Environment sensing.
By configuring UE to transmit and receive illuminating radio signals and using server-managed procedures, the patent enhances environmental sensing in cellular networks, improving service quality and enabling new sensing services.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- GB2023015924
- Authority / Receiving Office
- GB · GB
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2023-10-18
- Publication Date
- 2025-07-23
AI Technical Summary
Existing cellular telecommunications networks lack efficient methods to sense environments using user equipment (UE) for improving service quality and enabling new sensing services.
User equipment (UE) is configured to transmit and receive illuminating radio signals for interaction with objects, enabling UE-involved sensing procedures through availability and capability reports, and a server apparatus manages these procedures to enhance sensing capabilities in areas not covered by network transmission reception points.
Enhances environmental sensing capabilities, allowing detection and recognition of passive objects, improves radio resource management, and enables new sensing services such as infrastructure-assisted driving and environment monitoring.
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Abstract
Description
TECHNOLOGICAL FIELD Examples of the disclosure relate to environment sensing and, environment sensing using a user equipment of a cellular telecommunications network. BACKGROUND It is desirable to be able to sense environments. It would be desirable to use apparatus in a cellular telecommunications network to sense environments. The sensing could improve the quality of existing services and / or enable new sensing services. BRIEF SUMMARY According to various, but not necessarily all, examples there is provided a user equipment (UE) comprising: means for transmitting a U E-dependent availability report to a server; means for communicating with the server as part of an on-boarding process for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE, the communication comprising receiving from the server a sensing procedure set-up signal to enable the UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following by the UE: transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with an object; and reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object. In some but not necessarily all examples, the user equipment is configured to transmit, to the server, the UE-dependent availability report during a discovery process. In some but not necessarily all examples, wherein the user equipment is configured to determine an availability to perform sensing operations and transmit a U E-dependent availability report reporting the availability to perform sensing operations. In some but not necessarily all examples, the user equipment is configured to perform a determination based on available resources and / or expected demand for resources to determine the availability to perform sensing operations. In some but not necessarily all examples, the user equipment is configured to transmit a capability report indicating capabilities for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object, wherein the capability indicates at least a capability of the UE for transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with an object and / or a capability of the UE for reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with an object. In some but not necessarily all examples, the configured user equipment is configured to transmit the capability report to the server as part of a discovery process for the UE or as part of an on- boarding process for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE. In some but not necessarily all examples, the user equipment is configured to transmit the capability report as part of the UE-dependent availability report in response to a received availability request indicating requirements for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with an object, and optionally indicating resource requirements for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object. In some but not necessarily all examples, the user equipment is configured to transmit the capability report in response to a received sensing request for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with an object. In some but not necessarily all examples, the user equipment is configured to transmit the capability report during an on-boarding process in response to a sensing request for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal, after interaction with an object, received during the on-boarding process. In some but not necessarily all examples, the sensing procedure set-up signal specifies UE involvement in a sensing procedure and specifies one or both of: transmission of the an illuminating radio signal for interaction with the object and reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object. In some but not necessarily all examples, the user equipment comprises means for receiving an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object and measuring a parameter of the received reflected signal; and means for transmitting a report based at least on the measurement. In some but not necessarily all examples, the user equipment comprises means for attaching to a cellular telecommunications network to enable reception of the sensing procedure set-up signal, via the cellular telecommunications network, to enable UE-involved sensing controlled via the cellular telecommunications network. According to various, but not necessarily all, examples there is provided a method comprising: transmitting a UE-dependent availability report to a server; and communicating with the server as part of an on-boarding process for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE, the communication comprising receiving from the server a sensing procedure set-up signal to enable the UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following by the UE: transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with an object; and reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object. According to various, but not necessarily all, examples there is provided a computer program comprising instructions that when loaded into one or more processors, enables a user equipment to: transmit a UE-dependent availability report to a server; and communicate with the server as part of an on-boarding process for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE, the communication comprising receiving from the server a sensing procedure set-up signal to enable the UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following by the UE: transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with an object; and reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object. According to various, but not necessarily all, examples there is provided an apparatus comprising: means for receiving an availability report from a user equipment (UE), wherein the availability report is UE-dependent; means for communicating with the user equipment as part of an on-boarding process for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE, the communication comprising sending to the UE a sensing session set-up signal to enable the UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following by the UE: transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with an object; and reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object. In some but not necessarily all examples, the apparatus is configured to receive the UE-dependent availability report during a discovery process. In some but not necessarily all examples, the discovery process, whether initiated by the server or by a user equipment, additionally enables the server to become aware of whether or not a user equipment satisfies network-based constraints. In some but not necessarily all examples, the apparatus is configured as a node of a cellular telecommunications network. In some but not necessarily all examples, the sensing procedure relates to an Application Function external to the cellular telecommunications network. In some but not necessarily all examples, the sensing procedure set-up signal provides sensing into an area that does not comprise a user equipment but is covered by the user equipment and, optionally, is not covered by a transmission reception point of the cellular telecommunications network. In some but not necessarily all examples, the apparatus is configured to discover user equipment for supporting sensing procedures for a defined area. In some but not necessarily all examples, the apparatus is configured as user equipment. In some but not necessarily all examples, the apparatus is configured to discover user equipment for supporting sensing procedures via a mobility management node of the cellular telecommunications network. In some but not necessarily all examples, the apparatus is configured to discover user equipment for supporting sensing procedures via a subscription management node of the cellular telecommunications network. In some but not necessarily all examples, the apparatus is configured to receive, from the user equipment, a capability report indicating capabilities for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object, wherein the capability indicates at least a capability for transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with the and / or a capability for reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with an object. In some but not necessarily all examples, the apparatus is configured to receive a capability report as part of a discovery process for user equipment or as part of an on- boarding process for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at a discovered UE. In some but not necessarily all examples, the apparatus is configured to transmit, to the user equipment, an availability request indicating requirements for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object, wherein the capability report is received in response to the transmitted availability request and / or configured to transmit, to the user equipment, a sensing request for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object, wherein the capability report is received in response to the transmitted sensing request. In some but not necessarily all examples, the apparatus is configured to generate an updated sensing request based on the received capability report; and configured to transmit, to the user equipment, the updated sensing request for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object. In some but not necessarily all examples, the apparatus is configured to transmit, to the user equipment, the sensing request for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object during an on-boarding process and is configured to receive in response, during the on-boarding process, the capability report. In some but not necessarily all examples, the discovery process enables the apparatus to become aware of a presence or availability of user equipment, wherein the onboarding process is task-based and comprises an evaluation, at the UE and / or server, of a suitability of the UE for a task wherein the sensing procedure set-up signal is configured to enable a task-specific UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following tasks by the UE: transmission of a radio signal for reflection by at least an object; and reception of a reflected transmitted radio signal after reflection by at least the object In some but not necessarily all examples, the apparatus