Indoor positioning using fine time measurements

Abstract

Techniques for wireless communication are disclosed. In one aspect, a first station (STA) may receive a first packet from a second STA at a first arrival time of the first packet. The first STA may activate a strobe signal to store first sensor data at the first arrival time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first arrival time, the one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

Description

[Background technology]

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

[0002] 2. Description of Related Technology

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

[0003]

[0003] The fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, called New Radio (NR), will enable higher data rates, more connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. The 5G standard is designed to provide higher data rates, more accurate positioning (e.g., based on a reference signal for positioning (RS-P), such as a downlink, uplink, or sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS)), and other technical enhancements compared to previous standards, according to the Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance. These enhancements, as well as the use of higher frequency bands, advances in PRS processes and technologies, and dense deployment for 5G, will enable highly accurate 5G-based positioning.

[0004]

[0004] Wi-Fi is another form of wireless communication system. Wi-Fi networks can operate in a standalone capacity or can be integrated with other wireless network types for positioning operations. Wi-Fi is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, and is commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves. Wi-Fi networks are some of the most widely used computer networks in the world, and are used globally in home and small office networks to link together desktop and laptop computers, tablet computers, smartphones, smart TVs, printers, and smart speakers. Such devices can be linked to a wireless router to connect them to the Internet.

[0005]

[0005] Wi-Fi uses parts of the IEEE 802 protocol family and is designed to seamlessly interoperate with its wired sibling Ethernet. Compatible devices can network with each other, as well as with wired devices and the Internet, via wireless access points. Different versions of Wi-Fi are specified by various IEEE 802.11 protocol standards, with different radio technologies determining the radio bands, maximum range, and speeds that can be achieved. Wi-Fi most commonly uses the UHF radio band at 2.4 gigahertz (120 mm) and the SHF radio band at 5 gigahertz (60 mm), which are subdivided into multiple channels. Although a channel may be shared between networks, only one transmitter can transmit locally on a channel at any given moment. Summary of the Invention

[0006]

[0006] The following provides a simplified summary relating to one or more aspects disclosed herein. Therefore, the following summary should not be considered as an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, nor should the following summary be considered as identifying key or critical elements of all contemplated aspects or defining the scope relating to any particular aspect. Therefore, the sole purpose of the following summary is to present certain concepts of one or more aspects of the mechanisms disclosed herein in a simplified form prior to the detailed description presented below.

[0007]

[0007] In one aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a first station (STA) includes receiving a first packet from a second STA at a first arrival time of the first packet and activating a strobe signal to store first sensor data at the first arrival time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first arrival time, the one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

[0008]

[0008] In one aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a first station (STA) includes transmitting a first packet at a first departure time and activating a strobe signal to store first sensor data at the first departure time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first departure time, the one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

[0009]

[0009] In one aspect, a first station (STA) includes a memory, the memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to receive a first packet from a second STA via the at least one transceiver at a first arrival time of the first packet and activate a strobe signal to store first sensor data at the first arrival time, wherein the first sensor data corresponds to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first arrival time, and the one or more sensors include an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

[0010]

[0010] In one aspect, the first STA includes a memory, the memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to transmit a first packet via the at least one transceiver at a first departure time and activate a strobe signal to store first sensor data at the first departure time, wherein the first sensor data corresponds to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first departure time, and the one or more sensors include an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

[0011]

[0011] In one aspect, a first station (STA) includes means for receiving a first packet from a second STA at a first arrival time of the first packet and means for activating a strobe signal to store first sensor data at the first arrival time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first arrival time, the one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

[0012]

[0012] In one aspect, the first STA includes means for transmitting a first packet at a first departure time and means for activating a strobe signal to store first sensor data at the first departure time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first departure time, the one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

[0013]

[0013] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a first station (STA), cause the first STA to receive a first packet from a second STA at a first arrival time of the first packet and activate a strobe signal to store first sensor data at the first arrival time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first arrival time, the one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

[0014]

[0014] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a first STA, cause the first STA to transmit a first packet at a first departure time and activate a strobe signal to store first sensor data at the first departure time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first departure time, the one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

[0015]

[0015] Other objects and advantages associated with the embodiments disclosed herein will become apparent to those skilled in the art based on the accompanying drawings and detailed description. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0016]

[0016] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in the explanation of various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided only to illustrate the aspects and not to limit the aspects. [Figure 1]

[0017] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 2A]

[0018] 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless network structure in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 2B] 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless network structure in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 3A]

[0019] 1 is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a user equipment (UE) and configured to support communications as taught herein; [Figure 3B] 1 is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a base station and configured to support communications as taught herein. [Figure 3C]1 is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a network entity and configured to support communications as taught herein. [Figure 4]

[0020] 1 illustrates an example positioning environment in which a positioning protocol may be implemented, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. [Diagram 5]

[0021] 1 is a diagram of an example message exchange in a fine timing measurement protocol in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 6]

[0022] 1 is a diagram of an example Null Data Packet (NDP) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 7]

[0023] 1 is a diagram of an example message exchange in a ranging measurement procedure using NDP in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 8A]

[0024] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a mobile device showing an example of a reference body frame in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 8B]

[0025] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a mobile device's orientation and resulting heading estimation when using adaptive tilt techniques, in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 9]

[0026] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example system for synchronizing sensor subsystem data with timing measurements in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 10]

[0027] 11 is an example message flow illustrating synchronization between time measurement data and motion / heading / orientation sensor data when applied to a fine time measurement protocol, according to some aspects of the disclosure. [Figure 11]

[0028] 1 is an example message flow illustrating synchronization between time measurement data and motion / heading / orientation sensor data when applied to an NDP ranging measurement protocol in accordance with some aspects of the disclosure. [Figure 12]

[0029] A diagram illustrating an example method of wireless communication performed by a first station (STA) according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 13]

[0030] A diagram illustrating an example method of wireless communication performed by a first station (STA) according to an aspect of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0017]

[0031] Aspects of the present disclosure are provided in the following description and associated drawings directed to various examples provided for illustrative purposes. Alternative aspects may be devised without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of the present disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the present disclosure.

[0018]

[0032] The words "exemplary" and / or "example" are used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" and / or "example" should not necessarily be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Likewise, the term "aspects of the disclosure" does not require that all aspects of the disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage or mode of operation.

[0019]

[0033] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the information and signals described below may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the following description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the particular application, desired design, corresponding technology, etc.

[0020]

[0034] Further, many aspects are described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed, for example, by elements of a computing device. It will be appreciated that various activities described herein may be performed by specific circuitry (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. In addition, the sequence or sequences of actions described herein may be considered to be fully embodied in any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a corresponding set of computer instructions that, when executed, cause or instruct the associated processors of the device to perform the functions described herein. Thus, various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which are contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the aspects described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein, for example, as "logic configured to" perform the described actions.

[0021]

[0035] The terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" as used herein are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT) unless otherwise stated. In general, a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a consumer location device, a wearable (e.g., a smart watch, glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), a vehicle (e.g., a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, etc.), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. A UE may be mobile or stationary (e.g., at a given time) and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). The term "UE" as used herein may be referred to interchangeably as an "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber device", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or "UT", "mobile device", "mobile terminal", "mobile station", or variations thereof. In general, a UE may communicate with a core network via the RAN, through which the UE may be connected to external networks, such as the Internet, and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for connecting to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible for a UE, such as via a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (e.g., based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specifications, etc.).

[0022]

[0036] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs in communication with UEs depending on the network in which the base station is deployed and may alternatively be referred to as an access point (AP), network node, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), next generation eNB (ng-eNB), New Radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as gNB or gNode B), etc. A base station may be used primarily to support wireless access by UEs, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for supported UEs. In some systems, a base station may provide only edge node signaling functionality, while in other systems, a base station may provide additional control and / or network management functionality. A communication link through which a UE can send signals to a base station is referred to as an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). A communication link through which a base station can send signals to a UE is referred to as a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). The term Traffic Channel (TCH) as used herein can refer to either an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0023]

[0037] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmission-reception point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be collocated. For example, when the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station, corresponding to a cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. When the term "base station" refers to multiple collocated physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an array of antennas of the base station (e.g., as in the case of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or when the base station employs beamforming). When the term "base station" refers to multiple non-collocated physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transport medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, non-co-located physical TRPs may be serving base stations that receive measurement reports from the UE and neighboring base stations whose reference radio frequency (RF) signals the UE is measuring. Since a TRP is a point from which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, as used herein, references to transmission from or reception at a base station should be understood as referring to a particular TRP of the base station.

[0024]

[0038] In some implementations that support positioning of UEs, a base station may not support wireless access by the UE (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE) but may instead transmit reference signals to the UE to be measured by the UE and / or receive and measure signals transmitted by the UE. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., when it transmits signals to the UE) and / or a location measurement unit (e.g., when it receives and measures signals from the UE).

[0025]

[0039] An "RF signal" includes electromagnetic waves of a given frequency that propagate information through space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, the receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels. The same RF signal transmitted over different paths between a transmitter and a receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a "wireless signal" or simply a "signal" when it is clear from the context that the term "signal" refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal.

[0026]

[0040] 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system 100 according to aspects of the disclosure. The wireless communication system 100 (sometimes referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 (labeled "BS") and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macrocell base stations (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low-power cellular base stations). In an aspect, the macrocell base stations may include eNBs and / or ng-eNBs where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network, or gNBs where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network, or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0027]

[0041] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and may interface with a core network 170 (e.g., evolved packet core (EPC) or 5G core (5GC)) through the backhaul links 122 and with one or more location servers 172 (e.g., location management function (LMF) or secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)) through the core network 170. The location server(s) 172 may be part of the core network 170 or may be external to the core network 170. The location server 172 may be integrated with the base station 102. The UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 directly or indirectly. For example, the UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 via the base station 102 currently serving the UE 104. The UE 104 may also communicate with the location server 172 through another path, such as through an application server (not shown), through another network, such as through a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) (e.g., AP 150 described below), etc. For purposes of signaling, communication between the UE 104 and the location server 172 may be represented as an indirect connection (e.g., through a core network 170, etc.) or a direct connection (e.g., as shown via direct connection 128), with intervening nodes (if any) omitted from the signaling diagrams for clarity.

[0028]

[0042] In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 may perform functions related to one or more of the following: forwarding user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, non-access stratum (NAS) message delivery, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracing, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and alert message delivery. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through EPC / 5GC) via backhaul links 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0029]

[0043] The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104. Each of the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110. In an aspect, one or more cells may be supported by the base stations 102 in each geographic coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used for communication with a base station (e.g., over some frequency resources, referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, band, etc.) and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), an enhanced cell identifier (ECI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI), etc.) to distinguish cells operating over the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine-type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access for different types of UEs. Since a cell is supported by a particular base station, the term "cell" may refer to one or both of the logical communication entity and the base station that supports it, depending on the context. In addition, since a TRP is typically a physical transmission point of a cell, the terms "cell" and "TRP" may be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term "cell" may also refer to the geographic coverage area (e.g., sector) of a base station, as long as the carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within a portion of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0030]

[0044] The geographic coverage areas 110 of neighboring macrocell base stations 102 may overlap partially (e.g., in handover regions) and some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may be substantially overlapped by larger geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' (labeled "SC" for "small cell") may have a geographic coverage area 110' that significantly overlaps with the geographic coverage area 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell base stations and macrocell base stations may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include home eNBs (HeNBs), which may serve closed groups known as closed subscriber groups (CSGs).

[0031]

[0045] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include uplink (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from the UE 104 to the base station 102, and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna techniques, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may be through one or more carrier frequencies. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for the downlink than for the uplink).

[0032]

[0046] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 in communication with a WLAN station (STA) 152 over a communication link 154 in an unlicensed frequency spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) or listen before talk (LBT) procedure before communicating to determine if a channel is available.

[0033]

[0047] The small cell base station 102' may operate in licensed and / or unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell base station 102' may utilize LTE or NR technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102' employing LTE / 5G in the unlicensed frequency spectrum may extend coverage to and / or increase capacity of the access network. NR in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as LTE-U, licensed assisted access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0034]

[0048] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a mmW base station 180 that may operate in millimeter wave (mmW) and / or sub-mmW frequencies in communication with the UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is a portion of RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength of 1 millimeter to 10 millimeters. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Sub-mmW may go down to a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The very high frequency (SHF) band ranges from 3 GHz to 30 GHz and is also referred to as centimeter wave. Communications using the mmW / sub-mmW radio frequency bands have high path loss and relatively short distances. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmit and / or receive) over the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely large path loss and short distances. It will be further understood that in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or quasi-mmW and beamforming. Thus, it will be understood that the above illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed as limiting various aspects disclosed herein.

[0035]

[0049] Transmit beamforming is a technique for concentrating an RF signal in a particular direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts it in all directions (omnidirectionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and launches a stronger downlink RF signal in that particular direction, thereby providing a faster and more powerful RF signal (in terms of data rate) to the receiving device(s). To vary the directionality of the RF signal when transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters broadcasting the RF signal. For example, the network node may use an array of antennas (also called a "phased array" or "antenna array") that creates beams of RF waves that can be "steered" to point in different directions without actually moving the antennas. Specifically, RF currents from a transmitter are supplied to the individual antennas with the proper phase relationship so that the radio waves from the separate antennas are combined together to enhance radiation in desired directions while suppressing and canceling radiation in undesirable directions.

[0036]

[0050] A transmit beam may be quasi-co-located, meaning that the transmit beam appears to a receiver (e.g., UE) to have the same parameters regardless of whether the network node's own transmit antenna is physically co-located or not. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships. Specifically, a QCL relationship of a given type means that some parameters for a second reference RF signal on a second beam can be derived from information about a source reference RF signal on a source beam. Thus, if the source reference RF signal is QCL type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate spatial reception parameters of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0037]

[0051] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses a receive beam to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver can increase the gain setting and / or adjust the phase setting of an array of antennas in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., increase the gain level) RF signals received from that direction. Thus, when a receiver is said to beamform in some direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is higher than the beam gains along other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is highest compared to the beam gains in that direction of all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), etc.) of RF signals received from that direction.

