Timing advance allocation procedure for aligning sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) reception at target user equipment (UE) or anchor (POS)-peer UE

Abstract

The present disclosure provides systems, methods, and devices for wireless communications that provide for managing transmission of sidelink positioning reference signals (PRS) with a timing advance (TA) offset from a sidelink node. In an aspect, a sidelink node (e.g., a target user equipment (UE) or an assisting UE) may receive transmissions from multiple nodes (e.g., a target UE or an assisting UE). The sidelink node obtains at least one TA to be used by a transmitting node of the multiple nodes to transmit a sidelink PRS to the sidelink node (e.g., to advance a sidelink PRS transmission to the sidelink node relative to a timing of a first transmission). The TA is an offset obtained by the sidelink node based on reception times of transmissions from the multiple nodes. The sidelink node may receive PRS transmissions from multiple nodes at the same symbol aligned within the same CP.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to Greek Patent Application No. 20210100414 (2103246GR1), entitled "TIMING ADVANCE ASSIGNMENT PROCEDURES FOR ALIGNING SIDELINK POSITIONING REFERENCE SIGNAL (PRS) RECEPTIONS AT TARGET USER EQUIPMENTS (UES) OR ANCHOR (POS)-PEER UES," filed on June 23, 2021, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth below and for all applicable purposes.

[0002] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) based position estimation. [Background technology]

[0003] Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcasts, etc. These wireless networks may be multiple-access networks capable of supporting multiple users by sharing available network resources. Such networks may be multiple-access networks supporting communication for multiple users by sharing available network resources.

[0004] A wireless communication network may include several components. These components may include wireless communication devices, such as base stations (or Node Bs), that can support communication for several user equipments (UEs). The UEs may communicate with the base stations via a downlink and an uplink. The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the base station to the UE, and the uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the UE to the base station.

[0005] A base station may transmit data and control information to a UE on the downlink or receive data and control information from a UE on the uplink. On the downlink, transmissions from a base station may experience interference due to transmissions from neighboring base stations or from other wireless radio frequency (RF) transmitters. On the uplink, transmissions from a UE may experience interference from uplink transmissions of other UEs communicating with neighboring base stations or from other wireless RF transmitters. This interference may degrade performance on both the downlink and the uplink.

[0006] As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, more UEs access long-range wireless communication networks, and more short-range wireless systems are deployed within communities, increasing the potential for interference and network congestion. Research and development continues to advance wireless technologies to not only meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, but also to evolve and improve the user experience of mobile communications. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The following summarizes some aspects of the present disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of the described technology. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated features of the disclosure, nor does it identify key or critical elements of all aspects of the disclosure, nor does it delineate the scope of any or all aspects of the disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects of the disclosure in summary form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

[0008] In one aspect of the disclosure, a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) includes receiving, by the UE, a plurality of first transmissions from a plurality of nodes, where each first transmission of the plurality of first transmissions is received by the UE from a respective node of the plurality of nodes at a respective time; obtaining at least one Timing Advance (TA) configuration for a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission to be transmitted from at least one node of the plurality of nodes to the UE based on the respective times at which the first transmissions are received from each respective node of the plurality of nodes; and transmitting the at least one TA configuration to the at least one node of the plurality of nodes.

[0009] In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a method of wireless communication performed by a UE includes transmitting, by the UE, at least one transmission to at least one node, each transmission of the at least one transmission being transmitted by the UE to a respective one of the at least one node at a respective transmission time, obtaining, by the UE, at least one TA value to be used by the UE to transmit an SL-PRS to one or more of the at least one node, and transmitting the SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes using the respective TA value. In an aspect, using the respective TA value includes forwarding the transmission of the SL-PRS to the respective node by a period of time equal to the TA value.

[0010] In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a UE includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one processor storing processor-readable code that, when executed by the at least one processor, is configured to perform operations including receiving, by the UE, a plurality of first transmissions from a plurality of nodes, where each first transmission of the plurality of first transmissions is received by the UE from a respective node of the plurality of nodes at a respective time, obtaining at least one TA configuration for an SL-PRS transmission to be transmitted from at least one node of the plurality of nodes to the UE based on the respective times at which the first transmissions are received from each respective node of the plurality of nodes, and transmitting the at least one TA configuration to the at least one node of the plurality of nodes.

[0011] In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a UE includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor. The at least one processor is configured to store processor-readable code that, when executed by the at least one processor, performs operations including transmitting, by the UE, at least one transmission to the at least one node, each transmission of the at least one transmission being transmitted by the UE to a respective node of the at least one node at a respective transmission time; obtaining, by the UE, at least one TA value to be used by the UE to transmit an SL-PRS to one or more nodes of the at least one node; and transmitting the SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes using the respective TA value. In an aspect, using the respective TA value includes advancing the transmission of the SL-PRS to the respective node by a time period equal to the TA value.

[0012] In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations including receiving, by the UE, a plurality of first transmissions from a plurality of nodes, where each first transmission of the plurality of first transmissions is received by the UE from a respective node of the plurality of nodes at a respective time, obtaining at least one TA configuration for a SL-PRS transmission to be transmitted from at least one node of the plurality of nodes to the UE based on the respective times at which the first transmissions are received from each respective node of the plurality of nodes, and transmitting the at least one TA configuration to the at least one node of the plurality of nodes.

[0013] In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations including transmitting, by the UE, at least one transmission to the at least one node, each transmission of the at least one transmission being transmitted by the UE to a respective node of the at least one node at a respective transmission time, obtaining, by the UE, at least one TA value to be used by the UE to transmit an SL-PRS to one or more nodes of the at least one node, and transmitting the SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes using the respective TA value. In an aspect, using the respective TA value includes advancing the transmission of the SL-PRS to the respective node by a period of time equal to the TA value.

[0014] In an additional aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus includes means for receiving, by the UE, a plurality of first transmissions from a plurality of nodes, where each first transmission of the plurality of first transmissions is received by the UE from a respective node of the plurality of nodes at a respective time; means for obtaining at least one TA configuration for an SL-PRS transmission to be transmitted from at least one node of the plurality of nodes to the UE based on the respective times at which the first transmissions are received from each respective node of the plurality of nodes; and means for transmitting the at least one TA configuration to the at least one node of the plurality of nodes.

[0015] In an additional aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus includes means for transmitting, by the UE, at least one transmission to the at least one node, each transmission of the at least one transmission being transmitted by the UE to a respective node of the at least one node at a respective transmission time, means for obtaining, by the UE, at least one TA value to be used by the UE to transmit an SL-PRS to one or more nodes of the at least one node, and means for transmitting the SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes using the respective TA value. In an aspect, the means for using the respective TA value includes means for advancing the transmission of the SL-PRS to the respective node by a period of time equal to the TA value.

[0016] Other aspects, features, and implementations will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the following description of certain exemplary aspects together with the accompanying figures. Although features may be described in conjunction with certain aspects and figures below, various aspects may include one or more of the advantageous features described herein. In other words, although one or more aspects may be described as having certain advantageous features, one or more of such features may also be used in accordance with various aspects. Similarly, although exemplary aspects may be described below as device aspects, system aspects, or method aspects, the exemplary aspects may be implemented in various devices, systems, and methods.

[0017] A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present disclosure may be realized by reference to the following drawings. In the accompanying drawings, similar components or features may have the same reference label. Furthermore, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label with a dash and a second label that distinguishes the similar components. When only a first reference label is used herein, the description is applicable to any of the similar components having the same first reference label, regardless of the second reference label. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating details of an example wireless communication system in accordance with one or more aspects. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a base station and user equipment (UE) in accordance with one or more aspects. [Figure 3A] FIG. 1 illustrates a round trip time (RTT) procedure using sidelink-assisted positioning. [Figure 3B] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a sidelink-assisted positioning procedure using an assisting user equipment (UE) and without an anchor base station. [Figure 3C]FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a sidelink-assisted positioning procedure using multiple assisting UEs and no uplink with a base station. [Figure 3D] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a sidelink-assisted positioning procedure using a single assisting UE and no uplink with a base station. [Figure 4A] A diagram showing the slot structure of a resource pool. [Figure 4B] FIG. 2 illustrates a PRS slot structure. [Diagram 5] A figure showing an example of a rate matching configuration of a sidelink resource pool. [Figure 6A] FIG. 13 illustrates an example of inconsistent receive timing of PRS transmissions due to distance differences. [Figure 6B] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of inconsistent receive timing of PRS transmissions due to different synchronization sources. [Figure 7] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example wireless communication system that supports managing transmission of a sidelink PRS with a timing advance offset from a sidelink node in the wireless communication system, in accordance with one or more aspects. [Figure 8A] A diagram illustrating a resource pool configuration implementing an example of timing gaps between PRS transmissions with different timing advance offsets, according to an aspect of the disclosure. [Figure 8B] A diagram illustrating a resource pool configuration implementing another example of timing gaps between PRS transmissions with different timing advance offsets, according to an aspect of the disclosure. [Figure 9] FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process that supports managing transmission of a sidelink PRS with a timing advance offset from a sidelink node, according to one or more aspects. [Figure 10] FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating another example process that supports managing transmission of a sidelink PRS with a timing advance offset from a sidelink node, according to one or more aspects. [Figure 11] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example UE that supports managing transmission of a sidelink PRS with a timing advance offset from a sidelink node, in accordance with one or more aspects. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019] Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements.

[0020] The detailed description set forth below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings is for the purpose of illustrating various configurations and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Rather, the detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the subject matter of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these specific details are not required in all cases and that in some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form for clarity of presentation.

[0021] Various aspects of the present disclosure relate to techniques that provide mechanisms for managing transmissions of sidelink positioning reference signals (PRS) with timing advance offsets from sidelink nodes. In aspects, a sidelink node (e.g., a target user equipment (UE) or an assisting UE) may receive transmissions from multiple nodes (e.g., a target UE or an assisting UE), where each transmission is transmitted at a respective transmission time and received at a respective reception time. In aspects, the sidelink node may determine and / or obtain a timing advance offset to be applied to a transmission of a PRS from each sidelink node of the multiple nodes relative to a respective time at which a previous transmission was transmitted and / or received from the respective sidelink node. In aspects, the timing advance offsets may be determined such that when the sidelink node receives PRS transmissions from multiple sidelink nodes, those PRS transmissions are aligned. For example, the sidelink node may determine a first timing advance offset to be applied to a PRS transmission to be transmitted by a first sidelink node of the multiple nodes. The first timing advance offset may be an offset with respect to a time at which the first sidelink node transmitted a previous transmission. The sidelink node may determine a second timing advance offset to be applied to a PRS transmission to be transmitted by a second sidelink node of the plurality of nodes. The second timing advance offset may be an offset with respect to a time at which the second sidelink node transmitted a previous transmission to the sidelink node. In some aspects, the first timing advance offset may be different from the second timing advance offset. In aspects, the sidelink node may request PRS transmissions from a plurality of nodes, and the request to each respective sidelink node may include an indication of a timing advance offset to be applied to the PRS transmission from the respective sidelink node. The sidelink node may receive PRS transmissions from a plurality of nodes, and the receiving may include receiving the PRS transmissions at the same symbol aligned within the same CP.

[0022] The present disclosure generally relates to providing or participating in authorized shared access among two or more wireless devices in one or more wireless communication systems, also referred to as wireless communication networks. In various implementations, the techniques and apparatus may be used for wireless communication networks such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, Single Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, Fifth Generation (5G) or New Radio (NR) networks (sometimes referred to as "5G NR" networks, systems, or devices), and other communication networks. The terms "network" and "system" described herein may be used interchangeably.

[0023] For example, a CDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) and Low Chip Rate (LCR). CDMA2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95, and IS-856 standards.

[0024] The TDMA network may implement a radio technology such as, for example, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) defines standards for the GSM EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) Radio Access Network (RAN), also denoted as GERAN. The GERAN is the radio component of GSM / EDGE, along with the network that couples the base stations (e.g., Ater and Abis interfaces) and the base station controllers (such as the A interface). The radio access network represents the component of the GSM network through which telephone calls and packet data are routed to and from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and the Internet to and from the subscriber handsets, also known as user terminals or user equipment (UE). A mobile phone operator's network may include one or more GERANs, which may be combined with a UTRAN in the case of a UMTS / GSM network. In addition, the operator network may also include one or more LTE networks or one or more other networks. Various different network types may use different Radio Access Technologies (RATs) and RANs.