is configured to evaluate which UE is needed for a sensing procedure, based on sensing requirements. In some but not necessarily all examples, the sensing procedure set-up signal specifies UE involvement is a sensing procedure and specifies one or both of: transmission of the illuminating radio signal for interaction with the object and reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object; In some but not necessarily all examples, the apparatus is configured to receive, in dependence upon the UE involvement is the sensing procedure, a measurement report, and configured to aggregate the received measurement report with other received measurement reports. In some but not necessarily all examples, the sensing procedure is adapted for the user equipment. According to various, but not necessarily all, examples there is provided a method comprising: receiving an availability report from a user equipment (UE), wherein the availability report is U E-dependent; communicating with the user equipment as part of an on-boarding process for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE, the communication comprising sending to the UE a sensing session set-up signal to enable the UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following by the UE: transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with an object; and reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object. According to various, but not necessarily all, examples there is provided a computer program comprising instructions that when loaded into one or more processors, enables a user equipment to: receive an availability report from a user equipment (UE), wherein the availability report is U E-dependent; communicate with the user equipment as part of an on-boarding process for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE, the communication comprising sending to the UE a sensing session set-up signal to enable the UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following by the UE: transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with an object; and reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object. According to various, but not necessarily all, examples there is provided a user equipment (UE) comprising: means for receiving a sensing procedure set-up signal to enable UE-involved sensing of a transmitted radio signal reflected from at least an object, wherein the UE involvement is requested by the sensing procedure set-up signal and comprises one or both of: transmission of the radio signal for interaction with the object and reception of a reflected transmitted radio signal after interaction with the object. According to various, but not necessarily all, examples there is provided a user equipment (UE) comprising: means for transmitting, as part of a discovery process, a UE-dependent availability report to a server; means for communicating with the server as part of an on-boarding process for initiating a task-specific UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE, the communication comprising receiving from the server a sensing procedure set-up signal to enable the task-specific UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following tasks by the UE: transmission of a radio signal for interaction with at least an object; and reception of a reflected transmitted radio signal after interaction with the object. According to various, but not necessarily all, examples there is provided a user equipment (UE) comprising: means for transmitting, as part of a discovery process , a UE-dependent availability report to a server; means for transmitting, as part of a discovery process or an on- boarding process for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE, a UE-dependent capability report to a server, wherein the UE-involved sensing procedure comprises performance of one or both of the following by the UE: transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with an object; and reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object. According to various, but not necessarily all, examples there is provided examples as claimed in the appended claims. While the above examples of the disclosure and optional features are described separately, it is to be understood that their provision in all possible combinations and permutations is contained within the disclosure. It is to be understood that various examples of the disclosure can comprise any or all of the features described in respect of other examples of the disclosure, and vice versa. Also, it is to be appreciated that any one or more or all of the features, in any combination, may be implemented by / comprised in / performable by an apparatus, a method, and / or computer program instructions as desired, and as appropriate. BRIEF DESCRIPTION Some examples will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 shows an example of the subject matter described herein; FIG. 2A shows another example of the subject matter described herein; FIG. 2B shows another example of the subject matter described herein; FIG. 2C shows another example of the subject matter described herein; FIG. 3 shows another example of the subject matter described herein; FIG. 4 shows another example of the subject matter described herein; FIG. 5 shows another example of the subject matter described herein; FIG. 6 shows another example of the subject matter described herein; FIG. 7 shows another example of the subject matter described herein; FIG. 8 shows another example of the subject matter described herein; FIG. 9 shows another example of the subject matter described herein; FIG. 10 shows another example of the subject matter described herein. The figures are not necessarily to scale. Certain features and views of the figures can be shown schematically or exaggerated in scale in the interest of clarity and conciseness. For example, the dimensions of some elements in the figures can be exaggerated relative to other elements to aid explication. Similar reference numerals are used in the figures to designate similar features. For clarity, all reference numerals are not necessarily displayed in all figures. In the following description a class (or set) can be referenced using a reference number without a subscript index (e.g. 10) and a specific instance of the class (member of the set) can be referenced using the reference number with a numerical type subscript index (e.g. 10_1) and a non-specific instance of the class (member of the set) can be referenced using the reference number with a variable type subscript index (e.g. 10J). DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG 1 illustrates an example of a cellular telecommunications network 100 comprising a plurality of network nodes including terminal nodes 110, radio access nodes 120 and one or more core nodes 129. The terminal nodes 110 and radio access nodes 120 communicate with each other using transmission / reception of radio waves. The one or more core nodes 129 communicate with the radio access nodes 120. The one or more core nodes 129 may, in some examples, communicate with each other. The one or more radio access nodes 120 may, in some examples, communicate with each other. The network 100 is a cellular network comprising a plurality of cells 122 each served by a radio access node 120. The interface between the terminal nodes 110 and a radio access node 120 defining a cell 122 is a wireless interface 124. The radio access node 120 is a cellular radio transceiver. The terminal nodes 110 are cellular radio transceivers. In the example illustrated the cellular network 100 is a third generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network in which the terminal nodes 110 are user equipment (UE) and the access nodes 120 are base stations. In the example illustrated, the network 100 is an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access network (E-UTRAN). The E-UTRAN consists of E-UTRAN NodeBs (eNBs) 120, providing the E-UTRA user plane and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations towards the UE 110. The eNBs 120 are interconnected with each other by means of an X2 interface 126. The eNBs are also connected by means of the S1 interface 128 to the Mobility Management Entity (MME) 129. In other example the network 100 is a Next Generation (or New Radio, NR) Radio Access network (NG-RAN). The NG-RAN consists of gNodeBs (gNBs) 120, providing the user plane and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations towards the UE 110. The gNBs 120 are interconnected with each other by means of an X2 / Xn interface 126. The gNBs are also connected by means of the N2 interface 128 to the Access and Mobility management Function (AMF). A user equipment comprises a mobile equipment. Where reference is made to user equipment that reference includes and encompasses, wherever possible, a reference to mobile equipment. A user equipment (UE) 110 is configured to attach to the cellular telecommunications network, as a node of the network. A transmission reception point (TRP) is the part of the radio access node 120 that transmits radio signals to a user equipment 110 (downlink) and / or receives radio signals from a user equipment (uplink). FIG 2 illustrates an example of sensing procedures involving the sensing of radio signals 12. The radio signals 12 are transmitted for interaction with an object 2. The radio signals 14 are received after interaction with the object 2. In this example, the transmitted radio signals 12 are illuminating radio signals. They are used to illuminate (light up) an environment. The radio signals 12 are not transmitted in a very narrow beam to a known position of the object 2. They are transmitted so that the object 2 is caught in the radio illumination of the environment. The radio illumination captures both the object 2 and other parts of the environment. In the following detailed description, the radio signals 12 can, for example, be illuminating radio signals whether described as illuminating radio signals or not. The interaction changes one or more properties of the incident radio signals 12 to produce resultant radio signals 14. For example, the object can interact with the incident radio signals 12 to redirect the incident radio signals, as redirected radio signals 14. For example, incident radio signals 12 can be reflected by the object 2 and / or refracted by the object 2 and / or diffracted by the object 2. In the following detailed description, the interaction of the radio signals 12 with the object 2 is referred to as reflection for specificity, however, it should be appreciated that other interactions are possible. In this example, a sensing procedure comprises transmission of a radio signal 12, reflection of the transmitted radio signal from an object 2 and reception of the reflected radio signal 14. A user equipment 110 is involved as the transmitter of radio signal 12, the receiver of the reflected radio signal 14, or both the transmitter of radio signal 12 and the receiver of the reflected radio signal 14. In FIG 2A, the user equipment 110 is both the transmitter of radio signal 12 and the receiver of the reflected radio signal 14. In FIG 2B, the user equipment 110 is the receiver of the reflected radio signal 14. The transmitter of the radio signal 12 can, for example, be a transmission reception point (TRP) of a cellular telecommunications network or another user equipment 110 of the cellular telecommunications network. In FIG 2C, the user equipment 110 is the transmitter of the radio signal 12. The receiver of the reflected radio signal 14 can, for example, be a transmission reception point (TRP) of a cellular telecommunications network or another user equipment 110 of the cellular telecommunications network. A user equipment 110, can at different times, be the transmitter of radio signal 12, the receiver of the reflected radio signal 14, and both the transmitter of radio signal 12 and the receiver of the reflected radio signal 14. The object 2 can, for example, be a passive object in the environment, that does not transmit or receive radio signals 12, 14. The object 2 is a passive reflector of or interferer with the radio signals 12. Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) in a 3GPP system means the sensing capabilities are provided by the same 5G wireless communication system and infrastructure as used for communication, and the sensing information could be derived from RF-based (and / or non-RF based) sensors. In general, it could improve QoE for existing services and / or enable new sensing services or provide sensing assisted communication where sensing information related to the communication channel or environment is used to improve the communication service of the 5G system itself e.g, the sensing information can be used to assist radio resource management, interference mitigation, beam management, mobility, etc. Examples of services include V2X services (e.g. Infrastructure Assisted Environment Perception, Infrastructure-Based Tele-Operated Driving, High-Definition Map Collecting etc), environment Real-time monitoring (reconstruct the environment map, object detection etc), Autonomous vehicles / UAV (e.g. Detect and Avoid (DAA), Weather or air pollution monitoring (the quality of a received wireless signal can have different attenuation characteristics with changes in air humidity, air particulate matter (PM) concentration), Radar (radio detection and ranging) (including Doppler radar) is a widely used wireless sensing technology that uses radio waves to determine the distance (range), angle, or instantaneous linear velocity of objects. With sensing of signal reflections, the network operation can be extended to radar functionality. This would allow the network to detect, locate and recognize passive objects in the environment, and to estimate the speed of objects using Doppler shift. In the following examples, a user equipment 110 can transmit radio signals 12 for sensing using a radio transceiver configured for use in the cellular radio telecommunications network and / or receive radio signals 14, for sensing, using a radio transceiver configured for use in the cellular radio telecommunications network. FIG 3 illustrates an example of the user equipment 110 as described in FIG 2. An apparatus 200 operates as a server and the user equipment operates as a client 10. A user equipment transmits a UE-dependent availability report 212 to a server 200. The user equipment 110 and the server 200 have means for communicating as part of an on-boarding process 70 for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure 80 at the UE. This communication comprises the server 200 transmitting, and the user equipment 110 receiving, a sensing procedure set-up signal 201 to enable the UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following by the UE 110: transmission of an illuminating radio signal 12; and reception of an illuminating radio signal 14. The availability report 212 can, for example, indicate an availability of the user equipment 110 to perform or participate in sensing operations. The availability report 212 can, for example, indicate an availability of the user equipment 110 as a transmitter of radio signals 12 and / or a receiver of radio signals 14 in a sensing procedure 80. The availability report 212 can be pushed by the UE 110 towards the server 200 or can be pulled from the UE 110 by the server200. In some but not necessarily all examples, the availability report 212 is transmitted upon a change, periodically or in response to a trigger. The sensing procedure set-up signal 201 requests UE involvement in a sensing procedure. The UE involvement comprises one or both of: UE transmission of a radio signal 12 for reflection by an object and UE reception of a reflected transmitted radio signal 14 after reflection by an object. The sensing procedure set-up signal 201 thus enables UE-involved sensing of a transmitted radio signal reflected from at least an object. The user equipment 110 comprises: means for transmitting a II E-dependent availability report 212 to a server 200; means for communicating with the server 200 as part of an on-boarding process 70 for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE, the communication comprising receiving from the server 200 a sensing procedure set-up signal 201 to enable the UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following by the UE: transmission of an illuminating radio signal 12; and reception of an illuminating radio signal 14. The apparatus 200 comprises: means for receiving an availability report 212 from a user equipment (UE) 110, wherein the availability report 212 is UE-dependent; means for communicating with the user equipment 110 as part of an on-boarding process 70 for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE 110, the communication comprising sending to the UE a sensing session set-up signal 201 to enable the UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following by the UE: transmission of an illuminating radio signal 12; and reception of an illuminating radio signal 14. The illuminating radio signal 12 is suitable for interaction with an object. The illuminating radio signal 14 is received after interaction with the object. In at least some examples, the same illuminating radio signal 12 is used (transmitted and received) for multiple different objects. In at least some examples, the same illuminating radio signal 12 is used (transmitted and received) independently of the object, that is its use is agnostic to (does not change with respect to) the identity of the object and the location or other characteristics of the object. The expression “transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with an (or the) object” covers these examples. The expression “reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with an (or the) object’ covers these examples. In at least some examples, the same illuminating radio signal 12 is transmitted and received for multiple different objects. In this example, the apparatus 200 is configured as a node of a cellular telecommunications network. The node can, for example, be a user equipment, a radio access network node, or a core node. The sensing procedure can, for example, relate to an Application Function external to the cellular telecommunications network. The cellular telecommunications network provides a sensing service using the sensing procedure. The sensing procedure set-up signal 201 can be used to allow sensing of a ‘dark’ area that is otherwise not capable of being sensed due to lack of coverage . This may be because there are no active sensors within the dark area and passive sensing using the network TRPs is not possible. This may be because a TRP of the cellular telecommunications network cannot transmit a radio signal 12 into the ‘dark area’ for reflection and a user equipment needs to be used to transmit a radio signal 12 into the ‘dark area’ for reflection. The sensing procedure set-up signal 201 can therefore be generated by the apparatus 200 to provide sensing into an area that does not comprise a user equipment but is covered by the user equipment 110 and, optionally, is not covered by a transmission reception point of the cellular telecommunications network. FIG 4 illustrates a more detailed example of the example illustrated in FIG 3 and similar references refer to similar features. In this example, the UE-dependent availability report 212 is transmitted by the UE 110 to the server 200 as part of a discovery process 60. A IIE-dependent capability report 42, 44 is transmitted from the UE 110 to the server 200 as part of a discovery process 60 or as part of an on- boarding process 70 for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure 80 at the UE, The user equipment (UE) 110 comprises: means for transmitting, as part of a discovery process 60 , a UE-dependent availability report 212 to a server 200; means for transmitting, as part of a discovery process 60 or an on- boarding process 70 for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure 80 at the UE, a UE-dependent capability report 42, 44 to a server 200, wherein the UE-involved sensing procedure 80 comprises performance of one or both of the following by the UE 110: transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with an object; and reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object. The capability report (an early capability report 42) can be transmitted, during the discovery process 60, as part of the UE-dependent availability report 212. The capability report (a late capability report 44) can be transmitted, during the onboarding process 70, as part of the UE-dependent availability report 212. This can be sent in response to a sensing request 213 transmitted by the server 200 to the UE 110 that requests performing UE-involved sensing In some but not necessarily all examples, the discovery process 60 is for ‘discovering’ information and the on-boarding process70 is for setting-up the sensing procedure 80 during which the transmission of an illuminating radio signal and / or reception of an illuminating radio signal occurs at the UE 110. The discovery process 70 can be initiated by the server 200 or by a user equipment 110 or otherwise. The server 200 can comprises any means for discovering UE available for sensing procedures. In some but not necessarily all examples, the discovery process 60 enables the server 200 to become aware of a presence or availability of user equipment 110. In some but not necessarily all examples, whether initiated by the server 200 or by a user equipment 110, the discovery process 60 enables the server to become aware of whether or not a user equipment satisfies network-based constraints. The networkbased constraints can for example control the access of a user or a user equipment to services (e.g. network control policies or network authentication information or network subscription information) In some but not necessarily all examples, the on-boarding process is task-based and comprises an evaluation, at the UE 110 and / or server 200, of a suitability of the UE 100 for a task The sensing procedure set-up signal 201 is configured to enable a taskspecific UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following tasks by the UE: transmission of a radio signal for reflection by at least an object; and reception of a reflected transmitted radio signal after reflection by at least the object. In some examples, but not necessarily all examples, the user equipment (UE) 110 comprises: means for transmitting, as part of a discovery process 60, a UE-dependent availability report 212 to a server 200; means for communicating with the server 200 as part of an on-boarding process 70 for initiating a task-specific UE-involved sensing procedure 80 at the UE 110, the communication comprising receiving from the server 200 a sensing procedure set-up signal 215 to enable the task-specific UE-involved sensing procedure 80 comprising performance of one or both of the following tasks by the UE 110: transmission of a radio signal 12 for interaction with at least an object; and reception of a reflected transmitted radio signal 14 after interaction with the