[0038]

[0052] The transmit beam and the receive beam may be spatially related. The spatial relationship means that the parameters for the second beam (e.g., transmit beam or receive beam) for the second reference signal may be derived from information about the first beam (e.g., receive beam or transmit beam) for the first reference signal. For example, the UE may use a particular receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE may then form a transmit beam for sending an uplink reference signal (e.g., sounding reference signal (SRS)) to that base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0039]

[0053] Note that a "downlink" beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity that forms it. For example, if the base station forms a downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to the UE, then the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if the UE forms a downlink beam, then it is a receive beam to receive a downlink reference signal. Similarly, an "uplink" beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity that forms it. For example, if the base station forms an uplink beam, then it is an uplink receive beam, and if the UE forms an uplink beam, then it is an uplink transmit beam.

[0040]

[0054] The electromagnetic spectrum is often subdivided into various classes, bands, channels, etc. based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified with frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz-7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz). It should be understood that FR1 is often referred to (interchangeably) as the "sub-6 GHz" band in various documents and articles, although a portion of FR1 is above 6 GHz. Similar nomenclature issues may arise with respect to FR2, which is often referred to (interchangeably) as the "mmWave" band in documents and articles, even though it is different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz-300 GHz) identified as the "mmWave" band by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

[0041]

[0055] Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR studies have identified the operating bands for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 GHz to 24.25 GHz). Frequency bands that fall within FR3 may inherit FR1 and / or FR2 characteristics, and thus may in effect extend the features of FR1 and / or FR2 to the mid-band frequencies. Additionally, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operation beyond 52.6 GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz to 71 GHz), FR4 (52.6 GHz to 114.25 GHz), and FR5 (114.25 GHz to 300 GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0042]

[0056] 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. Further, 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 the ranges of FR2, FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1, and / or FR5, or may be within the EHF band.

[0043]

[0057] In a multi-carrier system such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies is called the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell", and the remaining carrier frequencies are called the "secondary carrier" or "secondary serving cell" or "SCell". In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is the carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by the UE 104 / 182 and on the cell in which the UE 104 / 182 either performs an initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carriers all carry common and UE-specific control channels and may (but are not always) be carriers among licensed frequencies. The secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that may be configured once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier and may be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier may be a carrier among unlicensed frequencies. Since both the primary uplink carrier and the primary downlink carrier are typically UE specific, the secondary carrier may include only the necessary signaling information and signals, e.g., the signaling information and signals that are UE specific may not be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same applies to the uplink primary carrier. The network may change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to distribute the load on different carriers. Since a "serving cell" (whether PCell or SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency / component carrier over which several base stations are communicating, terms such as "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0044]

[0058] For example, still referring to FIG. 1, one of the frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), and the other frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 and / or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers ("SCells"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers allows the UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rates. For example, two 20 MHz carriers aggregated in a multi-carrier system would theoretically lead to a two-fold increase in data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to the data rate achieved by a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0045]

[0059] The wireless communications system 100 may further include a UE 164, which may communicate with the macrocell base station 102 via communications link 120 and / or with the mmW base station 180 via an mmW communications link 184. For example, the macrocell base station 102 may support a PCell and one or more SCells for the UE 164, and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCells for the UE 164.

[0046]

[0060] In some cases, the UE 164 and the UE 182 may be capable of sidelink communications. A sidelink-enabled UE (SL-UE) can communicate with the base station 102 over a communication link 120 that uses a Uu interface (i.e., an air interface between the UE and the base station). The SL-UEs (e.g., UE 164, UE 182) may also communicate directly with each other over a wireless sidelink 160 that uses a PC5 interface (i.e., an air interface between sidelink-enabled UEs). Wireless sidelink (or simply "sidelink") is an adaptation of the core cellular (e.g., LTE, NR) standard that allows direct communication between two or more UEs without the communication having to go through a base station. Sidelink communications may be unicast or multicast and may be used for device-to-device (D2D) medium sharing, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communications, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communications, etc.), emergency rescue applications, etc. One or more of the groups of SL-UEs utilizing sidelink communications may be within the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102. Other SL-UEs in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102 or may not be able to receive transmissions from the base station 102. In some cases, a group of SL-UEs communicating via sidelink communications may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system in which each SL-UE transmits to all other SL-UEs in the group. In some cases, the base station 102 facilitates scheduling of resources for sidelink communications. In other cases, sidelink communications are performed between SL-UEs without the involvement of the base station 102.

[0047]

[0061] In one aspect, the sidelink 160 may operate on a subject wireless communication medium, which may be shared with other vehicular and / or infrastructure access points, as well as other wireless communications between other RATs. The "medium" may consist of one or more time, frequency, and / or spatial communication resources (e.g., encompassing one or more channels across one or more carriers) associated with wireless communications between one or more transmitter / receiver pairs. In one aspect, the subject medium may correspond to at least a portion of an unlicensed frequency band shared among various RATs. Although different licensed frequency bands have been reserved for some communication systems (e.g., by government agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States), these systems, particularly those employing small cell access points, have recently extended operation to unlicensed frequency bands, such as the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) bands used by Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technologies, most notably the IEEE 802.11x WLAN technology commonly referred to as "Wi-Fi". Exemplary systems of this type include CDMA systems, TDMA systems, FDMA systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, and various variations thereof.

[0048]

[0062] It should be noted that while FIG. 1 illustrates only two of the UEs as SL-UEs (i.e., UE 164 and 182), any of the illustrated UEs may be SL-UEs. Additionally, while only UE 182 has been described as being beamforming capable, any of the illustrated UEs may be beamforming capable, including UE 164. If SL-UEs are beamforming capable, they may beamform toward each other (i.e., toward other SL-UEs), toward other UEs (e.g., UE 104), toward base stations (e.g., base stations 102, 180, small cell 102′, access point 150), and so forth. Thus, in some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 may utilize beamforming over sidelink 160.

[0049]

[0063] In the example of FIG. 1, any of the illustrated UEs (shown in FIG. 1 as a single UE 104 for simplicity) may receive signals 124 from one or more Earth-orbiting space vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites). In one aspect, the SVs 112 may be part of a satellite positioning system that the UEs 104 may use as an independent source of location information. A satellite positioning system typically includes a system of transmitters (e.g., SVs 112) positioned to enable receivers (e.g., UEs 104) to determine their location on or above the Earth based at least in part on positioning signals (e.g., signals 124) received from the transmitters. Such transmitters typically transmit signals marked with a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code of a set number of chips. Although typically located within the SVs 112, transmitters may sometimes be located on ground-based control stations, base stations 102, and / or other UEs 104. The UE 104 may include one or more dedicated receivers specifically designed to receive the signals 124 from the SV 112 to derive geolocation information.

[0050]

[0064] In a satellite positioning system, the use of the signals 124 may be augmented by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) that may be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems. For example, the SBAS may include an augmentation system or systems that provide integrity information, differential corrections, and the like, such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), the Global Positioning System (GPS)-aided Geo-augmented Navigation, or the GPS and Geo Augmented Navigation system (GAGAN). Thus, a satellite positioning system, as used herein, may include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellites associated with such one or more satellite positioning systems.

[0051]

[0065] In one aspect, the SV 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). In an NTN, the SV 112 is connected to an earth station (also called a ground station, NTN gateway, or gateway), which in turn is connected to an element in a 5G network, such as a modified base station 102 (without a terrestrial antenna) or a network node in a 5G network. This element will then provide access to other elements in the 5G network and ultimately to entities outside the 5G network, such as Internet web servers and other user devices. In this way, the UE 104 may receive communication signals (e.g., signal 124) from the SV 112 instead of or in addition to communication signals from the terrestrial base station 102.

[0052]

[0066] The wireless communication system 100 may further include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, that indirectly connect to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as "sidelinks"). In the example of FIG. 1, the UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of the UEs 104 connected to one of the base stations 102 (e.g., through which the UE 190 may indirectly obtain cellular connectivity) and a D2D P2P link 194 with a WLAN STA 152 connected to a WLAN AP 150 (through which the UE 190 may indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity). In one example, the D2D P2P links 192 and 194 may be supported using any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), Wi-Fi Direct (Wi-Fi-D), Bluetooth, etc.

[0053]

[0067] 2A illustrates an exemplary wireless network structure 200. For example, the 5GC 210 (also referred to as Next Generation Core (NGC)) may be functionally viewed as control plane (C-plane) functions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and user plane (U-plane) functions 212 (e.g., UE gateway functions, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.) that operate cooperatively to form a core network. A user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and a control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5GC 210, specifically to the user plane function 212 and the control plane function 214, respectively. In an additional configuration, the ng-eNB 224 may also be connected to the 5GC 210 via the NG-C 215 to the control plane function 214 and the NG-U 213 to the user plane function 212. Additionally, the ng-eNB 224 may communicate directly with the gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, the Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both the ng-eNB 224 and the gNB 222. Either the gNB 222 or the ng-eNB 224 (or both) may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0054]

[0068] Another optional aspect may include a location server 230, which may be in communication with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance to the UE(s) 204. The location servers 230 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each may correspond to a single server. The location servers 230 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UEs 204 that may connect to the location server 230 via the core network, the 5GC 210, and / or via the Internet (not shown). Furthermore, the location server 230 may be incorporated into a component of the core network, or may alternatively be external to the core network (e.g., a third-party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or a service server).

[0055]

[0069] 2B illustrates another exemplary wireless network structure 250. A 5GC 260 (which may correspond to 5GC 210 in FIG. 2A) may be considered functionally as control plane functions provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) 264 and user plane functions provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate cooperatively to form a core network (i.e., 5GC 260). The functions of the AMF 264 include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transport for session management (SM) messages between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein) and a session management function (SMF) 266, transparent proxy services for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transport for short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and a short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204 to receive intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In case of UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) subscriber identity module (USIM) based authentication, the AMF 264 retrieves security material from the AUSF. The AMF 264 functionality also includes security context management (SCM). The SCM receives keys from the SEAF that the SCM uses to derive access network specific keys.The functionality of the AMF 264 also includes location service management for regulated services, transport for location service messages between the UE 204 and the Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (acting as the location server 230), transport for location service messages between the NG-RAN 220 and the LMF 270, Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer identifier allocation for interworking with EPS, and UE 204 mobility event notification. In addition, the AMF 264 also supports functions for non-3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0056]

[0070] The functions of the UPF 262 include acting as an anchor point for intra / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to a data network (not shown), routing and forwarding of packets, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, Quality of Service (QoS) handling for the user plane (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in the downlink), uplink traffic validation (Service Data Flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and sending and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node. The UPF 262 may also support forwarding of location service messages on the user plane between the UE 204 and a location server such as the SLP 272.

[0057]

[0071] The functions of the SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, configuration of traffic steering in the UPF 262 to route traffic to the appropriate destination, control of policy enforcement and part of QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0058]

[0072] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270, which may be in communication with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance to the UE 204. The LMF 270 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each may represent a single server. The LMF 270 may be configured to support one or more location services for UEs 204 that may connect to the LMF 270 via a core network, the 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not shown). The SLP 272 may support similar functions as the LMF 270, while the LMF 270 may communicate with the AMF 264, the NG-RAN 220, and the UE 204 via the control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to convey signaling messages rather than voice or data) and the SLP 272 may communicate with the UE 204 and external clients (e.g., third-party servers 274) via the user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and / or data, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0059]

[0073] Yet another optional aspect may include a third party server 274, which may be in communication with the LMF 270, the SLP 272, the 5GC 260 (e.g., via the AMF 264 and / or the UPF 262), the NG-RAN 220, and / or the UE 204 to obtain location information (e.g., a location estimate) for the UE 204. Thus, in some cases, the third party server 274 may be referred to as a location services (LCS) client or an external client. The third party servers 274 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.) or, alternatively, each may correspond to a single server.

[0060]

[0074] The user plane interface 263 and the control plane interface 265 connect the 5GC 260, and in particular the UPF 262 and the AMF 264, respectively, to one or more gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 in the NG-RAN 220. The interface between the gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 and the AMF 264 is referred to as the “N2” interface, and the interface between the gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 and the UPF 262 is referred to as the “N3” interface. The gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 of the NG-RAN 220 may communicate directly with each other via a backhaul connection 223 referred to as the “Xn-C” interface. One or more of the gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 via a wireless interface referred to as a “Uu” interface.

[0061]

[0075] The functionality of the gNB 222 may be divided between a gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU) 226, one or more gNB Distributed Units (gNB-DU) 228, and one or more gNB Radio Units (gNB-RU) 229. The gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes base station functions such as forwarding user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, etc., except for those functions exclusively allocated to the gNB-DU(s) 228. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 typically hosts the Radio Resource Control (RRC), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) protocols of the gNB 222. The gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that typically hosts the Radio Link Control (RLC), Medium Access Control (MAC) layers of the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 can support one or multiple cells, and one cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and one or more gNB-DUs 228 is referred to as the "F1" interface. The physical (PHY) layer functionality of the gNB 222 is generally hosted by one or more standalone gNB-RUs 229, which perform functions such as power amplification and signal transmission / reception. The interface between the gNB-DU 228 and the gNB-RU 229 is referred to as the "Fx" interface. Thus, the UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers, with the gNB-DU 228 via the RLC and MAC layers, and with the gNB-RU 229 via the PHY layer.

