Selection of transmitting / receiving points based on geometric dilution of precision factor for wireless positioning

Abstract

The accuracy of wireless positioning of a user equipment (UE) is affected by the transmitting / receiving points (TRPs) for wireless positioning and the location of the UE. To improve the accuracy of the estimated location, a geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) may be determined for different groups of TRP candidates, where the GDOP indicates a possible positioning error associated with the group of TRP candidates. The UE may determine the GDOP for various combinations of TRP candidates. One or more devices of the wireless network (e.g., a location server and / or a UE for positioning) may select or exclude one or more TRP candidates to be used for wireless positioning of the UE based on the determined GDOP. The exclusion or selection of a TRP candidate for wireless positioning may also be based on a quality measurement result of a PRS (such as RSRP or SNR) or a time length associated with measuring a PRS from the TRP candidate to be selected.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Non-provisional Application No. 17 / 218,418, entitled “GEOMETRIC DILUTION OF PRECISION BASED TRANSMIT / RECEIVE POINT SELECTION FOR WIRELSS POSITIONING,” filed March 31, 2021, which is assigned to the assignee of this application and is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0002] The subject matter disclosed herein relates to wireless positioning of a user equipment using received positioning reference signals, and more particularly, to selection of a transmission / reception point (TRP) to be used for wireless positioning based on a geometric dilution of precision factor determined for different groups of candidate TRPs. [Background technology]

[0003] The location of a user equipment (UE), such as a mobile phone, may be useful or essential for many applications, including emergency calls, navigation, wayfinding, asset tracking, and Internet services. The location of the UE may be estimated based on information collected from various systems. In a cellular network implemented according to 4G (also called fourth generation) Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio access or 5G (also called fifth generation) "New Radio" (NR), for example, a base station may transmit a downlink reference signal or a UE may transmit a sidelink reference signal used for positioning, such as a positioning reference signal (PRS). Assistance data is transmitted to the UE to help acquire and measure signals, and in some implementations, to compute a position estimate from the measurement results. The UE may acquire PRS transmitted from different base stations or UEs and perform positioning related measurements, such as Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD), Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), and Receive-Transmit (RX-TX) time difference measurements, which may be used in various positioning methods, such as Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA), Angle of Radiation (AoD), and Multi-cell Round Trip Time (RTT). The UE may calculate an estimate of its location using various positioning methods, or may send the positioning related measurements to a network entity, e.g., a location server, which may calculate the UE's location based on the positioning related measurements. Improved accuracy in positioning is desired. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0004] The accuracy of wireless positioning of a user equipment (UE) is affected by the location of a transmitting / receiving point (TRP) used for wireless positioning and location determination of the UE. To improve the accuracy of the estimated location for the UE, a geometric dilution of precision factor (GDOP) may be determined for different groups of TRP candidates, where the GDOP indicates a possible positioning error associated with the group of TRP candidates. The UE may determine the GDOP for various combinations of TRP candidates within range of the UE. One or more devices of the wireless network (e.g., a location server and / or a target UE for positioning) may select or exclude one or more TRP candidates as being used for wireless positioning based on the determined GDOP. The exclusion or selection of a TRP candidate for wireless positioning may also be based on a quality measurement result (such as RSRP or SNR) of a positioning reference signal (PRS) or a time length associated with measuring the PRS from the TRP candidate to be selected.

[0005] In one implementation, a method in a wireless network for wireless positioning of a UE may be executed by a UE. The method includes determining one or more GDOPs, which includes, for each combination of TRP candidates of one or more combinations of TRP candidates from a plurality of TRP candidates for wireless positioning, determining a GDOP associated with the combination of TRP candidates. The method also includes providing an indication associated with the one or more GDOPs to a network entity in the wireless network. The one or more TRP candidates of the plurality of TRP candidates are to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE based on the indication.

[0006] In one implementation, a UE in a wireless network configured for wireless positioning of the UE includes at least one transceiver, at least one memory, and at least one processor coupled to the at least one transceiver and the at least one memory. The at least one transceiver is configured to provide an indication associated with one or more GDOPs to a network entity in the wireless network, and one or more TRP candidates of the plurality of TRP candidates are used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE based on the indication. The at least one processor is configured to determine one or more GDOPs associated with the indication, including, for each combination of TRP candidates of the one or more combinations of TRP candidates from the plurality of TRP candidates for wireless positioning, determining a GDOP associated with the combination of TRP candidates.

[0007] In one implementation, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a UE in a wireless network configured for wireless positioning of the UE, cause the UE to determine, for each combination of TRP candidates of one or more combinations of TRPs from a plurality of TRP candidates for wireless positioning, one or more GDOPs including determining, via the at least one processor, a GDOP associated with the combination of TRP candidates, and providing, via at least one transceiver of the UE, to a network entity in the wireless network, an indication associated with the one or more GDOPs, wherein the one or more TRP candidates of the plurality of TRP candidates are to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE based on the indication.

[0008] In one implementation, a UE in a wireless network for wireless positioning of the UE includes means for determining one or more GDOPs. The means for determining one or more GDOPs includes means for determining, for each combination of TRP candidates of one or more combinations of TRP candidates from a plurality of TRP candidates for wireless positioning, a GDOP associated with the combination of TRP candidates. The UE also includes means for providing an indication associated with the one or more GDOPs to a network entity in the wireless network, the one or more TRP candidates of the plurality of TRP candidates to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE based on the indication.

[0009] Other objects and advantages associated with the embodiments disclosed herein will become apparent to those skilled in the art based on the accompanying drawings and detailed description.

[0010] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in the explanation of various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided only to illustrate, not limit, the aspects. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. [Diagram 2] 2 is a block diagram of a design of a base station and a user equipment (UE), which may be one of the base stations and one of the UEs in FIG. 1. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 illustrates a UE capable of supporting positioning services in a wireless network. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 illustrates a base station capable of supporting positioning services in a wireless network. [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 illustrates a server capable of supporting positioning services in a wireless network. [Figure 6] 1 illustrates an example technique for determining a location of a mobile device using information obtained from multiple base stations. [Figure 7A] A diagram showing a first location uncertainty of a UE relative to a first and a second transmission / reception point (TRP) for wireless positioning. [Figure 7B] A diagram showing a second location uncertainty of a UE associated with a first and a third TRP for wireless positioning. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for wireless positioning of a UE in a wireless network. [Figure 9] FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for wireless positioning of a UE in a wireless network. [Figure 10] 1 is a diagram of different exemplary positioning reference signal (PRS) times associated with different base stations for wireless positioning. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] Aspects of the present disclosure are provided in the following description and associated drawings, which are directed to various examples provided for illustrative purposes. Alternative aspects may be devised without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of the present disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the present disclosure.

[0013] The words "exemplary" and / or "example" are used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" and / or "example" should not necessarily be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Similarly, the term "aspects of the present disclosure" does not require that all aspects of the disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage or mode of operation.

[0014] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the information and signals described below may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the following description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the particular application, desired design, corresponding technology, etc.

[0015] Further, many aspects are described in terms of a sequence of actions to be performed, for example, by elements of a computing device. It will be appreciated that the various actions described herein may be performed by specific circuitry (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. In addition, a sequence of actions described herein may be considered to be fully embodied in any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a corresponding set of computer instructions that, when executed, cause or instruct an associated processor of a device to perform the functions described herein. Thus, various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which are contemplated to fall within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the aspects described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein, for example, as "logic configured to" perform the described actions.

[0016] The terms "user equipment (UE)" and "base station" as used herein are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT) unless otherwise stated. In general, a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a tracking device, a wearable (e.g., a smart watch, glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), a vehicle (e.g., a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, etc.), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. A UE may be mobile or stationary (e.g., at some time) and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). The term "UE" as used herein may be referred to interchangeably as an "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber device", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or "UT", "mobile terminal", "mobile station", "mobile device", or variations thereof. In general, a UE may communicate with a core network via the RAN, through which the UE may be connected to external networks, such as the Internet, and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for connecting to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible for a UE, such as via a wired access network, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) network (e.g., based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, etc.).

[0017] Depending on the network in which it is deployed, the base station may operate according to one of several RATs in communication with the UE and may alternatively be referred to as an access point (AP), network node, NodeB, evolved NodeB (eNB), New Radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as gNodeB or gNB), etc. In addition, in some systems, the base station may provide pure edge node signaling functionality, while in other systems it may provide additional control and / or network management functionality. A communication link through which a UE may transmit signals to a base station is referred to as an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., reverse traffic channel, reverse control channel, access channel, etc.). A communication link through which a base station may transmit signals to a UE is referred to as a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., paging channel, control channel, broadcast channel, forward traffic channel, etc.). A communication link through which UEs may transmit signals between each other is referred to as a sidelink (SL). As used herein, the term traffic channel (TCH) may refer to either a UL / reverse traffic channel or a DL / forward traffic channel.

[0018] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmission-reception point (TRP, sometimes also called transmit-receive point) or multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be collocated. For example, when the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be a base station antenna corresponding to the base station's cell. When the term "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRPs may be an array of base station antennas (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or when the base station utilizes beamforming). When the term "base station" refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRPs may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transport medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). In some implementations, a TRP may be a UE.

[0019] To support wireless positioning of UEs, two broad classifications of positioning strategies have been defined: control plane-based and user plane-based. In the context of control plane (CP) positioning, signaling related to positioning and support of positioning may be carried over existing network (and UE) interfaces and using existing protocols dedicated to the transfer of signaling. In the context of user plane (UP) positioning, signaling related to positioning and support of positioning may be carried as part of other data using protocols such as Internet Protocol (IP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), and User Datagram Protocol (UDP).

[0020] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) defines control plane positioning strategies for UEs using radio access according to Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) (2G), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) (3G), LTE (4G), and New Radio (NR) for the fifth generation (5G). These strategies are defined in 3GPP Technical Specifications (TS) 23.271 and 23.273 (common part), 43.059 (GSM access), 25.305 (UMTS access), 36.305 (LTE access), and 38.305 (NR access). For UP positioning, release 16 of the 3GPP standard for NR defines the multicell round trip time (RTT), DL angle of radiation (AOD), and UL angle of arrival (AOA) for zenith and azimuth angles. Release 16 also defines UE-based positioning related to DL-TDOA and DL-AOD, DL positioning reference signal (PRS) (DL-PRS), and sounding reference signal (SRS) for positioning. Release 16 also defines beam-specific PRS operation for mmWave and broadcast of assistance data for positioning. Release 17 of the 3GPP standard for NR may define UE-initiated on-demand transmission of DL-PRS, network-initiated on-demand transmission of DL-PRS, radio resource control (RRC) inactive DL-only, UL-only, or DL+UL based positioning, access point (AP) DL-PRS transmission, and / or aggregation of DL-PRS across multiple frequencies.The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) has also defined a UP positioning strategy known as Secure User Plane Location (SUPL), which may be used to locate UEs accessing any of several radio interfaces that support IP packet access, such as General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) with GSM, GPRS with UMTS, or IP access with LTE or NR.

[0021] Both the CP-based positioning (also called location determination) approach and the UP-based positioning approach may utilize a location server to support positioning (localization) of the UE. The location server may be part of or accessible from a serving or home network for the UE, or may simply be accessible via the Internet or via a local intranet. When positioning of the UE is required, the location server may initiate a session with the UE (e.g., a location determination session or a SUPL session) to coordinate position measurements by the UE and the determination of the UE's estimated location. During a positioning session, the location server may request positioning capabilities of the UE (or the UE may provide them without a request), may provide assistance data to the UE (e.g., if requested by the UE or even without a request), and may request position estimates or position measurements from the UE for various positioning techniques, e.g., for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA), Angle of Radiation (AoD), Round Trip Time (RTT) or Multi-Cell RTT (Multi-RTT), and / or Enhanced Cell ID (ECID) positioning methods. The assistance data may be used by the UE to acquire and measure GNSS and / or PRS signals (e.g., by providing expected characteristics of these signals, such as frequency, expected time of arrival, signal coding, signal Doppler, etc.).

[0022] In UE-based operating modes, assistance data may additionally or instead be used by the UE to help determine a position estimate from obtained position measurements (e.g. where the assistance data provides satellite ephemeris data in case of GNSS positioning or other base station characteristics such as base station position and PRS timing in case of terrestrial positioning using TDOA, AoD, Multi-RTT, etc.).

[0023] In a UE-assisted operating mode, the UE may return position measurements to the location server, which may determine an estimated position of the UE based on these measurements and possibly also other known or configured data (e.g. satellite ephemeris data for GNSS positioning, or base station characteristics including base station position and possibly PRS timing in case of terrestrial positioning using, e.g., TDOA, AoD, Multi-RTT, etc.).

[0024] For 3GPP CP location determination, the location server may be an enhanced serving mobile location center (E-SMLC) for LTE access, a standalone SMLC (SAS) for UMTS access, a serving mobile location center (SMLC) for GSM access, or a Location Management Function (LMF) for 5G NR access. In the case of OMA SUPL location location, the location server may be a SUPL Location Platform (SLP), which may operate as either: (i) a home SLP (H-SLP) if it is in or associated with the UE's home network or provides the UE with a permanent subscription for location location services; (ii) a discovered SLP (D-SLP) if it is in or associated with some other (non-home) network or not associated with any network; (iii) an Emergency SLP (E-SLP) if it assists in location location for emergency calls initiated by the UE; or (iv) a visited SLP (V-SLP) if it is in or associated with the serving network or current local area for the UE.

[0025] During a positioning session, the location server and the UE may exchange messages defined according to one or more positioning protocols to coordinate the determination of the estimated position. Possible positioning protocols may include, for example, the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) defined by 3GPP in 3GPP TS 36.355, and the LPP Extensions (LPPe) protocol defined by OMA in OMA TSs OMA-TS-LPPe-V1_0, OMA-TS-LPPe-V1_1, and OMA-TS-LPPe-V2_0. The LPP and LPPe protocols may be used in combination such that an LPP message includes one embedded LPPe message. The combined LPP and LPPe protocols may be referred to as LPP / LPPe. LPP and LPP / LPPe may be used to help support 3GPP control plane strategies for LTE or NR access, where LPP or LPP / LPPe messages are exchanged between the UE and the E-SMLC or between the UE and the LMF. LPP or LPPe messages may be exchanged between the UE and the E-SMLC via a serving mobility management entity (MME) and a serving eNodeB for the UE. LPP or LPPe messages may also be exchanged between the UE and the LMF via a serving access and mobility management entity (AMF) and a serving NR Node B (gNodeB or gNB) for the UE. LPP and LPP / LPPe may also be used to help support the OMA SUPL approach for many types of wireless access (such as LTE, NR, and WiFi) that support IP messaging, in which case LPP or LPP / LPPe messages may be exchanged between a SUPL Enabled Terminal (SET), the term used for UEs for SUPL, and an SLP and transported within SUPL messages, such as a SUPL POS or SUPL POS INIT message.

[0026] The location server and the base station (e.g., eNodeB for LTE access or gNodeB for NR access) may exchange messages to enable the location server to (i) obtain location measurements of a particular UE from the base station, or (ii) obtain location information from the base station that is not related to a particular UE, such as antenna position coordinates for the base station, cells (e.g., cell identity) supported by the base station, cell timing for the base station, and / or parameters for signals transmitted by the base station, such as PRS signals. In the case of LTE access, the LPP A (LPPa) protocol may be used to transfer such messages between the base station, which is an eNodeB (eNB), and the location server, which is an E-SMLC. In the case of NR access, the NRPPA protocol may be used to transfer such messages between the base station, which is a gNodeB (gNB), and the location server, which is an LMF. It should be noted that the terms "parameter" and "information element" (IE) are synonymous and are used interchangeably herein.

[0027] During positioning using signaling in LTE and 5G NR, the UE typically acquires dedicated positioning signals, e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS), transmitted by base stations that are used to generate desired measurement results for supported differentiation techniques. PRSs are defined for 5G NR positioning to enable the UE to detect and measure signals from one or more base stations that may function as transmission / reception points (TRPs, sometimes also referred to as transmission / reception points). For example, the UE may receive and measure one or more metrics related to downlink (DL) PRSs from a serving base station (sometimes also referred to as a reference base station) and one or more neighboring stations. Based on the time of arrival (TOA) of the PRSs from the serving base station and the neighboring base stations, the UE may generate a DL reference signal time difference (RSTD) for DL ​​TDOA positioning, sometimes referred to as an observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA). In a similar process, the UE may transmit uplink reference signals for positioning, sometimes referred to as a sounding reference signal (SRS) for positioning, to the serving base station and the neighboring base stations. The TOA of the SRS at the serving station and neighboring stations may be used to generate a UL RSTD for UL TDOA positioning, sometimes referred to as an uplink time difference of arrival (UTDOA).