object. In some examples, but not necessarily all examples, the server apparatus 200 comprises: means for receiving, as part of a discovery process 60, an availability report 211 from a user equipment (UE) 110, wherein the availability report 211 is UE-dependent; means for communicating with the UE as part of an on-boarding process 70 for initiating a task-specific UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE, the communication comprising sending to the UE a sensing procedure set-up signal to enable a taskspecific UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following tasks by the UE: transmission of a radio signal for reflection by at least an object; and reception of a reflected transmitted radio signal after reflection by at least the object. The server 200 can comprise: means for performing, after the on-boarding process, the task-specific UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE wherein the task-specific UE-involved sensing procedure comprises performance of one or both of the following tasks by the UE: transmission of a radio signal for reflection by at least an object; and reception of a reflected transmitted radio signal after reflection by at least the object. In this example, the method is divided into three phases: discovery 60, on-boarding 70 and sensing procedure 80. The purpose of discovery 60 is to discover user equipment 110 that are correctly located. In some examples, the apparatus 200 is configured to discover 60 user equipment for supporting sensing procedures for a defined area, for example a dark area as previously described. The purpose of on-boarding 70 is to initiate a sensing procedure with a suitable user equipment 110, for example, one that is capable of involvement in the sensing procedure and / or has coverage of the defined area. The purpose of the sensing procedure 80 is for the user equipment 110 to transmit the radio signal 12 for reflection by the object and / or receive a reflected transmitted radio signal 14 after reflection by the object. If the user equipment 110 receives a reflected transmitted radio signal 14 after reflection by the object it perform measurements 50 on the radio signal 14 and provides a measurement report 31 to the apparatus 200 that is dependent upon those measurements 50. In the example illustrated, during discovery 60, the UE 110 determines 30 an availability to perform sensing operations and transmits to the server 200 an availability report 212 reporting the availability to perform sensing operations. In at least some examples, the UE 110 performs an algorithmic determination 30 based on available resources and / or expected demand for resources to determine the availability to perform sensing operations. Examples of resources can, for example include, stored energy, processing resources, radio resources. In some examples, the algorithm takes into consideration one or more of: battery status (e.g., battery level >threshold); processing load (e.g., if processing / computational bandwidth is reaching the maximum, or a combination of processing and battery limitations); radio resources availability; measured congestion at the specific area; privacy parameters (e.g., if the UE can / does not want to be positioned by default or contract in the network); specific configuration that can be input through external managing system, e.g., the settings application of the mobile phone, with the end user manually setting its availability to perform sensing operations. The availability report 212 can, for example, indicate an availability of the user equipment 110 to perform or participate in sensing operations. The availability report 212 can, for example, indicate an availability of the user equipment 110 as a transmitter of radio signals 12 and / or a receiver of radio signals 14 in a sensing procedure. In some but not necessarily all examples, the availability report 212 is transmitted upon a change, periodically or in response to a trigger. In the illustrated example, the availability report 212 is transmitted in reply to an availability request 211 transmitted by the apparatus 200 and received at the UE 110. In at least some examples, the availability request 211 comprises parameters relating to the sensing procedure, for example minimum requirements. Examples include: maximum available bandwidth; battery status; maximum operation time for performing sensing operations; speed, e.g., high speed means potentially less accuracy in sensing, especially for measurement. In the example illustrated, during on-boarding 70 a sensing procedure is initiated using the sensing procedure initiation signal 215. In this example, the sensing procedure initiation signal 215 is the sensing procedure set-up signal 201. Before the apparatus 200 transmits the sensing procedure set-up signal 201, there is signaling to confirm that the user equipment 110 is capable of involvement in the sensing procedure as specified by the sensing procedure set-up signal 201. In this example, the apparatus 200 transmits to the user equipment 110 a sensing request 213 for performing UE-involved sensing as previously described. In some but not necessarily all examples, the sensing request 213 indicates requirements for the UE-involved sensing. The requirements can be: whether the user equipment operates as a transmitter and / or a receiver. The requirements can also indicate a specific area or object to be monitored. The requirements can also indicate sensing parameters to be measured and / or reported (e.g. timing, frequency, phase, doppler, radar etc). The requirements can indicate parameters to be measured and / or reported. In this example, the user equipment 32 evaluates its availability and / or capabilities. In some examples, the user equipment 32 evaluates its capabilities against the indicated requirements for the UE-involved sensing indicated in the sensing request 213. In this example, the user equipment 32 after the evaluation transmits a sensing response 214. In some examples, the sensing response 214 is an acceptance or a denial of the request. In other examples, the sensing response is a request for a renegotiation of the requirements for the UE-involved sensing. For example, in some examples, the sensing response 214 comprises an indication of capabilities of the user equipment 110 to allow the apparatus 200 to request UE-involved sensing that the user equipment 110 has the capabilities to accept. In the example illustrated, during the sensing procedure 80 the user equipment 110 performs according to a specification in the sensing procedure set-up signal 201. The user equipment 110 is configured to transmit a radio signal 12 for reflection and / or receive a reflected transmitted radio signal 14 after reflection. The sensing procedure set-up signal specifies UE involvement in a sensing procedure and specifies one or both of: transmission of the radio signal for reflection by the object and reception of a reflected transmitted radio signal after reflection by the object; If the user equipment 110 is configured to receive a reflected transmitted radio signal 14 after reflection, it performs measurements 50 of one or more parameters of the radio signal 14 and provides a measurement report 31 to the apparatus 200 that is dependent upon those measurements 50. In some examples, the sensing procedure set-up signal 201 indicates the parameters for measurement. In some examples, the sensing procedure set-up signal 201 indicates parameters for measurement reporting, for example, periodicity. The measurements can for example be range, angle of departure, angle of arrival, speed, and / or Doppler measurements. The measurements can for example be radar measurements or doppler measurements. The measurements can be an image of the sensed environment, or a generic representation of it (e.g., in terms of full computer synthesis information (CSI)) In at least some examples, the measurements enable the detection and / or location and / or recognition of passive objects in the environment. In some examples, the sensing procedure 80 is terminated by the user equipment 110. This may be performed automatically. In other examples, the sensing procedure 80 is terminated by the apparatus 200, for example the apparatus 200 sends a sensing procedure termination message (not illustrated) to the user equipment 110. In the example described, the user equipment 110 performs an evaluation 32 based on a sensing procedure requirements (provided by the apparatus 200 to the user equipment 110) and the user equipment capabilities. In other examples, the apparatus 200 performs an evaluation based on the user equipment capabilities (provided by the user equipment 110 to the apparatus 200) and sensing procedure requirements. The user equipment capabilities can be sent early in the availability report 212 as an early capability report 42. The user equipment capabilities can be sent late in the sensing response 214 as a late capability report 44. The user equipment 110 is therefore configured to transmit to the apparatus 200 a capability report 42, 44 indicating capabilities for performing UE-involved sensing of a transmitted radio signal reflected from at least an object. The capability report 42, 44 indicates at least a capability for transmission of a radio signal for reflection by an object and / or a capability for reception of a reflected transmitted radio signal after reflection by an object. A capability report 42, 44 can explicitly or implicitly indicate UE-capabilities for performing sensing information processing (sensing based on reception of a reflected transmitted radio signal). A capability report 42, 44 can indicate UE-capabilities for the UE transmitting a radio signal for reflection by an object and for the UE receiving that transmitted radio signal after interaction with an object. The capability report 42 (an early capability report) is transmitted as a response 212 to a received availability request 211 indicating requirements for performing UE-involved sensing of a transmitted radio signal reflected from at least an object, for example indicating resource requirements for performing UE-involved sensing of a transmitted radio signal reflected from at least an object. The capability report 44 (a late capability report) is transmitted as a response 214 to a received sensing request 213 for performing UE-involved sensing of a transmitted radio signal reflected from at least an object. In some examples, the user equipment 110 is configured to support late capability reporting. In some examples, the user equipment is configured to support early capability reporting. In some examples, the user equipment is configured to support late capability reporting and early capability reporting. The apparatus 200 is configured to enable adaptation of the sensing procedure for the user equipment 110. For example, the adaption can be based on the capabilities of the user equipment 110. The adaptation can occur at the apparatus 200 or at the user equipment 110. FIGs 5 and 6 illustrate examples of discovery 60. In this example, the apparatus 200 is configured to discover 60 user equipment 110 for supporting sensing procedures for a defined area. In Fig 5 one or more core network nodes 280, 282 of the cellular telecommunications network provides information for locating and using user equipment. This indicates the ‘sensing service area’ covered by the user equipment 110. In Fig 6 a direct communication between the user equipment 110 and the apparatus 200 indicates a ‘sensing service area’ covered by the user equipment 110. Referring to FIG 5, In this example, the