[0062]

[0076] 3A, 3B, and 3C illustrate several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated in a UE 302 (which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein), a base station 304 (which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any of the network functions described herein, including a location server 230 and an LMF 270, or alternatively, may be independent of the NG-RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure depicted in FIGS. 2A and 2B, such as a private network) to support file transmission operations as taught herein. It will be understood that these components may be implemented in different types of devices in different implementations (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system-on-chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated components may also be incorporated in other devices in a communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to the described components to provide similar functionality. Also, a given device may include one or more of the components. For example, a device may contain multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0063]

[0077] The UE 302 and base station 304 each include one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively, providing means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for refraining from transmitting, etc.) over one or more wireless communications networks (not shown), such as an NR network, an LTE network, a GSM network, etc. The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may each be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356, respectively, for communicating with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc., over at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) over a wireless communications medium of interest (e.g., some set of time / frequency resources in a particular frequency spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may be variously configured to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, instructions, information, etc.), respectively, and conversely, to receive and decode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, instructions, information, pilots, etc.), respectively, in accordance with a designated RAT. Specifically, the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 include one or more transmitters 314 and 354, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358, respectively, and include one or more receivers 312 and 352, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358, respectively.

[0064]

[0078] The UE 302 and base station 304 also each, at least in some cases, include one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and may provide means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for refraining from transmitting, etc.) with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., Wi-Fi, LTE-D, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Z-Wave, PC5, dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), wireless access for vehicular environments (WAVE), near-field communication (NFC), etc.) over the wireless communication medium. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be variously configured to transmit and encode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, instructions, information, etc.), respectively, and conversely, to receive and decode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, instructions, information, pilots, etc.), respectively, in accordance with a specified RAT. Specifically, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 include one or more transmitters 324 and 364, respectively, to transmit and encode signals 328 and 368, respectively, and include one or more receivers 322 and 362, respectively, to receive and decode signals 328 and 368, respectively. As specific examples, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be Wi-Fi transceivers, Bluetooth® transceivers, Zigbee® and / or Z-Wave® transceivers, NFC transceivers, or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceivers.

[0065]

[0079] The UE 302 and the base station 304 also, at least in some cases, include satellite signal receivers 330 and 370. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and may provide means for receiving and / or measuring satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. If the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are satellite positioning system receivers, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, Beidou signals, Navigation Satellite System of India (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. If the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be communication signals (e.g., carrying control and / or user data) originating from a 5G network. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may comprise any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning / communications signals 338 and 378, respectively. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may request information and action from other systems as appropriate and, at least in some cases, perform calculations to determine the location of UE 302 and base station 304, respectively, using the acquired measurements according to any suitable satellite positioning system algorithms.

[0066]

[0080] The base station 304 and the network entity 306 each include one or more network transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, that provide a means for communicating (e.g., a means for transmitting, a means for receiving, etc.) with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 304, other network entities 306). For example, the base station 304 may employ one or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other base stations 304 or network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. As another example, the network entity 306 may employ one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or more base stations 304 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links or with other network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

[0067]

[0081] A transceiver may be configured to communicate over a wired link or a wireless link. A transceiver (whether a wired transceiver or a wireless transceiver) includes transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) and receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362). A transceiver may be an integrated device (e.g., embodying transmitter and receiver circuitry in a single device) in some implementations, may comprise separate transmitter circuitry and separate receiver circuitry in some implementations, or may be embodied in other ways in other implementations. The transmitter and receiver circuitry of a wired transceiver (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) may be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. The wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array that enables the respective device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform transmit "beamforming," as described herein. Similarly, the wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array that enables the respective device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry may share multiple identical antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such that the respective device can only receive or transmit at a given time, but not both at the same time. The wireless transceivers (eg, WWAN transceivers 310 and 350, short range wireless transceivers 320 and 360) may also include network listen modules (NLMs) and the like for performing various measurements.

[0068]

[0082] As used herein, various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, and network transceivers 380 and 390, in some implementations) and wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390, in some implementations) may be generally characterized as a "transceiver," "at least one transceiver," or "one or more transceivers." Thus, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wireless transceiver may be inferred from the type of communication being performed. For example, backhaul communications between network devices or servers generally involve signaling via wired transceivers, while wireless communications between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station (e.g., base station 304) generally involve signaling via wireless transceivers.

[0069]

[0083] The UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 also include other components that may be used in conjunction with operations as disclosed herein. The UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 each include one or more processors 332, 384, and 394, for example, to provide functionality related to wireless communications and to provide other processing functionality. Thus, the processors 332, 384, and 394 may comprise processing means, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means for indicating, etc. In one aspect, the processors 332, 384, and 394 may include, for example, one or more general purpose processors, multi-core processors, central processing units (CPUs), ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuits, or various combinations thereof.

[0070]

[0084] The UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 include memory circuitry implementing memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively (e.g., each including a memory device) for maintaining information (e.g., information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). Thus, the memories 340, 386, and 396 may comprise storage means, retrieval means, maintaining means, etc. In some cases, the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 may include positioning components 342, 388, and 398, respectively. The positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to the processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, that, when executed, cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functions described herein. In other aspects, the positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be external to the processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules stored in the memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively, that when executed by the processors 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.) cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform functions described herein. FIG. 3A illustrates possible locations of the positioning component 342, which may be part of, for example, one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the memory 340, the one or more processors 332, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component. FIG. 3B shows possible locations of a positioning component 388, which may be, for example, part of one or more WWAN transceivers 350, memory 386, one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component.FIG. 3C illustrates possible locations of a positioning component 398, which may be, for example, part of one or more network transceivers 390, memory 396, one or more processors 394, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component.

[0071]

[0085] The UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to the one or more processors 332 to provide a means for sensing or detecting movement and / or orientation information that is independent of movement data derived from signals received by the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and / or the satellite signal receiver 330. By way of example, the sensor(s) 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), and / or any other type of movement detection sensor. Additionally, the sensor(s) 344 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide movement information. For example, the sensor(s) 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and an orientation sensor to provide the ability to calculate position in a two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system.

[0072]

[0086] Additionally, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346 that provides a means for providing indications to a user (e.g., audio and / or visual indications) and / or receiving user input (e.g., upon user actuation of a sensing device, such as a keypad, touch screen, microphone, etc.). Although not shown, the base station 304 and the network entity 306 may also include user interfaces.

[0073]

[0087] Referring more particularly to the one or more processors 384, on the downlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to the processor 384. The one or more processors 384 may implement functionality for an RRC layer, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. The one or more processors 384 may provide RRC layer functions associated with broadcast of system information (e.g., master information block (MIB), system information block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions associated with header compression / decompression, security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functions associated with transfer of higher layer PDUs, error correction with automatic repeat request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0074]

[0088] The transmitter 354 and receiver 352 may implement Layer-1 (L1) functions associated with various signal processing functions. Layer-1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 handles mapping onto signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarriers, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then combined together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to generate a physical channel carrying a time-domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol streams are spatially precoded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator may be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimates may be derived from a reference signal and / or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 302. Each spatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. The transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier with the respective spatial stream for transmission.

[0075]

[0089] At the UE 302, the receiver 312 receives signals through its respective antenna(s) 316. The receiver 312 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carriers and provides the information to one or more processors 332. The transmitter 314 and the receiver 312 perform layer 1 functions associated with various signal processing functions. The receiver 312 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 302. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 302, they may be combined by the receiver 312 into a single OFDM symbol stream. The receiver 312 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, as well as the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted by the base station 304. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally transmitted on the physical channel by the base station 304. The data and control signals are then provided to one or more processors 332 that implement Layer 3 (L3) and Layer 2 (L2) functions.

[0076]

[0090] In the uplink, one or more processors 332 provide demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header recovery, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. The one or more processors 332 are also responsible for error detection.

[0077]

[0091] Similar to the functionality described in connection with downlink transmissions by the base station 304, the one or more processors 332 provide RRC layer functionality related to system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with forwarding of upper layer PDUs, error correction via ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0078]

[0092] Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 304 may be used by the transmitter 314 to select an appropriate coding and modulation scheme and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the transmitter 314 may be provided to different antenna(s) 316. The transmitter 314 may modulate an RF carrier with the individual spatial streams for transmission.

[0079]

[0093] Uplink transmissions are processed at the base station 304 in a manner similar to that described with respect to the receiver function at the UE 302. The receiver 352 receives signals via its respective antenna(s) 356. The receiver 352 recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to one or more processors 384.

[0080]

[0094] In the uplink, the one or more processors 384 provide demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header recovery, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 302. The IP packets from the one or more processors 384 may be provided to a core network. The one or more processors 384 are also responsible for error detection.

[0081]

[0095] For convenience, the UE 302, base station 304, and / or network entity 306 are illustrated in Figures 3A, 3B, and 3C as including various components that may be configured according to various examples described herein. However, it will be understood that the illustrated components may have different functions in different designs. In particular, various components in Figures 3A-3C are optional in alternative configurations, and various aspects include configurations that may vary due to design choice, cost, device use, or other considerations. For example, in the case of Figure 3A, a particular implementation of the UE 302 may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) 310 (e.g., a wearable device or tablet computer or PC or laptop may have Wi-Fi and / or Bluetooth capabilities without cellular capabilities), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver(s) 320 (e.g., cellular only, etc.), or may omit the satellite signal receiver 330, or may omit the sensor(s) 344, etc. 3B, a particular implementation of base station 304 may omit WWAN transceiver(s) 350 (e.g., a Wi-Fi “hotspot” access point without cellular capability), or may omit short-range wireless transceiver(s) 360 (e.g., cellular only), or may omit satellite receiver 370, etc. For brevity, examples of various alternative configurations are not provided herein, but should be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.

[0082]

[0096] The various components of the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to one another via data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392, respectively. In an aspect, the data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 may form or be part of communication interfaces of the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306, respectively. For example, when different logical entities are embodied within the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functionality integrated within the same base station 304), the data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 may provide communication between them.

[0083]

[0097] The components of Figures 3A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in a variety of ways. In some implementations, the components of Figures 3A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in one or more circuits, such as, for example, one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors), where each circuit may use and / or incorporate at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide this functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310-346 may be implemented by the processor and memory component(s) of the UE 302 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350-388 may be implemented by the processor and memory component(s) of the base station 304 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Also, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390-398 may be implemented by the processor and memory component(s) of the network entity 306 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). For simplicity, various operations, actions, and / or functions are described herein as being performed "by the UE," "by the base station," "by the network entity," etc. However, it will be understood that such operations, actions, and / or functions may actually be performed by a particular component or combination of components of the UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc., such as the processors 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, memories 340, 386, and 396, positioning components 342, 388, and 398, etc.

[0084]

[0098] In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may be separate from the network operator or operation of the cellular network infrastructure (e.g., the NG RAN 220 and / or the 5GC 210 / 260). For example, the network entity 306 may be a component of a private network that may be configured to communicate with the UE 302 via the base station 304 or independently of the base station 304 (e.g., via a non-cellular communication link such as Wi-Fi).

[0085]

[0099] A positioning environment, such as an indoor positioning environment, may include multiple stations (STAs) of various types of transceiver devices, such as, for example, mobile devices (e.g., smartphones, notebook computers, tablet computers, etc.) and wireless access devices (e.g., wireless local area network (WLAN) access points, personal area networks (PANs), or femtocells). There are different types of positioning protocols that may be used in such environments to enable effective and efficient measurement of range between STAs in the positioning environment. Some positioning protocols include message flows, message frames, and message fields that facilitate measurement of round trip time (RTT) or time of flight (TOF) of signals transmitted by the STAs. Such measurements enable determination of range between STAs, e.g., using fewer messages. Such measured ranges may be used in any one of several applications, including, for example, positioning operations.

[0086]

[0100] FIG. 4 illustrates an example positioning environment 400 in which a positioning protocol according to some aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented. In FIG. 4, the example positioning environment 400 (e.g., an indoor environment) includes a number of mobile devices 402a, 402b and a number of local transceivers 404a, 404b, and 404c. The local transceivers 404 may provide access to a wireless local area network (WLAN, e.g., an IEEE Std. 802.11 network) or a wireless personal area network (WPAN, e.g., a Bluetooth network). In another example implementation, one or more of the local transceivers 404 may be implemented as a femtocell transceiver capable of facilitating communication over a wireless communication link 406 according to a cellular communication protocol. Based on the teachings of the present disclosure, it will be recognized that various aspects of the present disclosure may be used in a wide range of positioning environments having more or fewer and / or different types of devices. FIG. 4 is provided as a non-limiting example.

[0087]

[0101] In the example positioning environment 400, the local transceiver 404 may communicate with one or more servers 408, 410, and / or 412 via a network 414 along a communication link 416. According to certain aspects of the disclosure, the network 414 may include any combination of wired or wireless communication links. For example, the network 414 may comprise an Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructure that may facilitate communication between the mobile device 402 and the servers 408, 410, or 412 via one or more of the local transceivers 404. In another implementation, the network 414 may comprise a wired or wireless communication network infrastructure to facilitate mobile cellular communication with the mobile device 402.

[0088]

[0102] According to some aspects of the disclosure, one or more of the mobile devices 402 can calculate a position measurement based at least in part on signals collected from the local transceivers 404. According to some aspects of the disclosure, the mobile devices 402 can obtain a position measurement by measuring the indoor ranges of three or more local transceivers 404 (e.g., wireless access points) located at known locations in the positioning environment 400. In certain implementations, the mobile devices 402 or the local transceivers 404 can receive positioning assistance data for indoor positioning operations from the servers 408, 410, or 412. Such positioning assistance data can include identities of the local transceivers 404 and their known locations to enable one or more of the mobile devices 402 to determine its range to the local transceivers 404 based at least in part on the TOF measurements.

[0089]

[0103] As described herein, various positioning protocols define an exchange of messages between wireless STAs to obtain measurements of RTT transmissions between the STAs. Such exchange of messages may occur between a mobile device and a stationary transceiver (e.g., between mobile device 402 and local transceiver 404 via wireless link 406), between peer mobile devices (e.g., between mobile devices 402a and 402b via wireless link 420), or between stationary transceivers (e.g., between local transceivers 404a, 404b, and 404c via wireless communication link 422). In accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure, the various positioning protocols described herein may incorporate some aspects or features of publicly available IEEE Standard 802.11-2016 and / or IEE Standard 802.11ax (collectively, "IEEE Standard 802.11").

