Dynamic Sensing Configuration

Abstract

Techniques for environmental sensing are disclosed. In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) performs a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of one or more objects in the UE's environment, transmits a request to a network entity to one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals to assist the UE in performing a bistatic sensing operation based on the detection of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects, and performs the bistatic sensing operation based on the reception of the one or more wireless sensing signals to detect additional characteristics of the one or more objects.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communications. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of Related Art 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), and the like.

[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 reference signals for positioning (RS-P), such as downlink, uplink, or sidelink positioning reference signals (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, advancements in PRS processes and technologies, and dense deployment for 5G, will enable highly accurate 5G-based positioning. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects disclosed herein. As such, the following summary is not intended to be an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, nor is it intended to identify key or critical elements of all contemplated aspects or to delineate the scope of any particular aspect. Thus, the sole purpose of the following summary is to present certain concepts of one or more aspects of the mechanisms disclosed herein in a simplified form prior to the detailed description presented below.

[0005] In one aspect, a method of environmental sensing performed by a user equipment (UE) includes performing a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of one or more objects in an environment of the UE; transmitting a request to a network entity to one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals to assist the UE in performing a bistatic sensing operation based on the detection of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects; and performing a bistatic sensing operation based on receipt of the one or more wireless sensing signals to detect additional characteristics of the one or more objects.

[0006] In one aspect, a method of environmental sensing performed by a user equipment (UE) includes performing a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of the UE's environment, one or more objects in the UE's environment, or both; transmitting one or more parameters for a bistatic sensing operation to a network entity, the one or more parameters being determined based at least in part on the one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both; and performing a bistatic sensing operation based on receiving one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by one or more network nodes, the one or more wireless sensing signals being configured based on the one or more parameters.

[0007] In one aspect, a method of environmental sensing performed by a user equipment (UE) includes performing a monostatic sensing operation to determine at least one direction of interest for the bistatic sensing operation, transmitting a request to a network entity to request one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals based on the at least one direction of interest to assist the UE in performing the bistatic sensing operation, and performing the bistatic sensing operation based on receipt of the one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted based on the at least one direction of interest.

[0008] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, where the at least one processor is configured to: perform a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of one or more objects in an environment of the UE; transmit a request to a network entity via the at least one transceiver to one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals to assist the UE in performing a bistatic sensing operation based on detection of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects; and perform a bistatic sensing operation based on receipt of the one or more wireless sensing signals to detect additional characteristics of the one or more objects.

[0009] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, where the at least one processor is configured to: perform a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of an environment of the UE, one or more objects in the UE's environment, or both; transmit one or more parameters for the bistatic sensing operation to a network entity via the at least one transceiver, where the one or more parameters are determined based at least in part on the one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both; and perform the bistatic sensing operation based on receiving one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by one or more network nodes, where the one or more wireless sensing signals are configured based on the one or more parameters.

[0010] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: perform a monostatic sensing operation to determine at least one direction of interest for the bistatic sensing operation; transmit a request to a network entity via the at least one transceiver to request one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals based on the at least one direction of interest to assist the UE in performing the bistatic sensing operation; and perform the bistatic sensing operation based on receipt of the one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted based on the at least one direction of interest.

[0011] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes means for performing a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of one or more objects in an environment of the UE; means for transmitting a request to a network entity to request one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals to assist the UE in performing a bistatic sensing operation based on the detection of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects; and means for performing a bistatic sensing operation based on receipt of the one or more wireless sensing signals to detect additional characteristics of the one or more objects.

[0012] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes means for performing a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of the UE's environment, one or more objects in the UE's environment, or both; means for transmitting one or more parameters for the bistatic sensing operation to a network entity, the one or more parameters being determined based at least in part on the one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both; and means for performing the bistatic sensing operation based on receiving one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by one or more network nodes, the one or more wireless sensing signals being configured based on the one or more parameters.

[0013] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes means for performing a monostatic sensing operation to determine at least one direction of interest for the bistatic sensing operation, means for transmitting a request to a network entity to request one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals based on the at least one direction of interest to assist the UE in performing the bistatic sensing operation, and means for performing the bistatic sensing operation based on receipt of the one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted based on the at least one direction of interest.