[0025] OFDMA networks may implement radio technologies such as Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20, Flash OFDM, etc. UTRA, E-UTRA, and GSM are parts of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). Specifically, Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a release of UMTS that uses E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, GSM, UMTS, and LTE are described in documents provided by an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP®), and cdma2000 is described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP®2). These various radio technologies and standards are known or under development. For example, 3GPP® is a collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations whose purpose is to define globally applicable third generation (3G) mobile phone specifications. 3GPP® LTE is a 3GPP® project aimed at improving the UMTS mobile phone standard. 3GPP® may define specifications for the next generation of mobile networks, mobile systems, and mobile devices. Although the present disclosure may describe some aspects with reference to LTE, 4G, or 5G NR technology, the description is not intended to be limited to a particular technology or application, and one or more aspects described with reference to one technology may be understood to be applicable to another technology. In addition, one or more aspects of the present disclosure may relate to shared access to a wireless spectrum between networks using different radio access technologies or radio air interfaces.

[0026] 5G networks contemplate diverse deployments, diverse spectrum, and diverse services and devices that may be implemented using an OFDM-based unified air interface. To achieve these goals, further enhancements to LTE and LTE-A are being considered in addition to the development of new radio technologies for 5G NR networks. 5G NR is a service-oriented technology that aims to achieve: (1) ultra-high density (e.g., approximately 1 million nodes / km); 2 ), ultra-low complexity (e.g., on the order of tens of bits per second), ultra-low energy (e.g., on the order of 10 years battery life), and deep coverage with the ability to reach difficult locations; (2) to the Massive Internet of Things (IoT) with strong security to protect sensitive personal, financial, or confidential information, ultra-high reliability (e.g., on the order of 99.9999% reliability), ultra-low latency (e.g., on the order of 1 millisecond (ms)), and mission-critical control with users having or lacking widespread mobility; and (3) ultra-high capacity (e.g., on the order of 10 Tbps / km 2 ), ultra-high data rates (e.g., multi-Gbps rates, user experience rates of 100 Mbps or greater), and enhanced mobile broadband including a deep understanding of advanced discovery and optimization.

[0027] Devices, networks, and systems may be configured to communicate over one or more portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum is often subdivided into various classes, bands, channels, etc., based on frequency or wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified with the frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz-7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz). Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-band frequencies. Although portions of FR1 are higher than 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to (interchangeably) as the "sub-6 GHz" band in various documents and papers. Similar nomenclature issues may arise with respect to FR2, which is often referred to (interchangeably) as the "mmWave" band in documents and papers, even though it is distinct from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz-300 GHz) identified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as the "millimeter wave" (mmWave) band.

[0028] With the above aspects in mind, it should be understood that unless otherwise specified, terms such as "sub-6 GHz," as used herein, may broadly refer to frequencies that may be below 6 GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. Additionally, it should be understood that unless otherwise specified, terms such as "mmWave," as used herein, may broadly refer to frequencies that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2, or may be within the EHF band.

[0029] 5G NR devices, networks, and systems may be implemented to use optimized OFDM-based waveform features. These features may include scalable numerology and transmission time intervals (TTIs), a common flexible framework for efficient multiplexing of services and features in dynamic low-latency time division duplex (TDD) or frequency division duplex (FDD) designs, and advanced wireless technologies such as massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), robust mmWave transmission, advanced channel coding, and device-centric mobility. The scalability of numerology in 5G NR, along with the scaling of subcarrier spacing, may efficiently address operating diverse services across diverse spectrums and diverse deployments. For example, in various outdoor and macro coverage deployments of FDD or TDD implementations below 3 GHz, subcarrier spacing may occur at 15 kHz, for example, across bandwidths of 1, 5, 10, 20 MHz, etc. For various other outdoor and small cell coverage deployments of TDD over 3 GHz, subcarrier spacing may occur at 30 kHz over an 80 / 100 MHz bandwidth. For various other indoor wideband implementations using TDD over the unlicensed portion of the 5 GHz band, subcarrier spacing may occur at 60 kHz over a 160 MHz bandwidth. Finally, for various deployments transmitting with mmWave components at 28 GHz TDD, subcarrier spacing may occur at 120 kHz over a 500 MHz bandwidth.

[0030] 5G NR's scalable numerology facilitates scalable TTIs for diverse latency and quality of service (QoS) requirements. For example, shorter TTIs can be used for low latency and high reliability, while longer TTIs can be used for higher spectral efficiency. Efficient multiplexing of long and short TTIs allows transmissions to start on symbol boundaries. 5G NR also contemplates a self-contained, unified subframe design with uplink or downlink scheduling information, data, and acknowledgments in the same subframe. The self-contained, unified subframe supports communication in unlicensed or contention-based shared spectrum, adaptive uplink or downlink that can be flexibly configured per cell to dynamically switch between uplink and downlink to meet current traffic needs.

[0031] For clarity, certain aspects of the apparatus and techniques may be described below with reference to an exemplary 5G NR implementation or with a 5G focus, and 5G terminology may be used as an illustrative example in parts of the following description, but the description is not intended to be limited to 5G application examples.

[0032] Moreover, it should be understood that in operation, a wireless communications network adapted in accordance with the concepts herein may operate in any combination of licensed or unlicensed spectrum depending on loading and availability. Accordingly, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the systems, apparatus, and methods described herein may be applied to communications systems and applications other than the specific examples provided.

[0033] Although aspects and implementations are described in this application by illustrating some examples, those skilled in the art will understand that additional implementations and use cases may arise in many different configurations and scenarios. The innovations described herein may be implemented across many different platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, packaging configurations. For example, implementations or applications may arise via integrated chip implementations or other non-modular component-based devices (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communication devices, computing devices, industrial equipment, retail or purchasing devices, medical devices, AI-enabled devices, etc.). Some examples may or may not be directed to a particular use case or application, but a wide variety of applicability of the described innovations may arise. Implementations may range from chip-level or modular components to non-modular, non-chip-level implementations, and even aggregated, distributed, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) devices or systems incorporating one or more described aspects. In some practical settings, devices incorporating the described aspects and features may also necessarily include additional components and features for the implementation and practice of the claimed and described aspects. It is contemplated that the innovations described herein may be practiced in a wide variety of implementations, including both large and small scale devices of various sizes, shapes, and configurations, chip-level components, multi-component systems (e.g., radio frequency (RF) chains, communications interfaces, processors), distributed configurations, end-user devices, and the like.

[0034] 1 is a block diagram illustrating details of an exemplary wireless communication system according to one or more aspects. The wireless communication system may include a wireless network 100. The wireless network 100 may include, for example, a 5G wireless network. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the components appearing in FIG. 1 likely have related counterparts including other network configurations, for example, cellular network configurations and non-cellular network configurations (e.g., device-to-device or peer-to-peer or ad-hoc network configurations, etc.).

[0035] The wireless network 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes several base stations 105 and other network entities. A base station may be a station that communicates with UEs and may also be referred to as an evolved Node B (eNB), next generation eNB (gNB), access point, etc. Each base station 105 may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" may refer to a particular geographic coverage area of ​​a base station or base station subsystem serving the coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In implementations of the wireless network 100 herein, the base stations 105 may be associated with the same operator or different operators (e.g., the wireless network 100 may include a multi-operator wireless network). In addition, in implementations of the wireless network 100 herein, the base station 105 may provide wireless communications using one or more of the same frequencies as adjacent cells (e.g., one or more frequency bands in a licensed spectrum, an unlicensed spectrum, or a combination thereof). In some examples, an individual base station 105 or UE 115 may be operated by more than one network operating entity. In some other examples, each base station 105 and UE 115 may be operated by a single network operating entity.

[0036] A base station may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, or a small cell, such as a pico cell or femto cell, or other type of cell. A macro cell generally covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a few kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with a service subscription with the network provider. A small cell, such as a pico cell, generally covers a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with a service subscription with the network provider. A small cell, such as a femto cell, also generally covers a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may provide unrestricted access, as well as restricted access by UEs with an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG), UEs of a user in a home, etc.). A base station for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro base station. A base station for a small cell may be referred to as a small cell base station, a pico base station, a femto base station, or a home base station. In the example shown in FIG. 1, base stations 105d and 105e are regular macro base stations, while base stations 105a-105c are macro base stations enabled with one of three-dimensional (3D) MIMO, full dimension (FD) MIMO, or massive MIMO. Base stations 105a-105c utilize their higher dimension MIMO capabilities to leverage 3D beamforming, both advanced and azimuth beamforming, to increase coverage and capacity. Base station 105f is a small cell base station that may be a home node or a portable access point. A base station may support one or multiple (e.g., two, three, four, etc.) cells.

[0037] The wireless network 100 may support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, the base stations may have similar frame timing and transmissions from different base stations may be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the base stations may have different frame timing and transmissions from different base stations may not be aligned in time. In some scenarios, the network may be enabled or configured to handle dynamic switching between synchronous or asynchronous operation.

[0038] The UEs 115 are dispersed throughout the wireless network 100, and each UE may be fixed or mobile. Although mobile devices are commonly referred to as UEs in standards and specifications promulgated by 3GPP, it should be appreciated that such devices may additionally or otherwise be referred to by those skilled in the art as mobile stations (MS), subscriber stations, mobile units, subscriber units, wireless units, remote units, mobile devices, wireless devices, wireless communication devices, remote devices, mobile subscriber stations, access terminals (ATs), mobile terminals, wireless terminals, remote terminals, handsets, terminals, user agents, mobile clients, clients, gaming devices, augmented reality devices, vehicle components, vehicle devices, or vehicle modules, or any other suitable terminology. Within this document, a "mobile" device or UE does not necessarily have to be capable of movement and may be stationary. Some non-limiting examples of mobile devices that may include one or more implementations of UE 115 include mobile, cellular (cell) phones, smartphones, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, Wireless Local Loop (WLL) stations, laptops, personal computers (PCs), notebooks, netbooks, smartbooks, tablets, and personal digital assistants (PDAs).The mobile device may additionally be an automobile or other transportation vehicle, a satellite radio, a global positioning system (GPS) device, a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) device, a logistics controller, a drone, a multicopter, a quadcopter, a smart energy or security device, an IoT or "Internet of Everything" (IoE) device such as a solar panel or solar array, city lighting, water, or other infrastructure, an industrial automation and enterprise device, an eyewear, a wearable camera, a smart watch, a health or fitness tracker, a mammalian implantable device, a gesture tracking device, a medical device, a consumer and wearable device such as a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player), a camera, a game console, and a digital home or smart home device such as a home audio, video, and multimedia device, an appliance, a sensor, a vending machine, an intelligent lighting, a home security system, a smart meter, and the like. In one aspect, the UE may be a device that includes a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC). In another aspect, the UE may be a device that does not include a UICC. In some aspects, a UE that does not include a UICC may also be referred to as an IoE device. 1 are examples of mobile smartphone type devices accessing the wireless network 100. A UE may also be a machine specifically configured for connected communications, including machine type communications (MTC), enhanced MTC (eMTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), etc. The UEs 115e-115k shown in FIG. 1 are examples of various machines configured for communications accessing the wireless network 100.

[0039] A mobile device, such as the UE 115, may be capable of communicating with any type of base station, whether a macro base station, a pico base station, a femto base station, a relay, etc. In FIG. 1, the communication links (represented as lightning bolts) indicate wireless transmissions between the UE and a serving base station, which is a base station designated to serve the UE on the downlink or uplink, or desired transmissions between base stations, and backhaul transmissions between base stations. The UE may operate as a base station or other network node in some scenarios. Backhaul communication between base stations of the wireless network 100 may be performed using wired or wireless communication links.

[0040] In operation in the wireless network 100, the base stations 105a-105c serve the UEs 115a and 115b using coordinated spatial techniques such as 3D beamforming and coordinated multipoint (CoMP) or multi-connectivity. The macro base station 105d performs backhaul communications with the base stations 105a-105c and the small cell base station 105f. The macro base station 105d also transmits multicast services to which the UEs 115c and 115d subscribe and receive. Such multicast services may include mobile television or stream video, or other services for providing local community information, such as weather emergencies or alerts such as amber or grey alerts.

[0041] The wireless network 100 of the implementation supports mission-critical communications with ultra-reliable and redundant links for mission-critical devices such as the drone UE 115e. The redundant communication links with the UE 115e include those from the macro base stations 105d and 105e and the small cell base station 105f. Other machine-type devices such as the UE 115f (thermometer), the UE 115g (smart meter), and the UE 115h (wearable device) can communicate through the wireless network 100 either directly with base stations such as the small cell base station 105f and the macro base station 105e, or in a multi-hop configuration by communicating with another user device that relays the information to the network, such as the UE 115f communicating temperature measurement information to the smart meter UE 115g, which is then reported to the network through the small cell base station 105f. The wireless network 100 may also provide additional network efficiency through dynamic low-latency TDD or low-latency FDD communications, such as in a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) mesh network between the UEs 115i-115k communicating with the macro base station 105e.