[0028] As described above, a base station may be a transmission / reception point (TRP) to be used for UE positioning. For example, a base station may provide a PRS over a UP interface (referred to as a Uu interface, such as LTE-Uu or NR-Uu). Additionally or alternatively, a base station may provide a PRS over a CP interface (such as that described above). At least three base stations may be required as TRPs for two-dimensional (2D) wireless positioning (not height-related) of a target UE, or at least four base stations may be required as TRPs for three-dimensional (3D) wireless positioning of a target UE, and more than three base stations (for 2D positioning) or more than four base stations (for 3D positioning) that may be used for wireless positioning (referred to as TRP candidates herein) may be within range of the target UE. One or more TRP candidates may be selected or excluded for wireless positioning of the target UE, the selected TRP candidates may be configured as TRPs to transmit PRS or perform other positioning signaling, the target UE may be configured to detect the PRS from the configured TRPs, and the PRS measurements are used to determine the location of the target UE. Some of the following examples may describe aspects of the disclosure in the context of 2D positioning for clarity, but the disclosure also applies to 3D positioning, or any number of TRPs to be used for wireless positioning.

[0029] The TRP candidates to be selected or excluded for wireless positioning of one or more UEs may be based on the positions of the TRP candidates. For example, if three TRPs are used to estimate a 2D position of a target UE within the range of three TRPs, or if four TRPs are used to estimate a 3D position of a target UE within the range of four TRPs, the accuracy or possible error of the estimated 2D or 3D position may depend on the positions of the TRPs for each UE and the target UE. If the target UE is within the range of more than three TRP candidates for 2D positioning or more than four TRPs for 3D positioning, different subsets of TRP candidates may be associated with different accuracy of the estimated 2D or 3D position of the target UE. The subsets of TRP candidates may be selected for wireless positioning to reduce the possible error of the estimated position of the UE. The possible error may be measured by determining a geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) for the subsets of TRP candidates, which will be described in more detail below with reference to Figures 7A and 7B.

[0030] In some implementations, a GDOP may be determined for different groups of TRP candidates, where the GDOP indicates a possible error associated with the group of TRP candidates. For example, the UE may determine a GDOP for various combinations of TRP candidates that are within range of the UE. One or more devices of the wireless network (e.g., a location server and / or a target UE for positioning) may select or exclude one or more TRP candidates to be used for wireless positioning based on the determined GDOP. For example, the UE may narrow down the group of TRP candidates based on the GDOP (i.e., remove or exclude one or more of the TRP candidates from the group of TRP candidates), and the location server may select a final TRP from the remaining TRP candidates in the group. In another example, the UE may determine one or more preferred TRP candidates based on the GDOP, and the location server may select a final TRP based on the preferred TRP candidate from the UE. In another example, the location server may determine a final TRP based on a GDOP indicated by the UE toward the location server (e.g., via a base station and a core network). Exemplary implementations for determining a GDOP, signaling an indication related to the determined GDOP, and / or selecting or excluding TRP candidates based on the determined GDOP are described in more detail below.

[0031] 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless communication system 100. The wireless communication system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN) or wireless network, such as a cellular network) may include various base stations 102 and various UEs 104, where one or more of the base stations 102 and / or UEs 104 may be referred to herein as TRPs 102 or 104. The base stations 102 may include macrocell base stations (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low-power cellular base stations). In an aspect, the macrocell base stations may include eNBs, where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network, or gNBs, where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to a 5G network, or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0032] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and may interface with a core network 170 (e.g., Evolved Packet Core (EPC) or Next Generation Core (NGC)) through the backhaul links 122 and with a location server 172, which may include one or more location servers. In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 may perform functions related to one or more of the following: forwarding of user data, encryption and decryption of radio channels, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, delivery of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN Information Management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of alert messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC / NGC) via the backhaul links 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0033] The base stations 102 may communicate wirelessly with the UEs 104. Each of the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage to a respective geographic coverage area 110. In an aspect, one or more cells may be supported by the base station 102 in each coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used for communication with the base station (e.g., over some frequency resources called carrier frequencies, component carriers, carriers, bands, etc.) and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., physical cell identifier (PCID), virtual cell identifier (VCID)) to distinguish cells operating over the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access for different types of UEs. In some cases, the term "cell" may also refer to a geographic coverage area (e.g., sector) of a base station, as long as the carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within some portions of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0034] The geographic coverage areas 110 of neighboring macrocell base stations 102 may overlap partially (e.g., in handover regions), but some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may overlap significantly with the larger geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' may have a coverage area 110' that significantly overlaps with the coverage area 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell base stations and macrocell base stations may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a Home eNB (HeNB), which may serve closed groups known as Closed Subscriber Groups (CSGs).

[0035] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include UL (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from the UE 104 to the base station 102, and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna techniques, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may be through one or more carrier frequencies. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL ​​than UL).

[0036] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 in communication with a WLAN station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 in an unlicensed frequency spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communication to determine if a channel is available.

[0037] The small cell base station 102' may operate in a licensed and / or unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell base station 102' may employ LTE or 5G technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum used by the WLAN AP 150. A small cell base station 102' employing LTE / 5G in an unlicensed frequency spectrum may extend coverage to and / or increase capacity of an access network. LTE in an unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as LTE-unlicensed (LTE-U), licensed assisted access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0038] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a mmW base station 180 that may operate in millimeter wave (mmW) and / or sub-mmW frequencies in communication with the UE 182. Extremely High Frequency (EHF) is a portion of RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Sub-mmW may extend down to a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The very high frequency (SHF) band is also called centimeter wave and extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz. Communications using the mmW / sub-mmW radio frequency bands have high path loss and relatively short distances. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmit and / or receive) over the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short distances. It will be further understood that in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or sub-mmW and beamforming. Therefore, it will be understood that the above illustrations are merely illustrative and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0039] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a particular direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts it in all directions (omnidirectionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and launches a stronger downlink RF signal in that particular direction, thereby providing a stronger RF signal at a faster speed (in terms of data rate) to the receiving device. To change the directionality of the RF signal when transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of one or more transmitters broadcasting the RF signal. For example, the network node may use an array of antennas (also called a "phased array" or "antenna array") that creates beams of RF waves that can be "steered" to point in different directions without actually moving the antennas. Specifically, RF currents from the transmitters are fed to individual antennas with the correct phase relationship so that the radio waves from the separate antennas combine together to increase radiation in the desired direction while canceling out to suppress radiation in undesired directions.

[0040] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses a receive beam to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver can increase the gain setting and / or adjust the phase setting of an array of antennas in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., increase its gain level) RF signals received from that direction. Thus, when a receiver is said to beamform in a direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is higher than the beam gain along other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is highest compared to the beam gain in that direction of all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength or quality (e.g., Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR), Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), etc.) of the RF signals received from that direction.

[0041] In 5G, the frequency spectrum in which wireless nodes (e.g., base station 102 / 180, UE 104 / 182) operate is divided into multiple frequency ranges, namely, FR1 (from 450 MHz to 6000 MHz), FR2 (from 24250 MHz to 52600 MHz), FR3 (above 52600 MHz), and FR4 (between FR1 and FR2). In a multi-carrier system such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies is called the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell", and the remaining carrier frequencies are called the "secondary carrier" or "secondary serving cell" or "SCell". In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is the carrier that operates on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by the UE 104 / 182 and on the cell in which the UE 104 / 182 either performs an initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and UE-specific control channels. The secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that can be configured once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier and can be used to provide additional radio resources. Since both the primary uplink carrier and the primary downlink carrier are usually UE-specific, the secondary carrier may only contain the necessary signaling information and signals, e.g., signaling information and signals that are UE-specific may not be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same applies to the uplink primary carrier. The network can change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to distribute the load on different carriers.Since a "serving cell" (whether a PCell or an SCell) corresponds to the carrier frequency / component carrier over which some base station is communicating, terms such as "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0042] For example, still referring to FIG. 1, one of the frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or “PCell”), and the other frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 and / or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers (“SCells”). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers allows the UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rates. For example, two aggregated 20 MHz carriers in a multi-carrier system theoretically doubles the data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to that achieved by a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0043] The wireless communication system 100 may further include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, that indirectly connect to one or more communication networks via one or more side links (SL), such as device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links. In the example of FIG. 1, the UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 (e.g., through which the UE 190 may indirectly obtain cellular connectivity) in which one of the UEs 104 is connected to one of the base stations 102, and a D2D P2P link 194 (through which the UE 190 may indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity) in which the WLAN STA 152 is connected to the WLAN AP 150. In an example, the D2D P2P links 192 and 194 may be supported using any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, etc. In this example, the UE 190 may be a relay UE between the UE and the base station 102. The one or more UEs may be relay UEs between the device and the base station.

[0044] The wireless communications system 100 may further include a UE 164, which may communicate with the macrocell base station 102 via communications link 120 and / or with the mmW base station 180 via an mmW communications link 184. For example, the macrocell base station 102 may support a PCell and one or more SCells for the UE 164, and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCells for the UE 164.

[0045] A target UE 104 for wireless positioning may be within wireless range of multiple base stations 102 (which may be TRP candidates 102 for wireless positioning of the target UE 104). A TRP or TRP candidate may also be referred to as an anchor base station. The anchor base station may transmit a PRS on DL (DL-PRS) to one or more target UEs, and the PRS may be measured at one or more target UEs to determine one or more measures used in estimating the position of the one or more target UEs. As described, in general, wireless positioning is based on signaling between multiple base stations 102 (such as gNBs for NR access) in the wireless network 100 and one or more target UEs 104.

[0046] 2 shows a block diagram of a design 200 of a base station 102 and a UE 104, which may be one of the base stations and one of the UEs in FIG. 1. The base station 102 may be equipped with T antennas 234a through 234t, and the UE 104 may be equipped with R antennas 252a through 252r, where in general T≧1 and R≧1.

[0047] At the base station 102, the transmit processor 220 may receive data for one or more UEs from a data source 212, select one or more modulation and coding schemes (MCS) for each UE based at least in part on a channel quality indicator (CQI) received from the UE, process (e.g., encode and modulate) the data for each UE based at least in part on the MCS selected for the UE, and provide data symbols to all UEs. The transmit processor 220 may also process system information (e.g., for semi-static resource partitioning information (SRPI), etc.) and control information (e.g., CQI requests, grants, higher layer signaling, etc.) and provide overhead symbols and control symbols. The transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., cell-specific reference signals (CRS)) and synchronization signals (e.g., primary synchronization signal (PSS) and secondary synchronization signal (SSS)). A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​the data symbols, control symbols, overhead symbols, and / or reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide T output symbol streams to T modulators (MODs) 232a through 232t. Each modulator 232 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 232 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. The T downlink signals from modulators 232a through 232t may be transmitted via T antennas 234a through 234t, respectively. According to various aspects described in more detail below, a synchronization signal may be generated using position coding to convey additional information.

[0048] At the UE 104, antennas 252a-252r may receive downlink signals from the base station 102 and / or other base stations, respectively, and may provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a-254r. Each demodulator 254 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) the received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 254 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain the received symbols from all R demodulators 254a-254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols, if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate and decode) the detected symbols and provide decoded data for the UE 104 to a data sink 260 and provide decoded control and system information to the controller / processor 280. The channel processor may determine a reference signal received power (RSRP), a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a channel quality indicator (CQI), etc. In some aspects, one or more components of the UE 104 may be included in a housing.

[0049] On the uplink, at the UE 104, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from a data source 262 and control information (e.g., for reports comprising RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, CQI, etc.) from the controller / processor 280. The transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for one or more reference signals. The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266, further processed by modulators 254a-254r (e.g., for DFT-s-OFDM, CP-OFDM, etc.) if applicable, and transmitted to the base station 102. At the base station 102, uplink signals from the UE 104 and other UEs may be received by antennas 234, processed by demodulator 232, detected by a MIMO detector 236, if applicable, and further processed by receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information transmitted by the UE 104. The receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and the decoded control information to the controller / processor 240. The base station 102 may include a communication unit 244 and may communicate with a network controller 289 via the communication unit 244. The network controller 289 may include a communication unit 294, a controller / processor 290, and a memory 292. The network controller may be included in or communicatively coupled to the location server 172 (or a core network component).

[0050] The controller / processor 240 of the base station 102, the controller / processor 280 of the UE 104, the controller 290 of the network controller 289 that may be included in the location server 172, and / or any other components of FIG. 2 may perform one or more techniques related to supporting positioning services for UEs, as described in more detail elsewhere herein. For example, the controller / processor 240 of the base station 102, the controller 290 of the network controller 289, the controller / processor 280 of the UE 104, and / or any other components of FIG. 2 may perform or direct operations for the processes illustrated in the figures and described herein, for example. The memories 242, 282, and 292 may store data and program codes for the base station 102, the UE 104, and the network controller 289, respectively. In some aspects, the memory 242 and / or the memory 282 and / or the memory 292 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores one or more instructions for wireless communication. For example, the one or more instructions, when executed by one or more processors at the base station 102, the network controller 289, and / or the UE 104, may perform or direct operations of a process described herein. The scheduler 246 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and / or uplink.

[0051] The location server 172 (which may include a network controller 289) may be configured to exclude or select TRPs for wireless positioning, determine and direct resources (such as specific RS resources or PRS formats) to be used for wireless positioning, determine a location of one or more UEs in the wireless network, store positioning information of one or more UEs, or perform other operations related to wireless positioning of one or more UEs in the wireless network 100. The positioning information may be used for various operations, such as cell selection, handover, beamforming, or position determination, or other aspects of the wireless network 100.

[0052] As shown above, FIG. 2 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from those described with respect to FIG. 2. For example, while FIG. 2 shows communication between the base station 102 and the UE 104, communication may occur between the two UEs 104 via a sidelink. In this manner, the design of the UE 104 shown in FIG. 2 and the design of another UE 104 may communicate with each other via a sidelink. For example, to communicate one or more GDOP indications, preferred TRP candidates for wireless positioning, or other information intended for the location server 172, the UE 104 may communicate the information to a relay UE, which may relay the information to the base station 102, which relays the information to the location server 172.

[0053] A base station may broadcast, unicast, or groupcast one or more PRS in a wireless network (such as in a cellular network including LTE and / or 5G technologies). In the frequency domain, the available bandwidth may be divided into evenly spaced orthogonal subcarriers (also called "tones" or "bins"). For example, for a regular length cyclic prefix (CP) using 15 kHz spacing, the subcarriers may be grouped into groups of 12 subcarriers. A resource of one OFDM symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain may be referred to as a resource element (RE). In this example, each grouping of 12 subcarriers and 14 OFDM symbols is referred to as a resource block (RB), and in the above example, the number of subcarriers in a resource block is

number

number

number

[0054] The base station may transmit radio frames, or other physical layer signaling sequences, supporting a PRS (i.e., a downlink (DL) PRS) according to a frame configuration similar to the above example, which may be measured and used for location estimation of the target UE. Other types of wireless nodes in a wireless network (e.g., a distributed antenna system (DAS), a remote radio head (RRH), a UE, an AP, etc.) may also be configured to transmit a PRS configured in a similar (or the same) manner as described above.

[0055] A collection of resource elements used for transmission of a PRS is called a "PRS resource." A collection of resource elements may span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and N (e.g., one or more) consecutive symbols in a slot in the time domain. A "PRS resource set" is a set of PRS resources used for transmission of a PRS signal, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource identifier (ID). In addition, PRS resources in a PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. A PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set is associated with a single beam transmitted from a single TRP (a TRP may transmit one or multiple beams). Note that this does not imply anything about whether the TRPs and beams from which signals are transmitted are known to the UE.

[0056] The PRS may be transmitted in special positioning subframes that are grouped into positioning occasions. A PRS occasion is one instance of a periodically repeating time window (e.g., consecutive slots) during which the PRS is expected to be transmitted. Each periodically repeating time window may include a group of one or more consecutive PRS opportunities. Each PRS opportunity may be N PRSA PRS positioning opportunity may include consecutive positioning subframes. PRS positioning opportunities for a cell supported by a base station or UE may occur periodically at intervals. Multiple PRS opportunities may be associated with the same PRS resource configuration, in which case each such opportunity may be referred to as a "PRS resource opportunity," or the like.

[0057] The PRS may be transmitted at a constant power. The PRS may also be transmitted at zero power (i.e., muted). Muting, which turns off periodically scheduled PRS transmissions, may be useful when PRS between different cells overlap by occurring at or near the same time. In this case, PRS from some cells may be muted while PRS from other cells are transmitted (e.g., at a constant power). Muting may aid the UE in signal acquisition of non-muted PRS and measurement of time of arrival (TOA) and reference signal time difference (RSTD) (by eliminating interference from the muted PRS). Muting may be viewed as not transmitting a PRS for a given positioning occasion for a particular cell. A muting pattern (also referred to as a muting sequence) may be signaled to the UE (e.g., using the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP)) using a bit string. For example, if a bit at location j is set to "0" in a bit string signaled to indicate a muting pattern, the UE may infer that the PRS is muted for the jth positioning occasion.

