Position Estimation Based on Time Bias Between a Base Station and a Reference User Equipment - Patent application

Abstract

Techniques for wireless communications are disclosed. In one aspect, a location estimation entity obtains first timing information associated with a first Time of Arrival (TOA) measurement of a first positioning reference signal (RS-P) communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station at a first time reference, obtains second timing information associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time reference different from the first time reference, determines a bias between the first and second time references, and determines a location estimate of the target UE via a Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part on the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

Description

[Background technology]

[0001] 1. Field of disclosure Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communications.

[0002] 2. Description of Related Technology

[0002] Wireless communication systems have evolved through various generations, including first-generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second-generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including interim 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third-generation (3G) high-speed data, Internet-enabled wireless service, and fourth-generation (4G) service (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). Currently, many different types of wireless communication systems are in use, including cellular systems and personal communications service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog advanced mobile phone system (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), etc.

[0003]

[0003] The fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, called New Radio (NR), requires higher data rates, a larger number of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide data rates of tens of megabits per second to tens of thousands of users, providing 1 gigabit per second to a few dozen workers on an office floor. To support large-scale deployment of sensors, hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections must be supported. Therefore, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly increased compared to the current 4G standard. Furthermore, signaling efficiency must be increased and latency significantly reduced compared to the current standard. Summary of the Invention

[0004]

[0004] The following provides a simplified summary relating to one or more aspects disclosed herein. Therefore, the following summary should not be considered as an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, nor should the following summary be considered as identifying key or critical elements of all contemplated aspects or as defining the scope relating to any particular aspect. Thus, the sole purpose of the following summary is to present certain concepts of one or more aspects of the mechanisms disclosed herein in a simplified form prior to the detailed description presented below.

[0005]

[0005] In one aspect, a method for operating a location estimation entity includes obtaining first timing information associated with a first time-of-arrival (TOA) measurement of a first reference signal for positioning (RS-P) communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station at a first time reference, obtaining second timing information associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time reference different from the first time reference, determining a bias between the first and second time references, and determining a location estimate for the target UE via a time differential of arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part on the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

[0006]

[0006] In some aspects, the method includes obtaining third timing information associated with a third TOA measurement value of a third RS-P communicated between the target UE and the first wireless node, and obtaining fourth timing information associated with a fourth TOA measurement value of a fourth RS-P communicated between the target UE and the second wireless node, wherein determining a position estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information.

[0007]

[0007] In some aspects, the first wireless node and the second wireless node include at least one other base station, at least one other reference UE associated with at least one other known location, or a combination thereof.

[0008]

[0008] In some aspects, the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and downlink TDOA (SL+DL-TDOA) positioning technique, where the first RS-P corresponds to a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS) and the second RS-P corresponds to a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

[0009]

[0009] In some aspects, the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and uplink TDOA (SL+UL-TDOA) positioning technique, where the first RS-P corresponds to an uplink sounding reference for positioning (UL-SRS-P) and the second RS-P corresponds to a UL-SRS-P or a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

[0010] In some aspects, the location estimation entity may correspond to a base station, a reference UE, a location management function (LMF), a location server, a target UE, or a combination thereof.

[0011]

[0011] In some aspects, the determination of the bias is triggered in conjunction with the triggering of the determination of the position estimate.

[0012] In some aspects, the bias determination is triggered independent of and within a threshold period of time from the triggering of the position estimate determination.

[0013]

[0013] In some aspects, the bias is determined based on a first difference between an estimated propagation time between the base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the base station and the reference UE.

[0014]

[0014] In some aspects, the bias is further determined based on a second difference between an estimated propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE.

[0015]

[0015] In one aspect, a location estimation entity includes a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to obtain first timing information associated with a first time of arrival (TOA) measurement of a first positioning reference signal (RS-P) communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station at a first time reference, obtain second timing information associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time reference different from the first time reference, determine a bias between the first time reference and the second time reference, and determine a location estimate of the target UE via a time difference of arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part on the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

[0016]

[0016] In some aspects, the at least one processor is further configured to obtain third timing information associated with a third TOA measurement value of a third RS-P communicated between the target UE and the first wireless node, and obtain fourth timing information associated with a fourth TOA measurement value of a fourth RS-P communicated between the target UE and the second wireless node, wherein determining the position estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information.

[0017]

[0017] In some aspects, the first wireless node and the second wireless node include at least one other base station, at least one other reference UE associated with at least one other known location, or a combination thereof.

[0018]

[0018] In some aspects, the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and downlink TDOA (SL+DL-TDOA) positioning technique, where the first RS-P corresponds to a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS) and the second RS-P corresponds to a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

[0019]

[0019] In some aspects, the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and uplink TDOA (SL+UL-TDOA) positioning technique, where the first RS-P corresponds to an uplink sounding reference for positioning (UL-SRS-P) and the second RS-P corresponds to a UL-SRS-P or a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

[0020] In some aspects, the location estimation entity may correspond to a base station, a reference UE, a Location Management Function (LMF), a location server, a target UE, or a combination thereof.

[0021] In some aspects, the determination of the bias is triggered in conjunction with the triggering of the determination of the position estimate.

[0022] In some aspects, the bias determination is triggered independent of and within a threshold period of time from the triggering of the position estimate determination.

[0023]

[0023] In some aspects, the bias is determined based on a first difference between an estimated propagation time between the base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the base station and the reference UE.

[0024]

[0024] In some aspects, the bias is further determined based on a second difference between an estimated propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE.

[0025]

[0025] In one aspect, the location estimation entity includes means for obtaining first timing information associated with a first time of arrival (TOA) measurement of a first positioning reference signal (RS-P) communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station at a first time reference, means for obtaining second timing information associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time reference different from the first time reference, means for determining a bias between the first time reference and the second time reference, and means for determining a location estimate of the target UE via a time difference of arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part on the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

[0026]

[0026] In some aspects, the method includes means for acquiring third timing information associated with a third TOA measurement value of a third RS-P communicated between the target UE and the first wireless node, and means for acquiring fourth timing information associated with a fourth TOA measurement value of a fourth RS-P communicated between the target UE and the second wireless node, wherein determining the position estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information.

[0027]

[0027] In some aspects, the first wireless node and the second wireless node include at least one other base station, at least one other reference UE associated with at least one other known location, or a combination thereof.

[0028]

[0028] In some aspects, the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and downlink TDOA (SL+DL-TDOA) positioning technique, where the first RS-P corresponds to a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS) and the second RS-P corresponds to a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

[0029]

[0029] In some aspects, the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and uplink TDOA (SL+UL-TDOA) positioning technique, where the first RS-P corresponds to an uplink sounding reference for positioning (UL-SRS-P) and the second RS-P corresponds to a UL-SRS-P or a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

[0030] In some aspects, the location estimation entity may correspond to a base station, a reference UE, a Location Management Function (LMF), a location server, a target UE, or a combination thereof.

[0031] In some aspects, the determination of the bias is triggered in conjunction with the triggering of the determination of the position estimate.

[0032] In some aspects, the bias determination is triggered independent of and within a threshold period of time from the triggering of the position estimate determination.

[0033]

[0033] In some aspects, the bias is determined based on a first difference between an estimated propagation time between the base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the base station and the reference UE.

[0034]

[0034] In some aspects, the bias is further determined based on a second difference between an estimated propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE.

[0035]

[0035] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a position estimation entity, cause the position estimation entity to obtain first timing information associated with a first time of arrival (TOA) measurement of a first positioning reference signal (RS-P) communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station at a first time reference, obtain second timing information associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time reference different from the first time reference, determine a bias between the first time reference and the second time reference, and determine a position estimate of the target UE via a time difference of arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part on the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

[0036]

[0036] In some aspects, the one or more instructions further cause the position estimation entity to obtain third timing information associated with a third TOA measurement value of a third RS-P communicated between the target UE and the first wireless node, and obtain fourth timing information associated with a fourth TOA measurement value of a fourth RS-P communicated between the target UE and the second wireless node, wherein determining the position estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information.

[0037]

[0037] In some aspects, the first wireless node and the second wireless node include at least one other base station, at least one other reference UE associated with at least one other known location, or a combination thereof.

[0038]

[0038] In some aspects, the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and downlink TDOA (SL+DL-TDOA) positioning technique, where the first RS-P corresponds to a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS) and the second RS-P corresponds to a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

[0039]

[0039] In some aspects, the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and uplink TDOA (SL+UL-TDOA) positioning technique, where the first RS-P corresponds to an uplink sounding reference for positioning (UL-SRS-P) and the second RS-P corresponds to a UL-SRS-P or a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

[0040] In some aspects, the location estimation entity may correspond to a base station, a reference UE, a Location Management Function (LMF), a location server, a target UE, or a combination thereof.

[0041]

[0041] In some aspects, the determination of the bias is triggered in conjunction with the triggering of the determination of the position estimate.

[0042]

[0042] In some aspects, the bias determination is triggered independent of and within a threshold period of time from the triggering of the position estimate determination.

[0043]

[0043] In some aspects, the bias is determined based on a first difference between an estimated propagation time between the base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the base station and the reference UE.

[0044]

[0044] In some aspects, the bias is further determined based on a second difference between an estimated propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE.

[0045]

[0045] 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. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0046]

[0046] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in the explanation of various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided only to illustrate the aspects and not to limit the aspects. [Figure 1]

[0047] 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 2A]

[0048] 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless network structure according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 2B] 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless network structure according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 3A]

[0049] 1 is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a user equipment (UE) and configured to support communications as taught herein; [Figure 3B] 1 is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a base station and configured to support communications as taught herein. [Figure 3C] 1 is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a network entity and configured to support communications as taught herein. [Figure 4]

[0050] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating various components of an exemplary user equipment (UE) in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 5A]

[0051] FIG. 2 illustrates an example frame structure and channels within the frame structure in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 5B] FIG. 2 illustrates an example frame structure and channels within the frame structure in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 5C]FIG. 2 illustrates an example frame structure and channels within the frame structure in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 5D] FIG. 2 illustrates an example frame structure and channels within the frame structure in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 6]

[0052] 1 illustrates a Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) based positioning procedure in an exemplary wireless communication system, in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 7]

[0053] 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system in which a vehicle user equipment (V-UE) is exchanging ranging signals with a roadside unit (RSU) and another V-UE, in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 8]

[0054] 8 illustrates an example process 800 for wireless communication according to an aspect of the disclosure. [Figure 9]

[0055] 9 depicts a communication system 900 according to an aspect of the disclosure. [Figure 10]

[0056] 10 illustrates a timeline 1000 based on an example implementation of the process of FIG. 8 according to one aspect of the disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0047]

[0057] Aspects of the present disclosure are provided in the following description and associated drawings 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.

[0048]

[0058] 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" is not necessarily to 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 present disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage or mode of operation.

[0049]

[0059] 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.

[0050]

[0060] Further, many aspects are described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It will be appreciated that 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. Additionally, the sequence or sequences of actions described herein may be considered to be fully embodied in any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon 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 be 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.

[0051]

[0061] 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 specified. In general, a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a consumer location 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 a given time) and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" 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 device", "mobile terminal", "mobile station", or variations thereof. In general, a UE may communicate with a core network via a 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 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specifications, etc.).