[0042] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a base station 105 and a UE 115 according to one or more aspects. The base station 105 and the UE 115 may be any of the base stations and one of the UEs in FIG. 1. In the case of a restricted association scenario (as described above), the base station 105 may be the small cell base station 105f in FIG. 1, and the UE 115 may be the UE 115c or 115d operating in the coverage area of ​​the base station 105f, and the UE 115c or 115d becomes included in a list of accessible UEs for the small cell base station 105f to access the small cell base station 105f. The base station 105 may also be some other type of base station. As shown in FIG. 2, the base station 105 may be equipped with antennas 234a-t, and the UE 115 may be equipped with antennas 252a-r to facilitate wireless communication.

[0043] In the base station 105, the transmit processor 220 may receive data from a data source 212 and control information from a controller 240, such as a processor. The control information may be for a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), a physical hybrid-ARQ (automatic repeat request) indicator channel (PHICH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH), an MTC physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH), etc. The data may be for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc. In addition, the transmit processor 220 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols, for example, for a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a cell-specific reference signal. The transmit (TX) MIMO processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​the data symbols, control symbols, or reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to modulators (MODs) 232a-t. For example, the spatial processing performed on the data symbols, control symbols, or reference symbols may include precoding. Each modulator 232 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 232 may additionally or alternatively process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. The downlink signals from the modulators 232a-t may be transmitted via the antennas 234a-t, respectively.

[0044] At the UE 115, the antennas 252a-252r may receive downlink signals from the base station 105 and may provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a-254r, respectively. Each demodulator 254 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 254 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from the demodulators 254a-254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols, if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols and provide decoded data for the UE 115 to a data sink 260 and provide decoded control information to a controller 280, such as a processor.

[0045] On the uplink, at the UE 115, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data (e.g., for the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)) from a data source 262 and control information (e.g., for the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH)) from a controller 280. In addition, the transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for a reference signal. The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266 if applicable, further processed by modulators 254a-254r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), and transmitted to the base station 105. At the base station 105, uplink signals from the UE 115 may be received by antennas 234, processed by a demodulator 232, detected by a MIMO detector 236 if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE 115. The receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and provide the decoded control information to a controller 240 .

[0046] The controllers 240 and 280 may direct operation at the base station 105 and the UE 115, respectively. The controller 240 or other processors and modules at the base station 105, or the controller 280 or other processors and modules at the UE 115, may perform or direct the execution of various processes for the techniques described herein, such as to perform or direct the execution shown in Figures 9 and 10 or other processes for the techniques described herein. The memory 242 and the memory 282 may store data and program codes for the base station 105 and the UE 115, respectively. The scheduler 244 may schedule the UE for data transmission on the downlink or uplink.

[0047] In some cases, the UE 115 and the base station 105 may operate in a shared radio frequency spectrum band, which may include licensed or unlicensed (e.g., contention-based) frequency spectrum. In the unlicensed frequency portion of the shared radio frequency spectrum band, the UE 115 or the base station 105 may perform a medium sensing procedure to contend for access to the frequency spectrum, as is conventional. For example, the UE 115 or the base station 105 may perform a listen-before-talk (LBT) or listen-before-transmitting (LBT) procedure, such as clear channel assessment (CCA), before communicating to determine if a shared channel is available. In some implementations, the CCA may include an energy detection procedure to determine if there are any other active transmissions. For example, the device may infer that a change in the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of a power meter indicates that the channel is occupied. Specifically, a signal power centered on a certain bandwidth and above a predetermined noise floor may indicate another wireless transmitter. CCA may also include detection of a specific sequence that indicates the use of the channel. For example, another device may transmit a particular preamble before transmitting a data sequence. In some cases, the LBT procedure may include a wireless node adjusting its own backoff window based on the amount of energy detected on the channel or acknowledgment / negative acknowledgment (ACK / NACK) feedback for its own transmitted packets as a proxy for collisions.

[0048] Existing wireless communication systems rely on the position or location of a user equipment (UE) in a network when providing communication services. The location of the UE in the network may be determined using various techniques. In implementations, a positioning reference signal (PRS) may be used to facilitate estimating the device's position. In some implementations, the PRS may include any of a PRS, a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a sounding reference signal (SRS), a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), etc.

[0049] In one exemplary positioning technique, sometimes referred to as a multi-cell round trip time (RTT) technique, the location of the UE may be determined based on the difference in the RTT of the PRS between the UE and several base stations. In this RTT technique, the difference between the RTT from the UE to a first base station and the RTT from the UE to a second base station may be used to determine the location of the UE. In some examples, the RTT timing difference may be reported to a particular network entity (e.g., a Location Management Function (LMF)), and the LMF may determine the location of the UE based on the reported timing difference.

[0050] In another positioning technique, called the time difference of arrival (TDOA) technique, the time difference between PRS received from multiple base stations may be used to determine the location of the UE. In this TDOA technique, a PRS may be received by the UE from each of multiple base stations or from each transmit and receive point (TRP) of a cell. The UE measures the time offset between the arrival of each PRS from different base stations. The time offset indicates the TDOA of each PRS. This TDOA of each PRS may be used along with the known location of the base station transmitting the PRS to determine the location of the UE. In some examples, the timing measurements (e.g., the difference of arrival for different PRS) may be reported to an LMF network entity, which may determine the location of the UE and then report the location of the UE to the UE.

[0051] Another positioning technique that may be used may be uplink TDOA, in which a sounding reference signal (SRS) may enable each base station to measure the relative time of arrival (RTOA) on an uplink transmission from the UE, and the base station may report the measurements to an LMF network entity, which may determine the location of the UE and then report the location of the UE to the UE.

[0052] Yet another technique that may be used may include downlink angle of departure (AoD). In downlink AoD, the UE measures the downlink reference signal received power (RSRP) per beam for each of the base stations. The UE may then report the measurements to an LMF network entity, which may be used to determine the AoD based on the UE beam location for each of the base stations. The LMF network entity may determine the location of the UE based on the determined AoD and then report the location of the UE to the UE.

[0053] Another technique that may be used to determine the location of the UE may be uplink angle of arrival (AoA). In uplink AoA, the base station measures the AoA based on the beam in which the UE is located. The base station then reports the measurements to an LMF network entity, which may determine the location of the UE and then report the location of the UE to the UE.

[0054] In current wireless communication systems, it has been proposed to implement UE-initiated and / or network-initiated on-demand downlink PRS techniques. In these cases, the downlink PRS may be requested and used with any of the above techniques to determine the UE's location. In addition, other proposals include performing UE positioning based on the UE's Radio Resource Control (RRC) status. For example, for a UE in an RRC inactive status, downlink-only, uplink-only, or uplink+downlink positioning may be performed. In some other proposals, an access point may be used to transmit a downlink PRS to the UE, and the downlink PRS may be used for UE positioning determination. In addition, aggregation of downlink PRS signals across frequencies may be used.

[0055] In certain implementations, the use of sidelink positioning techniques may enhance any legacy and / or conventional positioning approaches. In these cases, an assisting UE (e.g., anchor UE or relay UE) may be used to provide assistance in determining the location of the target UE (e.g., based on PRS transmissions on the sidelink). It should be noted that a target UE as used herein may be a UE for which a location estimate is to be performed or determined. Furthermore, an assisting UE as used herein may be a UE whose location is (or may be) known to the assisting UE and may have a sidelink connection with the target UE (or possibly a sidelink connection with another assisting UE that has a sidelink connection with the target UE). In some aspects, the assisting UE may be an anchor or relay UE that may have a direct uplink with the base station. Furthermore, a positioning service as used herein may include facilitating a location estimate, such as by transmitting and / or receiving a PRS, and / or measurements on the PRS to facilitate a location estimate.

[0056] One particular scenario in which sidelink positioning may be used may include a situation in which an assisting UE may provide an additional anchor for a target UE on the sidelink. For example, if the target UE is within UL and DL coverage of at least one base station and therefore may be able to receive and transmit a PRS to the at least one base station, the target UE may be able to receive positioning services from the base station (e.g., where the base station may act as an anchor point for determining the target UE's location according to any of the techniques described above) and may be able to utilize the assisting UE as an additional anchor point for transmitting and receiving a PRS for an even more accurate position estimation.

[0057] An example of a scenario in which a supporting UE may provide an additional anchor for a target UE on the sidelink is illustrated in FIG. 3A. FIG. 3A illustrates an example of a sidelink-assisted positioning procedure using a supporting UE as an additional anchor. In particular, FIG. 3A illustrates an RTT procedure using sidelink-assisted positioning. As illustrated in FIG. 3A, a target UE 115x may receive positioning services (e.g., PRS transmission / reception) from base stations 105a-c and may be in sidelink communication with a supporting UE 115a. In this example, the supporting UE 115a may serve as an additional anchor point for the target UE 115x. In this case, as illustrated, the target UE 115x may receive a PRS transmission 310 from base station 105a (but the same procedure may apply to any of the other anchor base stations and the target UE 115x may receive a PRS from any of the other anchor base stations). The target UE 115x may perform measurements 330 based on the PRS transmission 310 and may send a measurement report 320 based on the measurements 330 to the base station 105a. The base station 105a may receive the RTT measurements, which may be used to estimate a position of the target UE 115x. In this example, the assisting UE 115a may be used as an additional anchor point, and the target UE 115x may send a PRS transmission 312 to the assisting UE 115a. The assisting UE 115a may perform measurements 332 based on the PRS transmission 312 and may send a measurement report 322 based on the measurements 332 to the target UE 115x. The measurement report 322 may be used to estimate a position of the target UE 115x, for example, based on the measurements 330 and 332 in addition to the measurement report 320. In this manner, the additional RTT measurements from the assisting UE 115a may be used as additional measurements to estimate a position of the target UE 115x.

[0058] In another scenario in which sidelink positioning may be used, the target UE may not be within either the UL and DL coverage of at least one base station and therefore may not be able to receive or transmit PRS to or from at least one base station, but may be within the sidelink coverage of one or more assisting UEs. In this case, the target UE may be able to receive positioning services (e.g., PRS) only from the assisting UEs because there are no base stations within coverage to receive the positioning services. This scenario is illustrated in FIG. 3B. FIG. 3B illustrates an example of a sidelink-assisted positioning procedure using an assisting UE and no anchor base station. In particular, FIG. 3B illustrates an RTT procedure using sidelink-assisted positioning. As illustrated in FIG. 3B, the target UE 115x may not be within the uplink or downlink coverage of the base station 105. However, the target UE 115x may be within the sidelink coverage of the assisting UEs 115a-c. In this case, the target UE 115x may receive positioning services (e.g., PRS transmission / reception) from any of the assisting UEs 115a-c even though the target UE 115x may not be able to transmit / receive a PRS to / from the base station 105. As shown in FIG. 3B, the assisting UEs 115a-c may be in communication with the base station 105. In this example, any of the assisting UEs 115a-c may serve as a positioning anchor point for the target UE 115x. In this case, as shown, the target UE 115x may receive a PRS transmission 314 from the assisting UE 115a on a sidelink between the target UE 115x and the assisting UE 115a. The target UE 115x may perform measurements 334 based on the PRS transmission 314 and may send a measurement report 324 based on the measurements 334 to the assisting UE 115a. The assisting UE 115a may receive an RTT measurement, which may be used to estimate a position of the target UE 115x. In this example, target UE 115x may also send a PRS transmission 316 to assisting UE 115b on the sidelink between target UE 115x and assisting UE 115b.The assisting UE 115b may perform measurements 336 based on the PRS transmission 316 and may send a measurement report 326 based on the measurements 336 to the target UE 115x. The measurement report 326 may be used to estimate a position of the target UE 115x, for example, based on the measurements 334 and 336, in addition to the measurement report 324. In this manner, a position of the target UE 115x may be estimated even though the target UE 115x may not be within coverage of a base station.

[0059] In yet another scenario in which sidelink positioning may be used, the target UE may be in DL coverage of at least one base station but may not have UL coverage of at least one base station. In this case, the target UE may be able to receive PRS from at least one base station but may not be able to transmit PRS to at least one base station. In this case, the target UE may be in sidelink coverage of at least one assisting UE. The assisting UE may assist in estimating the target UE's position by acting as a relay (e.g., to relay uplink PRS) and / or by acting as a positioning anchor on the sidelink. This scenario is illustrated in Figures 3C and 3D.

[0060] 3C illustrates an example of a sidelink-assisted positioning procedure with multiple assisting UEs and no uplink with a base station. In particular, as shown in FIG. 3C, a target UE 115x may have a downlink connection with a base station 105 but may not have an uplink and may be in sidelink communication with assisting UEs 115a and 115b. In this example, the location of the target UE 115x may be estimated using measurements of downlink PRS transmissions from the base station 105a to the target UE 115x and using measurements of sidelink PRS transmissions from the target UE 115x to the assisting UEs 115a and 115b, as well as sidelink PRS transmissions from the assisting UEs 115a and 115b to the target UE 115x. In this case, SRS transmissions from the base station to the UE 115x may not be required.