[0058] To further enhance the audibility of the PRS, the positioning subframe may be a low-interference subframe transmitted without a user data channel. As a result, in an ideally synchronized network, the PRS may be interfered with by PRSs of other cells with the same PRS pattern index (i.e., same frequency shift), but not data transmission. The frequency shift is determined by the PRS ID (

number

number

[0059] Also to enhance PRS audibility (e.g., when the PRS bandwidth is limited, such as only six resource blocks corresponding to a 1.4 MHz bandwidth), the frequency band for successive PRS positioning occasions (or successive PRS subframes) may be changed in a known and predictable manner via frequency hopping. In addition, a cell supported by a base station or UE may support more than one PRS configuration, where each PRS configuration may support a different frequency offset (vshift), a different carrier frequency, a different bandwidth, a different code sequence, and / or a certain number of subframes (N) per positioning occasion. PRS ) and a specific period (T PRS In some implementations, one or more of the PRS configurations supported in a cell may be for directional PRS and thus may have additional distinct characteristics, such as distinct directions of transmission, distinct horizontal angular ranges, and / or distinct vertical angular ranges.

[0060] The PRS configuration, including the PRS transmission / muting schedule as described above, is signaled to the UE to enable the UE to perform PRS positioning-related measurements. In this manner, the UE may not be expected to blindly perform detection of the PRS configuration. For example, the location server 172 may determine one or more PRS configurations for one or more TRPs (or TRP candidates), and the configurations may be signaled to the UE via the base station (and optionally one or more relay UEs). The UE may use the configurations to detect the PRS for wireless positioning of the UE from the base station. Using the DL PRS received from the base station serving as the TRP candidate, the target UE may perform various measurements and determine the GDOP for different groups of base stations that are within the range of the target UE. Other measures that may be determined by the target UE include link quality measures, such as SNR or RSRP.

[0061] 3 illustrates a UE 300 capable of supporting positioning services in a wireless network, such as wireless network 100, which is an example of a UE 104. The UE 300 includes a computing platform including at least one processor 310, a memory 311 including software (SW) 312, one or more sensors 313, a transceiver interface 314 for a transceiver 315, a user interface 316, a satellite positioning system (SPS) receiver 317, a camera 318, and a location device (PD) 319. The processor 310, memory 311, sensors 313, transceiver interface 314, user interface 316, SPS receiver 317, camera 318, and location device 319 may be communicatively coupled to one another by a bus 320 (e.g., which may be configured for optical and / or electrical communication). One or more of the depicted devices (e.g., one or more of the camera 318, the SPS receiver 317, and / or the sensors 313, etc.) may be omitted from the UE 300. The processor 310 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 310 may include multiple processors, including an application processor 330, a digital signal processor (DSP) 331, a modem processor 332, a video processor 333, and / or a sensor processor 334. One or more of the processors 330-334 may include multiple devices (e.g., multiple processors). For example, the sensor processor 334 may include a processor, e.g., for radar, ultrasonic, and / or lidar, etc. The modem processor 332 may support dual SIM / dual connectivity (or even more SIMs). For example, a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module or Subscriber Identity Module) may be used by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and another SIM may be used by an end user of the UE 300 for connectivity.The memory 311 is a non-transitory storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk memory, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 311 stores software 312, which may be processor-readable processor-executable software code including instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause the processor 310 to operate as a special-purpose computer programmed to perform various functions described herein. Alternatively, the software 312 may not be directly executable by the processor 310, but may be configured, for example, when compiled and executed, to cause the processor 310 to operate as a special-purpose computer to perform various functions described herein. The description may refer only to the processor 310 performing a function, but this includes other implementations, such as the processor 310 executing software and / or firmware. The description may refer to the processor 310 performing a function as shorthand for one or more of the processors 330-334 (and / or the location device (PD) 319) performing a function. The description may refer to the UE 300 performing a function as shorthand for one or more suitable components of the UE 300 performing the function. The processor 310 may include memory in addition to and / or instead of the memory 311 having stored instructions.

[0062] The configuration of the UE 300 shown in FIG. 3 is an example and not a limitation of the present disclosure, including the claims, and other configurations may be used. For example, an exemplary configuration of the UE includes one or more of the processors 330-334 of the processor 310, the memory 311, and the wireless transceiver 340. Other exemplary configurations include the processor 310, the memory 311, the wireless transceiver 340, one or more of the sensors 313, the user interface 316, the SPS receiver 317, the camera 318, the PD 319, or the wired transceiver 350. As used herein, at least one transceiver of the UE 300 may refer to one or more of the wireless transceiver 340 or the wired transceiver 350.

[0063] The UE 300 may include a modem processor 332 that may be capable of performing baseband processing of signals received and downconverted by the transceiver 315 and / or the SPS receiver 317. The modem processor 332 may perform baseband processing of signals to be upconverted for transmission by the transceiver 315. Additionally or alternatively, the baseband processing may be performed by the processor 330 and / or the DSP 331. However, other configurations may be used to perform the baseband processing. Although the modem processor 332 is illustrated as being included in the processor 310, the baseband processing may be referred to herein as being included in at least one processor or wireless transceiver of the UE 300 (or other suitable device of a wireless network).

[0064] The UE 300 may include sensors 313, which may include one or more of various types of sensors, such as, for example, one or more inertial sensors, one or more air pressure sensors, one or more magnetometers, one or more environmental sensors, one or more light sensors, one or more weight sensors, and / or one or more radio frequency (RF) sensors. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) may include, for example, one or more accelerometers (e.g., collectively corresponding to acceleration of the UE 300 in three dimensions) and / or one or more gyroscopes capable of detecting motion, including rotation, of the UE 300. The sensors 313 may include, for example, one or more magnetometers for determining orientation (e.g., relative to magnetic north and / or true north), which may be used for any of a variety of purposes, for example, to support one or more compass applications. The environmental sensors may include, for example, one or more temperature sensors, one or more air pressure sensors, one or more ambient light sensors, one or more camera imagers, and / or one or more microphones, etc. The sensors 313 may generate analog and / or digital signals, the indications of which may be stored in memory 311 and processed by DSP 331 and / or processor 330 to support one or more applications, such as applications directed to positioning and / or navigation operations, for example.

[0065] The sensors 313 may be used in relative position measurement, relative position determination, motion determination, etc. Information detected by the sensors 313 may be used for motion detection, relative displacement, autonomous navigation, sensor-based position determination, and / or sensor-assisted position determination. The sensors 313 may be useful in determining whether the UE 300 is fixed (stationary) or moving, including rotating, and / or whether to report any useful information regarding the mobility of the UE 300. For example, based on information acquired / measured by the sensors, the UE 300 may notify / report that the UE 300 has detected motion or that the UE 300 has moved, and may report a relative displacement / distance (e.g., via autonomous navigation or sensor-based or sensor-assisted position determination enabled by the sensors 313). In another example, the sensors / IMUs may be used to determine the angle and / or orientation of another device relative to the UE 300, etc., for relative positioning information.

[0066] The IMU may be configured to provide measurements on the direction and / or speed of the UE 300's movement, which may be used in the relative position determination. For example, one or more accelerometers and / or one or more gyroscopes of the IMU may detect the linear acceleration and rotational velocity of the UE 300, respectively. The linear acceleration and rotational velocity measurements of the UE 300 may be integrated over time to determine the instantaneous direction and displacement of the UE 300's movement. The instantaneous direction and displacement of the movement may be integrated to track the UE 300's position. For example, a reference position of the UE 300 may be determined for a certain instant, e.g., using the SPS receiver 317 (and / or by some other means), and measurements from the accelerometers and gyroscopes obtained after this instant may be used in the autonomous navigation to determine the current position of the UE 300 based on the movement (direction and distance) of the UE 300 compared to the reference position.

[0067] The magnetometer may determine magnetic field strength in different directions, which may be used to determine an orientation of the UE 300. For example, the orientation may be used to provide a digital compass for the UE 300. The magnetometer may be a two-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and provide an indication of the magnetic field strength in two orthogonal dimensions. Alternatively, the magnetometer may be a three-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and provide an indication of the magnetic field strength in three orthogonal dimensions. The magnetometer may provide a means for sensing the magnetic field and providing an indication of the magnetic field, for example to the processor 310.

[0068] The air pressure sensor may determine atmospheric pressure, which may be used to determine the altitude of the UE 300 or the current floor in a building. For example, differential air pressure measurements may be used to detect when the floor the UE 300 is on has changed, as well as the number of floors that have changed. The air pressure sensor may provide a means for sensing atmospheric pressure and providing an indication of atmospheric pressure, for example, to the processor 310.

[0069] The transceiver 315 may include one or both of a wireless transceiver 340 or a wired transceiver 350 configured to communicate with other devices over wireless and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 340 may include a transmitter 342 and a receiver 344 coupled to one or more antennas 346 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) and / or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) wireless signals 348. In some implementations, the wireless signals 348 may be converted to and from wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals, and the wired signals may be converted to the wireless signals 348. Thus, the transmitter 342 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 344 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 340 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with a TRP candidate or TRP and / or one or more other devices) according to various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 5G New Radio (NR), Global System for Mobiles (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), Long-Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 6GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc. New Radio may use mm-wave and / or sub-6 GHz frequencies.If the UE 300 is to include a wired transceiver, the wired transceiver 350 may include a transmitter 352 and a receiver 354 configured for wired communication. The transmitter 352 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 354 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 350 may be configured for optical and / or electrical communication, for example. The transceiver 315 may be communicatively coupled to the transceiver interface 314, for example, by optical and / or electrical connections. The transceiver interface 314 may be at least partially integrated with the transceiver 315.

[0070] The antenna 346 may include an antenna array. The antenna array may be capable of transmit beamforming or receive beamforming, for example, by increasing the gain setting and / or adjusting the phase setting of the array of antennas in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., increase the gain level) the RF signal received from that direction. The antenna 346 may further include multiple antenna panels, each capable of beamforming. The antenna 346 is capable of adapting, e.g., selecting, one or more antennas to control the reception of a transmitted beam from a base station. For example, fewer beams or a single beam may be selected for reception of a wide beam, e.g., to reduce power consumption, while a larger number of antennas in the antenna array may be selected when the transmit beam is relatively narrow.

[0071] The user interface 316 may include one or more of several devices, such as, for example, a speaker, a microphone, a display device, a vibrating device, a keyboard, a touch screen, etc. The user interface 316 may include two or more of any of these devices. The user interface 316 may be configured to allow a user to interact with one or more applications hosted by the UE 300. For example, the user interface 316 may store indicia of analog and / or digital signals in the memory 311 for processing by the DSP 331 and / or the processor 330 in response to actions from the user. Similarly, the applications hosted on the UE 300 may store indicia of analog and / or digital signals in the memory 311 for presenting output signals to the user. The user interface 316 may include audio input / output (I / O) devices, including, for example, speakers, microphones, digital-to-analog circuits, analog-to-digital circuits, amplifiers, and / or gain control circuits (including any two or more of these devices). Other configurations of audio I / O devices may be used. Additionally or alternatively, the user interface 316 may include one or more touch sensors that respond to contact and / or pressure, for example, on a keyboard and / or touch screen of the user interface 316 .

[0072] The SPS receiver 317 (e.g., a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver) may be capable of receiving and acquiring the SPS signals 360 via an SPS antenna 362. The antenna 362 is configured to convert the wireless signals 360 into wired signals, e.g., electrical or optical signals, and may be integrated with the antenna 346. The SPS receiver 317 may be configured to process the acquired SPS signals 360, in whole or in part, to estimate the position of the UE 300. For example, the SPS receiver 317 may be configured to determine the position of the UE 300 by trilateration using the SPS signals 360. The processor 330, memory 311, DSP 331, PE 319, and / or one or more additional specialized processors (not shown) may be utilized in conjunction with the SPS receiver 317, in whole or in part, to process the acquired SPS signals and / or to calculate an estimated position of the UE 300. The memory 311 may store indications (e.g., measurement results) of the SPS signals 360 and / or other signals (e.g., signals acquired from the wireless transceiver 340) for use in performing positioning operations. The general purpose processor 330, the DSP 331, the PE 319, and / or one or more additional specialized processors, and / or the memory 311 may provide or support a position engine for use in processing the measurement results to estimate the position of the UE 300. In addition to or instead of using the SPS receiver 317 for positioning of the UE 300, the UE 300 may be configured for wireless positioning using signals transmitted and / or received via the wireless transceiver 340.

[0073] The UE 300 may include a camera 318 for capturing still or video images. The camera 318 may include, for example, an imaging sensor (e.g., a charge-coupled device or CMOS imager), a lens, analog-to-digital circuitry, a frame buffer, etc. Additional processing, conditioning, encoding, and / or compression of signals representing the captured images may be performed by the general-purpose processor 330 and / or the DSP 331. Additionally or alternatively, a video processor 333 may perform conditioning, encoding, compression, and / or manipulation of signals representing the captured images. The video processor 333 may decode / decompress stored image data, for example, for presentation on a display device (not shown) of the user interface 316.

[0074] The location device (PD) 319 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 300, the movement of the UE 300, and / or the relative location of the UE 300, and / or time. For example, the PD 319 may be in communication with and / or include some or all of the SPS receiver 317 and the wireless transceiver 340. The PD 319 may operate in conjunction with the processor 310 and memory 311 as necessary to perform at least a portion of one or more positioning methods, although the description herein may only refer to the PD 319 of the processor 310 being configured to perform or performing according to a positioning method. The PD 319 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 300 using ground-based signals (e.g., at least some of the signals 348) for trilateration of the wireless positioning of the UE 300. Additionally or alternatively, the PMD 319 may be configured to use one or more other techniques to determine the location of the UE 300 (e.g., relying on the UE's self-reported location (e.g., as part of the UE's location beacon)) or may use a combination of techniques (e.g., SPS and terrestrial positioning signals) to determine the location of the UE 300. The PD 319 may include one or more of the sensors 313 (e.g., gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, etc.) that may sense the orientation and / or movement of the UE 300 and provide indications of the orientation and / or movement that the processor 310 (e.g., processor 330 and / or DSP 331) may be configured to use to determine the movement (e.g., velocity vector and / or acceleration vector) of the UE 300. The PD 319 may also be configured to provide an indication of uncertainty and / or error in the determined location and / or movement. For example, the PD 319 may be configured to determine and indicate a GDOP for one or more groups of TRP candidates from which the PRS is received.

[0075] The memory 311 may store software 312 including executable program code or software instructions that, when executed by the processor 310, may cause the processor 310 to operate as a special purpose computer programmed to perform the functions disclosed herein. As shown, the memory 311 may include one or more components or modules that may be implemented by the processor 310 to perform the functions disclosed. Although the components or modules are shown as software 312 in the memory 311 executable by the processor 310, it should be understood that the components or modules may be stored in another computer readable medium or may be dedicated hardware either within the processor 310 or external to the processor. Several software modules and data tables may reside in the memory 311 and may be utilized by the processor 310 to manage both the communications and the functions described herein. It should be understood that the organization of the contents of the memory 311 as shown is only an example, and thus the functionality of the modules and / or data structures may be combined, separated, and / or structured in different ways depending on the implementation.

[0076] For example, the memory 311 may include a wireless positioning session module 372 that, when implemented by the one or more processors 310, configures the one or more processors 310 to participate in a session to be used to determine one or more GDOPs, which may be used to determine one or more TRPs for wireless positioning of the UE 300 as described herein. For example, the one or more processors (or the PD 319) may be configured to determine a first GDOP for a first combination of TRP candidates based on a received PRS from the first combination of TRP candidates, determine a second GDOP for a second combination of TRP candidates based on a received PRS from the second combination of TRP candidates, etc. The GDOPs may be used by the UE 300 to determine one or more preferred TRP candidates for wireless positioning, narrow down a group of TRP candidates for wireless positioning, and / or generate an indication related to the GDOP to be provided to a network entity (e.g., a gNB or a relay UE that forwards the indication to the location server 172). In some implementations, the location server 172 may determine a final TRP to be used for wireless positioning, which may be based on a preference from the UE, a group of TRP candidates after filtering by the UE, and / or a GDOP indicated by the UE. Although the wireless positioning session module 372 is shown as being software contained in the memory 311, the wireless positioning session module 372 may be a hardware module, a software module, or a combination of hardware and software. For example, the module may include one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), executable code, or a combination of both.

[0077] FIG. 4 illustrates a base station 400 capable of supporting positioning services in a wireless network (such as wireless network 100), which is an example of base station 102. Base station 400 includes a computing platform including at least one processor 410, a memory 411 including software (SW) 412, and a transceiver 415. Processor 410, memory 411, and transceiver 415 may be communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 420 (which may be configured for optical and / or electrical communication, for example). One or more of the illustrated devices may be omitted from base station 400, or base station 400 may include one or more devices not illustrated. Processor 410 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. Processor 410 may include multiple processors (e.g., including one or more of an application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and / or a sensor processor, similar to those illustrated in FIG. 3). The memory 411 is a non-transitory storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk memory, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 411 stores the software 412, which may be processor-readable processor-executable software code including instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause the processor 410 to operate as a special-purpose computer programmed to perform various functions described herein. Alternatively, the software 412 may not be directly executable by the processor 410, but may be configured, for example, when compiled and executed, to cause the processor 410 to operate as a special-purpose computer to perform various functions described herein. Although this description may only refer to the processor 410 executing functions, this includes other implementations, such as the processor 410 executing software and / or firmware.The description may refer to the processor 410 performing a function as shorthand for one or more of the processors included in the processor 410 performing the function. The description may refer to the base station 400 performing a function as shorthand for one or more suitable components of the base station 400 performing the function. The processor 410 may include memory with stored instructions in addition to and / or instead of the memory 411.