[0090]

[0104] One such positioning protocol is known as the fine time measurement protocol. An example of the fine timing measurement protocol is described with reference to the message flow 500 shown in FIG. 5. The exemplary message flow 500 shown in FIG. 5 is an exchange of messages between wireless stations STAs, including an "initiator" STA (ISTA) 502 and a "response" STA (RSTA) 506. In this context, ISTA 502 or RSTA 506 may comprise any one of a number of transceiver devices, including a mobile device (e.g., mobile device 402) or a stationary access transceiver device (e.g., local transceiver 404). ISTA 502 may obtain or calculate one or more RTT measurements based at least in part on the timing of messages or frames transmitted between ISTA 502 and RSTA 506. As used herein, the terms "message" and "frame" are used interchangeably. In this example, ISTA 502 may transmit a fine timing measurement request message or frame 504 to RSTA 506 and, in some aspects, receive an optional fine timing request message acknowledgement message or frame (ACK) 508 transmitted by RSTA 506 in response. In accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure, the contents of the fine timing measurement request message 504 may be represented as an IEEE std. 802.11. In some aspects, the ACK frame 508 may simply provide an indication of receipt of a previously transmitted message.

[0091]

[0105] The measured message exchange begins with the transmission of an FTM frame 510 by RSTA 506. RSTA 506 records a timestamp t1 corresponding to the time when a designated portion (e.g., a preamble) of the FTM frame 510 is transmitted from the RSTA antenna (e.g., a departure time). ISTA 502 receives the FTM frame 510 and records a timestamp t2 corresponding to the time when the designated portion (e.g., a preamble) is received at the ISTA antenna (e.g., an arrival time). In response to receiving the FTM frame 510, ISTA 502 transmits an ACK frame 512 and records a timestamp t3 corresponding to the time when a designated portion of the ACK frame 512 is transmitted at the ISTA 502 antenna. RSTA 506 receives the ACK frame 512 and records a timestamp t4 corresponding to the time when the designated portion of the ACK frame 512 is received at the RSTA 506 antenna. In some aspects, RSTA 506 sends an FTM report (FTM_R) frame 514 to ISTA 502 that includes timestamp values ​​t1 and t4 recorded by RSTA 506. Using the timestamp values ​​t1, t2, t3, and t4, ISTA 502 can determine an RTT measurement (e.g., RTT=(t4-t1)-(t3-t2)) for message exchanges with RSTA 506. The RTT measurement can then be used by ISTA 502 in determining the range between ISTA 502 and RSTA 506.

[0092]

[0106] According to certain aspects of the present disclosure, the message exchange may be repeated multiple times n to obtain additional timestamp values ​​(t1, t2, t3, t4) for each round trip K. Such multiple repetitions of the message exchange may be used to improve measurement accuracy, and the RTT is determined by the average of the n round trips, expressed as follows:

[0093]

number

[0094]

[0107] The range (e.g., distance) d between ISTA 502 and RSTA 506 can then be calculated as d=RTT·c / 2, where c is the speed of electromagnetic wave propagation. The initiator and responder clocks do not need to be synchronized, as the time difference between readings taken by the same clock is incorporated into the calculation.

[0095]

[0108] Another positioning protocol for use in determining distance between STAs employs an exchange of null data packets (NDPs) to determine TOF and / or RTT measurements. Figure 6 is a diagram of an exemplary NDP 600 that generally corresponds to the NDP defined by the IEEE 802.11ax (HE) standard. The NDP 600 includes a legacy portion 404 having a legacy short training field (L-STF) 604, a legacy long training field (L-LTF) 606, and a legacy signal field (L-SIG) 608.

[0096]

[0109] The L-STF 604 includes signals (e.g., training signals) configured to enable the STA to perform one or more functions, such as i) packet detection, ii) initial synchronization, and iii) automatic gain control (AGC) adjustment. In one aspect, the L-LTF 606 includes signals (e.g., training signals) configured to enable the STA to perform one or more functions, such as i) channel estimation and ii) fine synchronization. The contents of the L-STF 604 and the L-LTF 606 are dictated by the communication protocol and are the same for every packet.

[0097]

[0110] The L-SIG 608 includes physical layer information such as i) a Rate subfield, and ii) a Length subfield. The content of the Rate and Length subfields are set to indicate the duration of the NDP 600 such that a legacy communication device can at least determine the duration of the NDP 600.

[0098]

[0111] The NDP 600 also includes another instance of the L-SIG 608, called a Repeated L-SIG (RL-SIG) 610. The NDP 600 also includes a High Efficiency Wi-Fi Signal field (HE-SIG-A) 612, which generally carries information about the format of the NDP 600 in subfields, such as a subfield that specifies the number of spatial streams over which the NDP 600 is transmitted, a subfield that specifies the bandwidth of the NDP 600, a subfield that specifies i) the duration of the training fields in the NDP 600, and ii) the duration of the guard interval (GI) included with each of the training fields.

[0099]

[0112] The High Efficiency Wi-Fi Short Training Field (HE-STF) 614 includes signals configured to enable STAs to perform functions such as AGC refinement. The High Efficiency Wi-Fi Long Training Field (HE-LTF) 616 includes signals configured to enable STAs to perform functions such as channel estimation for MIMO channels employing multiple spatial streams. In one aspect, the number (N) of HE-LTFs 616 in the NDP 600 corresponds to the number of spatial streams (specified in HE-SIG-A 612) over which the NDP 600 transmits. In one aspect, the duration of each of the HE-LTFs 616 and the guard interval duration used with each of the HE-LTFs 616 are specified in HE-SIG-A 612.

[0100]

[0113] Each NDP 600 includes one or more signals that may be used as a basis for determining the time at which a STA receives the NDP 600 and the time at which the STA transmits the NDP 600. In some aspects, a training signal, such as the HE-LTF 616, may be used to determine the time of reception (e.g., time of arrival) of the NDP during a ranging measurement procedure. In some aspects, the time of transmission (e.g., time of departure) of the NDP may be determined with reference to the transmission of a training signal, such as the HE-LTF 616, during a ranging measurement procedure. In general, when a time of departure is determined for a particular signal transmitted from a STA, a time of arrival is determined for the same particular training signal received at another STA. In one aspect, the time of arrival corresponds to the time at which a particular training signal is received at an antenna of the STA, and the time of departure corresponds to the time at which a particular training signal is transmitted from an antenna of the STA.

[0101]

[0114] In one aspect, the NDP 600 optionally includes a packet extension field (PE) 618 that contains any information that does not need to be processed by the receiver device. The PE 618 gives the receiver device additional time to process the HE-LTF 616 before transmitting a subsequent packet after a defined period (e.g., short interframe space (SIFS)) from the end of reception of the NDP 600. For example, in a ranging measurement exchange as described below with reference to FIG. 7, a STA may transmit a packet a defined period (e.g., SIFS) after the end of reception of the NDP, such as an NDPA frame, a ranging feedback frame, another NDP, etc.

[0102]

[0115] Each of the L-STF 604, L-LTF 606, L-SIG 608, RL-SIG 610, HE-SIG-A 612, VHT-STF 614, and the N VHT-LTFs 616, and PE 618 comprises one or more Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. As an illustrative example only, HE-SIG-A 612 comprises two OFDM symbols.

[0103]

[0116] In the illustrative example of Figure 6, the NDP 600 includes one of each of the L-STF 604, L-LTF 606, L-SIG 608, RL-SIG 610, and HE-SIG-A 612. When the NDP 600 spans a cumulative bandwidth including multiple subchannels (e.g., multiple 20 MHz subchannels), each of the L-STF 604, L-LTF 606, L-SIG 608, RL-SIG 610, and HE-SIG-A 612, in one aspect, are repeated across a corresponding number of subchannels (e.g., 20 MHz subchannels) of the entire bandwidth of the packet. For example, in one aspect where the NDP 600 occupies an 80 MHz bandwidth, the NDP 600 includes four of each of the L-STF 604, L-LTF 606, L-SIG 608, RL-SIG 610, and HE-SIG-A 612. The HE-STF 614 and HE-LTF 616 are generated to span the entire cumulative bandwidth of the NDP 600 .

[0104]

[0117] 7 is a diagram of an example message exchange 700 in a ranging measurement procedure using NDP in accordance with some aspects of IEEE Standard 802.11ax. The example shown in FIG. 7 is an untriggered single-user (SU) procedure. However, in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure, the procedure may be extended to a multi-user (MU) environment and / or a triggered ranging procedure, such as that set forth in IEEE Standard 802.11ax.

[0105]

[0118] The message exchange 700 is shown in the context of a ranging procedure between ISTA 702 and RSTA 704. The message exchange 700 includes an NDP exchange portion 706, an NDP transmission portion 708, and a feedback frame exchange portion 710. In another aspect, the message exchange 700 may also include additional optional feedback frame exchanges (e.g., feedback from ISTA 702 to RSTA 704) not shown in FIG.

[0106]

[0119] In the NDP exchange portion 706, the ISTA 702 transmits a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) that includes an NDP announcement frame 712. The NDPA frame 712 is configured to prepare the RSTA 704 to receive an NDP from the ISTA 702 as part of a ranging measurement procedure. In some aspects, the NDPA frame 712 in the PPDU includes parameters for use by the RSTA 704 when participating in the ranging message exchange 700. The NDPA frame 712 for ranging measurements may be in the form of the NDP 600 shown in FIG. 6.

[0107]

[0120] The ISTA 702 generates a PPDU having at least one NDP 714 and begins transmitting the PPDU having the NDP 714 a defined period 716 after the end of the preceding PPDU having the NDP announcement frame 712. In one aspect, the defined period is a short interframe space (SIFS). In some aspects, another suitable period may be utilized.

[0108]

[0121] The NDP 714 includes a preamble having one or more STFs, one or more LTFs, and one or more signal fields, such as that shown in FIG. 6. In an aspect, the preamble of the NDP 714 includes i) a legacy portion having an L-STF, an L-LTF, and an L-SIG, and ii) a non-legacy portion having an HE-STF, one or more HE-LTFs, and one or more HE-SIGs. In some aspects, multiple NDPs 714 are transmitted in a PPDU, with different NDPs 714 being transmitted in different frequency bandwidth portions. In some aspects in which multiple NDPs 714 are transmitted, two or more of the NDPs 714 are transmitted within the same frequency band using different spatial streams (e.g., two or more of the NDPs 714 span the same frequency band) (e.g., two or more NDPs 714 are transmitted using MU-MIMO).

[0109]

[0122] In the example shown in Figure 7, the NDP 714 is a ranging NDP having a format, such as that shown and described in Figure 6, that includes signals specific to a ranging measurement procedure. Thus, the NDP 714 has a different format and / or includes different signals than an NDP used for purposes other than ranging measurements, such as an NDP used in connection with performing channel measurements, an NDP used in connection with performing beamforming measurements, etc.

[0110]

[0123] When transmitting the NDP 714, the ISTA 702 records a timestamp t1 corresponding to the time the first communications device began transmitting a particular portion of the NDP 714 (e.g., a particular HE-LTF in the NDP 714) at the antenna of the ISTA 702. Similarly, when the RSTA 704 receives the NDP 714, the RSTA 704 records a timestamp t2 corresponding to the time the RSTA 704 began receiving a particular portion of the NDP 714 (e.g., a particular HE-LTF in the NDP 714) at the antenna of the RSTA 704.

[0111]

[0124] In response to receiving the NDP 714, the RSTA 704 begins transmitting a PPDU containing the NDP 714 at a defined period SIFS 720 after the NDP 718 is received at the RSTA 704. When transmitting the NDP 718, the RSTA 704 records a timestamp t3 corresponding to the time that the RSTA 704 began transmitting a particular portion of the NDP 718 (e.g., a particular HE-LTF in the NDP 718) from its antenna. Similarly, when the ISTA 702 receives the NDP 718, the ISTA 702 records a timestamp t4 corresponding to the time that the ISTA 702 began receiving a particular portion of the NDP 718 (e.g., a particular HE-LTF in the NDP 718) at its antenna.

[0112]

[0125] The FB frame exchange portion 710 includes a PPDU having a feedback (FB) frame 722. In some aspects, the PPDU including the FB frame 722 is transmitted a defined period SIFS 724 after the PPDU including the NDP 718 is transmitted. The FB frame 722 includes recorded timestamps t2 and t3. In some aspects, the FB frame 722 may optionally include channel estimation information determined by the RSTA 704 based on receipt of the NDP 714.

[0113]

[0126] After receiving the FB frame 722, the ISTA 702 uses the recorded times t1, t2, t3, and t4 to determine an RTT measurement between the ISTA 702 and the RSTA 704. Any suitable technique may be utilized to determine the RTT measurement using the recorded times t1, t2, t3, and t4. The distance between the ISTA 702 and the RSTA 704 may be calculated as d=RTT·c / 2, where c is the speed of electromagnetic wave propagation.

[0114]

[0127] In some aspects, ISTA 702 uses the measured RTT to determine an estimated location of ISTA 702 and / or an estimated location of RSTA 704. In one aspect, ISTA 702 can use triangulation techniques to calculate the estimated location.

[0115]

[0128] Many mobile devices include a sensor subsystem that includes multiple sensors to provide motion and orientation information about the mobile device. Some aspects of the present disclosure are implemented with the recognition that such motion and orientation information may be used to supplement the ranging determinations described herein to provide a more accurate determination of the mobile device's location. In one aspect, pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) may be used to determine the motion, heading, and orientation of a mobile device. PDR and other techniques for monitoring the motion, heading, and orientation of a mobile device involve a navigation frame and a body frame. The navigation frame is defined as an absolute reference frame, and the body frame is defined with the phone's screen and its default orientation. FIG. 8A is a diagram 800 of a mobile device 802 illustrating one such body frame, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. The body frame in this example uses a right-handed Cartesian coordinate system with an x-axis 804, a y-axis 806, and a z-axis 808. To describe how vectors are transformed from the navigation frame to the body frame, a coordinate transformation may be performed with Euler angles for pitch 810, roll 812, and yaw 814, which indicate rotations about x-axis 804, y-axis 806, and z-axis 808, respectively. Figure 8A also shows the azimuth angle 816 orientation of the mobile device 802, which corresponds to the angle between the mobile device's current compass direction (e.g., along the z-axis 808) and magnetic north 818.