apparatus 200 is configured to identify 260 when there is a need for a sensing procedure using a user equipment to transmit and / or receive a radio signal to sense an area, and identify the requirements of the sensing procedure. In some examples, the apparatus 200 provides a sensing service to an external application in a ‘dark’ area that is not capable of being sensed other than via a sensing procedure using a user equipment to transmit and / or receive a radio signal to sense an area. This may be because there are no active sensors within the dark area and passive sensing using the network TRPs is not possible. This may be because a TRP of the cellular telecommunications network cannot transmit a radio signal 12 for reflection into the ‘dark area’ and a user equipment 110 needs to be used to transmit a radio signal 12 for reflection into the ‘dark area’. The apparatus 200 can, for example, decide to provide sensing into an area that does not comprise a user equipment but is covered by the user equipment 110 and, optionally, is not covered by a transmission reception point (TRP) of the cellular telecommunications network. There may, for example, be a requirement that specifies one of more of an area for sensing, a time for sensing, sensing roles (e.g. transmission and / or reception). The apparatus 200 needs to discover user equipment 110 that can support the requirements of a sensing procedure 80 by transmitting and / or receiving a radio signal to sense the identified area. The apparatus 200 is configured to discover 60 user equipment 110 via a mobility management node 282 of the cellular telecommunications network. This discovery 60 may or may not indicate a capability for supporting sensing procedures. The apparatus 200 sends a request 221 to the mobility management node 282 of the cellular telecommunications network. This can, for example, indicate a geographic area. The apparatus 200 receives a response 222 from the mobility management node 282 of the cellular telecommunications network indicating one or more user equipment 110 associated with the geographic area. For example, the apparatus 200 can receive a list of UEs that can support sensing. This request can be associated with geographic information, like cell(s) ID, given area in absolute coordinates, or similar. In the example illustrated (as previously described in FIG 4), during discovery 60, the apparatus 200 transmits to the user equipment(s) 110 an availability request 211 and receives from the user equipment 110 an availability report 212 reporting the availability to perform sensing operations. The apparatus 200 is configured to discover user equipment for supporting sensing procedures via a subscription management node 280 of the cellular telecommunications network. The apparatus 200 sends a request 223 identifying the in-area, available user equipment 110. The apparatus 200 receives from the subscription management node 280 a response 224 indicting whether or nor a user equipment subscription allows sensing procedures. The apparatus 200 can, in some examples send further requests 225 to subscription management node 280 and receive further responses 226 from the subscription management node 280. For example, further requests for charging information and / or area of validity. For example, further requests for Radio Resource Management (RRM) policies related to sensing and / or availability of the respective UE to participate in a Sensing Operation in a defined geographical area. The apparatus 200 stores 262 details for the discovered user equipment 110 in a database, for use. In a 3GPP cellular telecommunications network, the mobility management node 282 can be provided by the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) which is the access point to the 5G core, thereby terminating RAN control plane and UE traffic. The AMF provides Registration Management, Connection Management, Reachability Management, Mobility Management, and various function relating to security and access management and authorization. In a 3GPP cellular telecommunications network, the to subscription management node 280 can be provided by the unified data management (UDM) function. The UDM stores long-term security credentials used for authentication and stores subscription information. In Fig 6 a direct communication between the user equipment 110 and the apparatus 200 indicates a ‘sensing service area’ covered by the user equipment 110. The apparatus 200 is configured to discover user equipment 110 for supporting sensing procedures via direct communication between the user equipment 110 and the apparatus 200. The direct communication can, for example, be broadcast radio communication over a defined broadcast area. The broadcast area can be controlled using range and / or beam forming. In some examples, the apparatus 200 announces its presence to the UE 110. The example of FIG 6 can, for example be used, when the apparatus 200 is a user equipment (a server-UE). The Server UE 200 (or the sensing support UE 110) can inform about their presence and their role via an announcement message, which can be a broadcast message. In the example illustrated, the supporting UE 110 sends a solicitation message 290 indicating in the message a request for the Server UE for sensing. The Server UE can reply via a response message providing its address and other information relevant with supported sensing services etc. In case the supporting UE already knows the Server UE ID then a unicast message can be used by the supporting UE 110 to interact with the Server-UE 200. FIG 7 illustrates an example of on-boarding 70. In this example, the apparatus 200 is configured to evaluate which discovered UE is needed for a sensing procedure The apparatus 200 is configured to identify 270 a need for a sensing procedure and identify 272 the requirements of the sensing procedure. In some examples, the apparatus 200 provides a sensing service to an external application in a ‘dark’ area that is not capable of being sensed other than via a sensing procedure using a user equipment to transmit and / or receive a radio signal to sense an area. This may be because there are no active sensors within the dark area and passive sensing using the network TRPs is not possible. This may be because a TRP of the cellular telecommunications network cannot transmit a radio signal 12 for reflection into the ‘dark area’ and a user equipment 110 needs to be used to transmit a radio signal 12 for reflection into the ‘dark area’. The apparatus 200 can, for example, decide to provide sensing into an area that does not comprise a user equipment but is covered by the user equipment 110 and, optionally, is not covered by a transmission reception point of the cellular telecommunications network. There may, for example, be a requirement that specifies one of more of an area for sensing, a time for sensing, sensing role (e.g. transmission and / or reception), resolution, accuracy, update rate, signal quality etc. The apparatus 200 can, for example, be configured to evaluate which UE 110 is needed for a sensing procedure 80, based on a gap analysis of sensing requirements. The gap analysis can for example identify an area where there is no sensor coverage or where sensor coverage does not meet the requirements. In some examples, the sensing request 213 comprises an indication of the sensing procedure requirements and the user equipment evaluates 32 its suitability for those requirements and reports back to the apparatus 200 via the sensing response 214. The sensing response can, for example indicate the user equipment 110 can satisfy the requirements (acceptance), indicate that the user equipment 110 cannot satisfy the requirements (denial), and in some examples indicate that the user equipment 110 cannot yet satisfy the requirements. In the latter case, the response 214 can, for example, include a capability report 44 for the user equipment 110 or indicate which requirements can or cannot be satisfied or to what extent they can be satisfied. The requirements can then be adapted and the process can be repeated until the user equipment sends a sensing response 214 indicating that the user equipment 110 can satisfy the requirements (acceptance) or indicating that the user equipment 110 cannot satisfy the requirements (denial). In this way the sensing procedure set-up is negotiated. In other examples, the sensing request 213 does not comprise an indication of the sensing procedure requirements and the sensing response 214 includes a capability report 44 for the user equipment 110. In this way the sensing procedure set-up can then be adapted to meet the capabilities. In the example illustrated, the apparatus 200 transmits, to the user equipment, a sensing request 213 for performing UE-involved sensing of a transmitted radio signal reflected from at least an object, and receives a capability report 44 in the response 214 to the transmitted sensing request 213. The apparatus 200 is configured to generate an updated sensing request based on the received capability report 44; and configured to transmit, to the user equipment, the updated sensing request for performing UE-involved sensing of a transmitted radio signal reflected from at least an object. The apparatus 200, before transmitting the sensing procedure set-up signal 201, determines if the user equipment 110 should transmit signals 12 and / or receive signals 14 during the sensing procedure 80 and optionally determines one or more of the parameters of the signal transmission and reception, the update rate, and the time window of the transmission / reception. Then the apparatus 200 sends a sensing procedure initiation signal 2155 (which operates as the sensing procedure set-up signal 215). The sensing procedure set-up signal 201 specifies the UE involvement in a sensing procedure and specifies one or both of: transmission of the radio signal for reflection by the object and reception of a reflected transmitted radio signal after reflection by the object. FIG 8 illustrates an example as previously illustrated involving discovery 60, onboarding 70 and sensing procedure 800. However, in this example, these processes occur for multiple user equipment UE1 110_1, UE2 110_2. There is a sensing procedure 80_1 for the user equipment UE1 110_1. There is a sensing procedure 80_2 for the user equipment UE2 110_2. In this example, the apparatus 200 receives one or more measurement reports 50_1 from the user equipment UE1 110_1 during the sensing procedure 80_1 for the user equipment UE1 110_1 and the apparatus 200 receives one or more measurement reports 50_2 from the user equipment UE2 110_2 during the sensing procedure 80_2 for the user equipment UE2 110_2. The apparatus 200 is configured to aggregate the received measurement reports 50_1, 50_2. The apparatus 200 is also configured to aggregate the received measurement reports 50_1, 50_2 with other received measurement reports that can be received from apparatus other then the discovered and on-boarded user equipment. Use cases will now be described with reference to the preceding examples. The use cases relate to methods for network UE activation to support sensing services that are not triggered by them (the UE or the network) or directly concerning them (the UE or the network), that is they relate to an external service. The sensing operations are typically neither owned, nor concerning UEs. A sensing service might be required by an external client, e.g., Application Function, and typically requires monitoring a certain area or passive object, that is not necessarily equipped with a UE or active