[0078] The transceiver 415 may include a wireless transceiver 440 and a wired transceiver 450 configured to communicate with other devices over wireless and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may include a transmitter 442 and a receiver 444 coupled to one or more antennas 446 to transmit and / or receive wireless signals 448 (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and / or one or more downlink channels) and convert signals from the wireless signals 448 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 448. The antennas 446 are one or more antenna arrays capable of beamforming and capable of transmitting and receiving beams, including beams used in transmitting or receiving signals for positioning services (including PRS). Additionally or alternatively, signals may be transmitted in omni-directions. The transmitter 442 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 444 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 440 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the UE 400, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices) according to various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 5G New Radio (NR), Global System for Mobiles (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), Long-Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 6GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, Zigbee, and the like.The wired transceiver 450 may include a transmitter 452 and a receiver 454 configured for wired communication, for example, to transmit communications to and receive communications from the location server 172. The transmitter 452 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 454 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 450 may be configured for optical and / or electrical communications, for example. As used herein, at least one transceiver of the base station 400 may refer to one or more of the wireless transceiver 440 or the wired transceiver 450.

[0079] 4 is an example of the present disclosure, including the claims, and not a limitation, and other configurations may be used. For example, the description herein discusses the base station 400 being configured to or performing certain functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by the location server 172 and / or the UE 300.

[0080] The memory 411 may store software 412, including executable program code or software instructions that, when executed by the processor 410, may cause the processor 410 to operate as a special-purpose computer programmed to perform the functions disclosed herein. As shown, the memory 411 may include one or more components or modules that may be implemented by the processor 410 to perform the functions disclosed. Although the components or modules are shown as software 412 in the memory 411 executable by the processor 410, it should be understood that the components or modules may be stored in another computer-readable medium or may be dedicated hardware either within the processor 410 or external to the processor. Several software modules and data tables may reside in the memory 411 and may be utilized by the processor 410 to manage both the communications and the functions described herein. It should be understood that the organization of the contents of the memory 411 as shown is only an example, and thus the functionality of the modules and / or data structures may be combined, separated, and / or structured in different ways depending on the implementation.

[0081] For example, the memory 411 may include a wireless positioning session module 472 that, when implemented by the processor 410, configures the processor 410 to assist in wireless positioning for one or more UEs in the wireless network. For example, the one or more processors 410 may configure the base station 400 to relay information between the location server 172 and the UEs 104 in the wireless network, transmit one or more PRS for wireless positioning, and / or transmit PRS assistance data to be used for wireless positioning. Although the wireless positioning session module 472 is shown as being software contained in the memory 411, the wireless positioning session module 472 may be a hardware module, a software module, or a combination of hardware and software. For example, the module may include one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), executable code, or a combination of both.

[0082] FIG. 5 illustrates a server 500 capable of supporting positioning services in a wireless network (such as wireless network 100), which is an example of location server 172. Server 500 includes a computing platform including at least one processor 510, a memory 511 including software (SW) 512, and a transceiver 515. Processor 510, memory 511, and transceiver 515 may be communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 520 (which may be configured for optical and / or electrical communication, for example). One or more of the depicted devices (e.g., wireless interface) may be omitted from server 500. Processor 510 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. Processor 510 may include multiple processors (e.g., including at least one of an application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and / or a sensor processor, similar to those illustrated in FIG. 3). The memory 511 is a non-transitory storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk memory, and / or read only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 511 stores the software 512, which may be processor-readable processor-executable software code including instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause the processor 510 to operate as a special-purpose computer programmed to perform various functions described herein. Alternatively, the software 512 may not be directly executable by the processor 510, but may be configured, for example, when compiled and executed, to cause the processor 510 to operate as a special-purpose computer to perform various functions described herein. Although this description may only refer to the processor 510 executing functions, this includes other implementations, such as the processor 510 executing software and / or firmware.The description may refer to the processor 510 performing a function as shorthand for one or more of the processors included in the processor 510 performing the function. The description may refer to the server 500 performing a function as shorthand for one or more suitable components of the server 500 performing the function. The processor 510 may include a memory having instructions stored therein in addition to and / or in place of the memory 511.

[0083] The transceiver 515 may include one or both of a wireless transceiver 540 or a wired transceiver 550 configured to communicate with other devices over wireless and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 540 may include a transmitter 542 and a receiver 544 coupled to one or more antennas 546 to transmit (e.g., on one or more downlink channels) and / or receive (e.g., on one or more uplink channels) wireless signals 548 and convert signals from the wireless signals 548 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 548. Thus, the transmitter 542 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 544 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 540 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the UE 300, one or more other UEs, one or more base stations 400, and / or one or more other devices) according to various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 5G New Radio (NR), Global System for Mobiles (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), Long-Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 6GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc. The wired transceiver 550 may include a transmitter 552 and a receiver 554 configured for wired communication.The transmitter 552 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 554 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 550 may be configured for optical and / or electrical communications, for example. As used herein, at least one transceiver of the server 500 may refer to one or more of the wireless transceiver 540 or the wired transceiver 550.

[0084] 5 is an example of the present disclosure, including the claims, and other configurations may be used. For example, the wireless transceiver 540 may be omitted. Additionally or alternatively, the description herein discusses the server 500 being configured to or performing certain functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by the base station 400 and / or the UE 300.

[0085] The memory 511 may store software 512 including executable program code or software instructions that, when executed by the processor 510, may cause the processor 510 to operate as a special purpose computer programmed to perform the functions disclosed herein. As shown, the memory 511 may include one or more components or modules that may be implemented by the processor 510 to perform the functions disclosed. Although the components or modules are shown as software 512 in the memory 511 executable by the processor 510, it should be understood that the components or modules may be stored in another computer readable medium or may be dedicated hardware either within the processor 510 or external to the processor. Several software modules and data tables may reside in the memory 511 and may be utilized by the processor 510 to manage both the communications and the functions described herein. It should be understood that the organization of the contents of the memory 511 as shown is only an example, and thus the functionality of the modules and / or data structures may be combined, separated, and / or structured in different ways depending on the implementation.

[0086] For example, the memory 511 may include a wireless positioning session module 572 that, when implemented by the processor 510, configures the processor 510 to participate in supporting selection or narrowing down of one or more TRP candidates for wireless positioning of one or more UEs in a wireless network, as discussed herein. Although the wireless positioning session module 572 is illustrated as being software contained in the memory 511, the wireless positioning session module 572 may be a hardware module, a software module, or a combination of hardware and software. For example, the module may include one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), executable code, or a combination of both.

[0087] In wireless positioning, one or more anchors are used as TRPs to transmit and / or receive PRSs to / from a target UE. The distance between the TRP and the target UE may be based on the observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) of one or more signals (referred to as OTDOA positioning), or any other suitable measurement results used to determine distance for wireless positioning. OTDOA positioning is based on a multilateration method, where the UE measures the time of arrival (TOA) of a particular reference RF signal (e.g., PRS, CRS, CSI-RS, etc.) transmitted by different pairs of network nodes (e.g., base station 102, antennas of base station 102, etc.) in a conventional manner. To determine the reference signal time difference (RSTD) for a node pair, the TOA from several neighbors may be subtracted from the TOA from the reference node. As mentioned above, this time difference may be based on a reference signal (e.g., PRS) transmitted from the anchor to the UE. In some other implementations, the time difference may be based on the round trip time (RTT) of the signal from the UE to the anchor or from the anchor back to the anchor or a neighboring device (the UE relays the PRS). The RSTD may be indicated to another device or may be used otherwise in determining the distance between the anchor and the UE. In some implementations, the target UE may measure the RSTD between instances of the PRS transmitted by other devices in the network. In some implementations, a specific resource of the PRS may be used to measure the RSTD. As used herein, PRS resources may refer to any appropriate portion or all of the PRS used for wireless positioning.

[0088] FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary wireless communication system 600 that implements positioning using a time difference of arrival (TDOA) technique. In the example of FIG. 6, the UE 104 determines or assists another entity (e.g., a base station or core network component, another UE, a location server, a third party application, etc.) to determine an estimate of the location of the UE 104. The UE 104 may wirelessly communicate with multiple base stations 102-1, 102-2, and 102-3 (collectively, base stations 102), which may correspond to any combination of the base stations 102 in FIG. 1, using RF signals and standardized protocols for modulation of the RF signals and exchange of information packets. By extracting different types of information from the exchanged RF signals and utilizing the layout of the wireless communication system 600 (i.e., base station positions, geometry, etc.), the UE 104 may determine or assist in determining the location of the UE 104 in a predefined reference coordinate system. In some aspects, the UE 104 may specify its location using a two-dimensional coordinate system, although the aspects disclosed herein are not so limited and may be applicable to determining location using a three-dimensional coordinate system if additional dimensions are desired. In addition, while FIG. 6 shows one UE 104 and three base stations 102 (e.g., for 2D positioning), it will be understood that there may be more UEs 104 for positioning and more base stations 102 as TRP candidates or anchors.

[0089] Generally, RSTD is measured between a reference network node (such as a serving base station) and one or more neighboring network nodes. In the example shown in FIG. 6, base station 102-1 may be the serving base station of UE 104 (which may be the reference base station), while base stations 102-2 and 102-3 are neighboring base stations. The reference network node remains the same for all RSTDs measured by UE 104 for any single positioning application of OTDOA, and typically corresponds to the serving cell for UE 104 or another nearby cell with good signal strength at UE 104. In an aspect, if the measured network node is a cell supported by a base station, the neighboring network node is typically a cell supported by a different base station than the base station for the reference cell, and the signal strength at UE 104 may be good or bad. RSTD may be the relative timing difference between two cells, for example, between a reference cell and a neighboring cell, which is determined based on the minimum time difference between two subframe boundaries from two different cells.

[0090] The position calculation may be based on the measured time difference (e.g., RSTD) as well as knowledge of the network nodes' locations and relative transmission timing (e.g., whether the network nodes are precisely synchronized or whether each network node transmits with some known time difference relative to other network nodes).

[0091] To assist the positioning operation, the location server 172 may provide OTDOA assistance data to the UE 104 for a reference network node (e.g., base station 102-1 in the example of FIG. 6 or an anchor UE in another example) and neighboring network nodes relative to the reference network node (e.g., base stations 102-2 and 102-3 in the example of FIG. 6 or one or more other anchors, which may include the anchor UE in another example). For example, the assistance data may provide a center channel frequency of each network node, various reference RF signal configuration parameters (e.g., number of consecutive positioning subframes, periodicity of positioning subframes, muting sequence, frequency hopping sequence, reference RF signal ID, reference RF signal bandwidth), network node global ID, and / or other cell-related parameters applicable to OTDOA, as described above. The OTDOA assistance data may also indicate a serving cell for the UE 104 as a reference network node. For example, the UE 104 may obtain one or more NR-DL-PRS Assistance Data (NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData) information elements (IEs) associated with a TRP used for wireless positioning or associated with a TRP candidate from which a TRP for wireless positioning is selected. The one or more NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData IEs may include an NR-DL-PRS expected reference signal time difference (RSTD) value (NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD) for one or more pairs of TRP (or TRP candidate) PRS resources and an NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD uncertainty value (NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD-Uncertainty) associated with the pair of TRP (or TRP candidate) PRS resources. Different time lengths associated with the OTDOA positioning method may be determined based on the expected RSTD and the uncertainty values.

[0092] In an aspect, the location server 172 may transmit the assistance data to the UE 104 via one or more base stations 102 and / or relay UEs, although alternatively the assistance data may originate directly from the base station 102 itself (e.g., in periodically broadcast overhead messages, etc.). Alternatively, the UE 104 may detect and measure signals from neighboring network nodes itself without using assistance data.

[0093] 6, the time differences measured between the reference cell of base station 102-1 and the neighboring cells of base stations 102-2 and 102-3 are represented as τ2-τ1 and τ3-τ1, where τ1, τ2, and τ3 represent transmission times of reference RF signals from the transmit antennas of base stations 102-1, 102-2, and 102-3, respectively, to the UE 104, including any measurement noise at the UE 104. The UE 104 may then convert the TOA measurements of different network nodes into RSTD measurements (e.g., as defined in 3GPP TS 36.214 entitled "Physical layer; Measurements"). The location of the UE 104 may be determined (either by the UE 104 or by the location server 172) using (i) RSTD measurement results, (ii) known absolute or relative transmission timing of each network node, (iii) known locations of the physical transmitting antennas relative to the reference network node and neighboring network nodes, (iv) directional reference RF signal characteristics such as transmission direction, and / or (v) assistance data related to TRPs or TRP candidates.

[0094] For example, the TOA T at the UE 104 for the shortest path from base station i i teeth,

number

number

number

[0095] To identify the TOA of a reference RF signal transmitted by a given network node, the UE 104 first processes all resource elements (REs) on the channel on which that network node (e.g., base station 102) is transmitting the reference RF signal together and performs an inverse Fourier transform to convert the received RF signal to the time domain. The conversion of the received RF signal to the time domain is called estimating the Channel Energy Response (CER). The CER indicates the peaks on the channel over time, and therefore the earliest "prominent" peak should correspond to the TOA of the reference RF signal. In general, the UE uses a noise-related quality threshold to remove spurious local peaks, thereby correctly identifying the likely significant peaks on the channel. For example, the UE 104 may choose a TOA estimate that is the earliest local maximum of the CER that is at least X dB higher than the median CER and at most Y dB lower than the main peak on the channel. The UE 104 determines the CER for each reference RF signal from each network node to determine the TOA of each reference RF signal from different network nodes.

[0096] The TOA measurements performed by the UE 104 relate to the geographical distance between the UE 104 and a TRP or a TRP candidate (e.g., base station 102). In a 2D Cartesian coordinate system, the (known) coordinate of the base station is x i =[x i ,y i ] T and the (known) coordinates of the UE 104 may be denoted as x t =[x t ,y t ] T The RSTD measurement result may be defined as the time difference between two base stations (modulo 1-subframe (1-ms)) and may therefore correspond to the difference in distance between a neighbor base station 102-i and the reference base station 102-1. The time difference between a neighbor base station 102-i and the reference base station 102-1 as measured at the UE 104 is given in Equation (2) below.

number

[0097] (T i -T1) is the transmission time offset between base stations, called the "real time difference" (RTD). i and n1 is the UE TOA measurement error. The constant c is the speed of light.

[0098] Measurements of at least two neighboring base stations i (in addition to the reference base station) may be required for wireless positioning. However, measurements of more than two neighboring base stations may be used or may be desirable (e.g., to increase the accuracy of the UE's estimated location). The simultaneous equations may be solved with a least squares or weighted least squares method. The transmission time offset (T i -T1) should (ideally) be zero in a synchronized network, and the above equation defines the TDOA. Geometrically, each TDOA defines a hyperbola, and the width of the hyperbola is the TDOA error (n i- n1) is determined by the coordinates of the base station 102 and the transmission time offset (T i -T1) is known at the location server 172 or at the UE 104, the location of the UE 104 can be determined.

[0099] Wireless positioning may be UE-assisted or UE-based. In UE-assisted positioning, a server 500 (e.g., location server 172) may determine the position / location of a target UE. For clarity, the location server 172 is described as performing the operations, but one or more other network entities in the wireless network may perform all or part of the described operations (e.g., base stations, core network components, etc.). The location server 172 may also determine the RS resources to be used for positioning (specific PRS format, frequency, time frame, whether the transmission of the PRS is triggered or periodic, etc.). The location server 172 may also select which base station 102 should be used as a TRP for wireless positioning and the settings for the TRP (e.g., which UEs should be supported for wireless positioning). The location server 172 may indicate the determined resources to the base station 102 (e.g., gNB), which may indicate the resources to the UE 104 or may transmit the PRS using the indication. In some implementations, the location server 172 may exclude or select TRP candidates from being used as TRPs for wireless positioning. This exclusion or selection may be based on preferences of the TRP candidates from one or more target UEs. Alternatively, the exclusion or selection may be made independent of any preferences from the target UEs. As described herein, the exclusion or selection of TRP candidates may be based on one or more GDOPs determined by one or more target UEs for various combinations of TRP candidates for wireless positioning.