[0052]

[0062] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs in communication with UEs depending on the network in which the base station is deployed and may alternatively be referred to as an access point (AP), network node, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), next generation eNB (ng-eNB), New Radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as gNB or gNodeB), etc. A base station may be primarily used to support wireless access by UEs, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for supported UEs. In some systems, a base station may provide only edge node signaling functionality, while in other systems, a base station may provide additional control and / or network management functionality. A communication link through which a UE may send 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 send 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.). As used herein, the term traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0053]

[0063] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmission-reception point (TRP) 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 an antenna of the base station that corresponds to a cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. When the term "base station" refers to multiple collocated physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an array of antennas of the base station (e.g., as in the case of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or when the base station employs beamforming). When the term "base station" refers to multiple non-collocated physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transport medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, non-co-located physical TRPs may be serving base stations that receive measurement reports from the UE and neighboring base stations whose reference radio frequency (RF) signals the UE is measuring. Since a TRP is a point from which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, as used herein, references to transmission from or reception at a base station should be understood as referring to a particular TRP of the base station.

[0054]

[0064] In some implementations that support positioning of UEs, a base station may not support wireless access by the UE (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE), but instead may transmit reference signals to the UE to be measured by the UE and / or may receive and measure signals transmitted by the UE. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., when it transmits signals to the UE) and / or a position measurement unit (e.g., when it receives and measures signals from the UE).

[0055]

[0065] An "RF signal" includes electromagnetic waves of a given frequency that transport information through space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, the receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between a transmitter and a receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a "wireless signal" or simply a "signal" when it is clear from the context that the term "signal" refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal.

[0056]

[0066] 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system 100 according to aspects of the disclosure. The wireless communication system 100 (sometimes referred to as a wireless wide area network, WWAN) may include various base stations 102 (labeled "BS") and various UEs 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 and / or ng-eNBs where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network, or gNBs where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network, or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0057]

[0067] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and may interface with a core network 170 (e.g., evolved packet core (EPC) or 5G core (5GC)) through backhaul links 122 and to one or more location servers 172 (e.g., a location management function (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)) through the core network 170. The location server(s) 172 may be part of the core network 170 or may be external to the core network 170. In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 may perform functions related to one or more of the following: forwarding user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, non-access stratum (NAS) message delivery, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracing, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and alert message delivery. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through EPC / 5GC) via backhaul links 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0058]

[0068] The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate 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 stations 102 in each geographic coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used for communication with a base station (e.g., over some frequency resources, referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, band, etc.) and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), an enhanced cell identifier (ECI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI), etc.) 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. Since a cell is supported by a particular base station, the term "cell" may refer to one or both of the logical communication entity and the base station that supports it, depending on the context. In addition, since a TRP is typically a physical transmission point of a cell, the terms "cell" and "TRP" may be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term "cell" may also refer to the geographic coverage area (e.g., sector) of a base station, as long as the carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within a portion of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0059]

[0069] The geographic coverage areas 110 of neighboring macrocell base stations 102 may overlap partially (e.g., in handover regions), and some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may be substantially overlapped by larger geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' (labeled "SC" instead of "small cell") may have a geographic coverage area 110' that significantly overlaps with the geographic 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 home eNBs (HeNBs), which may serve closed groups known as closed subscriber groups (CSGs).

[0060]

[0070] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include uplink (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 the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for the downlink than for the uplink).

[0061]

[0071] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 in communication with a wireless local area network (WLAN) station (STA) 152 over 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 a clear channel assessment (CCA) or listen before talk (LBT) procedure before communicating to determine if a channel is available.

[0062]

[0072] The small cell base station 102' may operate in licensed and / or unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell base station 102' may utilize LTE or NR 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 the unlicensed frequency spectrum may extend coverage to and / or increase capacity of the access network. NR in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as LTE-U, licensed assisted access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0063]

[0073] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180 that may operate in 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 ranges from 30 GHz to 300 GHz and has 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 frequencies of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz and is also referred to as centimeter waves. Communications using the mmW / sub-mmW radio frequency bands have high path losses 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 large path losses and short distances. It will be further understood that in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or quasi-mmW and beamforming. Thus, it will be understood that the above illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed as limiting various aspects disclosed herein.

[0064]

[0074] 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 the signal in all directions (omnidirectionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that particular direction, thereby providing a faster and more powerful RF signal (in terms of data rate) to the receiving device(s). To vary the directionality of an 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 can 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. In particular, RF current from a transmitter is supplied to each antenna with the proper phase relationship so that the radio waves from the separate antennas combine together to enhance radiation in the desired direction while suppressing and canceling radiation in undesirable directions.

[0065]

[0075] A transmit beam may be quasi-co-located, meaning that the transmit beam appears to a receiver (e.g., UE) to have the same parameters, regardless of whether the network node's own transmit antennas are physically co-located or not. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships. Specifically, a QCL relationship of a given type means that certain parameters for a second reference RF signal on a second beam can be derived from information about a source reference RF signal on a source beam. Thus, if the source reference RF signal is QCL type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate spatial reception parameters of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0066]

[0076] 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 the gain level) RF signals received from that direction. Thus, when a receiver is said to beamform in a particular direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is higher than the beam gains along other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gains in that direction of all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), etc.) of RF signals received from that direction.

[0067]

[0077] The transmit beam and the receive beam may be spatially related. The spatial relationship means that the parameters for the second beam (e.g., transmit beam or receive beam) for the second reference signal may be derived from information about the first beam (e.g., receive beam or transmit beam) for the first reference signal. For example, the UE may use a particular receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE may then form a transmit beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal (e.g., sounding reference signal (SRS)) to that base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0068]

[0078] Note that a "downlink" beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity that forms it. For example, if the base station forms a downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to the UE, then the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if the UE forms a downlink beam, then it is a receive beam to receive a downlink reference signal. Similarly, an "uplink" beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity that forms it. For example, if the base station forms an uplink beam, then it is an uplink receive beam, and if the UE forms an uplink beam, then it is an uplink transmit beam.

[0069]

[0079] In 5G, the frequency spectrum in which wireless nodes (e.g., base stations 102 / 180, UEs 104 / 182) operate is divided into multiple frequency ranges: FR1 (450-6000 MHz), FR2 (24250-52600 MHz), FR3 (above 52600 MHz), and FR4 (between FR1 and FR2). The mmW frequency band generally includes the FR2, FR3, and FR4 frequency ranges. Thus, the terms "mmW" and "FR2" or "FR3" or "FR4" may generally be used interchangeably.

[0070]

[0080] 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 operating 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 control channels and UE-specific control channels and may (but is not always) be a carrier among licensed frequencies. The secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that may be configured once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier and may be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier may be a carrier in unlicensed frequencies. Since both the primary uplink carrier and the primary downlink carrier are typically UE specific, the secondary carrier may contain only the necessary signaling information and signals, e.g., UE specific signaling information and signals 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 may change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers. Since a "serving cell" (whether PCell or SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency / component carrier over which several base stations are communicating, terms such as "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0071]

[0081] 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 data reception rates. For example, two aggregated 20 MHz carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically lead to a two-fold increase in data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to the data rate achieved by a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0072]

[0082] 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 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.

[0073]

[0083] In the example of FIG. 1, any of the illustrated UEs (shown in FIG. 1 as a single UE 104 for simplicity) may receive signals 124 from one or more Earth-orbiting space vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites). In one aspect, the SVs 112 may be part of a satellite positioning system that the UEs 104 may use as an independent source of location information. A satellite positioning system typically includes a system of transmitters (e.g., SVs 112) positioned to enable receivers (e.g., UEs 104) to determine their location on or above the Earth based at least in part on positioning signals (e.g., signals 124) received from the transmitters. Such transmitters typically transmit signals marked with a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code of a set number of chips. Although typically located within the SVs 112, transmitters may sometimes be located on ground-based control stations, base stations 102, and / or other UEs 104. The UE 104 may include one or more dedicated receivers specifically designed to receive the signals 124 from the SV 112 to derive geolocation information.

[0074]

[0084] In a satellite positioning system, the use of the signals 124 may be augmented by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) that may be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems. For example, the SBAS may include augmentation systems that provide integrity information, differential corrections, and the like, such as Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS)(s), European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), Global Positioning System (GPS)-aided Geo-augmented navigation, or GPS and Geo Augmented Navigation system (GAGAN). Thus, as used herein, a satellite positioning system may include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellites associated with one or more such satellite positioning systems.

[0075]

[0085] In one aspect, the SV 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). In an NTN, the SV 112 is connected to an earth station (also called a ground station, NTN gateway, or gateway), which in turn is connected to an element in a 5G network, such as a modified base station 102 (without a terrestrial antenna) or a network node in a 5G network. This element will then provide access to other elements in the 5G network and ultimately to entities outside the 5G network, such as Internet web servers and other user devices. In this way, the UE 104 may receive communication signals (e.g., signal 124) from the SV 112 instead of or in addition to communication signals from the terrestrial base station 102.

[0076]

[0086] 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 device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as "sidelinks"). 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) with one of the UEs 104 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) with a WLAN STA 152 connected to a WLAN AP 150. In one example, the D2D P2P links 192 and 194 may be supported using any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE Direct, LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi Direct, WiFi-D), Bluetooth, etc.

[0077]

[0087] 2A illustrates an exemplary wireless network structure 200. For example, a 5GC 210 (also referred to as Next Generation Core (NGC)) may be considered functionally as control plane (C-plane) functions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and user plane (U-plane) functions 212 (e.g., UE gateway functions, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.) that operate cooperatively to form a core network. A user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and a control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5GC 210, specifically to the user plane function 212 and the control plane function 214, respectively. In an additional configuration, the ng-eNB 224 may also be connected to the 5GC 210 via the NG-C 215 to the control plane function 214 and the NG-U 213 to the user plane function 212. Additionally, the ng-eNB 224 may communicate directly with the gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, the Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both the ng-eNB 224 and the gNB 222. Either the gNB 222 or the ng-eNB 224 (or both) may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0078]

[0088] Another optional aspect may include a location server 230, which may be in communication with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance to the UE(s) 204. The location servers 230 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each may correspond to a single server. The location servers 230 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UEs 204 that may connect to the location server 230 via the core network 5GC 210 and / or via the Internet (not shown). Furthermore, the location server 230 may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively, may be external to the core network (e.g., a third-party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or a service server).

[0079]

[0089] 2B illustrates another example wireless network structure 250. 5GC 260 (which may correspond to 5GC 210 in FIG. 2A) may be viewed functionally as a control plane function provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) 264 and a user plane function provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate cooperatively to form a core network (i.e., 5GC 260). The functions of the AMF 264 include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transport for session management (SM) messages between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein) and a session management function (SMF) 266, transparent proxy services for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transport for short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and a short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204 to receive intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In case of authentication based on a UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) subscriber identity module (USIM), the AMF 264 retrieves security material from the AUSF. AMF264 functionality also includes security context management (SCM).The SCM receives keys from the SEAF that the SCM uses to derive access network specific keys. The functionality of the AMF 264 also includes location service management for regulated services, transport for location service messages between the UE 204 and the Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (acting as the location server 230), transport for location service messages between the NG-RAN 220 and the LMF 270, EPS bearer identifier allocation for interworking with evolved packet system (EPS), and UE 204 mobility event notification. In addition, the AMF 264 also supports functions for non-3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0080]

[0090] The functions of the UPF 262 include acting as an anchor point for intra / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to a data network (not shown), routing and forwarding of packets, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, quality of service (QoS) processing for the user plane (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in the downlink), uplink traffic validation (service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and sending and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node. The UPF 262 may also support forwarding of location service messages on the user plane between the UE 204 and a location server such as the SLP 272.