[0014] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to perform a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of one or more objects in the UE's environment, transmit requests to network entities to one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals to assist the UE in performing a bistatic sensing operation based on the detection of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects, and perform a bistatic sensing operation based on receipt of the one or more wireless sensing signals to detect additional characteristics of the one or more objects.

[0015] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium has computer-executable instructions stored therein that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to perform a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of the UE's environment, one or more objects in the UE's environment, or both, and to transmit one or more parameters for the bistatic sensing operation to a network entity, the one or more parameters being determined based at least in part on the one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both, and to perform the bistatic sensing operation based on receiving one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by one or more network nodes, the one or more wireless sensing signals being configured based on the one or more parameters.

[0016] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to perform a monostatic sensing operation to determine at least one direction of interest for the bistatic sensing operation, transmit a request to a network entity to request one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals based on the at least one direction of interest to assist the UE in performing the bistatic sensing operation, and perform the bistatic sensing operation based on receipt of the one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted based on the at least one direction of interest.

[0017] 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.

[0018] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in the description of various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided only to illustrate, not limit, the aspects. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0019] [Figure 1] 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 2A] 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] 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 4A] 1 shows different types of radar. [Figure 4B] 1 shows different types of radar. [Diagram 5] 1 illustrates an example call flow for a New Radio (NR) based sensing procedure in which the network configures sensing parameters, according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] 1 illustrates an example method for dynamically switching between monostatic and bistatic sensing, according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] 1 illustrates an exemplary method for environmental sensing according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 8] 1 illustrates an exemplary method for environmental sensing according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 9] 1 illustrates an exemplary method for environmental sensing according to an aspect of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0020] 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.

[0021] The words "exemplary" and / or "example" are used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" and / or "example" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Likewise, the term "aspects of the present disclosure" does not require that all aspects of the present disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage or mode of operation.

[0022] 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 referred to 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.

[0023] Further, many aspects are described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It will be appreciated that various actions described herein can be performed by specific circuitry (e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)), 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 can be considered to be fully embodied in any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores a corresponding set of computer instructions that, when executed, cause or instruct an associated processor of a device to perform the functionality 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.

[0024] The terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" as used herein are not intended to be specific or 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 can communicate with a core network via the RAN, through which the UE can be connected to external networks, such as the Internet, and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for a UE to connect to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible, 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.).

[0025] 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 primarily used to support wireless access by UEs, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for supported UEs. In some systems, a base station may provide only edge node signaling functions, while in other systems, a base station may provide additional control and / or network management functions. The communication link through which a UE can send signals to a base station is referred to as an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., reverse traffic channel, reverse control channel, access channel, etc.). The communication links through which a base station may transmit signals to a UE are referred to as downlink (DL) channels or forward link channels (e.g., paging channels, control channels, broadcast channels, forward traffic channels, etc.). As used herein, the term traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0026] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmission-reception point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be collocated. For example, when the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station that corresponds to a cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. When the term "base station" refers to multiple collocated physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an array of antennas of the base station (e.g., as in 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). Instead, 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.

[0027] 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., if it transmits signals to the UE) and / or a location measurement unit (e.g., if it receives and measures signals from the UE).

[0028] 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 on different paths between a transmitter and a receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a "wireless signal" or simply a "signal" when it is clear from the context that the term "signal" refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal.

[0029] 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.

[0030] 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 the core network 170), or a direct connection (e.g., as shown via direct connection 128), with intervening nodes (if any) omitted from the signaling diagrams for clarity.

[0031] 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.

[0032] 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 to 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.

[0033] 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 significantly 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 including 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).

[0034] 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 over 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).

[0035] The wireless communication system 100 may further include wireless local area network (WLAN) access points (APs) 150 in communication with WLAN stations (STAs) 152 over communication links 154 in an unlicensed frequency spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the WLAN STAs 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.

[0036] The small cell base station 102' may operate in a licensed and / or unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell base station 102' may utilize LTE or NR technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum used by the WLAN AP 150. A small cell base station 102' employing LTE / 5G in an unlicensed frequency spectrum may extend coverage to and / or increase capacity of an access network. NR in an unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as NR-U. LTE in an unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as LTE-U, licensed assisted access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0037] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a mmW base station 180 that may operate at millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies and / or sub-mmW 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 super 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 range. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmit and / or receive) over the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. 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. Accordingly, it will be understood that the above illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed as limiting various aspects disclosed herein.