sensor. The UEs offers coverage where TRPs do not have it. The UEs should be discovered and on-boarded in the Management Function (MF) located at a server 200. The server can be a network node or a user equipment or located in the cloud The MF can be the SeMF (that is located in the Core Network or at the RAN) or a server UE (S-UE) for the case, e.g., of no coverage and the sensing service being managed / owned by the S-UE. The server network node supports a Sensing Management Function (SeMF). The sensing operations and acquired measurements are managed and aggregated in the Sensing Management Function (SeMF). The UEs should be discovered and on-boarded (selected) in the Sensing Management Function (SeMF) to support sensing operations in cellular networks. The sensing operations and acquired measurements are managed and aggregated in the Sensing Management Function (SeMF). Discovery 60 allows a generic management function (MF) of sensing operations to be aware of the UEs that can support sensing operations. In some but not necessarily all examples, the MF 200 is the SeMF in the CN. The SeMF can discover UEs to support sensing services and store them in its database, ready to use them in case of need. During discovery 60, the management function (MF) 200 of sensing operations (e.g., the Sensing Management Function (SeMF) in the core network (CN)) discovers UEs that can and are willing to collaborate in the sensing operations of the cellular network and keeps them active / available to participate in any sensing operation. The discovery process 60 can identify UEs 110 interested in investing energy and processing power in transmitting and / or processing signals for sensing procedures. The SeMF 200 can check the subscription information for supporting UEs 110 with a register (e.g. UDR) and receive information in response from the register. Further requests for charging information and / or area of validity can be done. The UE 110 can be activated for sensing either by internal algorithms (based on, e.g., battery status, processing load) or by ad-hoc modifiable settings. The UE 110 might determine 30 (FIG 4, 5) based on internal algorithms its availability to perform sensing operations. This can be done according to, e.g., one of the following logics Battery status (e.g., battery >threshold) Processing load (e.g., if processing / computational bandwidth is reaching the maximum, or a combination of processing and battery limitations) Radio resources availability Measured congestion at the specific area Privacy parameters (e.g., if the UE can / does not want to be positioned by default or contract in the network) Specific configuration that can be input through external managing system, e.g., the settings application of the mobile phone, with the end user manually setting its availability to perform sensing operations. The UE can then signal 212, upon change, periodically or with triggers, its availability to perform or participate to sensing operations (i.e. transmitter or receiver of sensing signals) to the SeMF. In some examples, the signal 212 enables ‘early capability’ sharing 42. It comprises constraints (or capabilities) to perform sensing signal transmissions or measurements, like Maximum available bandwidth Battery status Maximum operation time for performing sensing operations Speed, e.g., High speed means potentially less accuracy in sensing, especially for measurement. The MF 200 on-boards a discovered UE in a specific active sensing service, and the MF 200 requires operations (signal transmission, reception, and measurement processing) from the UE 110. The on-boarding 70 (more details in fig 7) allows the MF 200 to “on-board” / involve discovered UEs 110 in a sensing procedure 80. The MF 200 on-boards UEs based on their need 270 in sensing operations. The MF 200 evaluates if a discovered UE should support a sensing service. The MF 200 requests 215 the UE 110 for support, starting a sensing procedure 80 and sharing with the UE the requirements, The sensing procedure 80 is checked and - optionally adapted - based on UE constraints, that can be checked at the UE (FIG 4, 7) or at the MF (FIG 7). Referring to FIG 5, the discovery process 60 is driven by the central SeMF 200 in the core network (CN). The MF 200 should firstly evaluate 260 if a UE is needed for a given sensing procedure, based on the coverage of the already deployed TRPs, on-boarded UEs and any other transmitting and measuring entity deployed. If there is not enough coverage, resolution, accuracy, update rate, and / or signal quality, the MF can decide to on-board one or more UEs for a sensing procedure. The SeMF 200 can request 221 a list of UEs that can support sensing from the AMF 282. This request 221 can be associated with geographic information, like cell(s) ID, given area in absolute coordinates, or similar. The discovered UEs are available to participate in a Sensing Operation in a defined geographical area. After the list is shared 222, the SeMF can ask 223, 225 for further information about each UE from the user data management function (UDM) like: sensing services authorization indicating for instance whether the UE is authorized to use one or more of its RATs for one or more sensing services and / or use or serve as a Server UE and / or discover user equipment or be discovered for supporting sensing; user consent for sensing services, indicating whether user consent is needed for enabling or participating to a sensing service (e.g., as a transmitter of a radio signal, as receiver of the reflected radio signal) RRM policies related to sensing indicating for instance the maximum bandwidth and / or maximum resources that could be for sensing service and / or maximum duration of a sensing service (e.g, in seconds) and / or supported Sensing QoS requirements; subscription information related to sensing indicating the one or more sensing services that the specific UE or subscriber can request, use or participate; Thus in some but not necessarily all examples, the discovery process 60 enables the server 200 to become aware of whether or not a user equipment 110 satisfies network-based constraints. The network-based constraints can for example control the access of a user or a user equipment to services (e.g. network control policies or network authentication information or network subscription information). As described in the preceding paragraph, these may be provided from the user data management function In this example, the SeMF 200 requests 223 subscription information for the supporting UE 110 from the UDM 280 and receives 224 the corresponding response 224 from the UDM 280. For each UE subscriber the UDM 280 can store Sensing related data as part of the Subscriber Data Management (SDM) services, while the SeMF can retrieve from UDM sensing related information using Nudm_SDM_Get (SUPI,...). Referring to FIG 6, the discovery process 60 is managed by a UE-based server 200 (e.g., in case of no direct network coverage). The activation signal 290 of the sensing mode, sent by the UE 110 to the UE-server 200 can, for example, comprise sensing capabilities of the UE 110 including supported sensing methods. The Server UE 200 (or the even supporting UE 110) can inform about their presence and their role via an announcement message, which can be a broadcast message, following the spirit of the Proximity Service (ProSe) discovery with Model A that uses a single discovery protocol message (Announcement), as defined in 3GPP TS 23.304 V18.2.0. allowing different UEs to receive it and thus the Server UE to be discovered. The supporting UE 110 can send a solicitation message indicating in the message 290 the request for the Server UE for sensing. The Server UE 200 can reply via a response message providing its address and other information relevant with supported sensing services etc. In this case the spirit of ProSe discovery with model B is adopted, that uses two discovery protocol messages (Solicitation and Response), as defined in 3GPPTS 23.304 V18.2.0. In case the supporting UE already knows the Server UE ID then a unicast message can be used by the supporting UE to interact with the S-UE At on-boarding 70, the transmission / measurement “task” or “procedure” can be negotiated by the MF 200. This is illustrated in More detail in FIG 7. The MF 200 determines 270 what is needed by an on-boarded UE, determining 272 if the UE should transmit and / or receive signals and the parameters of the signal transmission and reception, the update rate, and the time window of the transmission / reception. The MF requests 213 availability to the UE 110 to support sensing operations with a sensing procedure, sharing its parameters with the UE 110. Optionally, the UE 110 replies 214 with the constraints on its availability for sensing operations and its capabilities (constraints 44) Optionally, the MF 200 can refine the sensing operation request based on the UE capability and constraints (e.g. via repetition of the request / reply process) The sensing operation (e.g., signal transmission or measurement request) is requested 215. The sensing operation is acknowledged or denied by the UE. Optionally, the UE might re-negotiate the request, and the SeMF can then try a new sensing operation request, or simply accept the re-negotiation. Then the sensing procedure 80 is initiated The sensing procedure 80 might be automatically terminated after a window of transmission / reception is elapsed, or might be terminated with an ad-hoc message from the MF. Optionally, a constraint / capability check is done at the MF 200. The MF 200 evaluates the request 213, according to its availability for sensing operations and capabilities. Optionally, a constraint / capability check is done at the UE 110. The UE 110 evaluates 32 the request 213, according to its availability for sensing operations and capabilities. For the messages that are exchanged between the SeMF and the UEs NAS messages or the therein encapsulated protocols (eg, LPP or SLPP) could be used or alternatively a new protocol between the SeMF and the UE dedicated for sensing. Fig 9 illustrates an example of a controller 400 suitable for use in an apparatus 10, 200, 110. Implementation of a controller 400 may be as controller circuitry. The controller 400 may be implemented in hardware alone, have certain aspects in software including firmware alone or can be a combination of hardware and software (including firmware). As illustrated in Fig 9 the controller 400 may be implemented using instructions that enable hardware functionality, for example, by using executable instructions of a computer program 406 in a general-purpose or special-purpose processor 402 that may be stored on a computer readable storage medium (disk, memory etc) to be executed by such a processor 402. The processor 402 is configured to read from and write to the memory 404. The processor 402 may also comprise an output interface via which data and / or commands are output by the processor 402 and an input interface via which data and / or commands are input to the processor 402. The memory 404 stores a computer program 406 comprising computer program instructions (computer program code) that controls the operation of the apparatus when loaded into the processor 402. The computer program instructions, of the computer program 406, provide the logic and routines that enables the apparatus to perform the methods illustrated in the accompanying Figs. The processor 402 by reading the memory 404 is able to load and execute the computer program 406. The apparatus 110 comprises: at least one processor 402; and at least one memory 