[0061] FIG. 3D illustrates an example of a sidelink-assisted positioning procedure with a single assisting UE and no uplink with a base station. In particular, as illustrated in FIG. 3D, a target UE 115x may have a downlink connection with a base station 105 but may not have an uplink and may be in sidelink communication with a single assisting UE 115a. In this example, the location of the target UE 115x may be estimated using measurements of downlink PRS transmissions from the base station 105a to the target UE 115x and using measurements of sidelink PRS transmissions from the target UE 115x to the assisting UE 115a and from the assisting UE 115a to the target UE 115x. In this case, two additional measurements may be provided beyond the multiple assisting UE scenario illustrated in FIG. 3C. One of the additional measurements may be the time difference between receiving a downlink reference signal from the base station 105 and transmitting a sidelink reference signal to the assisting UE 115a. Another of the additional measurements may be the time difference between receipt of a downlink reference signal from the base station 105 and receipt of a sidelink reference signal from the supporting UE 115a.

[0062] Transmission of reference signals (e.g., PRS) on the sidelink between the target UE and the assisting UE may be performed in a transmit or receive resource pool. In fact, sidelink transmissions may generally be performed on these transmit or receive resource pools. In implementations, the smallest resource allocation unit includes a subchannel in the frequency domain and one slot in the time domain. A resource pool may include several resource allocation units. In some implementations, some slots of a resource pool may not be available for sidelink transmissions and some slots may include feedback resources. In implementations, a resource pool may be configured by an RRC configuration, may be based on a pre-configuration (e.g., the UE may store a pre-configuration), or may be based on an indication from a base station (e.g., a resource pool configuration for the UE may be received and / or signaled by the base station).

[0063] FIG. 4A illustrates a slot structure 400 of a resource pool. As can be seen, the slot structure of a resource pool may generally include 14 OFDM symbols. In some implementations, sidelink communication in a slot may be configured (e.g., by pre-configuration) to occupy fewer than 14 symbols. In implementations, a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) transmission may occupy a portion of a slot symbol, and a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) transmission may occupy another portion of a slot symbol. In some cases, the first symbol 410 may be repeated on a preceding symbol for automatic gain control (AGC) settling. In some cases, a gap symbol 420 may be provided after the PSSCH symbol. The subchannel size may be configured (e.g., by pre-configuration) to a value from a set including {10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75, 100} physical resource blocks (PRBs). The PSCCH and PSSCH may always be transmitted in the same slot.

[0064] As mentioned above, the sidelink PRS may be transmitted on the sidelink in a resource pool. FIG. 4B illustrates a PRS slot structure 450. In particular, a sidelink UE may transmit and / or receive a sidelink PRS 460 in a PRS slot of a resource pool for positioning (RP-P). In the RP-P, the PRS 460 may include resources for PRS transmissions from various sidelink UEs. In an implementation, the sidelink PRS may be transmitted using a comb-based pattern for fast Fourier transform (FFT)-based processing at the receiving UE. The sidelink PRS may also be an un-staggered downlink PRS or a partially staggered PRS for small range / TOA uncertainties, thereby allowing use with loose synchronization and reducing collisions between different sidelink transmissions. The sidelink PRS may also be a symbol-based resource pool-specific sidelink PRS to allow wideband and periodic opportunities for sidelink PRS transmission and reception across multiple UEs separated from PSSCH / CSI-RS allocations. The sidelink PRS may also be implemented using intra-slot repetition to combine gain when needed and to perform receiver sweeps (such as in FR2). The sidelink PRS may also be implemented using RP-P inter-UE coordination so that dynamic PRS and data multiplexing may be implemented while minimizing sidelink PRS collisions.

[0065] In some aspects, resource pool specific sidelink PRS may be implemented. For example, a network device (e.g., a base station and / or a UE) may assign one or more configurations of RP-Ps to another device. In these cases, the configuration for each RP-P may specify an offset, a periodicity, a number of consecutive symbols in a slot (e.g., as large as one symbol), a bandwidth in a component carrier (CC) (or a bandwidth across multiple CCs), etc. Each RP-P may be associated with a zone or distance from a reference location. In some cases, a UE (e.g., a target UE and / or a supporting UE) may request one or more RP-P configurations, and the UE may include in the request one or more of a location or zone ID, a periodicity, a bandwidth, an offset, a number of symbols, an indication of whether a configuration with "low interference" is required (e.g., may be indicated and / or determined based on an assigned quality of service (QoS) or priority).

[0066] A network device (e.g., base station and / or UE) may configure rate matching resources or RP-P for rate matching / muting to a sidelink UE such that when there is a collision between the assigned resources and another resource pool containing data / control (e.g., DMRS or CSI-RS data), the sidelink UE may be expected to rate match / muting / puncture the data / DMRS / CSI-RS in the colliding resources. In an aspect, this may enable orthogonalization between positioning and data transmission for increased coverage of PRS signals. FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a rate matching configuration for a sidelink resource pool. In particular, configuration 500 may specify a configuration for RP-P 520 and for resource pool 510. As can be seen, RP-P 520 and resource pool 510 may collide for the duration of the RP-P. In this case, the configuration 500 may specify a region 530 for data / control where data / DMRS / CSI-RS / control may be transmitted, and due to collisions between the resource pool 510 and the RP-P 520, data / control may not be transmitted over any of the symbols of the RP-P 520.

[0067] In a sidelink positioning implementation, when a sidelink UE (either an assisting UE or a target UE) receives a sidelink PRS transmission that includes PRS from multiple UEs multiplexed together (e.g., FDMed), the receive timing of the sidelink PRS from the multiple UEs may not be aligned. For example, if the sidelink PRS from multiple UEs are configured in the same symbol, the symbols received from the multiple UEs may not be within the same cyclic prefix (CP). In this case, performance degradation may occur since this situation may cause inter-symbol interference. The receive timing misalignment of the sidelink PRS from multiple UEs may occur when the receiving UE is in a location far away from the first transmitting UE and very close to the second transmitting UE. In this case, the received (FDMed) sidelink PRS from the first assisting UE and the second assisting UE may be misaligned. In another scenario, misalignment in the reception timing of sidelink PRS from multiple UEs may occur when a receiving UE is synchronized with a first source (e.g., a base station, a sidelink UE, a GNSS, etc.) and a transmitting UE is synchronized with a second source different from the first source. In this case, the received sidelink PRS from the transmitting UE may be misaligned with the timing of the receiving UE.

[0068] 6A illustrates an example of inconsistent receive timing of PRS transmissions due to distance differences. In particular, assisting UE 115a may be very close to target UE 115x, while assisting UE 115c is far away, and assisting UE 115b is even farther away. In this scenario, if PRS transmissions from assisting UEs 115a-c (or any subset thereof) are multiplexed together, when the PRS transmissions are received at target UE 115x, the reception may be inconsistent as described above. The same problem may arise if UE 115x is the assisting UE and UEs 115a-c are target UEs. In this case, target UEs 115a-c may transmit PRSs, which may be multiplexed together and received at assisting UE 115x, but the receive timing of the multiplexed PRSs may be inconsistent as described above.

[0069] 6B is a diagram illustrating an example of inconsistent reception timing of PRS transmissions due to different synchronization sources. In particular, the assisting UE 115a may be synchronized based on the base station 105a, while the assisting UE 115b may be synchronized based on the base station 105b, which may be different from the base station 105a. In this case, if the PRS transmissions from the assisting UEs 115a and 115b are multiplexed together, when the PRS transmissions are received at the target UE 115x, the reception may be inconsistent as described above. The same problem may occur when the assisting UE receives the multiplexed PRS transmissions from the target UEs that are synchronized from different synchronization sources. In this case, the assisting UE may receive the multiplexed PRS transmissions with timing misalignment.

[0070] Various aspects of the present disclosure relate to techniques that provide mechanisms for managing transmission of a sidelink PRS with a timing advance offset from a sidelink node. In an aspect, a sidelink node (e.g., a target UE or an assisting UE) may receive transmissions from multiple nodes (e.g., a target UE or an assisting UE), where each transmission is transmitted at a respective transmission time and received at a respective reception time. In an aspect, the sidelink node may determine and / or obtain a timing advance offset to be applied to a transmission of a PRS from each sidelink node of the multiple nodes relative to a respective time at which a previous transmission was transmitted and / or received from the respective sidelink node. In an aspect, the timing advance offset may be determined such that when the sidelink node receives PRS transmissions from multiple sidelink nodes, the PRS transmissions are aligned. For example, the sidelink node may determine a first timing advance offset to be applied to a PRS transmission to be transmitted by a first sidelink node of the multiple nodes. This first timing advance offset may be an offset relative to a time at which the first sidelink node transmitted a previous transmission. In this example, the sidelink node may determine a second timing advance offset to be applied to a PRS transmission to be transmitted by a second sidelink node of the plurality of nodes. This second timing advance offset may be an offset relative to a time at which the second sidelink node transmitted a previous transmission to the sidelink node. In some aspects, the first timing advance offset may be different from the second timing advance offset. In aspects, the sidelink node may request transmission of PRS from a plurality of nodes, and the request to each respective sidelink node may include an indication of a timing advance offset to be applied to the PRS transmission from the respective sidelink node. The sidelink node may receive PRS transmissions from the plurality of nodes, and the receiving may include receiving the PRS transmissions at the same symbol aligned within the same CP.

[0071] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an example wireless communication system 700 supporting managing transmission of a sidelink PRS with a timing advance offset from a sidelink node in a wireless communication system according to one or more aspects. In some examples, the wireless communication system 700 may implement aspects of the wireless network 100. The wireless communication system 700 includes a UE 115x and a UE 115a. In an aspect, the UE 115x and the UE 115a may be in communication on a sidelink. Either the UE 115x and / or the UE 115a may also each be in communication with a base station (not shown). In the following description, the UE 115x may be described as a target UE and the UE 115a may be described as an assisting UE, and in this context, the PRS transmission between the UEs may be for estimating a position of the UE 115x. Additionally, the UE 115x may be described as a UE that requests and / or receives a PRS transmission from the UE 115a with a timing advance offset according to aspects of the present disclosure. However, it should be noted that the techniques for requesting and / or sending a PRS transmission with a timing advance offset may equally be applied when UE 115a is the node requesting and / or receiving a PRS transmission from UE 115x. Thus, the description herein should not be construed as limiting in any manner. Also, it should be noted that the description of system 700 as including two UEs is for illustration purposes only and is not intended to be limiting in any manner. Thus, wireless communication system 700 may generally include more than two UEs 115.

[0072] The UE 115x may include various components (structural components, hardware components, etc.) used to perform one or more functions described herein. For example, these components may include one or more processors 702 (collectively referred to hereinafter as “processors 702”), one or more memory devices 704 (collectively referred to hereinafter as “memories 704”), one or more transmitters 716 (collectively referred to hereinafter as “transmitters 716”), and one or more receivers 718 (collectively referred to hereinafter as “receivers 718”). The processor 702 may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory 704 to perform operations described herein. In some implementations, the processor 702 includes or corresponds to one or more of the receive processor 258, the transmit processor 264, and the controller 280, and the memory 704 includes or corresponds to the memory 282.

[0073] The memory 704 includes or is configured to store a timing advance offset manager 705. In an aspect, the timing advance offset manager 705 may be configured to perform operations to obtain and / or determine a timing advance offset to be used in a sidelink PRS transmission from a sidelink UE to the UE 115x. Thus, each timing advance offset may be associated with a sidelink UE. In an aspect, a timing advance offset may be determined relative to a timing of a previous transmission received by the UE 115x from a sidelink UE associated with the timing advance offset.

[0074] The transmitter 716 is configured to transmit reference signals, control information, and data to one or more other devices, and the receiver 718 is configured to receive reference signals, synchronization signals, control information, and data from one or more other devices. For example, the transmitter 716 may transmit signaling, control information, and data to the base station 105, and the receiver 718 may receive signaling, control information, and data from the base station 105. In some implementations, the transmitter 716 and the receiver 718 may be integrated into one or more transceivers. Additionally or alternatively, the transmitter 716 or the receiver 718 may include or correspond to one or more components of the UE 115 described with reference to FIG. 2.

[0075] The UE 115a may also include various components (structural components, hardware components, etc.) used to perform one or more functions described herein. For example, these components may include one or more processors 722 (collectively "processors 722"), one or more memory devices 724 (collectively "memories 724"), one or more transmitters 726 (collectively "transmitters 726"), and one or more receivers 728 (collectively "receivers 728"). The processor 722 may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory 724 to perform operations described herein. In some implementations, the processor 722 includes or corresponds to one or more of the receive processor 258, the transmit processor 264, and the controller 280, and the memory 724 includes or corresponds to the memory 282.

