the first condition comprises at least one of: the first device obtaining second information, the second information being used to determine a ranging to the second device; a ranging request to the second device obtained by the first device being satisfied; a signal strength of the first signal obtained by the first device being greater than or equal to a first value; a change amount or a slope of the signal strength of the first signal obtained by the first device being greater than or equal to a second value; a signal power of the first signal obtained by the first device being greater than or equal to a third value; a change amount or a slope of the signal power of the first signal obtained by the first device being greater than or equal to a fourth value; a time length during which the signal strength of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to a fifth value reaching a first time length; a time length during which the change amount or the slope of the signal strength of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to a sixth value reaching a second time length; a time length during which the signal power of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to a seventh value reaching a third time length; a time length during which the change amount or the slope of the signal power of the first signal obtained by the first device is greater than or equal to an eighth value reaching a fourth time length; the first device being in a triggering period of a ranging to the second device; the first device being in a valid time of a ranging to the second device.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein, the second information comprising at least one of: first indication information, the first indication information indicating that the second device exists; association information of the second device; capability information of the second device.

21. A communications device, characterized by a processor and a memory, the memory storing programs or instructions executable on the processor, the programs or instructions being executed by the processor to implement steps of the ranging method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

22. A readable storage medium, characterized by, a readable storage medium storing programs or instructions executable by a processor to implement steps of the ranging method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

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