[0116]

[0129] Heading estimation can also be used in PDR and other motion and orientation techniques. In general, a mobile device can obtain absolute orientation from a magnetometer and relative orientation from a gyroscope. In indoor environments, the magnetometer may be biased. Compensation of magnetometer bias in the case of indoor measurements can be achieved using known adaptive tilt techniques. Tilt refers to the angle between the horizontal plane of the navigation frame and the screen plane of the mobile device when held naturally by the operator.

[0117]

[0130] FIG. 8B is a diagram 820 showing the orientation and resulting heading direction of a mobile device 802. Estimation when using adaptive tilt technique. Mobile device 802-1 is at angle 822 between the horizontal plane of the navigation frame and the mobile device's screen plane, giving an estimated heading direction of 0°. When rotated 90° as indicated by arrow 828, mobile device 802-2 is at angle 824 between the horizontal plane of the navigation frame and the mobile device's screen plane, giving an estimated heading direction of 90°. When rotated another 90° as indicated by arrow 830, mobile device 802-3 is at angle 826 between the horizontal plane of the navigation frame and the mobile device's screen plane, giving an estimated heading direction of 180°. Angles other than those shown in FIG. 8B will result in other estimated heading direction values. The sensors of mobile device 802 may be processed using techniques other than adaptive tilt to obtain an estimated heading direction, and the adaptive tilt technique is just one such heading direction estimation technique.

[0118]

[0131] According to some aspects of the present disclosure, data from the sensor subsystem may be used to supplement the ranging estimates determined using Wi-Fi RTT measurements. Some aspects of the present disclosure recognize that in existing technologies, pitch / roll / yaw / heading information obtained from the sensor subsystem is generated independently of the Wi-Fi RTT measurements. In such existing technologies, the raw sensor data is fully processed to obtain processed values ​​for the motion and orientation of the mobile device before being used with the Wi-Fi RTT measurements. Thus, the sensor information provided by the sensor subsystem may not be synchronized with the Wi-Fi RTT measurements, resulting in invalid correlation between the distances determined from the Wi-Fi RTT measurements and the motion and orientation determinations provided by the sensor subsystem.

[0119]

[0132] According to some aspects of the disclosure, the Wi-Fi RTT measurements are synchronized with data obtained from the sensor subsystem such that there is a direct correlation between the sensor data output and the timing measurements obtained to determine the Wi-Fi RTT. Figure 9 is a block diagram of a system 900 for synchronizing sensor subsystem data with timing measurements according to some aspects of the disclosure.

[0120]

[0133] The example system 900 shown in Figure 9 includes a sensor subsystem 902 and a WLAN subsystem 904. The sensor subsystem 902 includes a number of sensors that provide data outputs that can be used to determine the orientation, movement, and heading of a corresponding mobile device, where the sensor subsystem 902 includes a number of accelerometers 906 configured to provide data corresponding to an acceleration of the mobile device along an x-axis, ax, an acceleration of the mobile device along a y-axis, ay, and an acceleration of the mobile device along a z-axis, az.

[0121]

[0134] The sensor subsystem 902 of the example system 900 also includes a number of magnetometer sensors 908. In one aspect, the magnetometer sensors 908 are configured to provide data corresponding to a magnetic field hx along an x-axis of the mobile device, a magnetic field hy along a y-axis of the mobile device, and a magnetic field hz along a z-axis of the mobile device.

[0122]

[0135] The sensor subsystem 902 of the exemplary system 900 further includes a number of gyroscope sensors 910. In one aspect, the gyroscope sensors 910 measure pitch α, roll β, and yaw of the mobile device.

[0123]

number

[0124] The optical fiber is configured to provide data corresponding to an orientation of the optical fiber.

[0125]

[0136] During Wi-Fi RTT ranging, the WLAN subsystem 904 detects the arrival and departure times of the ranging packets. The WLAN subsystem provides a WLAN timestamp (TS) for each such time. According to some aspects of the disclosure, the WLAN subsystem 904 is configured to generate a strobe signal 912 at each arrival and departure time of the ranging packet. In one aspect, the strobe signal 912 is provided to the sensor subsystem 902 to capture data present at the output of the accelerometer 906, magnetometer sensor 908, and gyroscope 910 when the data is present at the corresponding arrival and departure times. The captured sensor data is correlated with the WLAN TS corresponding to the arrival and departure times of the ranging packet to generally synchronize the sensor data with time measurements used in the ranging operation.

[0126]

[0137] According to some aspects of the disclosure, the WLAN subsystem 904 may generate a strobe signal 912 at a general purpose input / output (GPIO) of a microcontroller or other processor used in the WLAN subsystem 904. In certain aspects, the strobe signal 912 generates an interrupt to the sensor subsystem 902 that invokes execution of an interrupt routine by a processor of the sensor subsystem 902. In accordance with the interrupt routine, the sensor subsystem 902 reads the raw sensor data {axt,ayr,azt}, {hxt,hyt,hzt}, and {axt,ayr,azt} present in the WLAN TS(t) at the time the strobe signal 912 was generated.

[0127]

number

[0128] According to some aspects, the strobe signal 912 may activate firmware in the sensor subsystem 902 to capture raw sensor data.

[0129]

[0138] The sensor data captured at time t may then be stored and correlated with the WLAN TS at time t to provide time synchronization data between the Wi-Fi RTT time measurements obtained by the sensor subsystem 902 and the WLAN subsystem 904. The resulting correlated sensor data may be provided to the input of a positioning technique that fuses the correlated sensor data with the Wi-Fi RTT time measurements to obtain a more accurate positioning determination than would otherwise be available if the sensor data was not correlated with the Wi-Fi RTT time measurements.

[0130]

[0139] According to some aspects of the disclosure, the sensor data may be captured and stored in one or more shadow registers 914 of the microcontroller of the sensor subsystem 902. Shadow registers, such as the shadow register 914, may be used by certain microcontrollers to perform quick storage operations in response to high priority interrupts. In some aspects, a strobe signal 912 may be generated by the WLAN subsystem 904 at time t (e.g., the arrival and / or departure time of a ranging packet) to capture the raw sensor data {axt,ayr,azt}, {hxt,hyt,hzt}, {axt,ayr,azt}, {axt,hyt,hz ...

[0131]

number

[0132] in the shadow register 914. In some aspects, the WLAN TS for time t may be provided by the WLAN subsystem 904 and stored along with the raw sensor data in the shadow register 914. Additionally or alternatively, the raw sensor data may be retrieved from the shadow register 914 and correlated with the WLAN TS for storage in another memory (e.g., a memory other than the shadow register 914), where the correlated data may be accessed for subsequent positioning and / or ranging processing.

[0133]

[0140] 9 illustrates the storage of raw sensor data in a shadow register 914 at three time points t1, t2, t3, each corresponding to an arrival time and / or departure time of a ranging packet determined by the WLAN subsystem 904. At time t1, the WLAN subsystem 904 generates a strobe signal 912 to the sensor subsystem 902, which reads the raw sensor data {ax1,ay1,az1}, {hx1,hy1,hz1},

[0134]

number

[0135] and invokes an interrupt that captures the raw sensor data in a shadow register 914. In some aspects, the WLAN subsystem 904 may provide a timestamp WLAN TS(1) corresponding to time t1 and store it in the shadow register 914 along with the raw sensor data captured at time t1. Additionally or alternatively, the raw sensor data may be retrieved from the shadow register 914 and correlated with WLAN TS(1) for storage in another memory (e.g., a memory other than the shadow register 914) in a separate data correlation operation.

[0136]

[0141] At time t2, the WLAN subsystem 904 again generates a strobe signal 912 to the sensor subsystem 902, which receives the raw sensor data {ax2,ay2,az2}, {hx2,hy2,hz2},

[0137]

number

[0138] and invokes an interrupt that captures the raw sensor data in a shadow register 914. In some aspects, the WLAN subsystem 904 may provide a timestamp WLAN TS(2) corresponding to time t2 and store it in the shadow register 914 along with the raw sensor data captured at time t2. Additionally or alternatively, the raw sensor data may be retrieved from the shadow register 914 and correlated with WLAN TS(2) in a memory storage device (e.g., a memory other than the shadow register 914) in a separate data correlation operation. A similar process is performed for time t3, capturing the raw sensor data {ax3,ay3,az3}, {hx3,hy3,hz ...

[0139]

number

[0140] is captured and stored in the shadow register 914 for correlation with a timestamp WLAN TS(3) corresponding to time t3. In some aspects, old raw sensor data (and WLAN TS, if stored in the shadow register 914) may be moved to other memory and flushed from the shadow register 914 to make space for new raw sensor data when needed. The strobe trigger mechanism described above helps ensure high correlation between the WLAN TS and the sensor data.

[0141]

[0142] In various aspects, the raw sensor data may include a linear acceleration A of the mobile device. r , angular acceleration M r and can be processed later to obtain a vector of magnetic heading H. As an example, r may be generated from the raw sensor data, and A r =f({ax,ay,az}). Angular acceleration vector M r may be determined from the raw sensor data, and M r = f(α, β, γ). The heading vector H may be generated from the raw sensor data,

[0142]

number

[0143] where Hy=f(hyn) is the magnetic vector along the y-axis and Hx=f(hxn) is the magnetic vector along the x-axis.

[0144]

[0143] The technique for substantially synchronizing ranging data with corresponding motion / heading / orientation sensor data of a mobile device may be applied to various positioning protocols. FIG. 10 is an example message flow 1000 illustrating synchronization between time measurement data and motion / heading / orientation sensor data when applied to a fine time measurement protocol. The example message flow 1000 shown in FIG. 10 is an exchange of messages between ISTA 1002 and RSTA 1004. In this context, ISTA 1002 or RSTA 1004 may comprise any one of several transceiver devices, including a mobile device or a stationary access transceiver device. In this example, ISTA 1002 transmits a fine timing measurement request message or frame 1006 to RSTA 1004, and in some aspects receives an optional fine timing request message acknowledgement message or frame (ACK) transmitted by RSTA 1004 in response (not shown in FIG. 10).

[0145]

[0144] The exchange of measured messages begins with the transmission of an FTM_1 frame 1008 by the RSTA 1004. The WLAN subsystem 1010 of the RSTA 1004 generates a timestamp WLAN TS(t1) at t1, which corresponds to the time (e.g., departure time) when a specified portion (e.g., preamble) of the FTM_1 frame 1008 is transmitted from the antenna of the RSTA 1004. The WLAN subsystem 1010 also generates a strobe signal 1012 to the sensor subsystem 1014 of the RSTA 1004, which triggers the sensor subsystem 1014 to capture and store the output of its sensor (sensors(t1)) in the memory 1016 (e.g., shadow register or other memory) of the RSTA 1004. Furthermore, the timestamp WLAN(t1) is correlated with the sensor data Sensors(t1) in the memory 1016.

[0146]

[0145] The ISTA 1002 receives the FTM_1 frame 1008, and the WLAN subsystem 1018 of the ISTA 1002 generates a timestamp WLAN TS(t2) at t2, which corresponds to the time (e.g., time of arrival) that a specified portion (e.g., preamble) of the FTM_1 1008 is received at the antenna of the ISTA 1002. At time t2, the WLAN subsystem 1018 also generates a strobe signal 1020 to the sensor subsystem 1022 of the ISTA 1002, which triggers the sensor subsystem 1022 to capture and store the output of its sensor (sensors(t2)) in a memory 1024 (e.g., a shadow register or other memory) of the ISTA 1002. Furthermore, the timestamp WLAN(t2) is correlated with the sensor data Sensors(t2) in the memory 1024.

[0147] In response to receiving the FTM_1 frame 1008, the ISTA 1002 transmits an ACK frame 1026, and the WLAN subsystem 1018 generates a timestamp WLAN TS(t3) at t3, which corresponds to the time that a designated portion of the ACK frame 512 is transmitted at the antenna of the ISTA 502. At time t3, the WLAN subsystem 1018 also generates a strobe signal 1028 to the sensor subsystem 1022, which triggers the sensor subsystem 1022 to capture and store the output of its sensors (sensors(t3)) in memory 1024. Furthermore, the timestamp WLAN(t3) is correlated with the sensor data Sensors(t3) in the memory 1024.

[0148]

[0147] The RSTA 506 receives the ACK frame 512 and records a timestamp WLAN TS(t4) at t4, which corresponds to the time when the specified portion of the ACK frame 1026 was received at the antenna of the RSTA 1004. At time t4, the WLAN subsystem 1010 also generates a strobe signal 1030 to the sensor subsystem 1014, which triggers the sensor subsystem 1014 to capture and store the output of its sensor (Sensors(t4)) in the memory 1016. Furthermore, the timestamp WLAN(t4) is correlated with the sensor data Sensors(t4) in the memory 1016.

[0149] In some aspects, the RSTA 1004 sends an FTM report (FTM_R) frame 1032 to the ISTA 1002, including timestamp values ​​WLAN TS(t1) and WLAN TS(t4) generated by the RSTA 506. Using the timestamp values ​​WLAN TS(t1), WLAN TS(t2), WLAN TS(t3), WLAN TS(t4) corresponding to times t1, t2, t3, and t4, the ISTA 1002 can determine an RTT measurement (e.g., RTT=(WLAN TS(t4)-WLAN TS(t1))-(WLAN TS(t3)-WLAN TS(t3))=(t4-t1)-(t3-t2)) for message exchanges with the RSTA 1004. The RTT measurement can then be used by the ISTA 1002 in determining the range between the ISTA 1002 and the RSTA 1004. Additionally, the ISTA 1002 can use sensor measurements Sensors(t2) and Sensors(t3) to determine the movement / heading / orientation of the ISTA 1002.