[0076] The memory 724 includes or is configured to store a PRS manager 725. In an aspect, the PRS manager 725 may be configured to perform operations to configure, generate, and / or manage transmission of a PRS to the UE 115x using a timing advance offset received from the UE 115x. As mentioned above, the timing advance offset received from the UE 115x may be an offset relative to the timing of a previous transmission sent by the UE 115a to the UE 115x.

[0077] The transmitter 726 is configured to transmit reference signals, control information, and data to one or more other devices, and the receiver 728 is configured to receive reference signals, synchronization signals, control information, and data from one or more other devices. For example, the transmitter 726 may transmit signaling, control information, and data to the base station 105, and the receiver 728 may receive signaling, control information, and data from the base station 105. In some implementations, the transmitter 726 and the receiver 728 may be integrated into one or more transceivers. Additionally or alternatively, the transmitter 726 or the receiver 728 may include or correspond to one or more components of the UE 115 described with reference to FIG. 2.

[0078] In some implementations, the wireless communication system 700 implements a 5G NR network. For example, the wireless communication system 700 may include multiple 5G-capable UEs 115 and multiple 5G-capable base stations 105, such as UEs and base stations configured to operate according to a 5G NR network protocol, such as that defined by 3GPP.

[0079] During operation of the wireless communications system 700, the UE 115a transmits a first transmission 770 to the UE 115x. In an aspect, the first transmission 770 may be an access-related message, such as a discovery message or response, SL-SSB, etc. The UE 115a may transmit the first transmission 770 at a first transmit time. During operation of the wireless communications system 700, the UE 115x receives the first transmission 770 at a first receive time. In an aspect, the UE 115x may also receive a first transmission from another sidelink UE (not shown). The first transmission from the other sidelink UE may also be an access-related message, such as a discovery message or response, SL-SSB, etc. In some aspects, the first transmission from the UE 115a and / or from the other sidelink UE may be transmitted in response to a request from the UE 115x for the UE 115a and / or other sidelink UE to send the first transmission.

[0080] In an aspect, the UE 115x may determine or obtain a timing advance offset to align a PRS transmission from the UE 115a based on the first transmission 770. The timing advance offset may be a timing offset that the UE 115a may apply to a PRS transmission to be sent to the UE 115x and may advance the PRS transmission relative to a transmission time associated with the first transmission 770 from the UE 115a. In some aspects, the UE 115a may add a timing advance offset to the PRS transmission as compared to the timing used for the first transmission 770 from the UE 115a.

[0081] In an aspect, UE 115x may determine a timing offset for UE 115a based on the first transmission 770 received from UE 115a and / or the first transmission received from other sidelink UEs. In these cases, UE 115x may determine that there is a significant difference in the reception of the first transmission from UE 115a and the first transmission from the other sidelink UEs, and UE 115x may determine a timing advance offset for UE 115a and each of the other sidelink UEs to ensure that the PRS transmission is received such that, if the PRS transmissions from UE 115a and the other sidelink UEs are configured to be transmitted in the same symbol when the PRS transmission is received by UE 115x, the symbols transmitted from UE 115a and each of the other sidelink UEs are received within the same CP. In an aspect, the timing advance offset may vary by sidelink UE.

[0082] For example, referring back to FIG. 6A , target UE 115x may receive a first transmission (e.g., a discovery message or response, SL-SSB, etc.) from each of assisting UEs 115a-c. In this example, UE 115x may determine that there is a significant difference between the reception times of the first transmissions at UE 115x from the different assisting UEs, which in this case may be due to differences in distances of the assisting UEs from target UE 115x. For example, the first transmission from UE 115c may be received by UE 115x 200 ms after the first transmission from UE 115a is received by UE 115x. In this same example, the first transmission from UE 115b may be received by UE 115x 500 ms after the first transmission from UE 115a is received by UE 115x (or 300 ms after the first transmission from UE 115c is received by UE 115x). Thus, there is a difference between the transmission timing of assisting UEs 115a-c relative to target UE 115x. If each of assisting UEs 115a-c transmits a PRS configured to be transmitted in the same symbol (e.g., PRS transmissions that are FDMed in the same symbol) to UE 115x, reception of the PRS transmissions may be misaligned at UE 115x as described above (e.g., symbols may not be received within the same CP). In this case, according to aspects of the present disclosure, target UE 115x may determine a timing advance offset for each (or at least a subset) of assisting UEs 115a-c. In aspects, the timing advance offset for each of assisting UEs 115a-c may be configured to compensate for the difference in transmission timing from the different assisting UEs such that reception of the PRS transmissions at UE 115x is aligned (e.g., symbols from various assisting UEs are received within the same CP).

[0083] In another example, referring back to FIG. 6A , the target UE 115x may receive a first transmission (e.g., a discovery message or response, SL-SSB, etc.) from each of the assisting UEs 115a and 115b. In this example, the UE 115x may determine that there is a significant difference between the reception times of the first transmissions at the UE 115x from the different assisting UEs, which in this case may be due to synchronization of the different assisting UEs. For example, the assisting UE 115a may be synchronized from a base station 105a, and the assisting UE 115b may be synchronized from a base station 105b that is different from the base station 105a. In this case, the first transmission from the UE 115a may be received by the UE 115x at a significantly different time than the first transmission from the UE 115b. Thus, there is a difference between the transmission timings of the assisting UEs 115a and 115b to the target UE 115x. If each of the assisting UEs 115a and 115b transmits a PRS configured to be transmitted in the same symbol (e.g., PRS transmissions FDMed in the same symbol) to the UE 115x, reception of the PRS transmissions may be misaligned at the UE 115x as described above (e.g., symbols may not be received within the same CP). In this case, according to aspects of the present disclosure, the target UE 115x may determine a timing advance offset for each (or at least a subset) of the assisting UEs 115a and 115b. In aspects, the timing advance offset for each of the assisting UEs 115a and 115b may be configured to compensate for synchronization differences of the different assisting UEs such that reception of the PRS transmissions at the UE 115x is aligned (e.g., symbols from the various assisting UEs are received within the same CP).

[0084] 7, during operation of the wireless communication system 700, the UE 115x transmits a PRS request 775 to the UE 115a. In an aspect, the PRS request 775 may be a request for the UE 115a to transmit a PRS on the sidelink with a timing advance offset indicated in the PRS request 775. The indicated timing advance offset may be a timing advance offset determined in accordance with the description above. In some aspects, the UE 115x may also transmit a PRS request to the other sidelink nodes including a timing advance offset applicable to each of the other sidelink nodes. In some aspects, the request for a PRS transmission with a timing advance offset may be transmitted to the UE 115a in response to determining that the PRS transmission from the UE 115a will be multiplexed (e.g., FDMed) with the other PRS transmissions.

[0085] In some aspects, the timing advance offset may include a range or tolerance for the timing advance offset. In these aspects, the timing advance may be provided as a value, plus a range or tolerance, or may be provided only as a range. For example, the PRS request 775 may indicate the timing advance offset for the UE 115a as a range of TA values. In this case, the UE 115a may select a value from within the range of values ​​and apply that value to the PRS transmission to be transmitted to the UE 115x.

[0086] In aspects, rather than sending a PRS request to UE 115a, UE 115x may send a PRS request with a timing advance offset to another network node (e.g., a base station or an LMF network entity). In this case, the network node may send a request to UE 115a to send a PRS with the timing advance offset to UE 115x. In some aspects, the network node may select a timing advance offset from a range of timing advance offsets or even decide to request a different timing offset to be used by UE 115a.

[0087] During operation of the wireless communication system 700, the UE 115a may receive a PRS request 775 including a timing advance offset to be used to transmit a PRS to the UE 115x. In an aspect, the UE 115a may simply apply the timing advance offset indicated in the PRS request 775 and transmit the PRS 780 to the UE 115x. In some aspects, as mentioned above, the timing advance offset may be indicated as a range or tolerance, in which case the UE 115a may select a value from within the indicated range and apply the value to the PRS 780 before transmission. In some aspects, the UE 115a may actually decide to transmit the PRS 780 using a different timing advance offset than the timing advance offset indicated by the UE 115x in the PRS request 775. For example, the UE 115a may receive other PRS requests from other sidelink UEs indicating different timing advance offsets to be used when transmitting the PRS. In these cases, UE 115a may determine a timing advance offset based on the timing advance offset indicated in the PRS request 775 from UE 115x and based on the timing advance offset indicated in other PRS requests from other sidelink UEs. For example, in some cases, the timing advance offset range indicated by UE 115x may intersect with the timing advance offset range indicated by another sidelink UE. In this case, UE 115a may determine to use a timing advance offset based on the intersection of the ranges. In some aspects, when there is no intersection of the ranges, UE 115a may abort the positioning session.

[0088] In some aspects, UE 115a may report the selected and / or used timing advance offset to a network node (e.g., a base station or an LMF network entity), e.g., if position estimation of UE 115x is performed in the network node. In some aspects, UE 115a may report the selected timing advance offset to UE 115x, e.g., if position estimation of UE 115x is performed in UE 115x.

[0089] In aspects, the system 700 may be implemented with an on-demand timing advance offset update function. In these aspects, a sidelink UE (or even a network node, such as a base station or an LMF network entity) may request that the timing advance offset used by a sidelink UE transmitting a PRS be updated. For example, the UE 115a may receive an unsolicited request to update the timing advance offset used to send the PRS 780 to the UE 115x. In aspects, this update request may be received by the UE 115a after a positioning / ranging session starts. In some aspects, a sidelink UE receiving a PRS may send a request to update the timing advance offset used by a sending sidelink UE.

[0090] In aspects, the timing advance offset may be associated with a sidelink PRS configuration or may be related to the entire RP-P configuration. For example, a resource pool may include more than on PRS configuration. In these cases, different UEs may transmit their respective PRSs in different resources (e.g., slots and / or subchannels) of the resource pool. In these aspects, each timing advance offset may be specifically related to each PRS configuration. In other aspects, the timing advance offset may be associated with the entire RP-P configuration. In some aspects, the timing advance offset may be indicated and / or reported with a resource pool ID. For different resource pools, different timing advances may be used. In some cases, the same UE may have different positioning sessions with different clusters of network devices. Thus, in aspects, the alignment for different clusters may be different.

[0091] In some aspects, within a resource pool, it may be assumed that sidelink PRS transmissions within the resource pool are transmitted using a single timing advance offset. In other aspects, a resource pool may be configured to include transmissions of PRS using different timing advance offsets. In this case, gaps may be configured between PRS transmissions using different timing advance offsets as indicated above. In some aspects, rather than transmitting PRS transmissions using different timing advance offsets in the same resource pool, PRS transmissions using different timing advance offsets may be transmitted in different resource pools and gaps may already be configured at the end of each slot as indicated above.

[0092] In an aspect, when a transmitting sidelink UE (e.g., a sidelink UE transmitting a PRS on the sidelink to other sidelink UEs) receives a request to transmit a PRS on the sidelink using different timing advance offsets (e.g., transmit a first PRS using a first timing advance offset and a second PRS using a second timing advance offset), a timing gap may be used between different sidelink PRS transmissions in the RP-P. FIG. 8A illustrates a resource pool configuration 800 implementing an example of a timing gap between PRS transmissions with different timing advance offsets according to an aspect of the disclosure. In particular, a data control 830 may be transmitted within the resource pool 810. A sidelink PRS 840 may be transmitted after the data control 830. Data control 830 may be transmitted with a timing advance offset different from the timing advance offset used for the sidelink PRS 840, or data control 830 may be transmitted without a timing advance offset, so that a gap 860 may be configured between data control 830 and sidelink PRS 840. Note that gap 870 is a conventionally configured gap at the end of a slot.

[0093] FIG. 8B illustrates a resource pool configuration 850 implementing another example of timing gaps between PRS transmissions with different timing advance offsets according to an aspect of the disclosure. In particular, when the timing advance offset is sidelink PRS specific and different sidelink PRS are to be transmitted in consecutive symbols, a gap may be configured between sidelink PRS using different timing advance offsets. For example, a timing advance offset may be specific to sidelink PRS2, which may be transmitted at 842 and 844. In this example, a different timing advance offset may be specific to sidelink PRS1, which may be transmitted at 840. In this case, a gap 860 may be configured between the two different configurations since sidelink PRS1 and sidelink PRS2 may be transmitted using different timing advance offsets.