[0100] In wireless positioning, the geometry of the target UE and the TRP affect the accuracy or possible error of the target UE's location estimate. For example, based on the resolution and timing of the PRS, the UE's location may be within a certain distance range from the TRP (such as that shown by the τ3-τ1 or τ2-τ1 associated bands in FIG. 6). For multiple TRPs, the UE's location may be within the intersection of the distance ranges of the multiple TRPs. The intersection of the ranges is the location uncertainty of the UE when using multiple TRPs for wireless positioning. Adjusting the location of the TRP may adjust the shape and magnitude of the location uncertainty, which may affect the accuracy in determining the UE's location.

[0101] FIG. 7A is a diagram 700 illustrating a location uncertainty 710 of a UE associated with a first TRP 702 and a second TRP 704 for wireless positioning. Based on the timing and timing resolution of the PRS, the location of the UE may be determined to be within a range 706 of the TRP 702. Similarly, based on the timing and timing resolution of the PRS, the location of the UE may be determined to be within a range 708 of the TRP 704. In this manner, the UE may be located within an intersection of the two ranges 706 and 708, shown as location uncertainty 710. The positions of the TRPs 702 and 704 affect the size and magnitude of the location uncertainty 710. Also, although not shown, the number of TRPs to be used may affect the size and magnitude of the location uncertainty 710. For example, increasing the number of TRPs may reduce the magnitude of the location uncertainty 710. Although 2D uncertainty is shown in FIG. 7A (and FIG. 7B), in 3D positioning the location uncertainty may be 3D. Thus, there may also be uncertainty in the altitude of the UE. Although the examples and explanations relate to 2D location uncertainties (such as location uncertainty 710) for clarity, the disclosure also applies to 3D location uncertainties.

[0102] FIG. 7B is a diagram 701 illustrating a location uncertainty 716 of a UE associated with a first TRP 702 and a third TRP 712 for wireless positioning. The location of the UE may be determined to be within a range 714 of the TRP 712. The locations of the second TRP 704 and the third TRP 712 are different from each other. As a result, the intersection of the range 706 and the range 714 may result in a location uncertainty of a different dimension than the location uncertainty 710. As shown, the range 706 and the range 714 are associated with a location uncertainty 716. The magnitude of the location uncertainty 716 is greater than the magnitude of the location uncertainty 710, and the UE is located somewhere within the respective location uncertainty. As a result, the error that may occur in the location estimation of the UE is greater based on using the base stations 702 and 712 as TRPs compared to using the base stations 702 and 704 as TRPs. The intersection of the ranges (such as the uncertainty error 710 or 716) may be referred to herein as the GDOP.

[0103] As shown above in relation to Figures 7A and 7B, the location of the UE with respect to the location of the TRP for wireless positioning affects the possible error in the UE's location estimation. For example, if the UE is in an area at the center of the overlap of the coverage areas of the base stations (e.g., gNBs) for wireless positioning, the GDOP may be smaller than if the UE is in an area outside the overlap of the coverage areas of the base stations (e.g., gNBs) for wireless positioning. If the location of the UE with respect to the TRP candidates is known, a particular TRP candidate may be selected as the TRP for wireless positioning to lower the GDOP associated with the UE's location estimation. However, the location of the UE should be determined using the selected TRP for wireless positioning, and the location of the UE may not be known before selecting the TRP to be used for wireless positioning. The UE may determine its location using non-RAT means. For example, the UE may determine its location using trilateration of GNSS signals. In this way, the location of the UE may be known before selecting the TRP candidate. However, many devices may not be able to determine their location using non-RAT means (such as devices without a GNSS or GPS receiver) or users may have privacy concerns about providing their exact location. In some implementations, the UE may determine GDOPs for different combinations of TRP candidates, and these GDOPs may be used in determining the TRP candidates to be used for wireless positioning of the UE. In this way, non-RAT means for determining location are not required and providing the UE's exact location to a network component (such as location server 172) is not required to perform wireless positioning.

[0104] GDOP may be calculated in any suitable manner based on the type of positioning method used (such as TOA-based positioning). For example, GDOP may be calculated as the least squares error (n1-n iGDOP may be the ratio of the standard deviation (σ) of the x-axis (e.g., the square root of the sum of the squared standard deviation of the error along the x-axis and the squared standard deviation of the error along the y-axis, etc.) to the standard deviation of the measurement error (e.g., over a Cartesian coordinate system). An exemplary means for calculating GDOP is provided in Equation (3) below.

number

number

number

number

[0105] The matrix G may be determined using any known method. For example, in a TOA-based positioning method, a matrix G based on three TRPs (such as for 2D positioning) may be determined as given in Equation (5) below.

number

[0106] As shown above in equations (3) and (4), the GDOP may be a value determined for a combination of base stations from which the PRS is obtained, which may indicate a magnitude of location uncertainty associated with the combination of base stations in determining the UE's position. In this manner, a smaller GDOP may indicate a smaller location uncertainty, which may indicate a smaller possible error for the UE's position estimate. Different combinations of TRP candidates may be compared to each other for eligibility to be TRPs for wireless positioning based on the GDOP associated with each combination. For example, the UE may determine a first GDOP for a first combination of TRP candidates, and the UE may determine a second GDOP for a second combination of TRP candidates. It should be noted that different combinations or subsets of TRP candidates from multiple TRPs may overlap with one or more TRP candidates or may be mutually exclusive of each other. Additionally or alternatively, the number of TRP candidates in a group or combination may be adjustable. In this manner, the first group of TRP candidates may have more, fewer, or the same number of TRP candidates as the second group of TRP candidates from the plurality of TRP candidates, and the smaller GDOP may indicate which group of TRP candidates results in a more accurate location estimate for the UE.

[0107] In UE-assisted positioning (such that the location server 172 may determine the UE's location), the UE may narrow down the group of TRP candidates before the location server 172 determines the final TRP to be used for wireless positioning. For example, the UE may indicate one or more preferred TRPs or may indicate one or more TRPs to be excluded from use for wireless positioning of the UE. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may indicate a GDOP, and the location server 172 may determine the TRP candidates to be used for wireless positioning based on the GDOP determined by the UE for the different groups of TRP candidates. In UE-based positioning (such as when the UE determines its location), the UE may determine the TRP to be used for wireless positioning. The UE may indicate which TRP is selected so that the TRPs may be pruned to remove any non-selected TRPs (such as by configuring non-selected base stations not to transmit PRS or otherwise muting PRS from non-selected base stations). In some implementations, the location server 172 may still indicate a final TRP based on an overall TRP to be used for wireless positioning of a plurality of UEs in the wireless network 100. In some implementations, a TRP candidate that is excluded from wireless positioning for a UE may still support wireless positioning for one or more other UEs in the wireless network 100. In this manner, a first TRP may support wireless positioning for a first subset of UEs, while a second TRP may support wireless positioning of a second subset of UEs in the wireless network.

[0108] Using GDOP in selecting or excluding TRP candidates may also allow for a reduction in the number of TRPs used for wireless positioning. For example, if a combination of four TRP candidates produces a similar GDOP (within a threshold amount) as a combination of five TRP candidates, then the four TRP candidates may be used for wireless positioning instead of five. Assuming that the fifth TRP candidate is not to be used for wireless positioning of other UEs in the wireless network 100, fewer base stations 102 may be required to transmit PRSs or perform other wireless positioning operations, and the UE may only be required to detect fewer PRSs from fewer TRPs to determine the location of the UE (or other UEs), which may save processing resources of the wireless network and the UE itself.

[0109] 8 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 800 of wireless positioning of a UE in a wireless network. The example method 800 may be performed by a UE of a wireless network for which wireless positioning is to be performed, such as the UE 104 shown in FIG. 1 or the UE 300 shown in FIG. 3, in a manner consistent with disclosed implementations. Although a UE is described herein as performing the method 800, any other suitable device or component may perform one or more operations of the method 800. A device that may perform one or more operations of the method 800 (or any of the other described methods, such as the method 900 of FIG. 9) may include at least one transceiver (one or more wireless transceivers and / or one or more wired transceivers), at least one memory, and at least one processor coupled to the at least one transceiver and the at least one memory. Referring to UE 300 as an exemplary device, the at least one transceiver may include transceiver 315 or wireless transceiver 340, the at least one memory may include memory 311, and the at least one processor may include one or more of processors 310, one or more of processors 330 through 334, or location device 319. Referring to base station 400 as an exemplary device, the at least one transceiver may include all or a portion of transceiver 415, the at least one memory may include memory 411, and the at least one processor may include processor 410. Referring to server 500 (e.g., location server) as an exemplary device, the at least one transceiver may include all or a portion of transceiver 515, the at least one memory may include memory 511, and the at least one processor may include processor 510.

[0110] In block 802, the UE determines one or more GDOPs. Determining the one or more GDOPs includes, for each combination of TRP candidates of one or more combinations of TRP candidates from a plurality of TRP candidates for wireless positioning, determining a GDOP associated with the combination of TRP candidates. The means for determining one or more GDOPs may include at least one processor of the UE. In some implementations, the at least one processor of the UE is configured to determine the GDOP for each combination of TRP candidates. For example, one or more of the processors 330 to 334 or the location device 319 (or any other suitable component) of the UE 300 may determine the GDOP.

[0111] To determine one or more GDOPs, the UE may select a first combination of TRP candidates from a plurality of TRP candidates within range of the UE, and the UE may determine a first GDOP for the first combination of TRP candidates. The UE may select a second combination of TRP candidates from a plurality of TRP candidates within range of the UE, and the UE may determine a second GDOP for the second combination of TRP candidates. The UE may select any number of combinations of TRP candidates. The number of TRP candidates may be any number (e.g., three or more TRP candidates for 2D positioning, or four or more TRP candidates for 3D positioning). In some implementations, the UE may determine the number of TRP candidates in the combination (e.g., up to a maximum number of TRP candidates) to balance processing resources required for wireless positioning and accuracy associated with any estimated location using the combination of TRP candidates for wireless positioning. Determining the GDOP for the selected combination of TRP candidates may be performed in any suitable manner (e.g., as described above for the TOA-based positioning method).

[0112] The selection of different combinations of TRP candidates may be performed in any suitable manner. In one example, the UE determines a predefined number of combinations. In another example, the UE determines an additional combination of TRP candidates when none of the existing combinations are associated with a GDOP below the GDOP threshold. In another example, the UE determines a combination of TRP candidates and an associated GDOP for a defined length of time. In another example, the UE determines a motion state of the UE (such as determining a speed or displacement of the UE based on one or more IMU measurements), and the UE may adjust the number of combinations to be determined based on the UE's motion. For example, when the UE is moving, selection of different TRP candidates may occur more frequently as a result of the UE moving. Because the combination of TRPs (e.g., the TRPs to be used for wireless positioning of the UE being reselected) may be adjusted more frequently as a result of the UE's movement through the wireless network, the UE may reduce the number of combinations to reduce immediate processing resources. If the UE's motion state is below a threshold (e.g., the UE's displacement or velocity is below a threshold), the UE may increase the number of combinations to be determined to attempt to increase the accuracy of the UE's location estimation. In one example, the UE may use any combination of one or more of the above example cases when selecting a combination of TRP candidates for determining the GDOP.

[0113] In addition to or instead of determining the number of combinations to be selected, the UE may determine the number of TRP candidates to be included in each combination. In this manner, the number of TRP candidates to be included in a combination of TRP candidates is adjustable. For example, the UE may limit the number of TRP candidates in combination with a defined maximum number of TRP candidates. The UE may determine any number of combinations associated with an allowed number of TRP candidates (such as those described above). In some implementations, the number of TRP candidates to be included in a combination is based on the motion state of the UE. For example, the number of TRP candidates per combination may be reduced as the speed or velocity of the UE increases. In addition to or instead of the above examples, any other suitable operation for adjusting the number of TRP candidates per combination may be performed.

[0114] For each combination of TRP candidates determined by the UE, the UE determines a GDOP for the combination of TRP candidates. Estimating / determining the GDOP may be performed in any suitable manner. For example, the UE may use any conventional statistical method for estimating the GDOP (such as those described above with respect to the TOA-based positioning method). Additionally or alternatively, the UE may estimate the GDOP using one or more machine learning models. For example, input to the one or more machine learning models may include an expected RSTD included in the assistance data, a determined RSTD from a PRS obtained from the TRP candidates, or other information obtained from another device in the wireless network or determined by the UE. In some implementations, a comparison of the expected RSTD with the determined RSTD may be used as training data to train the machine learning model to estimate the GDOP. In some implementations, the GDOP determined after selecting the TRPs may be compared to a GDOP determined before the selection, and the results of the comparison may be provided as feedback in training the machine learning model. The locations of the base stations are known and may be used to determine the known GDOP associated with different subsets of base stations. In some implementations, a machine learning model may be trained in a controlled environment (the training may be supervised or unsupervised) and the trained model may be deployed by a UE 104 in the wireless network 100 to estimate a GDOP for a combination of TRP candidates.

[0115] At block 804, the UE provides an indication associated with one or more GDOPs to a network entity in the wireless network, where one or more TRP candidates of the plurality of TRP candidates are to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE based on the indication. The means for providing the indication may include at least one transceiver of the UE. For example, the UE may provide a report (which may be any suitable packet or data frame) including the indication to the network entity via the at least one transceiver. In some implementations, the wireless transceiver is configured to provide the indication to a network entity in the wireless network. For example, the wireless transceiver 340 of the UE 300 may be configured to provide the indication to a base station (e.g., a gNB) serving the UE 300. In another example, the wireless transceiver 340 of the UE 300 may be configured to provide the indication to a relay UE between the base station and the UE 300. The indication may be provided to the location server 172 through the wireless network 100, including through the core network 170. The indication may be used by the location server 172 in determining one or more candidate TRPs to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE. Alternatively, the indication may indicate one or more candidate TRPs to be used by the UE (the UE possibly selects one or more candidate TRPs based on one or more GDOPs). The location server 172 may determine a configuration for the selected TRP and UE to support wireless positioning, and the configuration may be provided to the selected TRP and UE.Although not shown, the location server 172 may determine one or more TRP candidates that should not be used for wireless positioning of the UE based on the indications and / or the location server 172 may determine settings to be used to remove the non-selected TRP candidates from being used for wireless positioning of the UE (which may include muting the PRS from the non-selected TRPs or otherwise configuring the non-selected TRPs from supporting wireless positioning of the UE).

[0116] In some implementations, the indication from the UE to the network entity includes one or more GDOPs determined by the UE. In this manner, the UE 104 may determine one or more GDOPs (as described above), and the UE 104 may indicate one or more GDOPs to the location server 172 (e.g., via a report to a base station or relay UE of the wireless network 100). As mentioned above, the indication may be included in any suitable report to the base station or relay UE between the base station and the UE, and the base station may provide the indication to the location server 172 (e.g., through the core network 170). The indication may also indicate a combination of TRP candidates associated with each GDOP. In this manner, the location server 172 may determine a combination of TRP candidates associated with the GDOP from the indication.

[0117] In some implementations, the indication may include TRP candidates selected by the UE for wireless positioning. In this manner, the UE may exclusively determine the TRP candidates to be used for wireless positioning and indicate the selection to the wireless network 100. The location server 172 may obtain the indication of the selection, configure the selected TRP for wireless positioning, and indicate the configuration to the wireless network 100 (e.g., to a base station to provide the configuration to the UE for wireless positioning). In some implementations, based on the selection by the UE (and / or selection by other UEs in the wireless network), the location server 172 may prune the TRPs to be used for wireless positioning to those indicated by one or more UEs in the wireless network 100.

[0118] Instead of the UE selecting the TRP candidates to be used for wireless positioning, the location server 172 may select one or more TRP candidates for wireless positioning of the UE. In some implementations, the indication includes all of the GDOPs determined by the UE. For example, if the UE selects five combinations of TRP candidates and determines five GDOPs, the UE may include the five GDOPs in a report to the base station. The location server 172 may select one or more TRP candidates to be used for wireless positioning of the UE based on the obtained GDOPs. In some other implementations, the indication includes only a subset of the GDOPs determined by the UE (the location server 172 selects one or more TRP candidates to be used for wireless positioning based on the obtained GDOPs). For example, the UE may determine multiple combinations of TRP candidates (the multiple combinations include one or more combinations of TRP candidates), and the UE may determine a GDOP for each of the multiple combinations. The one or more GDOPs to be included in the indication may be selected by the UE based on a GDOP threshold.

[0119] For example, the UE may indicate one or more combinations of TRP candidates to be included or considered for selection as a TRP for wireless positioning. The combinations of TRP candidates to be considered may be associated with a GDOP less than a GDOP threshold. As mentioned above, the GDOP may be associated with the accuracy of the UE's position estimate, with a smaller GDOP corresponding to a smaller possible error in the position estimate. In this manner, any GDOP greater than the GDOP threshold may be excluded from the indication. When excluding a GDOP, the combinations of TRP candidates associated with the excluded GDOP may be excluded from consideration as a combination of TRPs to be used for wireless positioning of the UE.