[0150]

[0149] According to some aspects of the present disclosure, ISTA1002 and RSTA1004 may optionally exchange sensor data captured at times t1, t2, t3, t4. To this end, RSTA1004 may optionally transmit a sensor and timestamp frame 1034 including sensor data sensor(t1, t4) and corresponding timestamp WLAN TS(t1, t4) to ISTA1002. ISTA1002 may use the sensor measurements Sensors(t1, t4) to determine the movement / heading / orientation of RSTA1004 to further refine the positioning determination. Additionally or alternatively, ISTA1002 may optionally transmit a sensor and timestamp frame 1036 including sensor data sensor(t2, t3) and corresponding timestamp WLAN TS(t2, t3) to RSTA1004. To accurately determine its own location, RSTA 1004 may use sensor measurements Sensors(t1, t4) to determine the movement / heading / orientation of RSTA 1004, sensor measurements Sensors(t2, t3) to determine the movement / heading / orientation of ISTA 1002, and time measurements WLAN TS(t1), WLAN TS(t2), WLAN TS(t3), and WLAN TS(t4). According to some aspects of the present disclosure, raw sensor data may be processed by ISTA 1002 and / or RSTA 1004 to determine movement / heading / orientation values ​​and send the determined movement / heading / orientation values ​​in place of the raw sensor data during exchange of frames 1034 and / or 1036. Because there may be system configurations in which only one of ISTA 1002 or RSTA 1004 has the sensor capture capabilities described herein, prior to such exchange of sensor data, ISTA 1002 and RSTA 1004 may indicate whether each has the capability to capture such sensor data from the other. The indication may be signaled during the exchange of device capabilities between ISTA 1002 and RSTA 1004.

[0151] FIG. 11 is an example message flow 1100 illustrating synchronization between time measurement data and motion / heading / orientation sensor data when applied to an NDP ranging measurement protocol according to some aspects of the disclosure. The example message flow 1100 shown in FIG. 11 is an exchange of messages between ISTA 1102 and RSTA 1104. In this context, ISTA 1102 or RSTA 1104 may comprise any one of a number of transceiver devices, including a mobile device or a stationary access transceiver device. As shown in FIG. 11, ISTA 1102 transmits a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) including an NDP announcement frame 1106. The NDPA frame 1106 is configured to prepare the RSTA 1104 to receive an NDP from the ISTA 1102 as part of a ranging measurement procedure. In some aspects, the NDPA frame 1106 in the PPDU includes parameters for the RSTA 1104 to use when participating in the ranging message flow 1100. The NDPA frame 1106 for ranging measurements may be in the form of the NDP 600 shown in FIG.

[0152] The ISTA 1102 generates a PPDU having at least one NDP 1108 and starts transmitting the PPDU having the NDP 1108 at time t1, which occurs at a defined period SIFS after the end of the preceding PPDU having the NDP announcement frame 1106. In one aspect, the defined period is a short interframe space (SIFS). In some aspects, another suitable period may be utilized. The NDP 1108 includes a preamble having one or more STFs, one or more LTFs, and one or more signal fields, such as that shown in FIG. 6. In one aspect, the preamble of the NDP 1108 includes i) a legacy portion having an L-STF, an L-LTF, and an L-SIG, and ii) a non-legacy portion having an HE-STF, one or more HE-LTFs, and one or more HE-SIGs. In some aspects, multiple NDPs 1108 are transmitted in a PPDU, with different NDPs 1108 being transmitted in different frequency bandwidth portions. In some aspects in which multiple NDPs 1108 are transmitted, two or more of the NDPs 1108 are transmitted within the same frequency band using different spatial streams (e.g., two or more of the NDPs 1108 span the same frequency band) (e.g., two or more NDPs 1108 are transmitted using MU-MIMO).

[0153] In the example shown in Figure 11, the NDP 1108 is a ranging NDP having a format such as that shown and described in Figure 6, which includes signals specific to a ranging measurement procedure. Thus, the NDP 1108 has a different format and / or includes different signals than an NDP used for purposes other than ranging measurements, such as an NDP used in connection with performing channel measurements, an NDP used in connection with performing beamforming measurements, etc.

[0154]

[0153] When transmitting the NDP 1108, the WLAN subsystem 1118 of the ISTA 1102 generates a timestamp WLAN TS(t1) at time t1 corresponding to the time when the ISTA 1102 starts transmitting a particular portion of the NDP 1108 (e.g., a particular HE-LTF in the NDP 714) on the antenna of the ISTA 1102. The WLAN subsystem 1118 also generates a strobe signal 1112 to the sensor subsystem 1122 of the ISTA 1102, which triggers the sensor subsystem 1122 to capture and store the output of its sensor (sensors(t1)) in the memory 1124 of the ISTA 1102 (e.g., a shadow register or other memory). Furthermore, the timestamp WLAN(t1) is correlated with the sensor data Sensors(t1) in the memory 1124.

[0155]

[0154] Similarly, when the RSTA 1104 receives the NDP 1108, the WLAN subsystem 1110 of the RSTA 1104 generates a timestamp WLAN TS(t2) at time t2 corresponding to the time when the RSTA 1104 starts receiving a particular portion of the NDP 1108 (e.g., a particular HE-LTF in the NDP 1108) at the antenna of the RSTA 1104. The WLAN subsystem 1110 also generates a strobe signal 1126 to the sensor subsystem 1114 of the RSTA 1104, which triggers the sensor subsystem 1114 to capture and store the output of its sensor (sensors(t2)) in the memory 1116 of the RSTA 1104 (e.g., a shadow register or other memory). Furthermore, the timestamp WLAN(t2) is correlated with the sensor data Sensors(t2) in the memory 1116.

[0156] In response to receiving the NDP 1108, the WLAN subsystem 1110 begins transmitting a PPDU containing the NDP 1108 at a defined time SIFS after the NDP 1128 is received at the RSTA 1104. When transmitting the NDP 1128, the WLAN subsystem 1110 generates a timestamp WLAN TS(t3) at time t3 corresponding to the time when the RSTA 1104 begins transmitting a particular portion of the NDP 1128 (e.g., a particular HE-LTF in the NDP 1128) from its antenna. The WLAN subsystem 1110 also generates a strobe signal 1130 to the sensor subsystem 1114 of the RSTA 1104, which triggers the sensor subsystem 1114 to capture and store the output of its sensor (sensor(t3)) in the memory 1116 of the RSTA 1104 (e.g., a shadow register or other memory). Additionally, the timestamp WLAN(t3) is correlated with the sensor data Sensors(t3) in memory 1116.

[0157] When the ISTA 1102 receives the NDP 1128, the ISTA 1102 generates a timestamp WLAN TS(t4) at time t4 corresponding to the time when the ISTA 1102 begins to receive a particular portion of the NDP 1128 (e.g., a particular HE-LTF in the NDP 1128) at its antenna. The WLAN subsystem 1118 also generates a strobe signal 1132 to the sensor subsystem 1122, which triggers the sensor subsystem 1122 to capture and store the output of its sensor (sensors(t4)) in the memory 1124. Furthermore, the timestamp WLAN(t4) is correlated with the sensor data Sensors(t4) in the memory 1124.

[0158] In some aspects, the RSTA 1104 transmits a PPDU including a feedback (FB) frame 1134 a defined period SIFS after the PPDU including the NDP 1128 is transmitted. The FB frame 1134 includes recorded timestamps WLAN TS(t2) and WLAN TS(t3) corresponding to times t2 and t4, respectively. In some aspects, the FB frame 1134 may optionally include channel estimation information determined by the RSTA 1104 based on receiving the NDP 1108.

[0159] After receiving the FB frame 1032, the ISTA 1102 uses the recorded times t1, t2, t3, and t4 to determine an RTT measurement between the ISTA 1102 and the RSTA 1104. Any suitable technique may be utilized to determine the RTT measurement using the recorded times t1, t2, t3, and t4. The distance between the ISTA 702 and the RSTA 704 may be calculated as d=RTT·c / 2, where ci is the speed of electromagnetic wave propagation. In some aspects, the ISTA 1102 uses the measured RTT to determine an estimated position of the ISTA 1102 and / or an estimated position of the RSTA 1104. In one aspect, the ISTA 1102 may use triangulation techniques to calculate an estimated position. Additionally, the ISTA 1102 may use sensor data Sensors(t1) and Sensors(t4) to further refine the ranging and / or positioning determination.

[0160] According to some aspects of the present disclosure, ISTA1102 and RSTA1104 may optionally exchange sensor data captured at times t1, t2, t3, t4. To this end, RSTA1104 may optionally transmit a sensor and timestamp frame 1136 including sensor data Sensors(t2, t3) and a corresponding timestamp WLAN TS(t2, t3) to ISTA1102. ISTA1102 may use the sensor measurements Sensors(t2, t3) to determine the movement / heading / orientation of RSTA1004 to further refine the positioning determination. Additionally or alternatively, ISTA1102 may optionally transmit a sensor and timestamp frame 1138 including sensor data Sensors(t1, t4) and a corresponding timestamp WLAN TS(t1, t4) to RSTA1104. To accurately determine its own location, RSTA 1104 may use sensor measurements Sensors(t1, t4) to determine the movement / heading / orientation of RSTA 1104, sensor measurements Sensors(t2, t3) to determine the movement / heading / orientation of ISTA 1102, and time measurements WLAN TS(t1), WLAN TS(t2), WLAN TS(t3), and WLAN TS(t4). According to some aspects of the present disclosure, raw sensor data may be processed by ISTA 1102 and / or RSTA 1104 to determine movement / heading / orientation values ​​and send the determined movement / heading / orientation values ​​in place of the raw sensor data during exchange of frames 1136 and / or 1138. Because there may be system configurations in which only one of the ISTA 1102 or RSTA 1104 has the sensor capture capabilities described herein, prior to such exchange of sensor data, the ISTA 1002 and RSTA 1004 may indicate whether each has the capability to capture such sensor data from the other. The indication may be signaled during the exchange of device capabilities between the ISTA 1102 and RSTA 1104.

[0161]

[0160] The exchange of ranging packets (e.g., FPM frames, NDP frames, etc.) and the corresponding capture of sensor data of the sensor subsystems shown in Figures 10 and 11 may be repeated multiple times to obtain multiple measurements that may be used for positioning purposes. According to some aspects of the present disclosure, outlier timing and / or sensor measurements may be identified by checking the mean / standard deviation of the timing and / or sensor measurement dataset. Outliers may be removed prior to ranging and / or positioning determination. The final dataset may be fed, for example, to an indoor triangulation algorithm.

[0162] 12 illustrates an example method 1200 of wireless communication performed by a first station (STA) according to aspects of the disclosure. In operation 1202, the first STA receives a first packet from a second STA at a first arrival time of the first packet. In an aspect, the operation 1202 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered as a means for performing this operation.

[0163] In operation 1204, the first STA activates a strobe signal to store first sensor data at a first arrival time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first arrival time, the one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof. In one aspect, operation 1204 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered a means for performing this operation.

[0164] 13 illustrates an example of a method 1300 of wireless communication performed by a first station (STA) according to aspects of the disclosure. In operation 1302, the first STA transmits a first packet at a first departure time. In an aspect, the operation 1302 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning components 342, any or all of which may be considered as a means for performing this operation.

[0165] In operation 1304, the first STA activates a strobe signal to store first sensor data at a first departure time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first departure time, the one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof. In one aspect, operation 1304 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered a means for performing this operation.

[0166]

[0165] As can be appreciated, technical advantages of methods 1200 and 1300 include synchronization of motion / heading / orientation sensor data with the time measurement data (e.g., time of arrival and / or time of departure) of a ranging packet. By synchronizing the time and sensor data, a station can more accurately determine its range and / or position relative to other stations when using both the time measurement data and the sensor data in its ranging determinations.

[0167]

[0166] In the above detailed description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in each example. This manner of disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the exemplary clauses have more features than are expressly stated in each clause. Rather, various aspects of the present disclosure may include fewer features than all features of each disclosed exemplary clause. Thus, the following clauses should be considered to be incorporated in the description, and each clause may stand alone as a separate example. Although each dependent clause may refer to a specific combination with one of the other clauses in the clause, the aspect(s) of the dependent clause are not limited to that specific combination. It will be understood that other exemplary clauses may also include combinations of the aspect(s) of the dependent clause with any other dependent clause or subject matter of the independent clause, or any combination of features with other dependent clauses and independent clauses. Unless a specific combination is not intended (e.g., conflicting aspects such as defining an element as both an insulator and a conductor) is expressly expressed or can be easily inferred, the various aspects disclosed herein expressly include these combinations. It is further contemplated that aspects of a clause may be included in any other independent clause, even if the clause is not directly dependent on the independent clause.

[0168]

[0167] The following numbered clauses describe implementation examples.

[0169]

[0168] Clause 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a first station (STA), comprising: receiving a first packet from a second STA at a first arrival time of the first packet; and activating a strobe signal to store first sensor data at the first arrival time, wherein the first sensor data corresponds to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first arrival time, and the one or more sensors include an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

[0170]

[0169] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, further comprising: in response to receiving the first packet, transmitting a second packet to a second STA at a first departure time of the second packet; and activating a strobe signal to store second sensor data at the first departure time, wherein the second sensor data corresponds to sensor output of one or more sensors at the first departure time.

[0171]

[0170] Clause 3. The method of clause 2, wherein the first packet is a fine time measurement packet and the second packet is an acknowledgment of the fine time measurement packet.

[0172]

[0171] Clause 4. The method of clause 3, further comprising receiving a report from the second STA indicating at least a second departure time at which the first packet was transmitted from the second STA and a second arrival time at which the second packet was received at the second STA.

[0173]

[0172] Clause 5. The method described in clause 4, further comprising determining a location of the first STA based at least on the first arrival time, the first departure time, the second arrival time, the second departure time, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data.

[0174]

[0173] Clause 6. The method of clause 5, wherein determining the position of the first STA includes performing a triangulation positioning operation using at least the first arrival time, the first departure time, the second arrival time, the second departure time, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data.

[0175]

[0174] Clause 7. A method according to any of clauses 2 to 6, wherein the method further comprises: executing, at a first arrival time, a first interrupt routine in a sensor subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal, comprising acquiring first sensor data from one or more sensors and storing the first sensor data in one or more shadow registers; and executing, at a first departure time, a first interrupt routine in a sensor subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal, comprising acquiring second sensor data from one or more sensors and storing the second sensor data in one or more shadow registers.