[0081]

[0091] The functions of the SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, configuration of traffic steering in the UPF 262 to route traffic to the appropriate destination, control of policy enforcement and part of QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0082]

[0092] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270, which may be in communication with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance to the UE 204. The LMF 270 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each may correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which may be connected to the LMF 270 via a core network, the 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not shown). The SLP 272 may support similar functions as the LMF 270, except that the LMF 270 may communicate with the AMF 264, the NG-RAN 220, and the UE 204 on the control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to carry signaling messages rather than voice or data) and the SLP 272 may communicate with the UE 204 and external clients (not shown in FIG. 2B ) on the user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and / or data, such as the transmission control protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0083]

[0093] The user plane interface 263 and the control plane interface 265 connect the 5GC 260, and in particular the UPF 262 and the AMF 264, respectively, to one or more gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 in the NG-RAN 220. The interface between the gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 and the AMF 264 is referred to as the “N2” interface, and the interface between the gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 and the UPF 262 is referred to as the “N3” interface. The gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 of the NG-RAN 220 may communicate directly with each other via a backhaul connection 223 referred to as the “Xn-C” interface. One or more of the gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 via a wireless interface referred to as the “Uu” interface.

[0084]

[0094] The functionality of the gNB 222 is divided between a gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU) 226 and one or more gNB Distributed Units (gNB-DU) 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and one or more gNB-DUs 228 is called the "F1" interface. The gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes base station functions such as forwarding user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, etc., except for those functions that are exclusively allocated to the gNB-DU(s) 228. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 hosts the Radio Resource Control (RRC), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) protocols of the gNB 222. The gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that hosts the Radio Link Control (RLC), Medium Access Control (MAC), and Physical (PHY) layers of the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 can support one or more cells, and one cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. Thus, the UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers, and with the gNB-DU 228 via the RLC, MAC, and PHY layers.

[0085]

[0095] 3A, 3B, and 3C illustrate several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated in a UE 302 (which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein), a base station 304 (which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any of the network functions described herein, including a location server 230 and an LMF 270, or alternatively, may be independent of the NG-RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure depicted in FIGS. 2A and 2B, such as a private network) to support file transmission operations taught herein. It will be understood that these components may be implemented in different types of devices in different implementations (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system on a chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated components may also be incorporated in other devices in a communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to the illustrated components to provide similar functionality. Also, a given device may include one or more of the components. For example, a device may contain multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0086]

[0096] The UE 302 and base station 304 each include one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively, and provide means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for coordinating, means for centering transmission, etc.) over one or more wireless communications networks (not shown), such as an NR network, an LTE network, a GSM network, etc. The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can each be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356, respectively, for communicating with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc., over at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) over a wireless communications medium of interest (e.g., some set of time / frequency resources in a particular frequency spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may be variously configured to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358, respectively (e.g., messages, instructions, information, etc.), and conversely, to receive and decode signals 318 and 358, respectively (e.g., messages, instructions, information, pilots, etc.), in accordance with a designated RAT. In particular, the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 include one or more transmitters 314 and 354, respectively, to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358, respectively, and include one or more receivers 312 and 352, respectively, to receive and decode signals 318 and 358, respectively.

[0087]

[0097] The UE 302 and base station 304 also each, in at least some cases, include one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and may provide means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for ceasing transmission, etc.) with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Z-Wave, PC5, Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC), wireless access for vehicular environments (WAVE), Near Field Communication (NFC), etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be variously configured for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368, respectively (e.g., messages, instructions, information, etc.), and conversely, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368, respectively (e.g., messages, instructions, information, pilots, etc.), in accordance with a specified RAT. In particular, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 include one or more transmitters 324 and 364, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368, respectively, and include one or more receivers 322 and 362, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368, respectively. As specific examples, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be WiFi transceivers, Bluetooth® transceivers, Zigbee® and / or Z-Wave® transceivers, NFC transceivers, or Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and / or Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) transceivers.

[0088]

[0098] The UE 302 and the base station 304 also, at least in some cases, include satellite signal receivers 330 and 370. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and may provide means for receiving and / or measuring satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. If the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are satellite positioning system receivers, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, Beidou signals, Navigation Satellite System of India (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. If the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be communication signals (e.g., carrying control and / or user data) originating from a 5G network. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may comprise any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning / communications signals 338 and 378, respectively. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may request information and action from other systems as appropriate and, at least in some cases, perform calculations to determine the location of UE 302 and base station 304, respectively, using the acquired measurements according to any suitable satellite positioning system algorithms.

[0089]

[0099] The base station 304 and the network entity 306 each include one or more network transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, that provide a means for communicating (e.g., a means for transmitting, a means for receiving, etc.) with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 304, other network entities 306). For example, the base station 304 may employ one or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other base stations 304 or network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. As another example, the network entity 306 may employ one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or more base stations 304 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links or with other network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

[0090]

[0100] A transceiver may be configured to communicate over a wired or wireless link. A transceiver (whether a wired or wireless transceiver) includes transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) and receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362). A transceiver may be an integrated device (e.g., embodying transmitter and receiver circuitry in a single device) in some implementations, may comprise separate transmitter circuitry and separate receiver circuitry in some implementations, or may be embodied in other ways in other implementations. The transmitter and receiver circuitry of a wired transceiver (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) may be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. The wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array that allows an individual device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform transmit "beamforming," as may be described herein. Similarly, the wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array that allows an individual device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receive beamforming, as may be described herein. In an aspect, the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry may share multiple identical antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such that an individual device can only receive or transmit at a given time, but not both at the same time. The wireless transceivers (eg, WWAN transceivers 310 and 350, short range wireless transceivers 320 and 360) may also include network listen modules (NLMs) and the like for performing various measurements.

[0091]

[0101] As used herein, various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, and network transceivers 380 and 390, in some implementations) and wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390, in some implementations) may be generally characterized as a "transceiver," "at least one transceiver," or "one or more transceivers." Thus, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wireless transceiver may be inferred from the type of communication being performed. For example, backhaul communications between network devices or servers generally involve signaling via wired transceivers, while wireless communications between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station (e.g., base station 304) generally involve signaling via wireless transceivers.

[0092]

[0102] The UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 also include other components that may be used in conjunction with operations as disclosed herein. The UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 each include one or more processors 332, 384, and 394, for example, to provide functionality related to wireless communications and to provide other processing functionality. The processors 332, 384, and 394 may thus provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means for indicating, etc. In one aspect, the processors 332, 384, and 394 may include, for example, one or more general purpose processors, multi-core processors, central processing units (CPUs), ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuitry, or various combinations thereof.

[0093]

[0103] The UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 include memory circuitry implementing memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively (e.g., each including a memory device) for maintaining information (e.g., information indicative of reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). Thus, the memories 340, 386, and 396 may provide a means for storing, a means for retrieving, a means for maintaining, etc. In some cases, the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 may include a position estimation module 342, 388, and 398, respectively. The position estimation modules 342, 388, and 398 may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to the processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, which, when executed, cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functions described herein. In other aspects, the location estimation modules 342, 388, and 398 may be external to the processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the location estimation modules 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules stored in memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively, which when executed by the processors 332, 384, and 394 (or modem processing system, another processing system, etc.), cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functions described herein. FIG. 3A illustrates possible locations of the location estimation module 342, which may be part of, for example, one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the memory 340, one or more processors 332, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component. FIG. 3B illustrates possible locations of a position estimation module 388, which may be, for example, part of one or more WWAN transceivers 350, memory 386, one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component.FIG. 3C illustrates possible locations of a position estimation module 398, which may be, for example, part of one or more network transceivers 390, memory 396, one or more processors 394, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component.

[0094]

[0104] The UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to the one or more processors 332 to provide a means for sensing or detecting movement and / or orientation information that is independent of movement data derived from signals received by the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and / or the satellite receiver 330. By way of example, the sensor(s) 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), and / or any other type of movement detection sensor. Additionally, the sensor(s) 344 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide movement information. For example, the sensor(s) 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and an orientation sensor to provide the ability to calculate a position in a two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system.

[0095]

[0105] Additionally, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346 that provides a means for providing indications to a user (e.g., audio and / or visual indications) and / or receiving user input (e.g., upon user actuation of a sensing device, such as a keypad, touch screen, microphone, etc.). Although not shown, the base station 304 and the network entity 306 may also include user interfaces.

[0096]

[0106] Referring to the one or more processors 384 in more detail, on the downlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to the processor 384. The one or more processors 384 may implement functionality for an RRC layer, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. The one or more processors 384 may provide RRC layer functions associated with system information (e.g., master information block (MIB), system information block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and broadcasting of measurement configurations for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions associated with header compression / decompression, security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functions associated with forwarding of higher layer PDUs, error correction with automatic repeat request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0097]

[0107] The transmitter 354 and receiver 352 may implement Layer 1 (L1) functions related to various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 handles mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with reference signals (e.g., pilots) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then combined together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to generate a physical channel carrying the time-domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially precoded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator may be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimates may be derived from a reference signal and / or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 302. Each spatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. The transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier with the individual spatial streams for transmission.

[0098]

[0108] At the UE 302, the receiver 312 receives the signal through its individual antenna(s) 316. The receiver 312 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carriers and provides the information to one or more processors 332. The transmitter 314 and the receiver 312 implement layer 1 functions associated with various signal processing functions. The receiver 312 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 302. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 302, they may be combined by the receiver 312 into a single OFDM symbol stream. The receiver 312 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, as well as the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation point transmitted by the base station 304. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally transmitted on the physical channel by the base station 304. The data and control signals are then provided to one or more processors 332 that implement Layer 3 (L3) and Layer 2 (L2) functions.

[0099]

[0109] In the uplink, the one or more processors 332 provide demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header recovery, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. The one or more processors 332 are also responsible for error detection.

[0100]

[0110] Similar to the functionality described in connection with downlink transmissions by the base station 304, the one or more processors 332 provide RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with forwarding of upper layer PDUs, error correction via ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0101]

[0111] Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 304 may be used by the transmitter 314 to select an appropriate coding and modulation scheme and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the transmitter 314 may be provided to different antenna(s) 316. The transmitter 314 may modulate an RF carrier with the individual spatial streams for transmission.

[0102]

[0112] Uplink transmissions are processed at the base station 304 in a manner similar to that described with respect to the receiver functions at the UE 302. The receiver 352 receives signals through its respective antenna(s) 356. The receiver 352 recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to one or more processors 384.

[0103]

[0113] In the uplink, the one or more processors 384 provide demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header recovery, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 302. The IP packets from the one or more processors 384 may be provided to a core network. The one or more processors 384 are also responsible for error detection.

[0104]

[0114] For convenience, the UE 302, base station 304, and / or network entity 306 are illustrated in Figures 3A, 3B, and 3C as including various components that may be configured according to various examples described herein. However, it will be understood that the illustrated components may have different functions in different designs. In particular, various components in Figures 3A-3C are optional in alternative configurations, and various aspects include configurations that may vary due to design choice, cost, device use, or other considerations. For example, in the case of Figure 3A, a particular implementation of the UE 302 may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) 310 (e.g., a wearable device or tablet computer or PC or laptop may have Wi-Fi and / or Bluetooth capabilities without cellular capabilities), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver(s) 320 (e.g., cellular only, etc.), or may omit the satellite receiver 330, or may omit the sensor 344, and so on. 3B, a particular implementation of base station 304 may omit WWAN transceiver(s) 350 (e.g., a Wi-Fi “hotspot” access point without cellular capability), or may omit short-range wireless transceiver(s) 360 (e.g., cellular only), or may omit satellite receiver 370, etc. For brevity, examples of various alternative configurations are not provided herein, but should be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.

[0105]

[0115] The various components of the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to one another via data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392, respectively. In an aspect, the data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 may form or be part of communication interfaces of the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306, respectively. For example, when various logical entities are embodied within the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functionality integrated within the same base station 304), the data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 may provide communication therebetween.