[0120] In another example, the UE may indicate one or more TRP candidates that should be excluded from being used for wireless positioning of the UE (e.g., excluded from selection by the location server). The TRP candidates to be excluded may be associated with a GDOP greater than a GDOP threshold. As discussed above, the GDOP may be associated with the accuracy of the UE's position estimate, with a greater GDOP corresponding to a greater possible error in the position estimate. In this manner, any GDOP less than the GDOP threshold may be excluded from the indication. The location server 172 may exclude from consideration the combination of TRP candidates associated with the GDOP included in the indication, and the location server 172 may select a TRP for wireless communication from any remaining combination. In excluding a GDOP from being reported by the UE to the location server 172, the combination of TRP candidates associated with the excluded GDOP may remain under consideration for wireless positioning of the UE. By reducing the number of GDOPs to be reported to those GDOPs associated with combinations of TRP candidates that should be excluded from or included in consideration in determining the final TRP, the UE may reduce signaling overhead in indicating the GDOPs to a network entity (which forwards an indication to the location server 172).

[0121] In some implementations, the indication associated with the one or more GDOPs includes an indication of one or more preferred TRPs for wireless positioning. In this manner, the location server 172 may select one or more TRPs for wireless positioning of the UE based on the one or more preferred TRPs indicated by the UE.

[0122] FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 900 of wireless positioning of a UE in a wireless network. The method 900 may be an example implementation of the method 800 of FIG. 8, where the selection of one or more TRPs for wireless positioning is based on an indication of one or more preferred TRPs from the UE (and optionally information from other UEs in the wireless network). The example method 900 may be performed by a UE of a wireless network for which wireless positioning is to be performed, such as the UE 104 shown in FIG. 1 or the UE 300 shown in FIG. 3, in a manner consistent with the disclosed implementations. Although a UE is described herein as performing the method 900, any other suitable device or component may perform one or more operations of the method 900. A device that may perform one or more operations of the method 900 may include at least one transceiver (such as one or more wireless transceivers and / or one or more wired transceivers), at least one memory, and at least one processor coupled to the at least one transceiver and the at least one memory. Referring to UE 300 as an exemplary device, the at least one transceiver may include transceiver 315 or wireless transceiver 340, the at least one memory may include memory 311, and the at least one processor may include one or more of processors 310, one or more of processors 330 through 334, or location device 319. Referring to base station 400 as an exemplary device, the at least one transceiver may include all or a portion of transceiver 415, the at least one memory may include memory 411, and the at least one processor may include processor 410. Referring to server 500 (e.g., location server) as an exemplary device, the at least one transceiver may include all or a portion of transceiver 515, the at least one memory may include memory 511, and the at least one processor may include processor 510.

[0123] In block 902, the UE determines, for one or more combinations of TRP candidates, a GDOP associated with the combination of TRP candidates. The means for determining one or more GDOPs may include at least one processor of the UE. One or more operations of block 902 may be the same as the operations of block 802 of method 800 described above.

[0124] At block 904, the UE determines one or more preferred TRPs from the plurality of TRP candidates based on the one or more GDOPs. The means for determining one or more preferred TRPs may include at least one processor of the UE. In some implementations, the UE may indicate one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates based on the determined GDOPs. For example, the UE may indicate one or more combinations associated with a GDOP less than a GDOP threshold. In another example, the UE may indicate a combination associated with a lowest GDOP among all determined GDOPs. The indication may indicate the preferred TRP as a combination of TRP candidates associated with the GDOP, or the indication may indicate the preferred TRP as a list of TRPs that may not be associated with a particular combination of TRP candidates.

[0125] In addition to determining one or more preferred TRPs based on one or more GDOPs, the UE may determine one or more preferred TRPs based on one or more quality measurement results of the PRS from one or more TRP candidates. For example, in block 906, the UE may optionally determine one or more quality measurement results of the PRS from one or more TRP candidates, where determining one or more preferred TRPs is also based on the one or more quality measurement results. The means for determining one or more quality measurement results of the PRS from one or more TRP candidates may include at least one processor and / or at least one transceiver of the UE (which may be collectively referred to as at least one processor of the UE). Exemplary quality measurement results may include one or more of a reference signal received power (RSRP) of the PRS received at the UE or a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the PRS received at the UE. Additionally or alternatively, other quality measurements may be used, such as a signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) of the PRS, a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) associated with the PRS and noise, a Doppler shift or Doppler spread associated with the PRS, or other suitable quality measurements. Although a quality measurement of the PRS is described, a quality measurement of any suitable signal from the TRP candidate, such as other reference signals or data signals from the TRP candidate, may be determined and used.

[0126] The quality measurement result may indicate whether the UE may have difficulty successfully decoding the PRS from the TRP candidate. For example, if the RSRP is less than the RSRP threshold or the SNR is less than an SNR threshold associated with a signal threshold level below which acquisition and / or decoding of the PRS may be inaccurate, the associated TRP candidate may be a poor candidate for wireless positioning of the UE. In some implementations, the UE may determine one or more quality measures (such as the RSRP and / or SNR of the PRS) associated with the TRP candidate, compare the one or more quality measures to one or more thresholds (such as comparing the determined RSRP to the RSRP threshold and / or comparing the determined SNR to the SNR threshold), and exclude the TRP candidate from being selected for wireless positioning of the UE based on the comparison (such as the determined RSRP is less than the RSRP threshold or the determined SNR is less than the SNR threshold).

[0127] In some implementations, the UE may narrow down a group of TRP candidates (e.g., eliminate TRP candidates) in a two-step process. The first step may include narrowing down a group of TRP candidates based on one or more GDOPs (e.g., based on comparing the GDOP to a GDOP threshold). For example, the UE may eliminate a TRP candidate from consideration if the TRP candidate is among a combination of TRP candidates associated with a GDOP less than a GDOP threshold. In another example, a particular combination of TRP candidates associated with a GDOP less than a GDOP threshold may be eliminated from consideration (but the TRP candidate may still be included in a different combination that may be selected for wireless positioning).

[0128] After filtering out the TRP candidates based on one or more GDOPs, a second step of filtering out the TRP candidates may include the UE filtering out the TRP candidates (already filtered out in the first step) based on one or more quality measurements. For example, if the RSRP of a PRS from a TRP candidate (still among the TRP candidates) is less than an RSRP threshold, the TRP candidate may be removed from consideration. As used herein, filtering may refer to removing or excluding one or more objects from a group. For example, filtering out the TRP candidates may refer to excluding one or more TRP candidates of the TRP candidates from being used for wireless positioning of the UE.

[0129] At block 908, the UE provides an indication of one or more preferred TRPs to a network entity in the wireless network. The means for providing the indication may include at least one transceiver of the UE. In some implementations, the indication of the one or more preferred TRPs may include an indication of TRPs that are excluded based on GDOP and / or quality measurement results. In some other implementations, the indication of the one or more preferred TRPs may include an indication of remaining TRP candidates after narrowing down by the UE.

[0130] Although not shown, the location server 172 may obtain an indication and select a TRP to be used for wireless positioning of the UE based on the indication. Referring back to FIG. 1, multiple UEs 104 may be present in the wireless network 100, and the wireless network 100 may be configured to support wireless positioning for the multiple UEs 104. In this manner, the location server 172 may determine a TRP to be used for wireless positioning of not only one UE 104 (such as the UEs mentioned in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 above), but also multiple UEs 104. In this manner, the selected TRP may be used for wireless positioning of more than one UE 104 in the wireless network. The other UEs 104 may indicate a preferred TRP for wireless positioning, and the selection of one or more of the multiple TRP candidates for wireless positioning of the UE may also be based on one or more indications of a preferred TRP from one or more other UEs 104 in the wireless network 100.

[0131] In some implementations, the preferred combination of TRPs may be obtained from multiple UEs at the location server 172. From the preferred combination of TRPs, the location server 172 may determine a minimum subset of TRPs to be used for wireless positioning of all intended UEs 104 in the wireless network 100. Additionally or alternatively, the location server 172 may determine a combination of TRPs that may not be the most preferred combination of TRPs for a particular UE, but may be a suitable combination of TRPs for multiple UEs. The above example is given for ease of explanation of aspects of the present disclosure, and any other suitable scheme may be performed in determining the final TRPs to be used for wireless positioning.

[0132] Instead of or in addition to using one or more quality measurements in determining one or more preferred TRPs, determining one or more preferred TRPs may be based on power savings of the UE. For example, a PRS may be transmitted from a TRP candidate at a dedicated time, which may be determined by the location server 172. If one or more TRP candidates are excluded from wireless positioning for the UE, the UE may place one or more radio frequency (RF) chains of the UE in a low power mode during the time that the excluded TRPs will transmit the PRS. For example, the UE 300 may reduce or eliminate power to one or more components of the wireless transceiver 340. In some implementations, all RF chains may be placed in a low power mode. Additionally or alternatively, the UE 300 may reduce or eliminate power to a baseband processing system (which may include one or more UE components configured for baseband processing) during the time that the excluded TRPs will transmit the PRS. Conversely, the UE may place one or more RF chains (and / or the baseband processing system) in an active mode during the time associated with the remaining TRPs to transmit the PRS. For example, the modem processor 332 or other components of the UE 300 (such as one or more components of the transceiver 315) may be included in or configured to implement a baseband processing system.

[0133] Selecting a TRP for which the times associated with transmitting the PRS are close in time to one another may reduce the length of time that one or more RF chains (and the baseband processing system) will remain in active mode to obtain and process the PRS from the selected TRP. Conversely, if those times are farther apart from one another, the length of time that one or more RF chains (and the baseband processing system) will remain in active mode to obtain and process the PRS from the selected TRP may increase. In some implementations, the UE may determine a preferred TRP based also on a length of time associated with when the PRS (or other suitable signal for wireless positioning) is transmitted by those preferred TRPs.

[0134] FIG. 10 shows a diagram 1000 of different example PRS times 1012-1018 associated with different base stations 1002-1008 for wireless positioning. As used herein, a PRS time may refer to a time at which a UE acquires a PRS from a base station. For example, base station 1002 is a serving (reference) base station for the UE. The UE may acquire a PRS from the reference base station 1002 during PRS time 1012 of slot 1010. A PRS time during a slot may refer to a possible symbol of a slot during which a PRS may occupy the slot. The UE may acquire a PRS from a neighbor base station 1004 during PRS time 1014 of slot 1010, the UE may acquire a PRS from a neighbor base station 1006 during PRS time 1016 of slot 1010, and the UE may acquire a PRS from a neighbor base station 1008 during PRS time 1018 of slot 1010. One or more of the RF chains (and baseband processing system) of the UE should remain in an active mode for a PRS time associated with a base station selected as a TRP for wireless positioning of the UE. The time that one or more RF chains (and baseband processing system or other components) should remain in an active mode associated with measuring a PRS from a combination of TRP candidates is referred to as a time length (which may be between slots). The time length 1020 corresponds to base stations 1002, 1004, and 1008 being selected as TRPs for the UE (base station 1006 is excluded from the TRP). The time length between slots may refer to a combination of possible symbols during which one or more PRSs from the selected TRPs may occupy the slots. As illustrated for the time length 1020, one or more RF chains of the UE may enter a low power mode for at least a portion of the PRS time 1016 since the UE should not hear a PRS from a neighbor base station 1006. The time length 1022 corresponds to at least base stations 1004 and 1006 being selected as TRPs for the UE. As shown, PRS time 1014 may be greater than duration 1020 because it is further in time from PRS time 1016 than PRS time 1018 .In this manner, the UE may be required to be in active mode for a longer or shorter length of time based on the TRP selected for wireless positioning of the UE. Although not shown, the length of time may correspond to the union of PRS times 1012, 1016, and 1018 for base stations 1002, 1006, and 1008 being selected as the TRP for the UE (base station 1004 is excluded from the TRP).

[0135] As mentioned above, the location server 172 may indicate which TRPs should be configured for wireless positioning for the UE. The UE may obtain an indication of one or more candidate TRPs to be selected, and the one or more selected TRPs should transmit a PRS during a first portion of time (e.g., during the associated time lengths shown in FIG. 10). The UE may place one or more RF chains of the wireless transceiver in an active mode during the first portion of time to measure the PRS from the one or more selected TRPs, and the UE may place one or more RF chains from the active mode into a low power mode during a second portion of time (e.g., outside the associated time lengths of the selected TRPs). The second portion of time may be a time during which the one or more selected TRPs do not transmit a PRS. For example, the second portion of time is associated with one or more non-selected TRPs transmitting a PRS. In some implementations, all RF chains and the baseband processing system may be placed in a low power mode during the second portion of time, which may prevent the UE from measuring the PRS from the one or more non-selected TRPs.

[0136] In some implementations, the selection of one or more TRP candidates for wireless positioning may be based on reducing the time length associated with measuring the PRS from the one or more TRP candidates to be selected. In addition to or instead of the UE determining one or more quality measurements (the selection of one or more preferred TRPs is based on one or more quality measurements), the UE may determine, for each of one or more combinations of TRP candidates, a time length associated with measuring the PRS from the TRP candidates. For example, determining one or more preferred TRPs includes determining one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates (which may be based on one or more of a GDOP, a quality measurement, or a time length associated with the combination). An indication to the network entity may indicate the time length determined for each of one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates. In this manner, the selection of one or more TRP candidates to be used for wireless positioning of the UE (e.g., by the location server 172 obtaining the indicated time length for the preferred combination) may be based on reducing the time length associated with measuring the PRS from the one or more TRP candidates to be selected for wireless positioning. For example, the location server 172 may select the combination of TRP candidates associated with the shortest duration or duration less than a threshold. The location server 172 may consider the duration (as well as other measures, such as GDOP and / or quality measurements) for multiple UEs to determine a final group of TRPs to be used for wireless positioning of the UE. As mentioned above, the location server 172 may indicate the selection and additional information (PRS timing, PRS frequency, etc.) to the UE.

[0137] As mentioned above, determining one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates may be based on one or more time lengths determined by the UE. For example, the UE may narrow down the combinations of TRP candidates based on the time lengths being less than a threshold. For example, in narrowing down the combinations of TRP candidates, the UE may determine a first time length for a first combination of TRP candidates associated with a first GDOP. The UE may also determine a second time length for a second combination of TRP candidates associated with a second GDOP. In some implementations, the second GDOP may be within a tolerance of the first GDOP. Thus, the first GDOP and the second GDOP may be similar enough that either the first or second combination of TRP candidates is acceptable for wireless positioning if based on GDOP alone. In some implementations, both GDOPs may be less than a GDOP threshold used to narrow down the combinations of TRP candidates based on GDOP.

[0138] When comparing the first length of time and the second length of time, the second length of time may be greater than the first length of time. Thus, when the second combination of TRP candidates is selected, one or more components of the UE must remain in an active mode longer than when the second combination of TRP candidates is selected, increasing the processing and power requirements of the UE. In some implementations, the UE may select the first combination of TRP candidates over the second combination of TRP candidates for one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates based on the first length of time being less than the second length of time. In some implementations, the UE may determine whether the first length of time is less than the second length of time by more than a tolerance or threshold length of time. In some other implementations, the UE may exclude a combination of TRP candidates if the associated length of time is greater than the threshold length of time.

[0139] Determining the time length may be based on the assistance data. For example, one or more gNBs may provide NR-DL-PRS for wireless positioning. A serving base station (e.g., serving gNB) or one or more neighboring base stations (e.g., gNBs) may provide one or more NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData IEs. The one or more NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData IEs may include an expected RSTD value of the NR-DL-PRS (NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD) and an uncertainty value of the NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD (NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD-Uncertainty) associated with the pair of TRP PRS resource candidates (e.g., for a serving gNB and a neighboring gNB). The assistance data may indicate a time or possible symbols during which the PRS may occupy a slot for the pair of TRPs, and such information may be used in determining the time length for the combination of TRPs (e.g., based on the assistance data for each pair of serving gNB and neighboring gNB in ​​the combination). In this manner, the UE may determine the duration (such as the first duration and the second duration from the example above) based on one or more values ​​of NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD and NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD-Uncertainty. Exemplary assistance data provided to the UE is described in release 16 of the 3GPP suite of standards. In some implementations, the assistance data may identify a pair of base stations (TRPs). Additionally or alternatively, the assistance data may include configurations of NR-DL-PRS from one or both of the pair of base stations to assist the UE in listening for or measuring the PRS from the pair of base stations.

[0140] In some implementations, the UE may provide an indication to a network entity once, and a TRP is selected for future wireless positioning of the UE. For example, if the UE is static (e.g., does not move more than a threshold distance), the selected TRP may remain suitable for wireless positioning of the UE. However, the UE (e.g., a mobile phone) may move within the wireless network. Thus, a previously selected TRP for wireless positioning may no longer be suitable for wireless positioning if the UE moves within the wireless network (which may change the geometry of the TRP and the UE and affect the GDOP associated with the selected TRP).