[0094] In some aspects, a sidelink UE may operate in different positioning sessions with different sidelink UEs. For example, a sidelink UE may operate in a first positioning session with a first cluster of sidelink devices and in a second positioning session with a second cluster of sidelink devices. In these aspects, the different clusters may have different timing advance offsets associated with them. According to aspects of the disclosure, a sidelink UE may be configured to serve different clusters of sidelink UEs using different configurations of a sidelink resource pool. In particular, as shown in FIG. 8B, a sidelink UE 115a may operate in a first positioning session with a first cluster 870 and in a second positioning session with a second cluster 872. In an aspect, cluster 870 may be associated with a first timing advance offset (e.g., a timing advance offset for sidelink PRS2) and cluster 872 may be associated with a second timing advance offset (e.g., a timing advance offset for sidelink PRS1) that is different from the first timing advance offset. In an aspect, both cluster 870 and cluster 872 may be configured to transmit PRS in the same resource pool 820. As explained above, in this case, PRS for sidelink UEs in both cluster 870 and cluster 872 may be transmitted in the resource pool 820, but a gap may be configured between PRS transmissions from cluster 870 and cluster 872 because the timing advance offsets for the two clusters are different.

[0095] In other aspects, cluster 870 may be associated with a first timing advance offset (e.g., a timing advance offset for sidelink PRS2) and cluster 872 may be associated with a second timing advance offset (e.g., a timing advance offset for sidelink PRS1) that is different from the first timing advance offset. However, in these aspects, rather than transmitting PRSs from sidelink UEs of clusters 870 and 872 in the same resource pool 820, clusters 870 and 872 may be configured to transmit PRSs in different resource pools. In this case, coordination may not be required between UEs belonging to different clusters because the resource pool for cluster 870 and the resource pool for cluster 872 may be multiplexed (e.g., FDM).

[0096] FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process 900 providing a mechanism for managing transmission of a sidelink PRS with a timing advance offset from a sidelink node in a wireless communication system, according to one or more aspects. The operations of the process 900 may be performed by a UE, such as a target UE 115x described above with reference to FIGS. 1-7, or a UE 1100 described with reference to FIG. 11. For example, the example operations (also referred to as "blocks") of the process 900 may enable the UE 115 to support managing a sidelink PRS transmission with a timing advance offset from a sidelink node. FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a UE 1100 configured according to an aspect of the disclosure. The UE 1100 includes structure, hardware, and components as shown with respect to the UE 115 of FIG. 2. For example, the UE 1100 includes a controller / processor 280, which operates to control components of the UE 1100 that provide the features and functionality of the UE 1100 as well as execute logic or computer instructions stored in a memory 282. The UE 1100 transmits and receives signals via wireless radios 1101a-r and antennas 252a-r under the control of a controller / processor 280. The wireless radios 1101a-r include various components and hardware as shown in FIG. 2 for the UE 1100, including modulators / demodulators 254a-r, a MIMO detector 256, a receive processor 258, a transmit processor 264, and a TX MIMO processor 266.

[0097] At block 902 of process 900, a UE (e.g., UE 1100) receives a plurality of first transmissions from a plurality of nodes, with each first transmission of the plurality of first transmissions being received by the UE from a respective node of the plurality of nodes at a respective time. For example, UE 1100 may receive the plurality of first transmissions from the plurality of nodes via wireless radios 1101a-r and antennas 252a-r. In aspects, a first transmission in the plurality of first transmissions may include an access-related message, such as a discovery message or response, SL-SSB, etc. In some aspects, a first transmission in the plurality of first transmissions may be transmitted from the plurality of nodes in response to a request from UE 1100 to the plurality of nodes to send the plurality of first transmissions.

[0098] At block 904, the UE 1100 obtains at least one timing advance configuration for a sidelink PRS transmission to be transmitted from at least one of the plurality of nodes to the UE based on respective times at which the first transmission is received from each respective node of the plurality of nodes. To implement functionality for such operations, the UE executes a timing advance offset manager 1102 stored in memory 282 under control of the controller / processor 280. The functionality implemented through an execution environment of the timing advance offset manager 1102 enables the UE to perform operations for obtaining at least one timing advance configuration for a sidelink PRS transmission to be transmitted from at least one of the plurality of nodes to the UE in accordance with various aspects herein.

[0099] In an aspect, the timing advance configuration may specify a timing advance offset that a support node (e.g., a node of multiple nodes) is to use when transmitting an SL-PRS to UE 1100 to advance the SL-PRS transmission relative to the transmission time of the first transmission based on which UE 1100 obtains the timing advance offset. In an aspect, the support node may add a timing advance offset to the SL-PRS transmission as compared to the timing used for the first transmission from the support node to UE 1100.

[0100] In an aspect, the UE 1100 may determine a timing advance offset for a sidelink PRS transmission to be transmitted from a particular node based on a first transmission received from the particular node and a first transmission received from other sidelink nodes in the plurality of nodes. In these cases, the UE 1100 may determine that there is a significant difference in the reception time of the first transmission from the particular node and the first transmission from the other sidelink nodes, and when the sidelink PRS transmission is received by the UE 1100, if the sidelink PRS transmissions from the particular node and the other sidelink nodes are configured to be transmitted in the same symbol, the UE 1100 may determine a timing advance offset for the particular node and each of the other sidelink nodes to ensure that the PRS transmission is received such that the symbols transmitted from the particular node and each of the other sidelink nodes are received within the same CP. In an aspect, the timing advance offset may vary by sidelink node.

[0101] In an aspect, the timing advance offset determined by UE 1100 for a node in a plurality of nodes may include a range of timing offset values. For example, UE 1100 may determine a range of timing advance offset values ​​from which a supporting node (or another network node, such as a base station or LMF) may select when determining a timing advance offset to apply to a PRS transmission to UE 1100. In an aspect, the range of timing advance offset values ​​may include multiple timing advance offset values.

[0102] In block 906, the UE 1100 transmits at least one timing advance configuration to at least one node of the plurality of nodes. For example, the UE 1100 may transmit one timing advance configuration to the at least one node via the wireless radios 1101a-r and the antennas 252a-r. In an aspect, the at least one node (e.g., an aiding node) may apply a timing advance offset in the at least one timing advance configuration to the sidelink PRS transmission transmitted to the UE 1100. In an aspect, when the at least one timing advance configuration includes a range of timing advance offsets, the aiding node may select (or the base station or the LMF network entity may indicate to the aiding node) a timing advance offset from the range of timing advance offsets, and the selected timing advance offset may be applied to the sidelink PRS transmission.

[0103] In an aspect, the UE 1100 may transmit at least one timing advance configuration to a network node (e.g., a base station or an LMF network entity), where the network node may be configured to determine a timing advance offset that the support node is to use when transmitting a sidelink PRS transmission to the UE 1100. In an aspect, the network node may transmit the determined timing advance offset to the at least one node (e.g., the support node).

[0104] In an aspect, the UE 1100 may determine that a timing advance configuration update condition has occurred and, in response, may update a timing advance configuration for sidelink PRS transmissions from at least one node. In an aspect, a network node (e.g., a base station or an LMF network entity) may make a determination as to whether a timing advance configuration update condition has occurred and, in response to determining that a timing advance configuration update condition has occurred, may update a timing advance configuration for sidelink PRS transmissions from at least one node. In an aspect, an updated timing advance configuration may be transmitted (e.g., from the UE 1100 or from the network node) to at least one node (e.g., an assistance node).

[0105] In an aspect, the timing advance configuration update condition may include one or more of: determining that the location of UE 1100 has changed; determining that reception of SL-PRS transmissions from one or more of the plurality of nodes is inconsistent; an indication that the location of one or more of the plurality of nodes has changed; or an indication that sidelink PRS transmissions from one or more of the plurality of nodes are inconsistent for UE 1100.

[0106] 10 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process 1000 that provides a mechanism for managing transmission of a sidelink PRS with a timing advance offset from a sidelink node in a wireless communications system, according to one or more aspects. The operations of process 1000 may be performed by a UE, such as the assisting UE 115a described above with reference to FIGS. 1-7, or the UE 1100 described with reference to FIG. 11. For example, the example operations (also referred to as "blocks") of process 1000 may enable the UE 115 to support managing sidelink PRS transmissions with a timing advance offset from a sidelink node.

[0107] At block 1002 of process 1000, a UE (e.g., UE 1100) transmits at least one transmission to at least one node (e.g., target node), with each transmission of the at least one transmission being transmitted by the UE to a respective one of the at least one node at a respective transmission time. For example, the UE 1100 may transmit the at least one transmission to the at least one node via wireless radios 1101a-r and antennas 252a-r. In aspects, the at least one transmission may include an access-related message, such as a discovery message or response, SL-SSB, etc. In some aspects, the at least one transmission may be transmitted to the at least one node in response to a request from the at least one node for the UE 1100 to send the at least one transmission.

[0108] In block 1004, the UE 1100 obtains at least one timing advance value to be used by the UE 1100 to transmit a sidelink PRS to one or more of the at least one node. To implement functionality for such operations, the UE executes a PRS manager 1103 stored in memory 282 under control of the controller / processor 280. The functionality implemented through the execution environment of the PRS manager 1103 enables the UE to perform operations for obtaining at least one timing advance value to be used by the UE to transmit a sidelink PRS to one or more of the at least one node according to various aspects of the present specification.

[0109] In an aspect, the UE 1100 may receive a timing advance value from at least one node (e.g., a sidelink node of a target UE), where the sidelink node may determine the timing advance value based on at least one transmission from the UE 1100 and from other transmissions received from other sidelink nodes. In an aspect, the timing advance value may be determined by a network node (e.g., a base station or an LMF network entity), which may then transmit the timing advance value to the UE 1100.

[0110] At block 1006, the UE 1100 transmits a sidelink PRS to each of the one or more nodes using the respective timing advance value. For example, the UE 1100 may transmit the sidelink PRS to each of the one or more nodes using the respective timing advance value via the wireless radios 1101a-r and the antennas 252a-r. In an aspect, using the respective TA value may include advancing the transmission of the sidelink PRS to the respective node by a time period equal to the TA value. In an aspect, transmitting the sidelink PRS to each of the one or more nodes using a respective timing advance value may include transmitting the sidelink PRS to the first node using a first timing advance value, where using the first timing advance value includes advancing the transmission of the sidelink PRS to the first node by a time period equal to the first timing advance value, and transmitting the sidelink PRS to the second node using a second timing advance value, where using the second timing advance value includes advancing the transmission of the SL-PRS to the second node by a time period equal to the second timing advance value.

[0111] In an aspect, the timing advance values ​​received from the at least one node may include a range of timing advance values, in which the range of timing advance values ​​received from each node may indicate a range of values ​​determined by the respective node to be valid for sidelink PRS transmissions from the UE 1100 to the respective node.

[0112] In one or more aspects, techniques for providing a mechanism for managing transmission of a sidelink PRS with a timing advance offset from a sidelink node in a wireless communication system according to one or more aspects may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described with respect to one or more other processes or devices described below or elsewhere herein. In a first aspect, providing a mechanism for managing transmission of a sidelink PRS with a timing advance offset from a sidelink node in a wireless communication system may include an apparatus configured to: receive a plurality of first transmissions from a plurality of nodes, where each first transmission of the plurality of first transmissions is received by the UE from a respective node of the plurality of nodes at a respective time; obtain at least one Timing Advance (TA) configuration for a sidelink (SL)-PRS transmission to be transmitted from at least one node of the plurality of nodes to the UE based on the respective times at which the first transmissions are received from each respective node of the plurality of nodes; and transmit the at least one TA configuration to the at least one node of the plurality of nodes. In addition, the apparatus may perform one or more aspects or operate according to one or more aspects as described below. In some implementations, the apparatus includes a wireless device such as a UE (e.g., a target UE as described above). In some implementations, the apparatus may include at least one processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor may be configured to perform operations described herein with respect to the apparatus. In some other implementations, the apparatus may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon, the program code being executable by a computer to cause the computer to perform operations described herein with respect to the apparatus. In some implementations, the apparatus may include one or more means configured to perform operations described herein.In some implementations, a method of wireless communication may include one or more of the operations described herein with respect to an apparatus.

[0113] In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, obtaining at least one TA configuration includes determining, by at least one node, a TA offset for modifying an SL-PRS transmission from the at least one node, the modification by the at least one node being based at least in part on the TA offset and a respective first transmission received from the at least one node of the plurality of nodes.

[0114] In a third aspect, alone or in combination with the second aspect, obtaining the at least one TA configuration includes including the determined TA offset in the at least one TA configuration transmitted to the at least one node.

[0115] In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to third aspects, determining the TA offset includes measuring a reception time difference between a respective time at which the first transmission is received from a first node of the plurality of nodes and a respective time at which the first transmission is received from a second node of the plurality of nodes.

[0116] In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with the fourth aspect, determining the TA offset includes configuring a TA offset for at least one of the first node or the second node based on a measured reception time difference, the TA offset being configured in the device to align SL-PRS reception from the first node and the second node with each other.

[0117] In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to fifth aspects, configuring a TA offset to align SL-PRS reception from a first node and a second node with each other includes configuring the TA offset to ensure that symbols received from a SL-PRS transmission from the first node and symbols received from a SL-PRS transmission from the second node are received within the same CP.