[0106]

[0116] The components of Figures 3A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in a variety of ways. In some implementations, the components of Figures 3A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in one or more circuits, such as, for example, one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors), where each circuit may use and / or incorporate at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide its functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310-346 may be implemented by the processor component(s) and memory component(s) of the UE 302 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350-388 may be implemented by the processor component(s) and memory component(s) of the base station 304 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Also, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390-398 may be implemented by the processor component(s) and memory component(s) of the network entity 306 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). For simplicity, various operations, acts, and / or functions are described herein as being performed "by the UE," "by the base station," "by the network entity," etc. However, it will be understood that such operations, acts, and / or functions may actually be performed by a particular component or combination of components of the UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc., such as processors 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, memories 340, 386, and 396, position estimation modules 342, 388, and 398, etc.

[0107]

[0117] In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may be separate from the network operator or operation of the cellular network infrastructure (e.g., the NG RAN 220 and / or the 5GC 210 / 260). For example, the network entity 306 may be a component of a private network that may be configured to communicate with the UE 302 via the base station 304 or independently of the base station 304 (e.g., via a non-cellular communication link such as WiFi).

[0108]

[0118] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating various components of an exemplary UE 400 according to aspects of the disclosure. In an aspect, the UE 400 may correspond to any of the UEs described herein. As a specific example, the UE 400 may be a V-UE, such as the V-UE 160 in FIG. 1. For simplicity, the various features and functions illustrated in the block diagram of FIG. 4 are connected together using a common data bus, which is intended to represent that these various features and functions are operatively coupled together. Those skilled in the art will recognize that other connections, mechanisms, features, functions, etc. may be provided and adapted as necessary to operatively couple and configure an actual UE. It is further recognized that one or more of the features or functions illustrated in the example of FIG. 4 may be further subdivided, or two or more of the features or functions illustrated in FIG. 4 may be combined.

[0109]

[0119] The UE 400 may include at least one transceiver 404 coupled to one or more antennas 402, which provides means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for ceasing transmission, etc.) with other network nodes, such as a V-UE (e.g., V-UE 160), an infrastructure access point (e.g., roadside access point 164), a P-UE (e.g., UE 104), a base station (e.g., base station 102), etc., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., cV2X or IEEE 802.11p) via one or more communication links (e.g., communication link 120, sidelinks 162, 166, 168, mmW communication link 184). The at least one transceiver 404 may be variously configured for transmitting and encoding signals (e.g., messages, instructions, information, etc.) and conversely for receiving and decoding signals (e.g., messages, instructions, information, pilots, etc.) in accordance with the designated RAT. In one aspect, the at least one transceiver 404 and the antenna(s) 402 may form a (wireless) communication interface of the UE 400.

[0110]

[0120] A "transceiver" as used herein may in some implementations include at least one transmitter and at least one receiver in an integrated device (e.g., implemented as transmitter and receiver circuits in a single communications device), in some implementations may comprise separate transmitter and receiver devices, or in other implementations may be implemented in other manners. In one aspect, the transmitter may include or be coupled to multiple antennas, such as an antenna array (e.g., antenna(s) 402), that enable the UE 400 to perform transmit "beamforming" as described herein. Similarly, the receiver may include or be coupled to multiple antennas, such as an antenna array (e.g., antenna(s) 402), that enable the UE 400 to perform receive beamforming as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter(s) and receiver(s) may share the same antennas (e.g., antenna(s) 402) such that the UE 400 can only receive or transmit at a given time, rather than both receive and transmit at the same time. In some cases, a transceiver may not provide both transmit and receive capabilities. For example, in some designs, a low-function receiver circuit (e.g., a receiver chip or similar circuitry that merely provides low-level sniffing) may be employed to reduce cost when it is not necessary to provide full communication.

[0111]

[0121] The UE 400 may also include a Satellite Positioning Service (SPS) receiver 406. The SPS receiver 406 may be connected to one or more antennas 402 and may provide a means for receiving and / or measuring satellite signals. The SPS receiver 406 may comprise any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing SPS signals, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) signals. The SPS receiver 406 requests information and actions from other systems as appropriate, and performs the calculations necessary to determine the position of the UE 400 using measurements obtained by any suitable SPS algorithms.

[0112]

[0122] One or more sensors 408 may be coupled to the at least one processor 410 and may provide a means for sensing or detecting information regarding the state and / or environment of the UE 400, such as speed, heading (e.g., compass heading), headlight status, gas mileage, etc. By way of example, the one or more sensors 408 may include a speedometer, a tachometer, an accelerometer (e.g., a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), etc.

[0113]

[0123] The at least one processor 410 may include one or more central processing units (CPUs), microprocessors, microcontrollers, ASICs, processing cores, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc. that provide processing functions as well as other computational and control functions. Thus, the at least one processor 410 may provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means for indicating, etc. The at least one processor 410 may include any form of logic suitable for implementing or causing components of the UE 400 to implement at least the techniques described herein.

[0114]

[0124] The at least one processor 410 may also be coupled to a memory 414 that provides a means for storing (including a means for retrieving, a means for maintaining, etc.) data and software instructions for executing programmed functions within the UE 400. The memory 414 may be on-board the at least one processor 410 (e.g., within the same integrated circuit (IC) package) and / or the memory 414 may be external to the at least one processor 410 and operatively coupled thereto via a data bus.

[0115]

[0125] The UE 400 may include a user interface 450 providing any suitable interface system, such as a microphone / speaker 452, a keypad 454, and a display 456, to enable user interaction with the UE 400. The microphone / speaker 452 may provide voice communication services with the UE 400. The keypad 454 may comprise any suitable buttons for user input to the UE 400. The display 456 may comprise any suitable display, such as, for example, a backlit liquid crystal display (LCD), and may further include a touch screen display for additional user input modes. The user interface 450 may thus be a means for providing instructions (e.g., audible and / or visual instructions) to a user and / or for receiving user input (e.g., via user actuation of a sensing device, such as a keypad, touch screen, microphone, etc.).

[0116]

[0126] In one aspect, the UE 400 may include a sidelink manager 470 coupled to the at least one processor 410. The sidelink manager 470 may be a hardware, software, or firmware component that, when executed, causes the UE 400 to perform the operations described herein. For example, the sidelink manager 470 may be a software module stored in the memory 414 and executable by the at least one processor 410. As another example, the sidelink manager 470 may be a hardware circuit (e.g., an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), etc.) within the UE 400.

[0127]

[0117]

[0128] Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (e.g., base stations and UEs). FIG. 5A is a diagram 500 illustrating an example of a downlink frame structure according to an aspect of the disclosure. FIG. 5B is a diagram 530 illustrating an example of channels within a downlink frame structure according to an aspect of the disclosure. FIG. 5C is a diagram 550 illustrating an example of an uplink frame structure according to an aspect of the disclosure. FIG. 5D is a diagram 580 illustrating an example of channels within an uplink frame structure according to an aspect of the disclosure. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels.

[0118]

[0129] LTE and in some instances NR utilize OFDM on the downlink and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. However, unlike LTE, NR also has the option of using OFDM on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM partition the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, also commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. Generally, modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, or the total number of subcarriers (K) may be dependent on the system bandwidth. For example, the subcarrier spacing may be 15 kilohertz (kHz), and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) may be 12 subcarriers (i.e., 180 kHz). Thus, the nominal FFT size may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048 for a system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 megahertz (MHz), respectively. The system bandwidth may also be partitioned into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for a system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz, respectively.

[0119]

[0130] LTE supports a single numerology (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR may support multiple numerologies (μ), e.g., subcarrier spacings of 15 kHz (μ=0), 30 kHz (μ=1), 60 kHz (μ=2), 120 kHz (μ=3), and 240 kHz (μ=4) or more may be available. At each subcarrier spacing, there are 14 symbols per slot. For a 15 kHz SCS (μ=0), there is one slot per subframe, i.e., 10 slots per frame, the slot duration is 1 millisecond (ms), the symbol duration is 66.7 microseconds (μs), and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with an FFT size of 4K is 50. For a 30 kHz SCS (μ=1), there are two slots per subframe, i.e., 20 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.5 ms, the symbol duration is 33.3 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) for a 4K FFT size is 100. For a 60 kHz SCS (μ=2), there are four slots per subframe, i.e., 40 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.25 ms, the symbol duration is 16.7 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) for a 4K FFT size is 200. For a 120 kHz SCS (μ=3), there are eight slots per subframe, i.e., 80 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.125 ms, the symbol duration is 8.33 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) for a 4K FFT size is 400. For a 240 kHz SCS (μ=4), there are 16 slots per subframe, i.e., 160 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.0625 ms, the symbol duration is 4.17 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with an FFT size of 4K is 800.

[0120]

[0131] In the example of Figures 5A-5D, a numerology of 15 kHz is used. Thus, in the time domain, a 10 ms frame is divided into 10 equally sized subframes of 1 ms each, with each subframe containing one time slot. In Figures 5A-5D, time is represented horizontally (on the X-axis) with time increasing from left to right, and frequency is represented vertically (on the Y-axis) with frequency increasing (or decreasing) from bottom to top.

[0121]

[0132] A resource grid may be used to represent a time slot, with each time slot including one or more time-parallel resource blocks (RBs) (also called physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into multiple resource elements (REs). An RE may correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. In the numerology of Figures 5A-5D, in the case of a normal cyclic prefix, an RB may include 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and 7 consecutive symbols in the time domain for a total of 84 REs. In the case of an extended cyclic prefix, an RB may include 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and 6 consecutive symbols in the time domain to obtain a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0122]

[0133] Some of the REs carry downlink reference (pilot) signals (DL-RS). DL-RS may include positioning reference signals (PRS), tracking reference signals (TRS), phase tracking reference signals (PTRS), cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), demodulation reference signals (DMRS), primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), synchronization signal blocks (SSB), etc. Figure 5A shows an example of the locations (labeled "R") of REs carrying PRS.

[0123]

[0134] A set of resource elements (REs) used for transmission of a PRS is called a "PRS resource." A set of resource elements can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and "N" consecutive symbol(s) (e.g., one or more) within a slot in the time domain. Within a given OFDM symbol in the time domain, a PRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs in the frequency domain.

[0124]

[0135] The transmission of PRS resources within a given PRB has a particular comb size (also called "comb density"). The comb size "N" represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency / tone spacing) within each symbol of the PRS resource configuration. Specifically, for comb size "N", a PRS is transmitted in every Nth subcarrier of a symbol of the PRB. For example, for comb 4, for each symbol of the PRS resource configuration, an RE corresponding to every fourth subcarrier (such as subcarriers 0, 4, 8) is used to transmit the PRS of the PRS resource. Currently, comb sizes of comb 2, com 4, com 6, and com 12 are supported for DL-PRS. Figure 5A shows an example PRS resource configuration for comb 6 (spanning 6 symbols). That is, the location of the shaded REs (labeled "R") indicates a comb-6 PRS resource configuration.

[0125]

[0136] Currently, DL-PRS resources may span 2, 4, 6, or 12 consecutive symbols in a slot with a staggered pattern across the frequency domain. DL-PRS resources may be configured in any higher layer configured downlink or flexible (FL) symbol of a slot. There may be a constant energy per resource element (EPRE) for all REs of a given DL-PRS resource. Below are the symbol-to-symbol frequency offsets for comb sizes 2, 4, 6, and 12 across 2, 4, 6, and 12 symbols. 2symbolscom2:{0,1}, 4symbolscom2:{0,1,0,1}, 6symbolscom2:{0,1,0,1,0,1}, 12symbolscom2:{0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1}, 4symbolscom4:{0,2,1,3}, 12symbolscom4:{0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3}, 6symbolscom6:{0,3,1,4,2,5}, 12symbolscom6:{0,3,1,4,2,5,03,1,4,2,5}, and 12symbolscom12:{0,6,3,9,1,7,4,10,2,8,5,11}.