[0141] In some implementations, the wireless network 100 may be configured to adjust the TRPs to be used for wireless positioning of the UE. For example, the location server 172 may adjust (e.g., reselect) which TRPs should be used for wireless positioning of the UE. This adjustment may be performed at any suitable time. For example, the adjustment (or determining whether the adjustment should be performed) may be periodic. Additionally or alternatively, the adjustment may be based on a trigger. As used herein, adjusting the TRPs may refer to one or more of excluding one or more previously selected TRPs or including one or more previously selected TRPs. Adjusting the TRPs may refer to reworking a previously selected combination of TRPs for wireless positioning or selecting a new combination of TRPs for wireless positioning based on an updated GDOP or other information indicated by the UE (or one or more other UEs in the wireless network).

[0142] If the adjustment may be periodic, the UE may provide the indication to the network entity periodically. For example, the UE may execute method 800 periodically, as described above. As noted above, the movement of the UE may affect the GDOP determined by the UE. In some implementations, the period of providing the indication to the network entity (such as the period of executing method 800) may be based on the movement of the UE. For example, the UE may determine its movement based on one or more IMU measurements, or based on a succession of the UE's location determined using wireless positioning. If the movement is greater than a threshold (such as a displacement greater than a threshold, a speed greater than a threshold, or any other suitable measure of the UE's movement), the UE may increase the period of providing the indication to the network entity (the indication may be provided to the location server 172 to determine whether to adjust the selection of the TRP for the UE). In one example, the increasing period may be a number of steps associated with an increase in the UE's speed or displacement, a linear function, or another correlation between the UE's movement and when to provide the indication to the network entity. Although several examples are given for determining the period for providing an indication, any suitable scheme may be implemented in determining the period.

[0143] When providing the indication may be based on a trigger, the trigger may be based on a movement of the UE, a request from the location server 172, or another suitable trigger. For example, when the UE determines that the UE's speed or the UE's displacement is greater than a threshold, the UE may perform the method 800 and provide the indication to a network entity, and the location server 172 determines a new TRP for wireless positioning of the UE based on the indication. In another example, the UE may obtain a request from a network entity to provide an indication. For example, the location server 172 may determine that an indication is to be requested from the UE. The location server 172 may send the request to a serving gNB via the core network 170, and the serving gNB may provide the request to the UE. Based on obtaining the request, the UE may provide the indication to the network entity (e.g., by performing the method 800). The indication may be forwarded by the network entity (e.g., a gNB) to the location server 172, and the location server 172 may select a new TRP for wireless positioning of the UE. When location server 172 may request an indication may be determined in any suitable manner, such as periodically or by determining that the UE has moved based on the UE's previously determined location. As discussed above, once a TRP is selected for wireless positioning and the UE and the selected TRP are configured, the UE may determine its location during UE-based positioning. Additionally or alternatively, location server 172 may determine the location of the UE during UE-assisted positioning.

[0144] References throughout this specification to "one example," "an example," "some examples," or "exemplary implementations" mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described with respect to a feature and / or example may be included in at least one feature and / or example of the claimed subject matter. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one example," "an example," "some examples," or "in some implementations" or other similar phrases in various places throughout this specification do not necessarily all refer to the same features, examples, and / or limitations. Furthermore, particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in one or more examples and / or characteristics.

[0145] Some portions of the detailed description contained herein are presented in terms of algorithms or symbolic representations of operations on binary digital signals stored in a memory of a specific apparatus or special purpose computing device or platform. In the context of this particular specification, the term specific apparatus or the like includes a general purpose computer that, when programmed, performs particular operations pursuant to instructions from program software. Algorithmic descriptions or symbolic representations are examples of techniques used by those skilled in the signal processing or related arts to convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is herein, and generally, considered to be a self-consistent sequence of operations or similar signal processing that leads to a desired result. In this context, operations or processing involve physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, but not necessarily, such quantities may take the form of electrical or magnetic signals that can be stored, transferred, combined, compared, or otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, primarily for reasons of common usage, to refer to such signals as bits, data, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, values, or the like. It should be understood, however, that all of these or similar terms should be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels. Unless otherwise indicated, and as will be apparent from the description herein, it will be understood that throughout this specification, descriptions utilizing terms such as "processing," "computing," "calculating," "determining," and the like refer to the actions or processes of a particular apparatus, such as a special purpose computer, a special purpose computing apparatus, or a similar special purpose electronic computing device. Thus, in the context of this specification, a special purpose computer or a similar special purpose electronic computing device is capable of manipulating or transforming signals, which are typically represented as physical electronic or magnetic quantities in the memory, registers, or other information storage, transmission, or display devices of the special purpose computer or similar special purpose electronic computing device.

[0146] In the above detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the claimed subject matter. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the claimed subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, methods and apparatuses that would be known by those skilled in the art have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the claimed subject matter.

[0147] The terms "and," "or," and "and / or" as used herein may include a variety of meanings that are also expected to depend, at least in part, on the context in which such terms are used. Typically, when "or" is used to link an enumeration such as A, B, or C, it is intended to mean A, B, and C, which are used herein in an inclusive sense, as well as A, B, or C, which are used herein in an exclusive sense. In addition, the term "one or more" as used herein may be used to describe any feature, structure, or characteristic in the singular, or may be used to describe a plurality of features, structures, or characteristics, or some other combination of features, structures, or characteristics. However, it should be noted that this is merely an illustrative example, and claimed subject matter is not limited to this example.

[0148] While what are presently considered to be exemplary features have been illustrated and described, it would be understood by those skilled in the art that various other modifications may be made and equivalents may be substituted without departing from the claimed subject matter. Additionally, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation to the teachings of the claimed subject matter without departing from the central concept described herein.

[0149] Example implementations are described in the following numbered clauses. 1. A method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network for wireless positioning of the UE, comprising: Determining one or more geometric dilution of precision factors (GDOP), For each combination of transmitting / receiving points (TRPs) candidates from a plurality of TRP candidates for wireless positioning, determining a GDOP associated with the combination of TRP candidates. Steps and and providing an indication associated with one or more GDOPs to a network entity in the wireless network, wherein one or more TRP candidates of the plurality of TRP candidates are to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE based on the indication. 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the indication includes one or more GDOPs determined by the UE. 3. Determining a plurality of GDOPs, For each combination of TRP candidates of a plurality of combinations of TRP candidates from a plurality of TRPs for wireless positioning, determining a GDOP associated with the combination of TRP candidates, wherein the plurality of combinations of TRP candidates includes one or more combinations of TRP candidates; Steps and and selecting one or more GDOPs from a plurality of GDOPs determined by the UE, wherein the selection is based on a GDOP threshold. 4. The method of clause 3, wherein the step of selecting one or more GDOPs is based on each GDOP of the one or more GDOPs being greater than a GDOP threshold. 5. The method of clause 3, wherein the step of selecting one or more GDOPs is based on each GDOP of the one or more GDOPs being less than a GDOP threshold. 6. The method of clause 1, further comprising determining one or more preferred TRPs from the plurality of TRP candidates based on one or more GDOPs, wherein the indicia indicate the one or more preferred TRPs. 7. The method of clause 6, further comprising determining one or more quality measurements of a positioning reference signal (PRS) from at least one TRP candidate of the plurality of TRP candidates, wherein determining the one or more preferred TRPs is also based on the one or more quality measurements. 8. One or more quality measurements are: Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), or Reference signal received power (RSRP) (a) the method of any one of the preceding paragraphs; 9. The step of determining one or more preferred TRPs comprises: Narrowing down a number of potential TRPs based on one or more GDOPs; and filtering the narrowed number of candidate TRPs based on the one or more quality measurements. 10. The method of clause 6, wherein the one or more TRP candidates to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE are also based on one or more indications of preferred TRPs from one or more other UEs in the wireless network. 11. obtaining an indication of one or more TRP candidates to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE, the one or more TRP candidates being to transmit a positioning reference signal (PRS) during a first portion of time; placing one or more radio frequency (RF) chains of the UE in an active mode during a first portion of time to measure PRS from one or more TRP candidates; and transitioning one or more RF chains of the UE from an active mode to a low power mode during a second portion of time during which the one or more TRP candidates do not transmit a PRS. 12. Further comprising placing all RF chains and a baseband processing system of the UE in a low power mode during a second portion of the time; a second portion of the time is associated with one or more unselected TRPs transmitting a PRS; The method of clause 11, wherein the RF chain and baseband processing system are placed in a low power mode to prevent the UE from measuring PRS from one or more non-selected TRPs. 13. For each combination of TRP candidates of the one or more combinations of TRP candidates, determining a length of time associated with measuring a PRS from the combination of TRP candidates; determining one or more preferred TRPs comprises determining one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates, the one or more combinations of TRP candidates comprising one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates; the indicia indicating the length of time for each preferred combination of the TRP candidates of one or more preferred combinations of the TRP candidates; The method of clause 6, wherein one or more TRP candidates to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE are based on an indication of a time length for each preferred combination of the TRP candidates. 14. The method of clause 13, wherein the step of determining one or more preferred combinations of candidate TRPs is based on one or more lengths of time. 15. The step of determining one or more preferred combinations of candidate TRPs comprises: determining a first duration for a first combination of TRP candidates associated with a first GDOP; determining a second length of time for a second combination of TRP candidates associated with a second GDOP that is within a tolerance of the first GDOP, the second length of time being greater than the first length of time; and selecting the first combination of TRP candidates over the second combination of TRP candidates based on the first length of time being less than the second length of time. 16. The method further includes obtaining one or more new radio (NR) downlink (DL) PRS assistance data (NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData) information elements (IEs) associated with the TRP candidates; one or more NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData IEs include, for each pair of TRP PRS resource candidates of one or more pairs of TRP PRS resource candidates, an NR-DL-PRS expected reference signal time difference value (NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD) and an NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD uncertainty value (NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD-Uncertainty) associated with the pair of TRP PRS resource candidates; 16. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the first length of time and the second length of time is based on an NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD value and an NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD-Uncertainty value in one or more NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData IEs. 17. The method of clause 1, wherein the number of TRP candidates to be included in the TRP candidate combination is adjustable. 18. The method of clause 1, further comprising obtaining a request from a network entity to provide the indication, the UE providing the indication to the network entity based on obtaining the request. 19. The method of clause 1, wherein providing the indicia to the network entity includes periodically providing new indicia to the network entity. 20. The method of clause 19, wherein the periodicity is based on UE movement. 21. The method of clause 1, wherein the network entity is a base station serving the UE. 22. A user equipment (UE) in a wireless network configured for wireless positioning of the UE, comprising: at least one transceiver configured to provide an indication related to one or more geometric dilution of precision factors (GDOPs) to a network entity in a wireless network, where one or more transmit / receive point (TRP) candidates of a plurality of TRP candidates are to be used by a UE for wireless positioning of the UE based on the indication; At least one memory; at least one processor coupled to the at least one transceiver and the at least one memory, the at least one processor comprising: For each combination of TRP candidates of one or more combinations of TRP candidates from a plurality of TRP candidates for wireless positioning, determining a GDOP associated with the combination of TRP candidates. The UE is configured to determine one or more GDOPs associated with the indication. 23. A UE under Article 22, including one or more GDOPs whose indications are determined by the UE. 24. At least one processor further comprises: determining a plurality of GDOPs, For each combination of TRP candidates of a plurality of combinations of TRP candidates from a plurality of TRPs for wireless positioning, determining a GDOP associated with the combination of TRP candidates, wherein the plurality of combinations of TRP candidates includes one or more combinations of TRP candidates; To decide; and selecting one or more GDOPs from a plurality of GDOPs determined by the UE, the selection being based on a GDOP threshold. 25. The UE of clause 24, where the selection of one or more GDOPs is based on each GDOP of the one or more GDOPs being greater than a GDOP threshold. 26. The UE of clause 24, where the selection of one or more GDOPs is based on each GDOP of the one or more GDOPs being less than a GDOP threshold. 27. The UE of clause 22, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine one or more preferred TRPs from the plurality of TRP candidates based on the one or more GDOPs, and the indication indicates the one or more preferred TRPs. 28. The UE of clause 27, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine one or more quality measurements of a positioning reference signal (PRS) from at least one TRP candidate of the plurality of TRP candidates, and wherein determining the one or more preferred TRPs is also based on the one or more quality measurements. 29. One or more quality measurements are: Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), or Reference signal received power (RSRP) UE of clause 28, including one or more of the following: 30. At least one processor, for determining one or more preferred TRPs, Narrow down multiple TRP candidates based on one or more GDOPs, The UE of clause 28, configured to filter a plurality of TRP candidates based on one or more quality measurement results. 31. The UE of clause 27, wherein the one or more TRP candidates to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE are also based on one or more indications of preferred TRPs from one or more other UEs in the wireless network. 32. At least one transceiver further comprises: Obtaining an indication of one or more TRP candidates to be used by the UE, the one or more TRP candidates to transmit a positioning reference signal (PRS) during a first portion of time; placing one or more radio frequency (RF) chains of at least one transceiver in an active mode during a first portion of time to measure PRS from one or more TRP candidates; The UE of clause 27, configured to place one or more RF chains of at least one transceiver from an active mode to a low power mode during a second portion of time during which the one or more TRP candidates do not transmit a PRS. 33. The at least one transceiver is further configured to place all RF chains and a baseband processing system of the UE in a low power mode during a second portion of the time; a second portion of the time is associated with one or more unselected TRPs transmitting a PRS; UE of clause 32, in which the RF chain and baseband processing system are placed in a low power mode, which prevents the UE from measuring PRS from one or more non-selected TRPs. 34. The at least one processor is further configured to determine, for each combination of TRP candidates of the one or more combinations of TRP candidates, a length of time associated with measuring a PRS from the combination of TRP candidates; The at least one processor is further configured to determine one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates to determine one or more preferred TRPs, the one or more combinations of TRP candidates comprising one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates; the indicia indicating the length of time for each preferred combination of the TRP candidates of one or more preferred combinations of the TRP candidates; 28. The UE of clause 27, wherein one or more TRP candidates to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE are based on an indication of a time length for each preferred combination of the TRP candidates. 35. The UE of clause 34, wherein the determination of the one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates is based on one or more lengths of time. 36. The at least one processor further comprises: determining a first time length for a first combination of TRP candidates associated with a first GDOP; determining a second length of time for a second combination of TRP candidates associated with a second GDOP that is within a tolerance of the first GDOP, the second length of time being greater than the first length of time; 36. The UE of clause 35, configured to select the first combination of TRP candidates over the second combination of TRP candidates based on the first length of time being less than the second length of time. 37. The at least one transceiver is further configured to obtain one or more new radio (NR) downlink (DL) PRS assistance data (NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData) information elements (IEs) associated with the TRP candidates; one or more NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData IEs include, for each pair of TRP PRS resource candidates of one or more pairs of TRP PRS resource candidates, an NR-DL-PRS expected reference signal time difference value (NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD) and an NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD uncertainty value (NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD-Uncertainty) associated with the pair of TRP PRS resource candidates; The UE of clause 36, wherein determining the first length of time and the second length of time is based on an NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD value and an NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD-Uncertainty value in one or more NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData IEs. 38. A UE under clause 22, in which the number of TRP candidates to be included in the TRP candidate combination is adjustable. 39. The UE of clause 22, wherein the at least one transceiver is further configured to obtain a request from the network entity to provide the indication, and the UE is configured to provide the indication to the network entity based on obtaining the request. 40. The UE of clause 22, wherein the at least one transceiver is further configured to periodically provide a new indication to the network entity. 41. A UE under clause 40, where the periodicity is based on the UE's movements. 42. A UE according to clause 22, wherein the network entity is a base station serving the UE. 43. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions, when executed by at least one processor of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network configured for wireless positioning of the UE, causing the UE to: determining one or more geometric dilution of precision factors (GDOPs); For each combination of transmitting / receiving points (TRPs) from a plurality of TRP candidates for wireless positioning, determining, via the at least one processor, a GDOP associated with the combination of TRP candidates. determining, A non-transitory computer-readable medium that causes a network entity in a wireless network to provide, via at least one transceiver of a UE, an indication associated with one or more GDOPs, wherein one or more TRP candidates of a plurality of TRP candidates are to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE based on the indication. 44. The computer-readable medium of clause 43, comprising one or more GDOPs, the indication of which is determined by the UE. 45. To UE, determining a plurality of GDOPs, For each combination of TRP candidates from a plurality of combinations of TRP candidates from a plurality of TRPs for wireless positioning, determining a GDOP associated with the combination of TRP candidates, wherein the plurality of combinations of TRP candidates includes one or more combinations of TRP candidates; To decide; and selecting one or more GDOPs from the plurality of GDOPs determined by the UE, the selection being based on a GDOP threshold. 46. ​​The computer-readable medium of clause 45, wherein the selection of the one or more GDOPs is based on each GDOP of the one or more GDOPs being greater than a GDOP threshold. 47. The computer-readable medium of clause 45, wherein the selection of the one or more GDOPs is based on each GDOP of the one or more GDOPs being less than a GDOP threshold. 48. The computer-readable medium of clause 43, further comprising instructions for causing the UE to determine one or more preferred TRPs from a plurality of TRP candidates based on one or more GDOPs, wherein an indication indicates the one or more preferred TRPs. 49. The computer-readable medium of clause 48, further comprising instructions for causing the UE to determine one or more quality measurements of a positioning reference signal (PRS) from at least one TRP candidate of the plurality of TRP candidates, wherein determining the one or more preferred TRPs is also based on the one or more quality measurements. 50. One or more quality measurements are: Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), or Reference signal received power (RSRP) The computer readable medium of clause 49, including one or more of: 51. To determine one or more preferred TRPs, the computer-readable medium further includes a step of: Narrow down multiple TRP candidates based on one or more GDOPs, Narrow down multiple TRP candidates based on one or more quality metrics 49. A computer readable medium comprising instructions for: 52. The computer-readable medium of clause 48, wherein the one or more TRP candidates to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE are also based on one or more indications of preferred TRPs from one or more other UEs in the wireless network. 53. To UE, obtaining, via at least one transceiver, an indication of one or more TRP candidates to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE, the one or more TRP candidates being to transmit a positioning reference signal (PRS) during a first portion of time; placing one or more radio frequency (RF) chains of at least one transceiver in an active mode during a first portion of time to measure PRS from one or more TRP candidates; placing one or more RF chains of the at least one transceiver from an active mode to a low power mode during a second portion of time during which the one or more TRP candidates are not transmitting a PRS; The computer readable medium of clause 48, further comprising instructions for causing the computer to: 54. Further comprising instructions for causing the UE to place all RF chains and a baseband processing system of the UE into a low power mode during a second portion of the time; a second portion of the time is associated with one or more unselected TRPs transmitting a PRS; The computer-readable medium of clause 53, wherein placing the RF chain and baseband processing system in a low power mode prevents the UE from measuring a PRS from one or more non-selected TRPs. 55. Further comprising instructions for causing the UE to determine, for each combination of TRP candidates of the one or more combinations of TRP candidates, a time length associated with measuring a PRS from the combination of TRP candidates; To determine one or more preferred TRPs, the computer-readable medium further includes instructions for causing the UE to determine one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates, the one or more combinations of TRP candidates including one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates; the indicia indicating the length of time for each preferred combination of the TRP candidates of one or more preferred combinations of the TRP candidates; 49. The computer-readable medium of clause 48, wherein one or more TRP candidates to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE are based on an indication of a time length for each preferred combination of the TRP candidates. 56. The computer-readable medium of clause 55, wherein determining the one or more preferred combinations of candidate TRPs is based on one or more lengths of time. 57. To determine one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates, the computer-readable medium further includes a step of: determining a first time length for a first combination of candidate TRPs associated with a first GDOP; determining a second length of time for a second combination of TRP candidates associated with a second GDOP that is within a tolerance of the first GDOP, the second length of time being greater than the first length of time; 57. The computer-readable medium of clause 56, comprising instructions for causing selection of the first combination of TRP candidates over the second combination of TRP candidates based on the first length of time being less than the second length of time. 58. The method further includes instructions for causing the UE to obtain, via the at least one transceiver, one or more new radio (NR) downlink (DL) PRS assistance data (NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData) information elements (IEs) associated with the TRP candidates; one or more NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData IEs include, for each pair of TRP PRS resource candidates of one or more pairs of TRP PRS resource candidates, an NR-DL-PRS expected reference signal time difference value (NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD) and an NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD uncertainty value (NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD-Uncertainty) associated with the pair of TRP PRS resource candidates; 58. The computer-readable medium of clause 57, wherein determining the first length of time and the second length of time is based on an NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD value and an NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD-Uncertainty value of one or more NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData IEs. 59. The computer-readable medium of clause 43, wherein the number of TRP candidates to be included in the combination of TRP candidates is adjustable. 60. The computer-readable medium of clause 43, further comprising instructions for causing the UE to obtain, via the at least one transceiver, a request from the network entity to provide the indication, and providing the indication to the network entity based on the UE obtaining the request. 61. The computer-readable medium of clause 43, further comprising instructions for causing the UE to periodically provide, via the at least one transceiver, a new indication to a network entity. 62. The computer-readable medium of clause 61, wherein the periodicity is based on UE movement. 63. The computer-readable medium of clause 43, wherein the network entity is a base station that serves the UE. 64. A user equipment (UE) in a wireless network for wireless positioning of the UE, comprising: A means for determining one or more geometric dilution of precision factors (GDOP), comprising: For each combination of transmitting / receiving points (TRPs) candidates from a plurality of TRP candidates for wireless positioning, a means for determining a GDOP associated with the combination of TRP candidates. Means, and means for providing an indication associated with one or more GDOPs to a network entity in the wireless network, wherein one or more TRP candidates of the plurality of TRP candidates are to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE based on the indication. 65. The UE of Article 64, including one or more GDOPs whose indications are determined by the UE. 66. A means for determining a plurality of GDOPs, comprising: For each combination of TRP candidates of a plurality of combinations of TRP candidates from a plurality of TRPs for wireless positioning, means for determining a GDOP associated with the combination of TRP candidates, the plurality of combinations of TRP candidates including one or more combinations of TRP candidates; Means, and means for selecting one or more GDOPs from a plurality of GDOPs determined by the UE, the selection being based on a GDOP threshold. 67. The UE of clause 66, wherein selecting one or more GDOPs is based on each GDOP of the one or more GDOPs being greater than a GDOP threshold. 68. The UE of clause 66, wherein selecting one or more GDOPs is based on each GDOP of the one or more GDOPs being less than a GDOP threshold. 69. The UE of clause 64, further comprising means for determining one or more preferred TRPs from a plurality of candidate TRPs based on one or more GDOPs, the indicia indicating the one or more preferred TRPs. 70. The UE of clause 69, further comprising means for determining one or more quality measurements of a positioning reference signal (PRS) from at least one TRP candidate of the plurality of TRP candidates, wherein determining the one or more preferred TRPs is also based on the one or more quality measurements. 71. One or more quality measurements are: Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), or Reference signal received power (RSRP) UE of Article 70, including one or more of the following: 72. The means for determining one or more preferred TRPs comprises: A means for filtering a plurality of TRP candidates based on one or more GDOPs; and means for filtering the plurality of candidate TRPs based on one or more quality measurements. 73. The UE of clause 69, wherein the one or more candidate TRPs to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE are also based on one or more indications of preferred TRPs from one or more other UEs in the wireless network. 74. means for obtaining an indication of one or more TRP candidates to be used by a UE for wireless positioning of the UE, the one or more TRP candidates being to transmit a positioning reference signal (PRS) during a first portion of time; means for placing one or more radio frequency (RF) chains of the UE in an active mode during a first portion of time to measure PRS from one or more TRP candidates; and means for placing one or more RF chains of the UE from an active mode to a low power mode during a second portion of time during which the one or more TRP candidates do not transmit a PRS. 75. The method further includes means for placing all RF chains and a baseband processing system of the UE in a low power mode during a second portion of the time; a second portion of the time is associated with one or more unselected TRPs transmitting a PRS; 74 UE, in which the RF chain and baseband processing system are placed in a low power mode, which prevents the UE from measuring PRS from one or more non-selected TRPs. 76. The method further comprises: for each combination of TRP candidates of the one or more combinations of TRP candidates, determining a length of time associated with measuring a PRS from the combination of TRP candidates; The means for determining one or more preferred TRPs comprises a means for determining one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates, the one or more combinations of TRP candidates comprising one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates; the indicia indicating the length of time for each preferred combination of the TRP candidates of one or more preferred combinations of the TRP candidates; 69. The UE of clause 69, wherein one or more TRP candidates to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE are based on an indication of a time length for each preferred combination of the TRP candidates. 77. The UE of clause 76, wherein determining the one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates is based on one or more lengths of time. 78. The method for determining a preferred combination of one or more candidate TRPs comprises: means for determining a first length of time for a first combination of TRP candidates associated with a first GDOP; means for determining a second length of time for a second combination of TRP candidates associated with a second GDOP that is within a margin of error of the first GDOP, the second length of time being greater than the first length of time; and means for selecting the first combination of TRP candidates over the second combination of TRP candidates based on the first length of time being less than the second length of time. 79. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: obtaining one or more new radio (NR) downlink (DL) PRS assistance data (NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData) information elements (IEs) associated with the TRP candidates; one or more NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData IEs include, for each pair of TRP PRS resource candidates of one or more pairs of TRP PRS resource candidates, an NR-DL-PRS expected reference signal time difference value (NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD) and an NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD uncertainty value (NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD-Uncertainty) associated with the pair of TRP PRS resource candidates; The UE of clause 78, wherein determining the first time length and the second time length is based on an NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD value and an NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD-Uncertainty value in one or more NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData IEs. 80. UE under clause 64, where the number of TRP candidates to be included in the TRP candidate combination is adjustable. 81. The UE of clause 64, further comprising means for obtaining a request from the network entity to provide the indication, the UE providing the indication to the network entity based on obtaining the request. 82. The UE of clause 64, wherein the means for providing the indication to the network entity includes means for periodically providing a new indication to the network entity. 83. UE under clause 82, where the period is based on the movement of the UE. 84. A UE according to clause 64, wherein the network entity is a base station serving the UE.