[0118] In a seventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first aspect through the sixth aspect, configuring a TA offset to align SL-PRS reception from a first node and a second node with respect to one another includes configuring a first TA offset for a first node of the plurality of nodes.

[0119] In an eighth aspect, alone or in combination with the seventh aspect, configuring a TA offset to align SL-PRS reception from a first node and a second node with respect to one another includes configuring a second TA offset for a second node of the plurality of nodes.

[0120] In a ninth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the seventh to eighth aspects, the first TA offset is different from the second TA offset, and the at least one TA configuration includes a first TA configuration having the first TA offset for the first node and a second TA configuration having the second TA offset for the second node.

[0121] In a tenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first aspect through the ninth aspect, the technique of the first aspect includes receiving an SL-PRS transmission from at least one node of the plurality of nodes, the SL-PRS transmission being transmitted by the at least one node at a transmission time using a TA determined by the at least one node based at least in part on a TA offset of the at least one TA configuration and a respective first transmission received from the at least one node of the plurality of nodes.

[0122] In an eleventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to tenth aspects, the SL-PRS transmission from at least one of the plurality of nodes includes a plurality of SL-PRS transmissions from two or more of the at least one node FDMed within a frequency spectrum of the resource pool, each SL-PRS transmission of the plurality of SL-PRS transmissions being transmitted from a respective node using a respective TA.

[0123] In a twelfth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first aspect through the eleventh aspect, determining a TA offset for modifying an SL-PRS transmission from the at least one node based at least in part on the TA offset and a respective first transmission received from the at least one node of the plurality of nodes includes determining a range of TA offset values ​​in the apparatus from a first node of the at least one node and a second node of the at least one node to be within a receive window based on respective times at which a first transmission is received from each respective node of the plurality of nodes.

[0124] In a thirteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to twelfth aspects, the technique of the first aspect includes receiving an indication of a value out of a range of values ​​selected by at least one node for a TA offset, the selected value being used by the at least one node to determine a TA to apply to a SL-PRS transmission, the indication being received from one or more of the network node or the at least one node.

[0125] In a fourteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to thirteenth aspects, the technique of the first aspect includes determining that a range of TA offset values ​​is not configured to align SL-PRS reception at the device from a third node of the at least one node and one or more of the first node and second node to be within a reception window.

[0126] In a fifteenth aspect, alone or in combination with the fourteenth aspect, the technique of the first aspect includes including, during at least one TA configuration, an abort indication for the third node to terminate a location estimation session between the device and the third node, wherein SL-PRS transmission by the third node is refrained from.

[0127] In a sixteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to fifteenth aspects, transmitting at least one TA configuration to at least one node of the plurality of nodes includes transmitting the at least one TA configuration to a network node.

[0128] In a seventeenth aspect, alone or in combination with the sixteenth aspect, a network node is configured to determine a TA offset based on at least one TA configuration, to be used by the at least one node to modify a SL-PRS transmission for a respective first transmission from the at least one node, and to transmit the TA offset to the at least one node.

[0129] In an eighteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to seventeenth aspects, the technique of the first aspect includes determining whether a TA configuration update condition has occurred.

[0130] In a nineteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first aspect through the eighteenth aspect, the technique of the first aspect includes updating a TA configuration for SL-PRS transmissions from at least one node based on a determination that a TA configuration update condition has occurred.

[0131] In a twentieth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first aspect to the nineteenth aspect, the technique of the first aspect includes transmitting an updated TA configuration to at least one node.

[0132] In a twenty-first aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to twentieth aspects, the TA configuration update conditions include one or more of determining that a location of the device has changed, determining that reception of SL-PRS transmissions from one or more of the plurality of nodes is inconsistent, an indication that a location of one or more of the plurality of nodes has changed, or an indication that SL-PRS transmissions from one or more of the plurality of nodes are inconsistent for the device.

[0133] In a twenty-second aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to twenty-first aspects, each first transmission received from each node of the plurality of nodes includes one or more of a discovery message request, a discovery message response, or an SL-SSB message.

[0134] In a twenty-third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to twenty-second aspects, the apparatus is one of a target UE or a supporting UE.

[0135] In a twenty-fourth aspect, a technique for providing a mechanism for managing transmission of a sidelink PRS with a timing advance offset from a sidelink node in a wireless communication system may include an apparatus configured to: transmit, by the apparatus, at least one transmission to at least one node, each transmission of the at least one transmission being transmitted by the apparatus to a respective node of the at least one node at a respective transmission time; obtain, by the apparatus, at least one TA value to be used by the UE to transmit the SL-PRS to one or more nodes of the at least one node; and transmit the SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes using the respective TA value. In an aspect, using the respective TA value includes advancing the transmission of the SL-PRS to the respective node by a time period equal to the TA value. Additionally, the apparatus may perform one or more aspects or operate according to one or more aspects as described below. In some implementations, the apparatus includes a wireless device such as a UE (e.g., an assisting UE as described above). In some implementations, the apparatus may include at least one processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor may be configured to perform the operations described herein with respect to the apparatus. In some other implementations, the apparatus may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon, the program code being executable by a computer to cause the computer to perform the operations described herein with respect to the apparatus. In some implementations, the apparatus may include one or more means configured to perform the operations described herein. In some implementations, a method of wireless communication may include one or more operations described herein with respect to the apparatus.

[0136] In a twenty-fifth aspect, alone or in combination with the twenty-fourth aspect, each of the at least one TA value is based on a TA offset determined by a respective one of the one or more nodes from which the SL-PRS is to be transmitted using the respective TA value.

[0137] In a 26th aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the 24th to 25th aspects, the technique of the 24th aspect includes one or more of receiving from the network node and one or more of the respective nodes of the one or more nodes a TA offset determined by the respective nodes of the one or more nodes from which the SL-PRS is to be transmitted using the respective TA value, or determining each of the at least one TA value based on the TA offset.

[0138] In a 27th aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the 24th to 26th aspects, obtaining at least one TA value includes obtaining a first TA value to be used for transmitting the SL-PRS to a first node of the one or more nodes.

[0139] In a twenty-eighth aspect, alone or in combination with the twenty-seventh aspect, obtaining at least one TA value includes obtaining a second TA value to be used for transmitting the SL-PRS to a second node of the one or more nodes.

[0140] In a 29th aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the 24th to 28th aspects, transmitting an SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes using a respective TA value includes transmitting the SL-PRS to the first node using a first TA value.

[0141] In a 30th aspect, alone or in combination with the 29th aspect, using the first TA value includes forwarding transmission of the SL-PRS to the first node for a period of time equal to the first TA value.

[0142] In a thirty-first aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the twenty-fourth to thirtieth aspects, transmitting an SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes using the respective TA values ​​includes transmitting the SL-PRS to the second node using a second TA value.

[0143] In a thirty-second aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the twenty-ninth to thirty-first aspects, using the second TA value includes advancing transmission of the SL-PRS to the second node for a period of time equal to the second TA value.

[0144] In a 33rd aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the 29th to 32nd aspects, the TA offset determined by each of the one or more nodes to which the SL-PRS is to be transmitted using the respective TA value comprises a range of TA offset values.

[0145] In a thirty-fourth aspect, alone or in combination with the thirty-third aspect, a range of TA offset values ​​indicates a range of values ​​determined by each node to be valid for SL-PRS transmission from the UE to the respective node.

[0146] In a thirty-fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the twenty-fourth to thirty-third aspects, the technique of the twenty-fourth aspect includes obtaining a value from a range of TA offset values ​​for transmitting the SL-PRS to each node.

[0147] In a thirty-sixth aspect, alone or in combination with the thirty-fifth aspect, the technique of the twenty-fourth aspect includes transmitting to each node of the one or more nodes an indication of the obtained value from a range of TA offset values.

[0148] In a thirty-seventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the twenty-fourth to thirty-sixth aspects, transmitting an SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes using a respective TA value includes transmitting a plurality of SL-PRS transmissions to a plurality of nodes of the one or more nodes, each SL-PRS of the plurality of SL-PRS transmissions being transmitted in a respective resource of at least one resource pool.

[0149] In a thirty-eighth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the twenty-fourth to thirty-seventh aspects, transmitting a plurality of SL-PRS transmissions to a plurality of nodes includes transmitting a first SL-PRS of the plurality of SL-PRS transmissions in a first resource of a resource pool.

[0150] In a thirty-ninth aspect, alone or in combination with the thirty-eighth aspect, the first SL-PRS is transmitted using a first TA value.

[0151] In a fortieth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the thirty-eighth to thirty-ninth aspects, transmitting a plurality of SL-PRS transmissions to a plurality of nodes includes transmitting a second SL-PRS of the plurality of SL-PRS transmissions in a second resource of the resource pool.

[0152] In a forty-first aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the thirty-eighth to fortieth aspects, a second SL-PRS is transmitted using a second TA value.

[0153] In a forty-second embodiment, alone or in combination with one or more of the twenty-fourth to forty-first embodiments, the first TA value is different from the second TA value.

[0154] In a forty-third aspect, alone or in combination with the forty-second aspect, transmitting multiple SL-PRS transmissions to multiple nodes includes including a transmission gap between a transmission of a first SL-PRS on a first resource and a transmission of a second SL-PRS on a second resource.

[0155] In a forty-fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the twenty-fourth to forty-third aspects, the first TA value is equal to the second TA value.

[0156] In a forty-fifth aspect, alone or in combination with the forty-fourth aspect, transmitting multiple SL-PRS transmissions to multiple nodes includes transmitting a first SL-PRS on a first resource and transmitting a second SL-PRS on a second resource without a transmission gap therebetween.

[0157] In a 46th aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the 24th to 45th aspects, transmitting multiple SL-PRS transmissions to multiple nodes includes transmitting a first SL-PRS of the multiple SL-PRS transmissions in a first resource of a resource pool.

[0158] In a forty-seventh aspect, alone or in combination with the forty-sixth aspect, a first SL-PRS is transmitted using a first TA value.

[0159] In a 48th aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the 46th to 47th aspects, transmitting multiple SL-PRS transmissions to multiple nodes includes transmitting data in second resources of the resource pool.

[0160] In a forty-ninth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the forty-sixth to forty-eighth aspects, the data is not transmitted using the first TA value.

[0161] In a 50th aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the 46th to 49th aspects, transmitting multiple SL-PRS transmissions to multiple nodes includes including a transmission gap between a transmission of a first SL-PRS on a first resource and a transmission of data on a second resource.

[0162] In a 51st aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the 24th aspect to the 50th aspect, the technique of the 24th aspect includes receiving at least one updated TA configuration from one or more nodes of the plurality of nodes.

[0163] In a 52nd aspect, alone or in combination with the 51st aspect, at least one updated TA configuration is transmitted from one or more nodes based on a determination by the one or more nodes that a TA configuration update condition has occurred.

[0164] In a 53rd aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the 24th aspect to the 52nd aspect, the technique of the 24th aspect includes transmitting at least one SL-PRS to one or more nodes using the at least one updated TA configuration.

[0165] In a 54th aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the 24th to 53rd aspects, the at least one transmission includes one or more of a discovery message request, a discovery message response, or a SL-SSB message.

[0166] In a fifty-fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the twenty-fourth to fifty-fourth aspects, the apparatus is one of a target UE or a supporting UE.

[0167] 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.

[0168] The components, functional blocks, and modules described herein with respect to Figures 1-11 include, among other examples, processors, electronics devices, hardware devices, electronics components, logic circuits, memories, software code, firmware code, or any combination thereof. "Software" shall be broadly construed to mean, among other examples, instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, threads of execution, procedures, and / or functions, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. Additionally, features described herein may be implemented via dedicated processor circuitry, via executable instructions, or combinations thereof.

[0169] Those skilled in the art will further appreciate that the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the present disclosure 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 various ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art will also readily appreciate that the order or combination of components, methods, or interactions described herein are merely examples, and that the components, methods, or interactions of various aspects of the present disclosure may be combined or performed in ways other than those shown and described herein.

[0170] The various example logic, logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithmic processes described in connection with the implementations disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. Interchangeability of hardware and software has been described generally in terms of functionality and illustrated in the various example components, blocks, modules, circuits, and processes described above. Whether such functionality is implemented in hardware or software depends on the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0171] The hardware and data processing devices used to implement the various example logic, logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with general purpose single-chip or multi-chip processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, 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, or any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. In some implementations, a processor may be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as 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. In some implementations, particular processes and methods may be performed by circuitry specific to a given function.

[0172] In one or more aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, digital electronic circuitry, computer software, firmware, or any combination thereof, including the structures disclosed herein and their structural equivalents. Implementations of the subject matter described herein may also be implemented as one or more computer programs, i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructions encoded on a computer storage medium for execution by or for controlling the operation of a data processing apparatus.