[0126]

[0137] A "PRS resource set" is a collection of PRS resources used for transmission of a PRS signal, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. In addition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and is associated with a particular TRP (identified by a TRP ID). In addition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set have the same periodicity across slots, a common muting pattern configuration, and the same repetition factor (e.g., "PRS-ResourceRepetitionFactor"). The periodicity is the time from the first repetition of the first PRS resource of the first PRS instance to the same first repetition of the same first PRS resource of the next PRS instance. The periodicity is μ=0, 1, 2, 3, where μ is a function of 2^μ. * The repetition factor may have a length selected from {1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32} slots.

[0127]

[0138] A PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set is associated with a single beam (or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (where a TRP may transmit one or more beams). That is, each PRS resource in a PRS resource set may be transmitted on a different beam, and thus a "PRS resource" or simply a "resource" may also be referred to as a "beam." Note that this does not have any implication as to whether the TRP and beam on which the PRS is transmitted are known to the UE.

[0128]

[0139] A "PRS instance" or "PRS occasion" is one instance of a periodically repeating time window (e.g., a group of one or more contiguous slots) during which a PRS is expected to be transmitted. A PRS occasion may also be referred to as a "PRS positioning occasion", "PRS positioning instance", "positioning occasion", "positioning instance", "positioning repetition", or simply an "occasion", "instance", or "repetition".

[0129]

[0140] A "positioning frequency layer" (also simply called "frequency layer") is a set of one or more PRS resources across one or more TRPs with the same values ​​for certain parameters. In particular, a set of PRS resource sets has the same subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix (CP) type (meaning that all numerologies supported for PDSCH are also supported for PRS), the same Point A, the same value of downlink PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size. The Point A parameter takes the value of the parameter "ARFCN-ValueNR" (where "ARFCN" stands for "absolute radio frequency channel number"), which is an identifier / code that specifies a pair of physical radio channels used for transmission and reception. The downlink PRS bandwidth may have a granularity of 4 PRB, with a minimum of 24 PRB and a maximum of 272 PRB. Currently, up to four frequency layers are defined, and up to two PRS resource sets per TRP per frequency layer can be configured.

[0130]

[0141] The concept of frequency layer is somewhat like that of component carrier and bandwidth portion (BWP), but differs in that component carrier and BWP are used by one base station (or macrocell base station and small cell base station) to transmit data channels, whereas frequency layer is used by several (usually three or more) base stations to transmit PRS. A UE may indicate the number of frequency layers that it can support when it transmits its positioning capabilities to the network, such as during an LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) session. For example, a UE may indicate that it can support one positioning frequency layer or four positioning frequency layers.

[0131]

[0142] FIG. 5B shows an example of various channels in a downlink slot of a radio frame. In NR, the channel bandwidth or system bandwidth is divided into multiple BWPs. A BWP is a contiguous set of PRBs selected from a contiguous subset of common RBs for a given numerology on a given carrier. In general, up to four BWPs can be specified in the downlink and uplink. That is, a UE can be configured with up to four BWPs on the downlink and with up to four BWPs on the uplink. Only one BWP (uplink or downlink) may be active at a given time, meaning that a UE can only receive or transmit via one BWP at a time. On the downlink, the bandwidth of each BWP should be equal to or greater than the bandwidth of an SSB, but each BWP may or may not include an SSB.

[0132]

[0143] Referring to FIG. 5B, the primary synchronization signal (PSS) is used by the UE to determine subframe / symbol timing and physical layer identity. The secondary synchronization signal (SSS) is used by the UE to determine the physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine the PCI. Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the location of the DL-RS mentioned above. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying the MIB may be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form an SSB (also called SS / PBCH). The MIB provides the number of RBs in the downlink system bandwidth and the system frame number (SFN). The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted over the PBCH, such as system information blocks (SIBs), and paging messages.

[0133]

[0144] A physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries downlink control information (DCI) in one or more control channel elements (CCEs), where each CCE contains one or more RE group (REG) bundles (which may span multiple symbols in the time domain), and each REG bundle contains one or more REGs, where each REG corresponds to 12 resource elements (one resource block) in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain. The set of physical resources used to carry the PDCCH / DCI is called a control resource set (CORESET) in NR. In NR, the PDCCH is confined to a single CORESET and transmitted with its own DMRS. This allows UE-specific beamforming for the PDCCH.

[0134]

[0145] In the example of Figure 5B, there is one CORESET per BWP, and the CORESET spans three symbols in the time domain (although it could be only one or two symbols). Unlike the LTE control channel, which occupies the entire system bandwidth, in NR, the PDCCH channel is confined to a specific region (i.e., the CORESET) in the frequency domain. Thus, the frequency components of the PDCCH shown in Figure 5B are shown as smaller than a single BWP in the frequency domain. Note that the illustrated CORESET is contiguous in the frequency domain, but does not have to be. In addition, the CORESET may span less than three symbols in the time domain.

[0135]

[0146] The DCI in the PDCCH carries information about uplink resource allocations (persistent and non-persistent), called uplink grants and downlink grants, respectively, and a description of the downlink data to be transmitted to the UE. More specifically, the DCI indicates resources scheduled for a downlink data channel (e.g., PDSCH) and an uplink data channel (e.g., PUSCH). Multiple (e.g., up to eight) DCIs may be configured in the PDCCH, and these DCIs may have one of multiple formats. For example, there are different DCI formats for uplink scheduling, downlink scheduling, uplink transmit power control (TPC), etc. The PDCCH may be transported by 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs to accommodate different DCI payload sizes or coding rates.

[0136]

[0147] As shown in FIG. 5C, some of the REs (labeled "R") carry DMRS for channel estimation at a receiver (e.g., a base station, another UE, etc.). The UE may additionally transmit an SRS, e.g., in the last symbol of a slot. The SRS may have a comb structure, and the UE may transmit the SRS on one of the combs. In the example of FIG. 5C, the SRS shown is comb 2 spanning one symbol. The SRS may be used by the base station to obtain channel state information (CSI) for each UE. The CSI describes how the RF signal propagates from the UE to the base station, and represents the combined effects of scattering, fading, and power attenuation with distance. The system uses the SRS for resource scheduling, link adaptation, massive MIMO, beam management, etc.

[0137]

[0148] Currently, an SRS resource can span 1, 2, 4, 8, or 12 consecutive symbols within a slot with comb size Com 2, Com 4, or Com 8. The following are the frequency offsets from symbol to symbol for the currently supported SRS comb patterns: 1 symbol Com 2: {0}, 2 symbols Com 2: {0,1}, 4 symbols Com 2: {0,1,0,1}, 4 symbols Com 4: {0,2,1,3}, 8 symbols Com 4: {0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3}, 12 symbols Com 4: {0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3}, 4 symbols Com 8: {0,4,2,6}, 8 symbols Com 8: {0,4,2,6,1,5,3,7}, and 12 symbols Com 8: {0,4,2,6,1,5,3,7,0,4,2,6}.

[0138]

[0149] A set of resource elements used for transmission of SRS is called an "SRS resource" and may be identified by the parameter "SRS-ResourceId". The set of resource elements may span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and N (e.g., one or more) consecutive symbol(s) within a slot in the time domain. Within a given OFDM symbol, an SRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs. An "SRS resource set" is a set of SRS resources used for transmission of an SRS signal and is identified by an SRS resource set ID ("SRS-ResourceSetId").

[0139]

[0150] Generally, a UE transmits an SRS to enable a receiving base station (either a serving base station or a neighboring base station) to measure the channel quality between the UE and the base station. However, the SRS may also be specifically configured as an uplink positioning reference signal for uplink-based positioning procedures such as uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA), round-trip time (RTT), uplink angle-of-arrival (UL-AoA), etc. The term "SRS" as used herein may refer to an SRS configured for channel quality measurement or an SRS configured for positioning purposes. When it is necessary to distinguish between the two types of SRS, the former may be referred to herein as "communication SRS" and / or the latter may be referred to as "positioning SRS".

[0140]

[0151] Several extensions beyond the previous definition of SRS have been proposed for positioning SRS (also called "UL-PRS"), such as new staggered patterns in SRS resources (except single symbol / comb2), new comb types for SRS, new sequences for SRS, more SRS resource sets per component carrier, and more SRS resources per component carrier. In addition, the parameters "SpatialRelationInfo" and "PathLossReference" will be configured based on downlink reference signals or SSBs from neighboring TRPs. Still further, one SRS resource may be transmitted outside the active BWP and one SRS resource may span across multiple component carriers. Also, SRS may be configured in RRC connected state and may only be transmitted within the active BWP. Furthermore, there may be no frequency hopping, no repetition factor, there may be a single antenna port, and there may be new lengths for SRS (e.g., 8 and 12 symbols). Also, there may be open loop power control rather than closed loop power control, and Com8 (i.e., SRS transmitted on every 8th subcarrier in the same symbol) may be used. Finally, the UE may transmit from multiple SRS resources over the same transmit beam for UL-AoA. All of these are features added to the current SRS framework, configured (and potentially triggered) through RRC higher layer signaling, or activated through the MAC Control Element (CE) or DCI.

[0141]

[0152] FIG. 5D illustrates an example of various channels in an uplink slot of a frame according to an aspect of the disclosure. A random access channel (RACH), also referred to as a physical random access channel (PRACH), may be in one or more slots in a frame based on a PRACH configuration. The PRACH may include six consecutive RB pairs in a slot. The PRACH enables a UE to perform initial system access and achieve uplink synchronization. A physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) may be located on the edge of the uplink system bandwidth. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, CSI reports, channel quality indicators (CQI), precoding matrix indicators (PMI), rank indicators (RI), and HARQ ACK / NACK feedback. A physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) carries data and may additionally be used to carry buffer status reports (BSR), power headroom reports (PHR), and / or UCI.

[0142]

[0153] It should be noted that the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" generally refer to specific reference signals used for positioning in NR and LTE systems. However, the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" as used herein may also refer to any type of reference signal that can be used for positioning, such as, but not limited to, PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, SRS, UL-PRS as defined in LTE and NR. In addition, the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" may refer to downlink or uplink positioning reference signals, unless otherwise indicated by the context. If necessary to further distinguish between types of PRS, downlink positioning reference signals may be referred to as "DL-PRS" and uplink positioning reference signals (e.g., SRS for positioning, PTRS) may be referred to as "UL-PRS". Additionally, for signals that may be transmitted in both uplink and downlink (e.g., DMRS, PTRS), "UL" or "DL" may be prepended to the signal to distinguish the direction. For example, "UL-DMRS" may be distinguished from "DL-DMRS."

[0143]

[0154] NR supports several cellular network-based positioning techniques, including downlink-based positioning methods, uplink-based positioning methods, and downlink- and uplink-based positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) in LTE, downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) in NR, and downlink angle-of-departure (DL-AoD) in NR. In an OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedure, the UE measures the differences between the times of arrival (ToA) of reference signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) received from pairs of base stations, called reference signal time difference (RSTD) or time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements, and reports them to a positioning entity. More specifically, the UE receives identifiers (IDs) of a reference base station (e.g., a serving base station) and multiple non-reference base stations in the assistance data. The UE then measures the RSTD between the reference base station and each of the non-reference base stations. Based on the known locations of the involved base stations and the RSTD measurements, the positioning entity can estimate the position of the UE.

[0144]

[0155] For DL-AoD positioning, the positioning entity uses beam reports from the UE of received signal strength measurements of multiple downlink transmit beams to determine the angle(s) between the UE and the transmitting base station(s). The positioning entity can then estimate the location(s) of the UE based on the determined angles and the known locations of the transmitting base stations.