[0150] It is intended therefore that claimed subject matter not be limited to the particular examples disclosed, but that such claimed subject matter may include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof. [Explanation of symbols]

[0151] 100 Wireless communication system 102 BS 104UE 110 Geographic Coverage Areas 120 Communication Links 122 backhaul links 134 backhaul links 150 AP 152 U.S. 154 Communication Links 164UE 180mmW BS 182 U.S. 184 mmW communication link 190 UE 192 D2D P2P links 194 D2D P2P links 170 Core Network 172 Location Server 212 Data Source 220 Transmit Processor 230 TX MIMO Processor 232 Modulator 234 Antenna 236 MIMO Detector 238 Receive Processor 239 Data Sink 240 Controllers / Processors 242 Memory 244 Communication Unit 246 Scheduler 252 Antenna 254 Demodulator 256 MIMO detector 258 Receive Processor 260 Data Sink 262 Data Sources 264 Transmit Processor 266 TX MIMO Processor 280 Controller / Processor 282 Memory 290 Controller / Processor 292 Memory 294 Communication Unit 300 User Equipment 311 Memory 312 Software 313 Sensors 314 Transceiver Interface 315 Transceiver 316 User Interface 317 SPS Receiver 318 Camera 319 Location Device 320 Bus 330 Application Processor 331 DSP 332 Modem Processor 333 Video Processor 334 Sensor Processor 340 Wireless Transceiver 342 Transmitter 344 Receiver 346 Antenna 348 Wireless Signal 350 Wired Transceiver 352 Transmitter 354 Receiver 360 SPS signal 362 SPS Antenna 372 Wireless Positioning Session Module 400 base stations 410 Processor 411 Memory 412 Software 415 Transceiver 420 Bus 440 Wireless Transceiver 442 Transmitter 444 Receiver 446 Antenna 448 Wireless Signal 450 Wired Transceiver 452 Transmitter 454 Receiver 472 Wireless Positioning Session Module 500 servers 510 Processor 511 Memory 512 Software 515 Transceiver 520 Bus 540 Wireless Transceiver 542 Transmitter 544 Receiver 546 Antenna 548 Wireless Signal 550 Wired Transceiver 552 Transmitter 554 Receiver 572 Wireless Positioning Session Module 702 TRP1 704 TRP2 706 Range 708 Range 710 Location Uncertainty 712 TRP3 714 Range 716 Location Uncertainty 1002 Reference BS 1004 Neighborhood BS 1006 Neighborhood BS 1008 Neighborhood BS 1010 Slots 1012 PRS hours 1014 PRS hours 1016 PRS hours 1018 PRS hours 1020 Time Length 1022 hours

Claims

1. 1. A method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network for wireless positioning of the UE, comprising: Determining one or more geometric dilution of precision factors (GDOP), For each combination of transmitting / receiving points (TRPs) candidates from a plurality of TRP candidates for wireless positioning, determining a GDOP associated with the combination of TRP candidates. Steps and and providing an indication associated with the one or more GDOPs to a network entity in the wireless network, wherein one or more TRP candidates of the plurality of TRP candidates are to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE based on the indication.

2. the indication comprises the one or more GDOPs determined by the UE; The method further comprising: Determining a plurality of GDOPs, For each combination of TRP candidates of a plurality of combinations of TRP candidates from the plurality of TRPs for wireless positioning, determining a GDOP associated with the combination of TRP candidates, wherein the plurality of combinations of TRP candidates includes the one or more combinations of TRP candidates; selecting the one or more GDOPs from the plurality of GDOPs determined by the UE, the selection being based on a GDOP threshold; Further equipped with The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the one or more GDOPs is based on each GDOP of the one or more GDOPs being greater than or less than the GDOP threshold.

3. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining one or more preferred TRPs from the plurality of TRP candidates based on the one or more GDOPs, and wherein the indication indicates the one or more preferred TRPs.

4. 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining one or more quality measurements of a positioning reference signal (PRS) from at least one TRP candidate of the plurality of TRP candidates, and determining the one or more preferred TRPs is also based on the one or more quality measurements.

5. The one or more quality measurements, Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), and Reference signal received power (RSRP) including one or more of and / or determining said one or more preferred TRPs, filtering the plurality of TRP candidates based on the one or more GDOPs; and filtering the narrowed number of candidate TRPs based on the one or more quality measurements.

6. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more TRP candidates to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE are also based on one or more indications of preferred TRPs from one or more other UEs in the wireless network.

7. The method comprises: obtaining an indication of the one or more TRP candidates to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE, the one or more TRP candidates being to transmit a positioning reference signal (PRS) during a first portion of time; placing one or more radio frequency (RF) chains of the UE in an active mode during the first portion of time to measure the PRS from the one or more TRP candidates; transitioning the one or more RF chains of the UE from the active mode to a low power mode during a second portion of time when the one or more TRP candidates are not transmitting a PRS; Further equipped with The method comprises: placing all RF chains and a baseband processing system of the UE in the low power mode during the second portion of time; the second portion of time is associated with one or more unselected TRPs transmitting a PRS; placing the RF chain and the baseband processing system in the low power mode prevents the UE from measuring the PRS from the one or more non-selected TRPs. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

8. For each combination of TRP candidates of the one or more combinations of TRP candidates, determining a time length associated with measuring a positioning reference signal (PRS) from the combination of TRP candidates; determining the one or more preferred TRPs comprises determining one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates, the one or more combinations of TRP candidates comprising the one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates; the indicia indicating the duration for each preferred combination of TRP candidates of the one or more preferred combinations of TRP candidates; determining whether the one or more TRP candidates to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE are based on the indication of the duration for each preferred combination of TRP candidates; determining the one or more preferred combinations of candidate TRPs based on the one or more time periods; determining said one or more preferred combinations of candidate TRPs, determining a first duration for a first combination of TRP candidates associated with a first GDOP; determining a second length of time for a second combination of TRP candidates associated with a second GDOP that is within a tolerance of the first GDOP, the second length of time being greater than the first length of time; selecting the first combination of TRP candidates over the second combination of TRP candidates based on the first length of time being less than the second length of time; Including, The method further comprises obtaining one or more new radio (NR) downlink (DL) PRS assistance data (NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData) information elements (IEs) associated with the TRP candidates; the one or more NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData IEs include, for each pair of TRP PRS resource candidates of one or more pairs of TRP PRS resource candidates, an NR-DL-PRS expected reference signal time difference (NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD) value and the NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD uncertainty (NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD-Uncertainty) value associated with the pair of TRP PRS resource candidates; 4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the first length of time and the second length of time is based on the NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD value and the NR-DL-PRS-ExpectedRSTD-Uncertainty value of the one or more NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData IEs.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of TRP candidates to be included in the combination of TRP candidates is adjustable.

10. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining a request from the network entity to provide the indication; and the UE providing the indication to the network entity based on obtaining the request.

11. and wherein providing the indication to the network entity comprises periodically providing new indications to the network entity; The method of claim 1 , wherein the periodicity of providing new indications is based on movement of the UE.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network entity is a base station serving the UE.

13. 1. A user equipment (UE) for use in a wireless network configured for wireless positioning of the UE, comprising: at least one transceiver configured to provide an indication related to one or more geometric dilution of precision factors (GDOPs) to a network entity in the wireless network, where one or more transmit / receive point (TRP) candidates of a plurality of TRP candidates are to be used by the UE for wireless positioning of the UE based on the indication; At least one memory; at least one processor coupled to the at least one transceiver and the at least one memory, the at least one processor comprising: determining the one or more GDOPs associated with the indicia; configured to: The UE, wherein determining the one or more GDOPs includes, for each combination of TRP candidates among one or more combinations of TRP candidates from the plurality of TRP candidates for wireless positioning, determining a GDOP associated with the combination of TRP candidates.

14. A UE as described in claim 13, further configured to execute a method as described in any one of claims 2 to 12.

15. A computer program which, when executed by at least one processor of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network configured for wireless positioning of the UE, causes the UE to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

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