404 including computer program code, the at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor 402, cause the apparatus at least to: receive a sensing procedure set-up signal to enable UE-involved sensing of a transmitted radio signal reflected from at least an object, wherein the UE involvement is requested by the sensing procedure set-up signal and comprises one or both of: transmission of the radio signal for reflection by the object and reception of a reflected transmitted radio signal after reflection by the object. The apparatus 200 comprises: at least one processor 402; and at least one memory 404 including computer program code, the at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor 402, cause the apparatus at least to: transmit a sensing procedure set-up signal to enable UE-involved sensing of a transmitted radio signal reflected from at least an object, wherein the UE involvement is requested by the sensing procedure set-up signal and comprises one or both of: transmission of the radio signal for reflection by the object and reception of a reflected transmitted radio signal after reflection by the object; As illustrated in Fig 10, the computer program 406 may arrive at the apparatusl 10, 200 via any suitable delivery mechanism 408. The delivery mechanism 408 may be, for example, a machine readable medium, a computer-readable medium, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, a computer program product, a memory device, a record medium such as a Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM) or a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) or a solid-state memory, an article of manufacture that comprises or tangibly embodies the computer program 406. The delivery mechanism may be a signal configured to reliably transfer the computer program 406. The apparatus 110, 200 may propagate or transmit the computer program 406 as a computer data signal. Computer program instructions for causing an apparatus 110 to perform at least the following or for performing at least the following: receive a sensing procedure set-up signal to enable UE-involved sensing of a transmitted radio signal reflected from at least an object, wherein the UE involvement is requested by the sensing procedure set-up signal and comprises one or both of: transmission of the radio signal for reflection by the object and reception of a reflected transmitted radio signal after reflection by the object. Computer program instructions for causing an apparatus 200 to perform at least the following or for performing at least the following: transmit a sensing procedure set-up signal to enable UE-involved sensing of a transmitted radio signal reflected from at least an object, wherein the UE involvement is requested by the sensing procedure set-up signal and comprises one or both of: transmission of the radio signal for reflection by the object and reception of a reflected transmitted radio signal after reflection by the object. The computer program instructions may be comprised in a computer program, a non-transitory computer readable medium, a computer program product, a machine readable medium. In some but not necessarily all examples, the computer program instructions may be distributed over more than one computer program. Although the memory 404 is illustrated as a single component / circuitry it may be implemented as one or more separate components / circuitry some or all of which may be integrated / removable and / or may provide permanent / semi-permanent / dynamic / cached storage. Although the processor 402 is illustrated as a single component / circuitry it may be implemented as one or more separate components / circuitry some or all of which may be integrated / removable. The processor 402 may be a single core or multi-core processor. References to ‘computer-readable storage medium’, ‘computer program product’, ‘tangibly embodied computer program’ etc. or a ‘controller’, ‘computer’, ‘processor’ etc. should be understood to encompass not only computers having different architectures such as single / multi- processor architectures and sequential (Von Neumann) / parallel architectures but also specialized circuits such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), application specific circuits (ASIC), signal processing devices and other processing circuitry. References to computer program, instructions, code etc. should be understood to encompass software for a programmable processor or firmware such as, for example, the programmable content of a hardware device whether instructions for a processor, or configuration settings for a fixed-function device, gate array or programmable logic device etc. As used in this application, the term ‘circuitry’ may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuitry implementations (such as implementations in only analog and / or digital circuitry) and (b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable): (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuit(s) with software / firmware and (ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory or memories that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions and (c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (for example, firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation. This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device. The blocks illustrated in the accompanying Figs may represent steps in a method and / or sections of code in the computer program 406. The illustration of a particular order to the blocks does not necessarily imply that there is a required or preferred order for the blocks and the order and arrangement of the block may be varied. Furthermore, it may be possible for some blocks to be omitted. Where a structural feature has been described, it may be replaced by means for performing one or more of the functions of the structural feature whether that function or those functions are explicitly or implicitly described. As used here ‘module’ refers to a unit or apparatus that excludes certain parts / components that would be added by an end manufacturer or a user. A user equipment can be a module. The above-described examples find application as enabling components of: automotive systems; telecommunication systems; electronic systems including consumer electronic products; distributed computing systems; media systems for generating or rendering media content including audio, visual and audio visual content and mixed, mediated, virtual and / or augmented reality; personal systems including personal health systems or personal fitness systems; navigation systems; user interfaces also known as human machine interfaces; networks including cellular, non-cellular, and optical networks; ad-hoc networks; the internet; the internet of things; virtualized networks; and related software and services. The apparatus can be provided in an electronic device, for example, a mobile terminal, according to an example of the present disclosure. It should be understood, however, that a mobile terminal is merely illustrative of an electronic device that would benefit from examples of implementations of the present disclosure and, therefore, should not be taken to limit the scope of the present disclosure to the same. While in certain implementation examples, the apparatus can be provided in a mobile terminal, other types of electronic devices, such as, but not limited to: mobile communication devices, hand portable electronic devices, wearable computing devices, portable digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, mobile computers, desktop computers, televisions, gaming devices, laptop computers, cameras, video recorders, GPS devices and other types of electronic systems, can readily employ examples of the present disclosure. Furthermore, devices can readily employ examples of the present disclosure regardless of their intent to provide mobility. The term ‘comprise’ is used in this document with an inclusive not an exclusive meaning. That is any reference to X comprising Y indicates that X may comprise only one Y or may comprise more than one Y. If it is intended to use ‘comprise’ with an exclusive meaning then it will be made clear in the context by referring to “comprising only one...” or by using “consisting”. In this description, the wording ‘connect’, ‘couple’ and ‘communication’ and their derivatives mean operationally connected / coupled / in communication. It should be appreciated that any number or combination of intervening components can exist (including no intervening components), i.e., so as to provide direct or indirect connection / coupling / communication. Any such intervening components can include hardware and / or software components. As used herein, the term "determine / determining" (and grammatical variants thereof) can include, not least: calculating, computing, processing, deriving, measuring, investigating, identifying, looking up (for example, looking up in a table, a database or another data structure), ascertaining and the like. Also, "determining" can include receiving (for example, receiving information), accessing (for example, accessing data in a memory), obtaining and the like. Also," determine / determining" can include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like. In this description, reference has been made to various examples. The description of features or functions in relation to an example indicates that those features or functions are present in that example. The use of the term ‘example’ or ‘for example’ or ‘can’ or ‘may’ in the text denotes, whether explicitly stated or not, that such features or functions are present in at least the described example, whether described as an example or not, and that they can be, but are not necessarily, present in some of or all other examples. Thus ‘example’, ‘for example’, ‘can’ or ‘may’ refers to a particular instance in a class of examples. A property of the instance can be a property of only that instance or a property of the class or a property of a sub-class of the class that includes some but not all of the instances in the class. It is therefore implicitly disclosed that a feature described with reference to one example but not with reference to another example, can where possible be used in that other example as part of a working combination but does not necessarily have to be used in that other example. Although examples have been described in the preceding paragraphs with reference to various examples, it should be appreciated that modifications to the examples given can be made without departing from the scope of the claims. Features described in the preceding description may be used in combinations other than the combinations explicitly described above. Although functions have been described with reference to certain features, those functions may be performable by other features whether described or not. Although features have been described with reference to certain examples, those features may also be present in other examples whether described or not. The term ‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’ is used in this document with an inclusive not an exclusive meaning. That is any reference to X comprising a / an / the Y indicates that X may comprise only one Y or may comprise more than one Y unless the context clearly indicates the contrary. If it is intended to use ‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’ with an exclusive meaning then it will be made clear in the context. In some circumstances the use of ‘at least one’ or ‘one or more’ may be used to emphasis an inclusive