[0038] 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 the signal in all directions (omnidirectional). 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 change the directionality of the RF signal when transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of 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 the transmitters are fed to the individual antennas with the proper phase relationship so that the radio waves from the separate antennas are combined to cancel and suppress radiation in undesired directions while simultaneously enhancing radiation in desired directions.

[0039] 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.

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

[0041] 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.

[0042] 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.

[0043] 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 as 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 papers, although a portion of FR1 is above 6 GHz. A similar nomenclature issue may arise with respect to FR2, which is often referred to (interchangeably) as the "millimeter wave" band in documents and papers, even though it is different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz-300 GHz) identified as the "millimeter wave" band by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

[0044] Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR studies have identified operating bands for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 GHz to 24.25 GHz). Frequency bands included 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. In addition, 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 is included within the EHF band.

[0045] With the above aspects in mind, it should be understood that unless specifically stated otherwise, 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. Furthermore, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that 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.

[0046] 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 a carrier operating on a primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by the UE 104 / 182 and the cell in which the UE 104 / 182 performs an initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common control channels and UE-specific control channels and may (but is not always) be a carrier among licensed frequencies. The secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that may be configured once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier and may be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier may be a carrier among unlicensed frequencies. Since both the primary uplink carrier and the primary downlink carrier are typically UE specific, the secondary carrier shall contain only the necessary signaling information and signals, e.g., there should be no UE specific signaling information and signals in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same applies to the uplink primary carrier. The network may change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers. Since a "serving cell" (whether PCell or SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency / component carrier over which several base stations are communicating, terms such as "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency" and the like may be used interchangeably.

[0047] 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 provide a two-fold increase in data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to the data rate achieved by a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0048] 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.

[0049] In some cases, the UE 164 and the UE 182 may be capable of sidelink communication. Sidelink-capable UEs (SL-UEs) can communicate with the base station 102 over a communication link 120 that uses a Uu interface (i.e., the 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., the air interface between sidelink-capable UEs). The wireless sidelink (or simply "sidelink") is an adaptation of the core cellular (e.g., LTE, NR) standards 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 a group 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. 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 the scheduling of resources for sidelink communications. In other cases, sidelink communications are performed between SL-UEs without the involvement of the base station 102.

[0050] In one aspect, the sidelink 160 may operate on a covered wireless communication medium, which may be shared with other vehicular and / or infrastructure access points, as well as other wireless communications between other RATs. A "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 covered 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 several 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.

[0051] 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.

[0052] 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 UE 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.

[0053] 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, error correction, 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, as used herein, a satellite positioning system may include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellites associated with such one or more satellite positioning systems.

[0054] 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 that 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.

[0055] The wireless communication system 100 may further include one or more UEs, such as a UE 190, that indirectly connect to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as "sidelinks"). In the example of FIG. 1, the UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 (e.g., through which the UE 190 may indirectly obtain cellular connectivity) with one of the UEs 104 connected to one of the base stations 102, and a D2D P2P link 194 (through which the UE 190 may indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity) with a WLAN STA 152 connected to a WLAN AP 150. In one example, the D2D P2P links 192 and 194 may be supported using any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, etc.

[0056] 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 network, 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).

[0057] 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 integrated into components of the core network, or alternatively, may be external to the core network (e.g., a third-party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or a service server).

[0058] 2B illustrates another example wireless network structure 250. 5GC 260 (which may correspond to 5GC 210 in FIG. 2A) may be considered functionally as a control plane function provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) 264 and a user plane function provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate cooperatively to form a core network (i.e., 5GC 260). The functions of the AMF 264 include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transport for session management (SM) messages between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein) and a session management function (SMF) 266, transparent proxy services for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transport for short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and a short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204 to receive intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In case of authentication based on a UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) subscriber identity module (USIM), the AMF 264 retrieves security material from the AUSF. AMF264 functionality also includes security context management (SCM).The SCM receives keys from the SEAF that the SCM uses to derive access network specific keys. The AMF 264 functionality also includes location service management for regulated services, transport for location service messages between the UE 204 and the Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (acting as the location server 230), transport for location service messages between the NG-RAN 220 and the LMF 270, EPS bearer identifier allocation for interworking with an evolved packet system (EPS), and UE 204 mobility event notification. In addition, the AMF 264 also supports functionality for non-3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0059] The functions of the UPF 262 include acting as an anchor point for intra / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to a data network (not shown), routing and forwarding of packets, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, quality of service (QoS) processing for the user plane (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in the downlink), uplink traffic validation (service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and sending and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node. The UPF 262 may also support forwarding of location service messages on the user plane between the UE 204 and a location server such as the SLP 272.