[0176]

[0175] Clause 8. The method of clause 7 further includes: executing a second interrupt routine at a first arrival time in a wireless local area network (WLAN) subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal, the second interrupt routine comprising: obtaining a first timestamp corresponding to the first arrival time and associating the first timestamp with the first sensor data in one or more shadow registers; and executing a second interrupt routine at a first departure time in a WLAN subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal, the second interrupt routine comprising: obtaining a second timestamp corresponding to the first departure time and associating the second timestamp with the second sensor data in one or more shadow registers.

[0177]

[0176] Clause 9. A method as described in any of clauses 2 to 8, wherein the method further includes performing multiple activations of a strobe signal to store a first plurality of sensor data at corresponding first plurality of departure times of the packet transmission and a second plurality of sensor data at corresponding second plurality of arrival times of the packet transmission, or any combination thereof, and identifying outliers in the first plurality of sensor data, the second plurality of sensor data, or any combination thereof.

[0178]

[0177] Clause 10. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 9, wherein the first STA is an initiator STA (ISTA).

[0179]

[0178] Clause 11. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 9, wherein the first STA is a responding STA (RSTA).

[0180]

[0179] Clause 12. A method of wireless communication performed by a first station (STA), comprising: transmitting a first packet at a first departure time; and activating a strobe signal to store first sensor data at the first departure time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first departure time, the one or more sensors comprising an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

[0181]

[0180] Clause 13. The method of clause 12, further comprising receiving a second packet from a second STA at a first arrival time of the second packet, and activating a strobe signal to store second sensor data at the first arrival time, the second sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors at the first arrival time.

[0182]

[0181] Clause 14. The method of clause 13, wherein the first packet is a null data packet (NDP) and the second packet is an NDP received from a second STA.

[0183]

[0182] Clause 15. The method of clause 14, further comprising receiving a report from the second STA indicating at least a second arrival time at which the first packet was received at the second STA and a second departure time at which the second packet was transmitted by the second STA.

[0184]

[0183] Clause 16. The method of clause 15, further comprising determining a location of the first STA based at least on the first arrival time, the first departure time, the second arrival time, the second departure time, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data.

[0185]

[0184] Clause 17. The method of clause 16, wherein determining the position of the first STA includes performing a triangulation positioning operation using at least the first arrival time, the first departure time, the second arrival time, the second departure time, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data.

[0186]

[0185] Clause 18. A method according to any of clauses 13 to 17, wherein the method further comprises: executing, at a first arrival time, a first interrupt routine in a sensor subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal, comprising acquiring first sensor data from one or more sensors and storing the first sensor data in one or more shadow registers; and executing, at a first departure time, a first interrupt routine in a sensor subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal, comprising acquiring second sensor data from one or more sensors and storing the second sensor data in one or more shadow registers.

[0187]

[0186] Clause 19. The method of clause 18, further comprising: executing a first interrupt routine at a first arrival time, wherein executing a second interrupt routine in a wireless local area network (WLAN) subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal at a first arrival time includes obtaining a first timestamp corresponding to the first arrival time and associating the first timestamp with first sensor data in one or more shadow registers; and executing a second interrupt routine in a WLAN subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal at a first departure time includes obtaining a second timestamp corresponding to the first departure time and associating the second timestamp with second sensor data in one or more shadow registers.

[0188]

[0187] Clause 20. A method as described in any of clauses 13 to 19, further comprising performing multiple activations of a strobe signal to store a first plurality of sensor data at corresponding first plurality of departure times of the packet transmission and a second plurality of sensor data at corresponding second plurality of arrival times of the packet transmission, or any combination thereof, and identifying outliers in the first plurality of sensor data, the second plurality of sensor data, or any combination thereof.

[0189]

[0188] Clause 21. A method according to any one of clauses 12 to 20, wherein the first STA is an initiator STA (ISTA).

[0190]

[0189] Clause 22. The method of any of clauses 12 to 20, wherein the first STA is a responding STA (RSTA).

[0191]

[0190] Clause 23. A first station (STA), comprising: a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to receive a first packet from a second STA via the at least one transceiver at a first arrival time of the first packet and activate a strobe signal to store first sensor data at the first arrival time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first arrival time, the one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

[0192]

[0191] Clause 24. The first STA described in Clause 23, further configured by at least one processor to, in response to receiving the first packet via at least one transceiver, transmit a second packet to the second STA at a first departure time of the second packet and activate a strobe signal to store second sensor data at the first departure time, the second sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors at the first departure time.

[0193]

[0192] Clause 25. The first STA of clause 24, wherein the first packet is a fine time measurement packet and the second packet is an acknowledgment of the fine time measurement packet.

[0194]

[0193] Clause 26. A first STA as described in Clause 25, wherein at least one processor is further configured to receive, via at least one transceiver, a report from the second STA indicating at least a second departure time at which the first packet was transmitted from the second STA and a second arrival time at which the second packet was received at the second STA.

[0195]

[0194] Clause 27. The first STA described in Clause 26, wherein at least one processor is further configured to determine a location of the first STA based at least on the first arrival time, the first departure time, the second arrival time, the second departure time, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data.

[0196]

[0195] Clause 28. A first STA as described in Clause 27, wherein the at least one processor configured to determine a position of the first STA comprises at least one processor configured to perform triangulation positioning operations using at least the first arrival time, the first departure time, the second arrival time, the second departure time, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data.

[0197]

[0196] Clause 29. A first STA as described in any of clauses 24 to 28, further configured by at least one processor to execute a first interrupt routine in a sensor subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal, at a first arrival time, comprising: executing a first interrupt routine at a first arrival time, the first interrupt routine comprising: acquiring first sensor data from one or more sensors and storing the first sensor data in one or more shadow registers; and executing a first interrupt routine in a sensor subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal, at a first departure time, the first interrupt routine comprising: acquiring second sensor data from one or more sensors and storing the second sensor data in one or more shadow registers.

[0198]

[0197] Clause 30. The first STA described in Clause 29, further configured by at least one processor to execute a second interrupt routine in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal at a first arrival time, the second interrupt routine including obtaining a first timestamp corresponding to the first arrival time and associating the first timestamp with the first sensor data in one or more shadow registers, and to execute a second interrupt routine in a WLAN subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal at a first departure time, the second interrupt routine including obtaining a second timestamp corresponding to the first departure time and associating the second timestamp with the second sensor data in one or more shadow registers.

[0199]

[0198] Clause 31. A first STA as described in any of clauses 24 to 30, wherein at least one processor is further configured to perform multiple activations of a strobe signal to store a first plurality of sensor data at corresponding first plurality of departure times of a packet transmission and a second plurality of sensor data at corresponding second plurality of arrival times of the packet transmission, or any combination thereof, and to identify outliers in the first plurality of sensor data, the second plurality of sensor data, or any combination thereof.

[0200]

[0199] Clause 32. A first STA according to any one of clauses 23 to 31, wherein the first STA is an initiator STA (ISTA).

[0201]

[0200] Clause 33. A first STA according to any one of clauses 23 to 31, wherein the first STA is a responding STA (RSTA).

[0202]

[0201] Clause 34. A first STA comprising a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to transmit a first packet via the at least one transceiver at a first departure time and activate a strobe signal to store first sensor data at the first departure time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first departure time, the one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

[0203]

[0202] Clause 35. A first STA as described in Clause 34, further configured by at least one processor to receive a second packet from the second STA via at least one transceiver at a first arrival time of the second packet and activate a strobe signal to store second sensor data at the first arrival time, the second sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors at the first arrival time.

[0204]

[0203] Clause 36. The first STA of clause 35, wherein the first packet is a null data packet (NDP), and the second packet is an NDP received from the second STA.

[0205]

[0204] Clause 37. The first STA described in Clause 36, wherein at least one processor is further configured to receive, via at least one transceiver, a report from the second STA indicating at least a second arrival time at which the first packet was received at the second STA and a second departure time at which the second packet was transmitted by the second STA.

[0206]

[0205] Clause 38. The first STA described in Clause 37, wherein at least one processor is further configured to determine a location of the first STA based at least on the first arrival time, the first departure time, the second arrival time, the second departure time, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data.

[0207]

[0206] Clause 39. A first STA as described in Clause 38, wherein the at least one processor configured to determine a position of the first STA comprises at least one processor configured to perform triangulation positioning operations using at least the first arrival time, the first departure time, the second arrival time, the second departure time, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data.

[0208]

[0207] Clause 40. A first STA as described in any of Clauses 35 to 39, further configured by at least one processor to execute a first interrupt routine at a first arrival time in response to a strobe signal, the first interrupt routine comprising: acquiring first sensor data from one or more sensors and storing the first sensor data in one or more shadow registers; and to execute a first interrupt routine at a first departure time in response to a strobe signal, the first interrupt routine comprising: acquiring second sensor data from one or more sensors and storing the second sensor data in one or more shadow registers.

[0209]

[0208] Clause 41. The first STA described in Clause 40, further configured by at least one processor to execute a second interrupt routine at a first arrival time, where executing a first interrupt routine in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal, at a first arrival time, includes obtaining a first timestamp corresponding to the first arrival time and associating the first timestamp with the first sensor data in one or more shadow registers, and to execute a second interrupt routine at a first departure time, where executing a first interrupt routine in a WLAN subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal, at a first departure time, includes obtaining a second timestamp corresponding to the first departure time and associating the second timestamp with the second sensor data in one or more shadow registers.

[0210]

[0209] Clause 42. A first STA as described in any of clauses 35 to 41, wherein at least one processor is further configured to perform multiple activations of a strobe signal to store a first plurality of sensor data at corresponding first plurality of departure times of a packet transmission and a second plurality of sensor data at corresponding second plurality of arrival times of the packet transmission, or any combination thereof, and to identify outliers in the first plurality of sensor data, the second plurality of sensor data, or any combination thereof.

[0211]

[0210] Clause 43. The first STA according to any one of clauses 34 to 42, wherein the first STA is an initiator STA (ISTA).

[0212]

[0211] Clause 44. The first STA according to any one of clauses 34 to 42, wherein the first STA is a responding STA (RSTA).

[0213]

[0212] Clause 45. A first station (STA), comprising: means for receiving a first packet from a second STA at a first arrival time of the first packet; and means for activating a strobe signal to store first sensor data at the first arrival time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first arrival time, the one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

[0214]

[0213] Clause 46. The first STA described in Clause 45, further comprising means for transmitting a second packet to the second STA at a first departure time of the second packet in response to receiving the first packet, and means for activating a strobe signal to store second sensor data at the first departure time, the second sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors at the first departure time.

[0215]

[0214] Clause 47. The first STA of clause 46, wherein the first packet is a fine time measurement packet and the second packet is an acknowledgment of the fine time measurement packet.

[0216]

[0215] Clause 48. The first STA described in Clause 47, further comprising means for receiving a report from the second STA indicating at least a second departure time at which the first packet was transmitted from the second STA and a second arrival time at which the second packet was received at the second STA.

[0217]

[0216] Clause 49. The first STA described in Clause 48, further comprising means for determining a location of the first STA based at least on the first arrival time, the first departure time, the second arrival time, the second departure time, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data.

[0218]

[0217] Clause 50. A first STA as described in Clause 49, wherein the means for determining a position of the first STA comprises means for performing a triangulation positioning operation using at least the first arrival time, the first departure time, the second arrival time, the second departure time, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data.

[0219]

[0218] Clause 51. A first STA described in any of clauses 46 to 50, further comprising: a means for executing a first interrupt routine in a sensor subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal at a first arrival time, the means for executing a first interrupt routine at a first arrival time including means for acquiring first sensor data from one or more sensors and means for storing the first sensor data in one or more shadow registers; and a means for executing a first interrupt routine in a sensor subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal at a first departure time, the means for executing a first interrupt routine at a first departure time including means for acquiring second sensor data from one or more sensors and means for storing the second sensor data in one or more shadow registers.

[0220]

[0219] Clause 52. The first STA described in Clause 51, further comprising: a means for executing a second interrupt routine in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal at a first arrival time, the means for executing the second interrupt routine at a first arrival time including a means for obtaining a first timestamp corresponding to the first arrival time and a means for associating the first timestamp with the first sensor data in one or more shadow registers; and a means for executing a second interrupt routine in a WLAN subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal at a first departure time, the means for executing the second interrupt routine at a first departure time including a means for obtaining a second timestamp corresponding to the first departure time and a means for associating the second timestamp with the second sensor data in one or more shadow registers.

[0221]

[0220] Clause 53. A first STA described in any of clauses 46 to 52, further comprising: means for performing multiple activations of a strobe signal to store a first plurality of sensor data at corresponding first plurality of departure times of a packet transmission and a second plurality of sensor data at corresponding second plurality of arrival times of the packet transmission, or any combination thereof; and means for identifying outliers in the first plurality of sensor data, the second plurality of sensor data, or any combination thereof.

[0222]

[0221] Clause 54. A first STA according to any one of clauses 45 to 53, wherein the first STA is an initiator STA (ISTA).

[0223]

[0222] Clause 55. The first STA according to any one of clauses 45 to 53, wherein the first STA is a responding STA (RSTA).

[0224]

[0223] Clause 56. A first STA comprising: means for transmitting a first packet at a first departure time; and means for activating a strobe signal to store first sensor data at the first departure time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first departure time, the one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

[0225]

[0224] Clause 57. A first STA as described in Clause 56, further comprising means for receiving a second packet from the second STA at a first arrival time of the second packet, and means for activating a strobe signal to store second sensor data at the first arrival time, the second sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors at the first arrival time.

[0226]

[0225] Clause 58. The first STA of clause 57, wherein the first packet is a null data packet (NDP), and the second packet is an NDP received from the second STA.

[0227]

[0226] Clause 59. The first STA described in clause 58, further comprising means for receiving a report from the second STA indicating at least a second arrival time at which the first packet was received at the second STA and a second departure time at which the second packet was transmitted by the second STA.