meaning but the absence of these terms should not be taken to infer any exclusive meaning. The presence of a feature (or combination of features) in a claim is a reference to that feature or (combination of features) itself and also to features that achieve substantially the same technical effect (equivalent features). The equivalent features include, for example, features that are variants and achieve substantially the same result in substantially the same way. The equivalent features include, for example, features that perform substantially the same function, in substantially the same way to achieve substantially the same result. In this description, reference has been made to various examples using adjectives or adjectival phrases to describe characteristics of the examples. Such a description of a characteristic in relation to an example indicates that the characteristic is present in some examples exactly as described and is present in other examples substantially as described. The above description describes some examples of the present disclosure however those of ordinary skill in the art will be aware of possible alternative structures and method features which offer equivalent functionality to the specific examples of such structures and features described herein above and which for the sake of brevity and clarity have been omitted from the above description. Nonetheless, the above description should be read as implicitly including reference to such alternative structures and method features which provide equivalent functionality unless such 5 alternative structures or method features are explicitly excluded in the above description of the examples of the present disclosure. Whilst endeavoring in the foregoing specification to draw attention to those features believed to be of importance it should be understood that the Applicant may seek 10 protection via the claims in respect of any patentable feature or combination of features hereinbefore referred to and / or shown in the drawings whether or not emphasis has been placed thereon. l / we claim: 15
Claims
1. A user equipment (UE) comprising:means for transmitting a U E-dependent availability report to a server;means for communicating with the server as part of an on-boarding process for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE, the communication comprising receiving from the server a sensing procedure set-up signal to enable the UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following by the UE:transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with an object; and reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object.
2. A user equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the user equipment is configured to transmit, to the server, the UE-dependent availability report during a discovery process.
3. A user equipment as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the user equipment is configured to determine an availability to perform sensing operations and transmit a UE-dependent availability report reporting the availability to perform sensing operations.
4. A user equipment as claimed in claim 3, configured to perform a determination based on available resources and / or expected demand for resources to determine the availability to perform sensing operations.
5. A user equipment as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the user equipment is configured to transmit a capability report indicating capabilities for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object, wherein the capability indicates at least a capability of the UE for transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with an object and / or a capability of the UE for reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with an object.
6. A user equipment as claimed in claim 5, wherein the configured user equipment is configured to transmit the capability report to the server as part of a discoveryprocess for the UE or as part of an on- boarding process for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE.
7. A user equipment as claimed in claim 6, wherein the user equipment is configured to transmit the capability report as part of the UE-dependent availability report in response to a received availability request indicating requirements for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with an object, and optionally indicating resource requirements for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object.
8. A user equipment as claimed in claim 5 or 6, wherein the user equipment is configured to transmit the capability report in response to a received sensing request for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with an object.
9. A user equipment as claimed in claim 5, 6 or 8, wherein the user equipment is configured to transmit the capability report during an on-boarding process in response to a sensing request for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal, after interaction with an object, received during the on-boarding process.
10. A user equipment as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising means for attaching to a cellular telecommunications network to enable reception of the sensing procedure set-up signal, via the cellular telecommunications network, to enable UE-involved sensing controlled via the cellular telecommunications network.
11. A method comprising:transmitting a UE-dependent availability report to a server; andcommunicating with the server as part of an on-boarding process for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE, the communication comprising receiving from the server a sensing procedure set-up signal to enable the UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following by the UE: transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with an object; and reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object.
12. A computer program comprising instructions that when loaded into one or more processors, enables a user equipment to:transmit a UE-dependent availability report to a server; andcommunicate with the server as part of an on-boarding process for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE, the communication comprising receiving from the server a sensing procedure set-up signal to enable the UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following by the UE: transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with an object; and reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object13. An apparatus comprising:means for receiving an availability report from a user equipment (UE), wherein the availability report is UE-dependent;means for communicating with the user equipment as part of an on-boarding process for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE, the communication comprising sending to the UE a sensing session set-up signal to enable the UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following by the UE:transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with an object; and reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object.
14. An apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein the apparatus is configured to receive the UE-dependent availability report during a discovery process.
15. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the discovery process, whether initiated by the server or by a user equipment, additionally enables the server to become aware of whether or not a user equipment satisfies network-based constraints.
16. An apparatus as claimed in claim 13, 14 or 15, configured as a node of a cellular telecommunications network.
17. An apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the sensing procedure set-up signal provides sensing into an area that does not comprise a user equipment but is coveredby the user equipment and, optionally, is not covered by a transmission reception point of the cellular telecommunications network.
18. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 13 to 17, configured as user equipment.
19. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 13 to 18, configured to receive, from the user equipment, a capability report indicating capabilities for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object, wherein the capability indicates at least a capability for transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with the and / or a capability for reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with an object.
20. An apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein the apparatus is configured to receive a capability report as part of a discovery process for user equipment or as part of an on- boarding process for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at a discovered UE.
21. An apparatus as claimed in claim 19 or 20, configured to transmit, to the user equipment, an availability request indicating requirements for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object, wherein the capability report is received in response to the transmitted availability request;and / orconfigured to transmit, to the user equipment, a sensing request for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object, wherein the capability report is received in response to the transmitted sensing request.
22. An apparatus as claimed in claim 21, wherein the apparatus is configured to transmit, to the user equipment, the sensing request for performing UE-involved sensing of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object during an onboarding process and is configured to receive in response, during the on-boarding process, the capability report.
23. An apparatus as claimed in claim 22 when dependent upon claim 14, wherein the discovery process enables the apparatus to become aware of a presence or availability of user equipment, wherein the on-boarding process is task-based and comprises an evaluation, at the UE and / or server, of a suitability of the UE for a taskwherein the sensing procedure set-up signal is configured to enable a task-specific UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following tasks by the UE:transmission of a radio signal for reflection by at least an object; andreception of a reflected transmitted radio signal after reflection by at least the object.
24. A method comprising:receiving an availability report from a user equipment (UE), wherein the availability report is U E-dependent;communicating with the user equipment as part of an on-boarding process for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE, the communication comprising sending to the UE a sensing session set-up signal to enable the UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following by the UE:transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with an object; and reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object.
25. A computer program comprising instructions that when loaded into one or more processors, enables a user equipment to:receive an availability report from a user equipment (UE), wherein the availability report is U E-dependent;communicate with the user equipment as part of an on-boarding process for initiating a UE-involved sensing procedure at the UE, the communicationcomprising sending to the UE a sensing session set-up signal to enable the UE-involved sensing procedure comprising performance of one or both of the following by the UE:transmission of an illuminating radio signal for interaction with an object; and reception of an illuminating radio signal after interaction with the object.
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