[0145]

[0156] Uplink-based positioning methods include uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) and uplink angle-of-arrival (UL-AoA). UL-TDOA is similar to DL-TDOA, but is based on an uplink reference signal (e.g., Sounding Reference Signal (SRS)) transmitted by the UE. For UL-AoA positioning, one or more base stations measure the received signal strength of one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS) received from the UE on one or more uplink receive beams. The positioning entity uses the signal strength measurements and the angle(s) of the receive beam(s) to determine the angle(s) between the UE and the base station. Based on the determined angle(s) and the known location(s) of the base station(s), the positioning entity can then estimate the location of the UE.

[0146]

[0157] Downlink and uplink based positioning methods include enhanced cell-ID (E-CID) positioning, and multi-round-trip-time (RTT) positioning (also called "multi-cell RTT"). In the RTT procedure, an initiator (base station or UE) transmits an RTT measurement signal (e.g., PRS or SRS) to a responder (UE or base station), and the responder transmits an RTT response signal (e.g., SRS or PRS) back to the initiator. The RTT response signal includes the difference between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal and the transmission time of the RTT response signal, called the reception-to-transmission (Rx-Tx) time difference. The initiator calculates the difference between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal and the ToA of the RTT response signal, called the transmission-to-reception (Tx-Rx) time difference. The propagation time (also called "time of flight") between the initiator and the responder can be calculated from the Tx-Rx and Rx-Tx time differences. Based on the propagation time and the known speed of light, the distance between the initiator and responder can be determined. For multi-RTT positioning, the UE performs RTT procedures with multiple base stations to allow its location to be determined based on the known locations of the base stations (e.g., using multilateration). RTT and multi-RTT methods can be combined with other positioning techniques such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD to improve location accuracy.

[0147]

[0158] The E-CID positioning method is based on Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, timing advance (TA), and identities of detected neighboring base stations, estimated timing, and signal strength. The location of the UE is then estimated based on this information and the known location of the base station(s).

[0148]

[0159] To assist the positioning operation, a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide assistance data to the UE. For example, the assistance data may include identifiers of base stations (or base station cells / TRPs) from which to measure reference signals, reference signal configuration parameters (e.g., number of consecutive positioning subframes, periodicity of positioning subframes, muting sequence, frequency hopping sequence, reference signal identifier, reference signal bandwidth, etc.), and / or other parameters applicable to a particular positioning method. Alternatively, the assistance data may originate directly from the base stations themselves (e.g., in periodically broadcasted overhead messages, etc.), and in some cases, the UE may be able to detect neighboring network nodes itself without using the assistance data.

[0149]

[0160] In the case of OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedures, the assistance data may further include an expected RSTD value and an associated uncertainty around the expected RSTD, i.e., a search window. In some cases, the value range for the expected RSTD may be + / - 500 microseconds (μs). In some cases, the value range for the expected RSTD uncertainty may be + / - 32 μs when any of the resources used for the positioning measurements are in FR1. In other cases, the value range for the expected RSTD uncertainty may be + / - 8 μs when all of the resources used for the positioning measurement(s) are in FR2.

[0150]

[0161] A location estimate may be referred to by other names, such as a position estimate, location, position, position fix, fix, etc. A location estimate may be geodetic and comprise coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude), or urban and comprise a street address, postal address, or some other linguistic description of the location. A location estimate may also be defined relative to some other known location, or defined absolutely (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). A location estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume within which the location is expected to be located with some specified or default level of confidence).

[0151]

[0162] FIG. 6 illustrates a time difference of arrival (TDOA) based positioning procedure in an example wireless communication system 600 according to an aspect of the disclosure. The TDOA based positioning procedure may be an observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) positioning procedure, as in LTE, or a downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) positioning procedure, as in 6G NR. In the example of FIG. 6, a UE 604 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein) is attempting to calculate an estimate of its location (referred to as a "UE-based" positioning) or to assist another entity (e.g., a base station or core network component, another UE, a location server, a third party application, etc.) to calculate an estimate of its location (referred to as a "UE-assisted" positioning). The UE 604 may communicate with (e.g., send information to and receive information from) one or more of a number of base stations 602 (e.g., any combination of base stations described herein) labeled "BS1" 602-1, "BS2" 602-2, and "BS3" 602-3.

[0152]

[0163] To support location estimation, base stations 602 may be configured to broadcast positioning reference signals (e.g., PRS, TRS, CRS, CSI-RS, etc.) to UEs 604 within their coverage areas to allow the UEs 604 to measure characteristics of such reference signals. In a TDOA-based positioning procedure, the UEs 604 measure the time difference, known as the Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) or TDOA, between specific downlink reference signals (e.g., PRS, TRS, CRS, CSI-RS, etc.) transmitted by different pairs of base stations 602 and either report these RSTD measurements to a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) or calculate a location estimate itself from the RSTD measurements.

[0153]

[0164] In general, RSTD is measured between a reference cell (e.g., the cell supported by base station 602-1 in the example of FIG. 6) and one or more neighboring cells (e.g., the cells supported by base stations 602-2 and 602-3 in the example of FIG. 6). The reference cell remains the same for all RSTDs measured by the UE 604 for any single positioning use of TDOA and will typically correspond to the serving cell for the UE 604 or another nearby cell with good signal strength at the UE 604. In one aspect, the neighboring cell will typically be a cell supported by a different base station than the base station for the reference cell and may have good or poor signal strength at the UE 604. The location calculation can be based on the measured RSTD and knowledge of the locations and relative transmission timing of the involved base stations 602 (e.g., regarding whether the base stations 602 are precisely synchronized or whether each base station 602 transmits with some known time offset relative to the other base stations 602).

[0154]

[0165] To assist the TDOA-based positioning operation, a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide assistance data to the UE 604 for the reference cell and neighboring cells relative to the reference cell. For example, the assistance data may include an identifier (e.g., PCI, VCI, CGI, etc.) for each cell of a set of cells (here, cells supported by base station 602) that the UE 604 is expected to measure. The assistance data may also provide each cell's center channel frequency, various reference signal configuration parameters (e.g., number of consecutive positioning slots, periodicity of positioning slots, muting sequence, frequency hopping sequence, reference signal identifier, reference signal bandwidth), and / or other cell-related parameters applicable to the TDOA-based positioning procedure. The assistance data may also indicate the serving cell for the UE 604 as the reference cell.

[0155]

[0166] In some cases, the assistance data may also include an "expected RSTD" parameter that provides the UE 604 with information about the RSTD value that the UE 604 is expected to measure at its current location between the reference cell and each neighbor cell, along with the uncertainty of the expected RSTD parameter. The expected RSTD, along with the associated uncertainty, may define a search window for the UE 604 within which the UE 604 is expected to measure the RSTD value. In some cases, the value range for the expected RSTD uncertainty may be + / - 600 microseconds (μs). In some cases, when any of the resources used for the positioning measurements are in FR1, the value range for the expected RSTD uncertainty may be + / - 32 μs. In other cases, when all of the resources used for the positioning measurement(s) are in FR2, the value range for the expected RSTD uncertainty may be + / - 8 μs.

[0156]

[0167] The TDOA assistance information may also include positioning reference signal configuration information parameters that enable the UE 604 to determine when positioning reference signal occasions occur relative to signals received from various neighboring cells compared to positioning reference signal occasions for the reference cell, and to determine reference signal sequences transmitted from various cells for measuring the reference signal time of arrival (ToA) or RSTD.

[0157]

[0168] In one aspect, a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may send the assistance data to the UE 604, but alternatively, the assistance data may originate directly from the base station 602 itself (e.g., in periodically broadcast overhead messages, etc.). Alternatively, the UE 604 may detect neighbor base stations on its own without using assistance data.

[0158]

[0169] The UE 604 may measure and (optionally) report the RSTD between reference signals received from a pair of base stations 602 (e.g., based in part on assistance data, if provided). Using the RSTD measurements, the known absolute or relative transmit timing of each base station 602, and the known location(s) of the reference and neighboring base stations 602, the network (e.g., location server 230 / LMF 270 / SLP 272, base station 602) or UE 604 may estimate the location of the UE 604. More specifically, the RSTD for neighboring cell "k" relative to the reference cell "Ref" may be given as (ToA_k-ToA_Ref). In the example of Figure 6, the measured RSTD between the reference cell of base station 602-1 and the cells of neighboring base stations 602-2 and 602-3 may be represented as T2-T1 and T3-T1, where T1, T2, and T3 represent the ToAs of the reference signals from base stations 602-1, 602-2, and 602-3, respectively. The UE 604 may then (if it is not a positioning entity) send the RSTD measurements to a location server or other positioning entity. Using (i) the RSTD measurements, (ii) the known absolute or relative transmission timing of each base station 602, (iii) the known location(s) of the base stations 602, and / or (iv) directional reference signal characteristics such as direction of transmission, the location of the UE 604 may be determined (either by the UE 604 or the location server).

[0159]

[0170] In one aspect, the location estimate may specify a location of the UE 604 in a two-dimensional (2D) coordinate system. However, the aspects disclosed herein are not so limited and may be applicable to determining a location estimate using a three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system if additional dimensions are desired. Additionally, while FIG. 6 shows one UE 604 and three base stations 602, it will be appreciated that there may be more UEs 604 and more base stations 602.

[0160]

[0171] With further reference to FIG. 6, when the UE 604 uses RSTD to obtain a location estimate, necessary additional data (e.g., the location and relative transmission timing of the base station 602) may be provided to the UE 604 by a location server. In some implementations, a location estimate for the UE 604 may be obtained (e.g., by the UE 604 itself or by a location server) from the RSTD and from other measurements made by the UE 604 (e.g., measurements of signal timing from satellites of the Global Positioning System (GPS) or other global navigation satellite system (GNSS)). In these implementations, referred to as hybrid positioning, the RSTD measurements may contribute to obtaining a location estimate for the UE 604 but may not completely determine the location estimate.

[0161]

[0172] In addition to downlink-based, uplink-based, and downlink-and-uplink-based positioning methods, NR supports various sidelink positioning techniques. For example, link-level ranging signals can be used to estimate the distance between a pair of V-UEs or between a V-UE and a roadside unit (RSU), similar to the round-trip-time (RTT) positioning procedure.

[0162]

[0173] FIG. 7 illustrates an example wireless communication system 700 in which a V-UE 704 is exchanging ranging signals with an RSU 710 and another V-UE 706 according to an aspect of the disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 7, a wideband (e.g., FR1) ranging signal (e.g., Zadoff Chu sequence) is transmitted by both endpoints (e.g., V-UE 704 and RSU 710, and V-UE 704 and V-UE 706). In an aspect, the ranging signal may be a Sidelink Positioning Reference Signal (SL-PRS) transmitted by the participating V-UE 704 and V-UE 706 on uplink resources. Upon receiving the ranging signal from the transmitter (e.g., V-UE 704), the receiver (e.g., RSU 710 and / or V-UE 706) responds by sending a ranging signal that includes a measurement of the difference between the reception time of the ranging signal and the transmission time of the response ranging signal, referred to as the receiver receive-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference measurement.

[0163]

[0174] Upon receiving the reply ranging signal, the transmitter (or other positioning entity) can calculate the RTT between the transmitter and the receiver based on the receiver's Rx-Tx time difference measurement and a measurement of the difference between the transmission time of the first ranging signal and the reception time of the reply ranging signal (referred to as the transmitter's transmit-receive (Tx-Rx) time difference measurement). The transmitter (or other positioning entity) uses the RTT and the speed of light to estimate the distance between the transmitter and the receiver. If one or both of the transmitter and receiver are beamforming capable, it may also be possible to determine the angle between the V-UE 704 and the V-UE 706. Additionally, if the receiver provides its Global Positioning System (GPS) location in the reply ranging signal, the transmitter (or other positioning entity) may be able to determine the absolute location of the transmitter as opposed to the relative location of the transmitter with respect to the receiver.