[0228]

[0227] Clause 60. The first STA described in Clause 59, further comprising means for determining a location of the first STA based at least on the first arrival time, the first departure time, the second arrival time, the second departure time, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data.

[0229]

[0228] Clause 61. A first STA as described in Clause 60, wherein the means for determining a position of the first STA comprises means for performing a triangulation positioning operation using at least a first arrival time, a first departure time, a second arrival time, a second departure time, first sensor data, and second sensor data.

[0230]

[0229] Clause 62. A first STA described in any of Clauses 57 to 61, further comprising: a means for executing, at a first arrival time, a first interrupt routine in the sensor subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal, the means for executing the first interrupt routine at a first arrival time including means for acquiring first sensor data from one or more sensors and means for storing the first sensor data in one or more shadow registers; and a means for executing, at a first departure time, a first interrupt routine in the sensor subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal the means for acquiring, at a first departure time, a means for acquiring second sensor data from one or more sensors and means for storing the second sensor data in one or more shadow registers.

[0231]

[0230] Clause 63. The first STA described in Clause 62, further comprising: means for executing a second interrupt routine at a first arrival time, wherein executing a first interrupt routine in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal at a first arrival time includes means for obtaining a first timestamp corresponding to the first arrival time and means for associating the first timestamp with the first sensor data in one or more shadow registers; and means for executing a second interrupt routine at a first departure time, wherein executing a first interrupt routine in a WLAN subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal at a first departure time includes means for obtaining a second timestamp corresponding to the first departure time and means for associating the second timestamp with the second sensor data in one or more shadow registers.

[0232]

[0231] Clause 64. A first STA as described in any of clauses 57 to 63, further comprising means for performing multiple activations of a strobe signal to store a first plurality of sensor data at corresponding first plurality of departure times of a packet transmission, a second plurality of sensor data at corresponding second plurality of arrival times of the packet transmission, or any combination thereof, and means for identifying outliers in the first plurality of sensor data, the second plurality of sensor data, or any combination thereof.

[0233]

[0232] Clause 65. The first STA according to any one of clauses 56 to 64, wherein the first STA is an initiator STA (ISTA).

[0234]

[0233] Clause 66. The first STA according to any one of clauses 56 to 64, wherein the first STA is a responding STA (RSTA).

[0235]

[0234] Clause 67. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a first station (STA), cause the first STA to receive a first packet from a second STA at a first arrival time of the first packet and activate a strobe signal to store first sensor data at the first arrival time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first arrival time, the one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

[0236]

[0235] Clause 68. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Clause 67, further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a first STA, cause the first STA to transmit a second packet to a second STA at a first departure time of the second packet in response to receiving the first packet and activate a strobe signal to store second sensor data at the first departure time, the second sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors at the first departure time.

[0237]

[0236] Clause 69. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 68, wherein the first packet is a fine time measurement packet and the second packet is an acknowledgment of the fine time measurement packet.

[0238]

[0237] Clause 70. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Clause 69, further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the first STA, cause the first STA to receive a report from the second STA indicating at least a second departure time at which the first packet was transmitted from the second STA and a second arrival time at which the second packet was received at the second STA.

[0239]

[0238] Clause 71. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Clause 70, further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the first STA, cause the first STA to determine a location of the first STA based at least on the first arrival time, the first departure time, the second arrival time, the second departure time, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data.

[0240]

[0239] Clause 72. A non-transitory computer readable medium as described in Clause 71, comprising computer executable instructions which, when executed by a first STA, cause the first STA to perform a triangulation positioning operation using at least the first arrival time, the first departure time, the second arrival time, the second departure time, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data.

[0241]

[0240] Clause 73. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 68 to 72, further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the first STA, cause the first STA to execute a first interrupt routine at a first arrival time, where executing a first interrupt routine in a sensor subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal, at a first arrival time, includes acquiring first sensor data from one or more sensors and storing the first sensor data in one or more shadow registers, and executing a first interrupt routine at a first departure time, where executing a first interrupt routine in a sensor subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal, at a first departure time, includes acquiring second sensor data from one or more sensors and storing the second sensor data in one or more shadow registers.

[0242]

[0241] Clause 74. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Clause 73, further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the first STA, cause the first STA to execute a second interrupt routine at a first arrival time, where executing a second interrupt routine in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) subsystem of the first STA in response to the strobe signal at a first arrival time includes obtaining a first timestamp corresponding to the first arrival time and associating the first timestamp with the first sensor data in one or more shadow registers, and executing a second interrupt routine in a WLAN subsystem of the first STA in response to the strobe signal at a first departure time includes obtaining a second timestamp corresponding to the first departure time and associating the second timestamp with the second sensor data in one or more shadow registers.

[0243]

[0242] Clause 75. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 68 to 74, further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a first STA, cause the first STA to perform multiple activations of a strobe signal to store a first plurality of sensor data at corresponding first plurality of departure times of a packet transmission and a second plurality of sensor data at corresponding second plurality of arrival times of the packet transmission, or any combination thereof, and identify outliers in the first plurality of sensor data, the second plurality of sensor data, or any combination thereof.

[0244]

[0243] Clause 76. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 67 to 75, wherein the first STA is an initiator STA (ISTA).

[0245]

[0244] Clause 77. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 67 to 75, wherein the first STA is a responding STA (RSTA).

[0246]

[0245] Clause 78. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a STA, cause a first STA to transmit a first packet at a first departure time and activate a strobe signal to store first sensor data at the first departure time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the first STA at the first departure time, the one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

[0247]

[0246] Clause 79. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Clause 78, further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a first STA, cause the first STA to receive a second packet from the second STA at a first arrival time of the second packet and activate a strobe signal to store second sensor data at the first arrival time, the second sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors at the first arrival time.

[0248]

[0247] Clause 80. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 79, wherein the first packet is a null data packet (NDP) and the second packet is an NDP received from a second STA.

[0249]

[0248] Clause 81. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Clause 80, further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the first STA, cause the first STA to receive a report from the second STA indicating at least a second arrival time at which the first packet was received at the second STA and a second departure time at which the second packet was transmitted by the second STA.

[0250]

[0249] Clause 82. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Clause 81, further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the first STA, cause the first STA to determine a location of the first STA based at least on the first arrival time, the first departure time, the second arrival time, the second departure time, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data.

[0251]

[0250] Clause 83. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Clause 82, comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a first STA, cause the first STA to perform a triangulation positioning operation using at least the first arrival time, the first departure time, the second arrival time, the second departure time, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data.

[0252]

[0251] Clause 84. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 79 to 83, further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the first STA, cause the first STA to execute a first interrupt routine at a first arrival time, where executing a first interrupt routine in a sensor subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal, at a first arrival time, includes acquiring first sensor data from one or more sensors and storing the first sensor data in one or more shadow registers, and executing a first interrupt routine at a first departure time, where executing a first interrupt routine in a sensor subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal, at a first departure time, includes acquiring second sensor data from one or more sensors and storing the second sensor data in one or more shadow registers.

[0253]

[0252] Clause 85. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Clause 84, further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the first STA, cause the first STA to execute a second interrupt routine at a first arrival time, where executing a first interrupt routine in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal at a first arrival time includes obtaining a first timestamp corresponding to the first arrival time and associating the first timestamp with the first sensor data in one or more shadow registers, and executing a first interrupt routine in a WLAN subsystem of the first STA in response to a strobe signal at a first departure time includes obtaining a second timestamp corresponding to the first departure time and associating the second timestamp with the second sensor data in one or more shadow registers.

[0254]

[0253] Clause 86. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 79 to 85, further comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a first STA, cause the first STA to perform multiple activations of a strobe signal to store a first plurality of sensor data at corresponding first plurality of departure times of a packet transmission and a second plurality of sensor data at corresponding second plurality of arrival times of the packet transmission, or any combination thereof, and identify outliers in the first plurality of sensor data, the second plurality of sensor data, or any combination thereof.

[0255]

[0254] Clause 87. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 78 to 86, wherein the first STA is an initiator STA (ISTA).

[0256]

[0255] Clause 88. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 78 to 86, wherein the first STA is a responding STA (RSTA).

[0257]

[0256] 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.

[0258]

[0257] Furthermore, those skilled in the art will understand that the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in relation to the aspects disclosed herein can 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 functions. Whether such functions are implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functions 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.

[0259]

[0258] The various example logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed using a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, 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.

[0260]

[0259] The methods, sequences, and / or algorithms described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software module may reside in a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), a register, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). Alternatively, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

[0261]

[0260] In one or more exemplary aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted via a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or code. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included within the definition of media. As used herein, disk and disc include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc, where disks typically reproduce data magnetically and discs reproduce data optically using lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0262]

[0261] Although the above disclosure illustrates exemplary aspects of the disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps, and / or actions of the method claims according to the aspects of the disclosure described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, although elements of the disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated.

Claims

1. 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a first station (STA), comprising: receiving, by a wireless local area network (WLAN) subsystem of the first STA, the first packet from a second STA at a first arrival time of the first packet; generating, by the WLAN subsystem, a first strobe signal configured to invoke execution of an interrupt routine in a sensor subsystem of the first STA in response to receiving the first packet at the first arrival time; wherein the interrupt routine causes the sensor subsystem to store first sensor data at the first arrival time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the sensor subsystem of the first STA at the first arrival time, the one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof. transmitting, by the WLAN subsystem, in response to receiving the first packet, the second packet to the second STA at a first departure time of the second packet; generating, by the WLAN subsystem, a second strobe signal configured to invoke execution of the interrupt routine in the sensor subsystem of the first STA, wherein the interrupt routine causes the sensor subsystem to store second sensor data at the first departure time, the second sensor data corresponding to the sensor output of the one or more sensors at the first departure time.

3. the first packet is a fine time measurement packet; The method of claim 2 , wherein the second packet is an acknowledgment of the fine time measurement packet.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising receiving, by the WLAN subsystem, a report from the second STA indicating at least a second departure time at which the first packet was transmitted from the second STA and a second arrival time at which the second packet was received at the second STA.

5. 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining a location of the first STA based at least on the first arrival time, the first departure time, the second arrival time, the second departure time, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data.

6. Determining the location of the first STA includes:

6. The method of claim 5, comprising performing a triangulation positioning operation using at least the first arrival time, the first departure time, the second arrival time, the second departure time, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data.

7. Executing the interrupt routine at the first arrival time includes: acquiring the first sensor data from the one or more sensors; storing the first sensor data in one or more shadow registers; Executing the interrupt routine at the first departure time includes: acquiring the second sensor data from the one or more sensors; and storing the second sensor data in the one or more shadow registers.

8. and executing a second interrupt routine in the WLAN subsystem of the first STA in response to the first strobe signal at the first arrival time, wherein executing the second interrupt routine at the first departure time includes: obtaining a first timestamp corresponding to the first arrival time; executing the second interrupt routine at the first arrival time, the second interrupt routine including associating the first timestamp with the first sensor data in the one or more shadow registers; executing the second interrupt routine in the WLAN subsystem of the first STA in response to the second strobe signal at the first departure time; obtaining a second timestamp corresponding to the first departure time; associating the second timestamp with the second sensor data in the one or more shadow registers; The method of claim 7, comprising:

9. a first plurality of sensor data at corresponding first plurality of departure times of packet transmission; a second plurality of sensor data at a corresponding second plurality of arrival times of the packet transmission; or performing multiple activations of said strobe signal to store any combination thereof; The method of claim 2 , further comprising: identifying outliers in the first plurality of sensor data, the second plurality of sensor data, or any combination thereof.

10. The first STA is an initiator STA (ISTA), or The method of claim 1 , wherein the first STA is a responding STA (RSTA).

11. 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a first station (STA), comprising: transmitting, by a wireless local area network (WLAN) subsystem of the first STA, a first packet at a first departure time; generating, by the WLAN subsystem, a first strobe signal configured to invoke execution of an interrupt routine in a sensor subsystem of the first STA in response to transmitting the first packet at the first departure time; wherein the interrupt routine causes the sensor subsystem to store first sensor data at the first departure time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of one or more sensors of the sensor subsystem of the first STA at the first departure time, the one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof. receiving, by the WLAN subsystem, a second packet from a second STA at a first arrival time of the second packet; 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: generating, by the WLAN system, a second strobe signal configured to invoke execution of the interrupt routine in the sensor subsystem of the first STA, wherein the interrupt routine causes the sensor subsystem to store second sensor data at the first arrival time, the second sensor data corresponding to the sensor output of the one or more sensors at the first arrival time.

13. A first station (STA), Memory and a wireless local area network (WLAN) subsystem comprising at least one transceiver; a sensor subsystem comprising one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof; at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver; wherein the at least one processor: receiving a first packet from a second STA at a first arrival time of the first packet via the at least one transceiver of the WLAN subsystem; generating, by the WLAN subsystem, in response to receiving the first packet at the first arrival time, a strobe signal configured to invoke execution of an interrupt routine in the sensor subsystem. wherein the interrupt routine causes the sensor subsystem to store first sensor data at the first arrival time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of the one or more sensors of the sensor subsystem at the first arrival time, the one or more sensors including the accelerometer, the gyroscope, the magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

14. A first station (STA), Memory and a wireless local area network (WLAN) subsystem comprising at least one transceiver; a sensor subsystem comprising one or more sensors including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, or any combination thereof; at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor: transmitting a first packet at a first departure time via the at least one transceiver of the WLAN subsystem; generating, by the WLAN subsystem, in response to transmitting the first packet at the first departure time, a strobe signal configured to invoke execution of an interrupt routine in the sensor subsystem. wherein the interrupt routine causes the sensor subsystem to store first sensor data at the first departure time, the first sensor data corresponding to sensor output of the one or more sensors of the sensor subsystem of the first STA at the first departure time, the one or more sensors including the accelerometer, the gyroscope, the magnetometer, or any combination thereof.

15. 1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a first station (STA), cause the first STA to: Carrying out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, A non-transitory computer readable medium causing the method of claim 11 or 12 to be performed.

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