[0173] If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or code. The processes of the methods or algorithms disclosed herein may be implemented in a processor-executable software module that may reside on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media, including any medium that may enable a computer program to be transferred from one place to another. A storage medium may be any available medium that may be accessed by a computer. By way of example and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that may be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection may be properly referred to as a computer-readable medium. 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. In addition, operations of a method or algorithm may reside on machine-readable and computer-readable media, which may be incorporated into a computer program product as one or any combination or set of code and instructions.

[0174] Various modifications to the implementations described in this disclosure may be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to several other implementations without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the implementations shown herein, but are to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the present disclosure, the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

[0175] In addition, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the terms "upper" and "lower" may be used to facilitate description of the figures, and refer to relative positions that correspond to the orientation of the figure on a suitably oriented page, and may not reflect the proper orientation of any implemented device.

[0176] Also, some features described in the context of separate implementations herein may be implemented in combination in a single implementation. Conversely, various features described in the context of a single implementation may also be implemented in multiple implementations separately or in any suitable subcombination. Furthermore, although features may be described above as working in some combinations, and may even be initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination may, in some cases, be deleted from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or a variation of the subcombination.

[0177] Similarly, although operations are shown in the figures in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring such operations to be performed in the particular order or sequential order shown, or that all of the operations shown be performed, to achieve desirable results. Additionally, the figures may generally depict one or more exemplary processes in the form of a flow diagram. However, other operations not shown may be incorporated into the exemplary process depicted in the schematic. For example, one or more additional operations may be performed before, after, simultaneously with, or between any of the depicted operations. In some circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Furthermore, the separation of various system components in the implementations described above should not be understood as requiring such separation in all implementations, and it should be understood that the program components and systems described may generally be integrated together in a single software product or packaged within multiple software products. Additionally, some other implementations fall within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the actions recited in the claims may be performed in a different order and still achieve desirable results.

[0178] As used herein, including in the claims, the term "or," when used in a list of two or more items, means that any one of the listed items may be employed alone, or any combination of two or more of the listed items may be employed. For example, if a composition is described as including components A, B, or C, the composition may include only A, only B, only C, a combination of A and B, a combination of A and C, a combination of B and C, or a combination of A, B, and C. Also, as used herein, including in the claims, "or" used in a list of items ending with "at least one of" indicates a disjunctive list, such as, for example, a list of "at least one of A, B, or C" means any of A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C) or any of these in any combination thereof. The term "substantially" is defined as the majority of, but not necessarily the entirety of, what is specified (and includes what is specified, e.g., substantially 90 degrees includes 90 degrees, and substantially parallel includes parallel), as understood by those skilled in the art. In any disclosed implementation, the term "substantially" may be replaced with "within [a percentage] of" what is specified, where the percentage includes 0.1, 1, 5, or 10 percent.

[0179] The above description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications of the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein. [Explanation of symbols]

[0180] 100 Wireless Network 105 base stations, 5G compatible base stations 105a, 105b, 105c base station 105d, 105e base station, macro base station 105f Base station, small cell base station 115 UEs, 5G-enabled UEs 115a UE, supporting UE, target UE, sidelink UE 115b, 115c, 115x UE, supporting UE, target UE 115d, 115e, 115f, 115g, 115h, 115i~115k, 1100 UE 212, 262 Data source 220, 264 Transmit Processor 230 Transmit (TX) MIMO Processor 232 Modulators and demodulators 232a~232t Modulator (MOD), Modulator 234, 234a-234t, 252a-252r Antennas 236, 256 MIMO detector 238, 258 Receive Processor 239, 260 Data Sink 240 Controller 242, 282 memory 244 Scheduler 254 Demodulator 254a~254r Demodulator (DEMOD), Demodulator, Modulator, Modulator / Demodulator 266 TX MIMO Processor 280 Controller, Controller / Processor 310, 312, 314, 316 PRS transmission 320, 322, 324, 326 measurement report 330, 332, 334, 336 Measurements 400 slot structure 410 First Symbol 420 Gap Symbol 450 PRS slotted construction 460 Side Link PRS, PRS 500 configurations 510, 810, 820 Resource Pools 520RP-P 530 Data / Control Area 700 Wireless communication system, system 702, 722 processors 704, 724 Memory Device, Memory 705, 1102 Timing Advance Offset Manager 716, 726 Transmitters 718, 728 Receiver 725, 1103 PRS Manager 770 First Transmission 775 PRS request 780 PRS 800, 850 Resource Pool Configuration 830 Data Control 840 Sidelink PRS 860 Gap 870 Gap, 1st Cluster, Cluster 872 Second Cluster, Cluster 1101a~r Wireless radio

Claims

1. 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving, by the UE, a plurality of first transmissions from a plurality of nodes, each first transmission of the plurality of first transmissions being received by the UE from a respective node of the plurality of nodes at a respective time; obtaining at least one Timing Advance (TA) configuration for a Sidelink (SL) Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) transmission to be transmitted from at least one node of the plurality of nodes to the UE based on the respective times at which the first transmission is received from each respective node of the plurality of nodes, the TA configuration including determining, by the at least one node, a TA offset for modifying the SL-PRS transmission from the at least one node, the modification by the at least one node being based at least in part on the TA offset and the respective first transmission received from the at least one node of the plurality of nodes; transmitting the at least one TA configuration to the at least one node of the plurality of nodes, the at least one TA configuration including the determined TA offset; The method includes:

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of receiving an SL-PRS transmission from at least one node of the plurality of nodes, wherein the SL-PRS transmission is transmitted by the at least one node at a transmission time using a TA determined by the at least one node based at least in part on a TA offset of the at least one TA configuration and the respective first transmission received from the at least one node of the plurality of nodes.

3. determining the TA offset comprises: measuring a reception time difference between the respective time that the first transmission is received from a first node of the plurality of nodes and the respective time that the first transmission is received from a second node of the plurality of nodes; configuring the TA offset for at least one of the first node or the second node based on the measured reception time difference, the TA offset being configured at the UE to align SL-PRS reception from the first node and the second node with each other; 2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

4. configuring the TA offset to align SL-PRS reception from the first node and the second node with respect to one another; configuring the TA offset to ensure that symbols received from a SL-PRS transmission from the first node and symbols received from a SL-PRS transmission from the second node are received within the same Cyclic Prefix (CP).

4. The method of claim 3, comprising:

5. configuring the TA offset to align SL-PRS reception from the first node and the second node with respect to one another; configuring a first TA offset for the first node of the plurality of nodes; configuring a second TA offset for the second node of the plurality of nodes, the first TA offset being different from the second TA offset, the at least one TA configuration including a first TA configuration having the first TA offset for the first node and a second TA configuration having the second TA offset for the second node; 4. The method of claim 3, comprising:

6. transmitting the at least one TA configuration to the at least one node of the plurality of nodes; transmitting the at least one TA configuration to a network node, The network node, determining the TA offset to be used by the at least one node to modify the SL-PRS transmission for the respective first transmission from the at least one node based on the at least one TA configuration; and transmitting the TA offset to the at least one node. configured to perform the steps of 2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

7. and wherein the respective first transmissions received from each node of the plurality of nodes include one or more of a discovery message request, a discovery message response, or a sidelink (SL) synchronization signal block (SL-SSB) message, and the method further comprises: determining, by the UE, whether a TA configuration update condition has occurred, the TA configuration update condition comprising: determining, by the UE, that a location of the UE has changed; determining, by the UE, that reception of SL-PRS transmissions from one or more nodes of the plurality of nodes is inconsistent; an indication that the position of one or more of the plurality of nodes has changed; or An indication that a SL-PRS transmission from one or more of the plurality of nodes is inconsistent to the UE. and updating the TA configuration for SL-PRS transmissions from the at least one node based on a determination that a TA configuration update condition has occurred; sending the updated TA configuration to the at least one node; The method of claim 1, further comprising:

8. 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: transmitting, by the UE, at least one transmission to at least one node, each transmission of the at least one transmission being transmitted by the UE to a respective one of the at least one node at a respective transmission time; obtaining, by the UE, at least one Timing Advance (TA) value to be used by the UE to transmit a Sidelink (SL) Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) to one or more of the at least one node, each of the at least one TA value being based on a TA offset determined by a respective one of the one or more nodes to which the SL-PRS is to be transmitted using the respective TA value; transmitting the SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes using the respective TA value, wherein using the respective TA value includes forwarding the transmission of the SL-PRS to the respective node by a period of time equal to the TA value; The method includes: receiving from a network node and from one or more of the respective nodes of the one or more nodes, the TA offsets determined by the respective nodes of the one or more nodes from which the SL-PRS will be transmitted using the respective TA values; determining each of the at least one TA value based on the TA offset; The method of claim 8, further comprising one or more of:

10. The step of obtaining at least one TA value further comprises: obtaining a first TA value to be used for transmitting the SL-PRS to a first node of the one or more nodes; obtaining a second TA value to be used for transmitting the SL-PRS to a second node of the one or more nodes; Including, transmitting the SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes using a respective TA value; transmitting, by the UE, the SL-PRS to the first node using the first TA value, wherein using the first TA value includes proceeding the transmission of the SL-PRS to the first node for a time period equal to the first TA value; transmitting, by the UE, the SL-PRS to the second node using the second TA value, wherein using the second TA value includes forwarding the transmission of the SL-PRS to the second node by a time period equal to the second TA value; 9. The method of claim 8, comprising:

11. transmitting the SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes using a respective TA value comprises transmitting a plurality of SL-PRS transmissions to a plurality of nodes of the one or more nodes, each SL-PRS of the plurality of SL-PRS transmissions being transmitted in a respective resource of at least one resource pool; transmitting the plurality of SL-PRS transmissions to the plurality of nodes, transmitting a first SL-PRS of the plurality of SL-PRS transmissions in a first resource of the resource pool, the first SL-PRS being transmitted using a first TA value; transmitting a second SL-PRS of the plurality of SL-PRS transmissions in a second resource of the resource pool, the second SL-PRS being transmitted using a second TA value; including a transmission gap between a transmission of the first SL-PRS on the first resource and a transmission of the second SL-PRS on the second resource, the first TA value being different from the second TA value; Contains or transmitting a first SL-PRS of the plurality of SL-PRS transmissions in a first resource of the resource pool, the first SL-PRS being transmitted using a first TA value; transmitting data in a second resource of the resource pool, the data not being transmitted using the first TA value; including a transmission gap between the transmission of the first SL-PRS on the first resource and the transmission of the data on the second resource; 9. The method of claim 8, comprising:

12. the at least one transmission includes one or more of a discovery message request, a discovery message response, or a sidelink (SL) synchronization signal block (SL-SSB) message, and the method further comprises: receiving, by the UE, at least one updated TA configuration from one or more nodes of a plurality of nodes, the at least one updated TA configuration being transmitted from the one or more nodes based on a determination by the one or more nodes that a TA configuration update condition has occurred; transmitting at least one SL-PRS to the one or more nodes using the at least one updated TA configuration; 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

13. An apparatus for wireless communication in a user equipment (UE), comprising: At least one processor; a memory coupled to the at least one processor and configured to store processor-readable code; wherein the processor-readable code, when executed by the at least one processor, receiving, by the UE, a plurality of first transmissions from a plurality of nodes, each first transmission of the plurality of first transmissions being received by the UE from a respective node of the plurality of nodes at a respective time; obtaining at least one Timing Advance (TA) configuration for a Sidelink (SL) Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) transmission to be transmitted from at least one of the plurality of nodes to the UE based on the respective times at which the first transmission is received from each respective node of the plurality of nodes, the obtaining including determining, by the at least one node, a TA offset for modifying the SL-PRS transmission from the at least one node, the modification by the at least one node being based at least in part on the TA offset and the respective first transmission received from the at least one node of the plurality of nodes; transmitting the at least one TA configuration to the at least one node of the plurality of nodes, the at least one TA configuration including the determined TA offset. An apparatus configured to perform operations including:

14. An apparatus for wireless communication in a user equipment (UE), comprising: At least one processor; a memory coupled to the at least one processor and configured to store processor-readable code; wherein the processor-readable code, when executed by the at least one processor, transmitting, by the UE, at least one transmission to at least one node, each transmission of the at least one transmission being transmitted by the UE to a respective one of the at least one node at a respective transmission time; obtaining, by the UE, at least one Timing Advance (TA) value to be used by the UE to transmit a Sidelink (SL) Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) to one or more of the at least one node, each of the at least one TA value being based on a TA offset determined by a respective one of the one or more nodes to which the SL-PRS is to be transmitted using the respective TA value; transmitting the SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes using the respective TA value, wherein using the respective TA value includes forwarding the transmission of the SL-PRS to the respective node by a period of time equal to the TA value. An apparatus configured to perform operations including:

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 or to perform a method according to any one of claims 8 to 12.

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