[0164]

[0175] As can be seen, the ranging accuracy improves with the bandwidth of the ranging signal. In particular, a higher bandwidth can better separate different multipaths of the ranging signal.

[0165]

[0176] Note that this positioning procedure assumes that the V-UEs involved are time synchronized (i.e., their system frame time is the same as the other V-UEs or has a known offset relative to the other V-UE(s). Furthermore, although Figure 7 shows two V-UEs, it will be appreciated that they do not have to be V-UEs, but instead may be any other type of UE capable of sidelink communication.

[0166]

[0177] Traditionally, SL ranging (RTT) between UEs has been used to provide additional constraints for positioning. As mentioned above, this requires the UE to accurately estimate the Rx-Tx turnaround time. If the UE cannot be calibrated to determine sidelink ranging (RTT), the RTT measurement will be inaccurate. Many SL UEs do not support the Rx-Tx time measurement feature.

[0167]

[0178] In some designs, a reference UE associated with a known location (e.g., from a recent positioning fix with a threshold level of accuracy) may be used in place of a fixed device (e.g., a gNB) to assist in various positioning procedures. However, while gNBs are typically highly synchronized, the timing drift between the gNB time reference and the reference UE time reference may be unknown. This unknown timing drift may make it difficult to use the reference UE in a TDOA-based positioning scheme.

[0168]

[0179] Aspects of the present disclosure are thus directed to hybrid SL-based TDOA techniques (e.g., a combination of SL and DL TDOA or a combination of SL and UL TDOA), where a position estimation is based on a time bias between a base station and a reference UE. In some designs, factoring the time bias into the position estimation may facilitate including a reference UE in a TDOA positioning procedure, which may increase positioning accuracy of a target UE and / or facilitate positioning of a target UE for which other positioning schemes (e.g., RTT-based positioning schemes) are unavailable (e.g., due to lack of support by one or more of the UEs involved in the TDOA positioning procedure or a shortage in the number of gNBs).

[0169]

[0180] 8 illustrates an example process 800 for wireless communication according to an aspect of the disclosure. In one aspect, the process 800 may be performed by a position estimation entity such as the UE 302 (e.g., for UE-based positioning) or an LMF integrated with the BS 304 or a network entity 306 (e.g., a location server, a core network component, etc.).

[0170]

[0181] Referring to FIG. 8, at 810, a position estimation entity (e.g., receiver 312 or 322 or 352 or 362, network interface(s) 380 or 390, data bus 382, ​​etc.) obtains first timing information associated with a first time of arrival (TOA) measurement of a first positioning reference signal (RS-P) communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station at a first time reference.

[0171]

[0182] Referring to FIG. 8, at 820, a location estimation entity (e.g., receiver 312 or 322 or 352 or 362, network interface(s) 380 or 390, data bus 382, ​​etc.) obtains second timing information associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time reference different from the first time reference.

[0172]

[0183] Referring to FIG. 8, at 830, a position estimation entity (e.g., processor(s) 332 or 384 or 394, position estimation module 342 or 388 or 398, etc.) determines a bias between the first time reference and the second time reference.

[0173]

[0184] Referring to FIG. 8, at 840, a location estimation entity (e.g., processor(s) 332 or 384 or 394, location estimation module 342 or 388 or 398, etc.) determines a location estimate of the target UE via a TDOA positioning technique based at least in part on the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

[0174]

[0185] Referring to FIG. 8, in some designs, the location estimation entity may further acquire third timing information associated with a third TOA measurement of a third RS-P communicated between the target UE and the first wireless node, and fourth timing information associated with a fourth TOA measurement of a fourth RS-P communicated between the target UE and the second wireless node. In this case, the determination of the location estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information. In some designs, the first wireless and the second wireless nodes include at least one other base station, at least one other reference UE associated with at least one other known location, or a combination thereof. In other words, the TDOA positioning procedure of FIG. 8 may involve one gNB and multiple reference UEs (1:N), or multiple gNBs and one reference UE (N:1), or multiple gNBs and multiple reference UEs (N:N).

[0175]

[0186] 8, in some designs, the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and downlink TDOA (SL+DL-TDOA) positioning technique, where the first RS-P corresponds to a DL-PRS and the second RS-P corresponds to a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS). In other designs, the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and uplink TDOA (SL+UL-TDOA) positioning technique, where the first RS-P corresponds to an uplink sounding reference for positioning (UL-SRS-P) and the second RS-P corresponds to a UL-SRS-P or a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

[0176]

[0187] 8, in some designs, the bias determination at 830 is triggered in conjunction with the triggering of the location estimate determination at 840. In other words, when a location estimation procedure involving the reference UE(s) is triggered, the time bias calibration procedure is also triggered. In other designs, the bias determination at 830 is triggered independently of and within a threshold period of the triggering of the location estimate determination at 840. In other words, the bias calibration procedure does not need to be triggered together with the triggering of a location estimation procedure involving the reference UE(s), as long as a fairly recent bias calibration has been performed.

[0177]

[0188] 8, in some designs, the bias is determined based on a first difference between an estimated propagation time between the base station and the reference UE based on the respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the base station and the reference UE. In some designs, the bias is further determined based on a second difference between an estimated propagation time between another base station and the reference UE based on the respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE.

[0178]

[0189] A detailed example implementation of process 800 of FIG. 8 is described in more detail below with respect to FIGS.

[0179]

[0190] FIG. 9 depicts a communication system 900 according to an aspect of the disclosure. In FIG. 9, the communication system 900 includes gNB1, gNB2, a reference UEa associated with a first known location, a reference UEb associated with a second known location, and target UE0 and target UE1 whose locations are unknown. In FIG. 9, it is assumed that gNB timing between gNB1 and gNB2 is highly calibrated (e.g., the timing basis difference is below a threshold) and the distance from each gNB to each reference UE is known.

[0180]

[0191] 9, the RS-P based ranging measurement (r) from the source device to the target device may be represented as (r, source device ID, target device ID). Thus, the DL-PRS based ranging measurement from gNB1 to UEa is illustratively represented as "r1a". These ranging measurements are based on the actual propagation delay between the source device and the target device, as well as an individual bias, which may be represented as b, e.g., ·r1a=T gNB1-UEa +b gNB-UEa ·r2a=T gNB2-UEa +b gNB-UEa ·r1b=T gNB1-UEb +b gNB-UEb ·r2b=T gNB2-UEb +b gNB-UEb ·r10=T gNB1-UE0 +b gNB-UE0 ·r20=T gNB2-UE0 +b gNB-UE0 ·r11=T gNB1-UE1 +b gNB-UE1 ·r21=T gNB2-UE1 +b gNB-UE1 where r1a is the propagation delay from gNB1 to UEa (T gNB1-UEa ) with bias (b gNB-UEa ) and so on.

[0181]

[0192] Each bias can be calculated as follows:

[0182]

number

[0183]

[0193] FIG. 10 illustrates a timeline 1000 based on an example implementation of the process of FIG. 8 according to one aspect of the disclosure. In FIG. 10, a gNB (which may correspond to gNB1 or gNB2 from FIG. 9, for example) transmits a DL-PRS 1010 that is measured by UE0. The propagation time from gNB to UE0 is represented as T_(gNB-UE0). A reference UEa transmits a UL-SRS-P or SL-PRS at 1020, which is also measured by UE0. The propagation time from reference UEA to UE0 is represented as T_(UEa-UE0). The bias between gNB and reference UEa is represented as b_(gNB-UEa), and the TDOA between the TOA of DL-PRS 1010 and the TOA of UL-SRS or SL-PRS 1020, measured at UE0, is represented as Δ_(gNB-UEa-UE0). Although not explicitly depicted in FIG. 10, the TOA of DL-PRS 1010 and the TOA of UL-SRS or SL-PRS 1020 may also be measured at UE1, and the TOA or UL-SRS or SL-PRS from UEb (not explicitly shown in FIG. 10) may also be measured at both UE0 and UE1. In this case, T gNB1-UE0 +Δ gNB1-UEa-UE0 =b gNB1-UEa +T UEa-UE0 T gNB1-UE1 +Δ gNB1-UEa-UE1 =b gNB1-UEa +T UEa-UE1 T gNB1-UE0 +Δ gNB1-UEb-UE0 =b gNB1-UEb +T UEb-UE0 T gNB1-UE1 +Δ gNB1-UEb-UE1 =b gNB1-UEb +T UEb-UE1 where each delta (Δ) is associated with an observation at UE0 and UE1 from gNB1, and each (b) variable represents an estimated bias between UEa or UEb and gNB1. A similar process can be performed for gNB2.

[0184]

[0194] This allows, for each UE with unknown location (either UE0 or UE1), to derive, for example, the following set of observations from nodes with known positions (gNB1, gNB2, UEa and UEb): T gNB1-UE0 -T gNB2-UE0 T gNB1-UE0 -T UEa-UE0 T gNB2-UE0 -T UEa-UE0 T gNB1-UE0 -T UEb-UE0 T gNB2-UE0 -T UEb-UE0

[0185]

[0195] In some designs, if only one reference UE (e.g., UEa) is available, we have only the first three equations involving only UEa. This may result in two usable equations because the equations are not linearly independent. The addition of a second reference UE (UEb) may thereby provide additional equations (three usable equations out of the five equations depicted above). In some TDOA techniques, three equations are needed to solve for the location of UE0. Thus, with four reference nodes, three equations can be obtained to solve for the position of UE0. As mentioned above, these four reference nodes can be used in any combination as long as at least one of the four reference nodes is a gNB associated with known timing.

[0186]

[0196] 9-10 are particularly directed to a hybrid SL+DL-TDOA technique, but other aspects may be subject to a SL+UL-TDOA technique, in which case UE0 may transmit UL-SRS-P instead of DL-PRS 1010 depicted in FIG. 10, T_(gNB-UE0) instead of T_(UE0-gNB), and so on.

[0187]

[0197] In the above detailed description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in each example. This manner of disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the exemplary clauses have more features than are expressly stated in each clause. Rather, various aspects of the disclosure may include fewer features than all features of each disclosed exemplary clause. Thus, the following clauses should be considered to be incorporated in the description, and each clause may stand alone as a separate example. Although each dependent clause may refer to a specific combination with one of the other clauses in the clause, the aspect(s) of the dependent clause are not limited to that specific combination. It will be understood that other exemplary clauses may also include combinations of the aspect(s) of the dependent clause with the subject matter of any other dependent clause or independent clause, or combinations of any features with other dependent clauses and independent clauses. Unless a specific combination is not intended (e.g., conflicting aspects such as defining an element as both an insulator and a conductor) is expressly expressed or can be easily inferred, the various aspects disclosed herein expressly include these combinations. It is further contemplated that aspects of a clause may be included in any other independent clause, even if the clause is not directly dependent on the independent clause.

[0188]

[0198] The following numbered clauses describe example implementations.

[0189]

[0199] Clause 1. A method of operating a location estimation entity, comprising: obtaining first timing information associated with a first time of arrival (TOA) measurement of a first positioning reference signal (RS-P) communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station at a first time reference; obtaining second timing information associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time reference different from the first time reference; determining a bias between the first time reference and the second time reference; and determining a location estimate for the target UE via a time difference of arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part on the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

[0190]

[0200] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, further comprising: acquiring third timing information associated with a third TOA measurement value of a third RS-P communicated between the target UE and the first wireless node; and acquiring fourth timing information associated with a fourth TOA measurement value of a fourth RS-P communicated between the target UE and the second wireless node, wherein determining the position estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information.

[0191]

[0201] Clause 3. The method of clause 2, wherein the first wireless node and the second wireless node include at least one other base station, at least one other reference UE associated with at least one other known location, or a combination thereof.

[0192]

[0202] Clause 4. The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 3, wherein the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and downlink TDOA (SL+DL-TDOA) positioning technique, the first RS-P corresponds to a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS), and the second RS-P corresponds to a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

[0193]

[0203] Clause 5. The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 4, wherein the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and uplink TDOA (SL+UL-TDOA) positioning technique, the first RS-P corresponds to an uplink sounding reference for positioning (UL-SRS-P), and the second RS-P corresponds to a UL-SRS-P or a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

[0194]

[0204] Clause 6. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 5, wherein the location estimation entity corresponds to a base station, a reference UE, a Location Management Function (LMF), a location server, a target UE, or a combination thereof.

[0195]

[0205] Clause 7. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 6, wherein the determination of the bias is triggered in conjunction with the triggering of the determination of the position estimate.

[0196]

[0206] Clause 8. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 7, wherein the determination of the bias is triggered independently of and within a threshold period of the triggering of the determination of the position estimate.

[0197]

[0207] Clause 9. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 8, wherein the bias is determined based on a first difference between an estimated propagation time between the base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the base station and the reference UE.

[0198]

[0208] Clause 10. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 9, wherein the bias is further determined based on a second difference between an estimated propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE.

[0199]

[0209] Clause 11. A location estimation entity comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: obtain first timing information associated with a first Time of Arrival (TOA) measurement of a first positioning reference signal (RS-P) communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station at a first time reference; obtain second timing information associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time reference different from the first time reference; determine a bias between the first time reference and the second time reference; and determine a location estimate for the target UE via a Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part on the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

[0200]

[0210] Clause 12. The location estimation entity of clause 11, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to obtain third timing information associated with a third TOA measurement value of a third RS-P communicated between the target UE and the first wireless node, and obtain fourth timing information associated with a fourth TOA measurement value of a fourth RS-P communicated between the target UE and the second wireless node, and wherein determining the location estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information.

[0201]

[0211] Clause 13. The location estimation entity of clause 12, wherein the first wireless and second wireless nodes include at least one other base station, at least one other reference UE associated with at least one other known location, or a combination thereof.

[0202]

[0212] Clause 14. A location estimation entity as described in any one of clauses 11 to 13, wherein the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and downlink TDOA (SL+DL-TDOA) positioning technique, the first RS-P corresponds to a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS) and the second RS-P corresponds to a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

[0203]

[0213] Clause 15. A location estimation entity according to any one of clauses 11 to 14, wherein the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and uplink TDOA (SL+UL-TDOA) positioning technique, the first RS-P corresponds to an uplink sounding reference for positioning (UL-SRS-P), and the second RS-P corresponds to a UL-SRS-P or a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

[0204]

[0214] Clause 16. A location estimation entity according to any one of clauses 11 to 15, wherein the location estimation entity corresponds to a base station, a reference UE, a Location Management Function (LMF), a location server, a target UE, or a combination thereof.

[0205]

[0215] Clause 17. A location estimation entity according to any one of clauses 11 to 16, wherein the determination of the bias is triggered in conjunction with the triggering of the determination of the location estimation.

[0206]

[0216] Clause 18. A location estimation entity according to any one of clauses 11 to 17, wherein the determination of the bias is triggered independently of and within a threshold period from the triggering of the determination of the location estimate.

[0207]

[0217] Clause 19. A location estimation entity as described in any one of clauses 11 to 18, wherein the bias is determined based on a first difference between an estimated propagation time between the base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the base station and the reference UE.

[0208]

[0218] Clause 20. A location estimation entity as described in any one of clauses 11 to 19, wherein the bias is further determined based on a second difference between an estimated propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE.

[0209]

[0219] Clause 21. A position estimation entity comprising: means for acquiring first timing information associated with a first Time of Arrival (TOA) measurement of a first positioning reference signal (RS-P) communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station at a first time reference; means for acquiring second timing information associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time reference different from the first time reference; means for determining a bias between the first and second time references; and means for determining a position estimate of the target UE via a Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part on the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

[0210]

[0220] Clause 22. The location estimation entity of clause 21, further comprising means for acquiring third timing information associated with a third TOA measurement value of a third RS-P communicated between the target UE and the first wireless node, and means for acquiring fourth timing information associated with a fourth TOA measurement value of a fourth RS-P communicated between the target UE and the second wireless node, wherein determining the location estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information.

[0211]

[0221] Clause 23. The location estimation entity of clause 22, wherein the first wireless node and the second wireless node include at least one other base station, at least one other reference UE associated with at least one other known location, or a combination thereof.

[0212]

[0222] Clause 24. A position estimation entity as described in any one of clauses 21 to 23, wherein the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and downlink TDOA (SL+DL-TDOA) positioning technique, the first RS-P corresponds to a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS) and the second RS-P corresponds to a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

[0213]

[0223] Clause 25. A location estimation entity according to any one of clauses 21 to 24, wherein the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and uplink TDOA (SL+UL-TDOA) positioning technique, the first RS-P corresponds to an uplink sounding reference for positioning (UL-SRS-P), and the second RS-P corresponds to a UL-SRS-P or a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

[0214]

[0224] Clause 26. A location estimation entity according to any one of clauses 21 to 25, wherein the location estimation entity corresponds to a base station, a reference UE, a Location Management Function (LMF), a location server, a target UE, or a combination thereof.

[0215]

[0225] Clause 27. A location estimation entity according to any one of clauses 21 to 26, wherein the determination of the bias is triggered in conjunction with the triggering of the determination of the location estimation.

[0216]

[0226] Clause 28. A location estimation entity according to any one of clauses 21 to 27, wherein the determination of the bias is triggered independently of and within a threshold period of the triggering of the determination of the location estimate.

[0217]

[0227] Clause 29. A location estimation entity as described in any one of clauses 21 to 28, wherein the bias is determined based on a first difference between an estimated propagation time between the base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the base station and the reference UE.

[0218]

[0228] Clause 30. A location estimation entity as described in any one of clauses 21 to 29, wherein the bias is further determined based on a second difference between an estimated propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE.

[0219]

[0229] Clause 31. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a position estimation entity, cause the position estimation entity to obtain first timing information associated with a first Time of Arrival (TOA) measurement of a first positioning reference signal (RS-P) communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station at a first time reference, obtain second timing information associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time reference different from the first time reference, determine a bias between the first time reference and the second time reference, and determine a position estimate of the target UE via a Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part on the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

[0220]

[0230] Clause 32. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 31, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the position estimation entity to obtain third timing information associated with a third TOA measurement of a third RS-P communicated between the target UE and the first wireless node, and obtain fourth timing information associated with a fourth TOA measurement of a fourth RS-P communicated between the target UE and the second wireless node, wherein determining the position estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information.

[0221]

[0231] Clause 33. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 32, wherein the first wireless node and the second wireless node include at least one other base station, at least one other reference UE associated with at least one other known location, or a combination thereof.

[0222]

[0232] Clause 34. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 31 to 33, wherein the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and downlink TDOA (SL+DL-TDOA) positioning technique, the first RS-P corresponds to a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS) and the second RS-P corresponds to a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

[0223]

[0233] Clause 35. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 31 to 34, wherein the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and uplink TDOA (SL+UL-TDOA) positioning technique, the first RS-P corresponds to an uplink sounding reference for positioning (UL-SRS-P), and the second RS-P corresponds to a UL-SRS-P or a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

[0224]

[0234] Clause 36. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 31 to 35, wherein the location estimation entity corresponds to a base station, a reference UE, a Location Management Function (LMF), a location server, a target UE, or a combination thereof.

[0225]

[0235] Clause 37. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 31 to 36, wherein the determination of the bias is triggered in conjunction with the triggering of the determination of the position estimate.

[0226]

[0236] Clause 38. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 31 to 37, wherein the determination of the bias is triggered independent of and within a threshold period of the triggering of the determination of the location estimate.

[0227]

[0237] Clause 39. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 31 to 38, wherein the bias is determined based on a first difference between an estimated propagation time between the base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the base station and the reference UE.

[0228]

[0238] Clause 40. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 31 to 39, wherein the bias is further determined based on a second difference between an estimated propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE.

[0229]

[0239] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, the data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0230]

[0240] Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various exemplary components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0231]

[0241] The various example logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed using a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0232]

[0242] The methods, sequences, and / or algorithms described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software module may reside in a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), a register, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). Alternatively, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

[0233]

[0243] In one or more exemplary aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted via a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or code. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Storage media may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included within the definition of media. As used herein, disk and disc include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc, where disks typically reproduce data magnetically and discs reproduce data optically using lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0234]

[0244] Although the above disclosure illustrates exemplary aspects of the disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps, and / or actions of the method claims according to the aspects of the disclosure described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Further, although elements of the disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated.

Claims

1. 1. A method of operating a position estimation entity, comprising: Obtaining first timing information associated with a first Time of Arrival (TOA) measurement of a first positioning reference signal (RS-P) communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station at a first time reference; obtaining second timing information associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time reference different from the first time reference; determining a bias between the first time reference and the second time reference; determining a position estimate of the target UE via a time difference of arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part on the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias; A method comprising:

2. obtaining third timing information associated with a third TOA measurement of a third RS-P communicated between the target UE and a first wireless node; obtaining fourth timing information associated with a fourth TOA measurement of a fourth RS-P communicated between the target UE and a second wireless node; Further comprising: the determining of the position estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information. The method of claim 1.

3. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first wireless node and the second wireless node comprise at least one other base station, at least one other reference UE associated with at least one other known location, or a combination thereof.

4. The TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and downlink TDOA (SL+DL-TDOA) positioning technique; The first RS-P corresponds to a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS); The second RS-P corresponds to a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS); The method of claim 1.

5. The TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and uplink TDOA (SL+UL-TDOA) positioning technique; The first RS-P corresponds to an uplink sounding reference for positioning (UL-SRS-P); The second RS-P corresponds to the UL-SRS-P or a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS); The method of claim 1.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location estimation entity corresponds to the base station, the reference UE, a Location Management Function (LMF), a location server, the target UE, or a combination thereof.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determination of the bias is triggered in conjunction with triggering the determination of the position estimate.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bias determination is triggered independent of and within a threshold period of the triggering of the position estimate determination.

9. 2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bias is determined based on a first difference between an estimated propagation time between the base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the base station and the reference UE.

10. 2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bias is further determined based on a second difference between an estimated propagation time between another base station and the reference UE based on their respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE.

11. 1. A location estimation entity, comprising: means for obtaining first timing information associated with a first Time of Arrival (TOA) measurement of a first positioning reference signal (RS-P) communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station at a first time reference; means for obtaining second timing information associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time reference different from the first time reference; means for determining a bias between the first time reference and the second time reference; means for determining a position estimate of the target UE via a Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part on the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias; A location estimation entity comprising:

12. means for obtaining third timing information associated with a third TOA measurement of a third RS-P communicated between the target UE and a first wireless node; means for obtaining fourth timing information associated with a fourth TOA measurement of a fourth RS-P communicated between the target UE and a second wireless node; Further comprising: the determining of the position estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information. The location estimation entity of claim 11 .

13. 13. The location estimation entity of claim 12, wherein the first wireless node and the second wireless node comprise at least one other base station, at least one other reference UE associated with at least one other known location, or a combination thereof.

14. The TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and downlink TDOA (SL+DL-TDOA) positioning technique; The first RS-P corresponds to a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS); The second RS-P corresponds to a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS); 22. A location estimation entity as claimed in claim 21.

15. 11. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by a position estimation entity, cause the position estimation entity to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

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