[0060] 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, some control of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0061] 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).

[0062] 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.

[0063] A user plane interface 263 and a 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.

[0064] The functionality of the gNB 222 may be divided between a gNB central unit (gNB-CU) 226, one or more gNB distributed units (gNB-DUs) 228, and one or more gNB radio units (gNB-RUs) 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 generally 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 that 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.

[0065] 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 the operations described 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.

[0066] The UE 302 and the base station 304 each include one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350 (e.g., cellular network transceivers) and each provide 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.

[0067] 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., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Z-Wave, PC5, dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), wireless access for vehicular environments (WAVE), near-field communication (NFC), ultra-wideband (UWB), etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest. 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 WiFi transceivers, Bluetooth® transceivers, Zigbee® and / or Z-Wave® transceivers, NFC transceivers, UWB transceivers, or Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and / or Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) transceivers.

[0068] The UE 302 and 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 a 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, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. If satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, satellite positioning / communications 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 include 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 actions from other systems as appropriate, and may perform calculations, at least in some cases, to determine the locations of UE 302 and base station 304, respectively, using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithms.

[0069] 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.

[0070] A transceiver may be configured to communicate over a wired or wireless link. A transceiver (whether a wired or wireless transceiver) includes transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) and receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362). A transceiver may be an integrated device (e.g., embodying transmitter and receiver circuitry in a single device) in some implementations, may include separate transmitter and 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 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.

[0071] 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.

[0072] 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 provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means for indicating, etc. In an 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.

[0073] The UE 302, base station 304, and 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 provide a means for storing, a means for retrieving, a means for maintaining, etc. In some cases, the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may include sensing components 342, 388, and 398, respectively. The sensing 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, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. In other aspects, the sensing 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 sensing 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 modem processing system, another processing system, etc.) cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. FIG. 3A illustrates possible locations of the sensing 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 sensing 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 sensing 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.

[0074] 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.

[0075] 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.

[0076] 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 functionality associated with broadcast of system information (e.g., master information blocks (MIBs), system information blocks (SIBs)), 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 functionality associated with header compression / decompression, security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with forwarding of upper 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 functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0077] The transmitter 354 and receiver 352 may implement Layer-1 (L1) functionality 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.

[0078] 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 receiver 312 provide layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The receiver 312 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 302. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 302, they may be combined by the receiver 312 into a single OFDM symbol stream. The receiver 312 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, as well as the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation point transmitted by the base station 304. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally transmitted on the physical channel by the base station 304. The data and control signals are then provided to one or more processors 332 that implement Layer-3 (L3) and Layer-2 (L2) functionality.

[0079] 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.

[0080] 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., MIBs, SIBs) 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.

[0081] 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.

[0082] 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.

[0083] 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.

[0084] 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 functionality 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, etc.), 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.

[0085] 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.

[0086] 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, sensing components 342, 388, and 398, etc.

[0087] In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may be separate from the network operator or operation of the cellular network infrastructure (e.g., the NG RAN 220 and / or the 5GC 210 / 260). For example, the network entity 306 may be a component of a private network that may be configured to communicate with the UE 302 via the base station 304 or independently of the base station 304 (e.g., via a non-cellular communication link such as WiFi).

[0088] Wireless communication signals (e.g., RF signals configured to carry OFDM symbols according to a wireless communication standard such as LTE, NR, etc.) transmitted between a UE and a base station may be used for environmental sensing (also referred to as "RF sensing" or "radar"). Using wireless communication signals for environmental sensing may be considered as consumer-level radar with advanced detection capabilities that enable touchless / device-free interaction with devices / systems, among others. The wireless communication signals may be cellular communication signals, such as LTE or NR signals, WLAN signals such as Wi-Fi signals, etc. As a specific example, the wireless communication signals may be OFDM waveforms as utilized in LTE and NR. High frequency communication signals, such as mmW RF signals, are particularly beneficial to use as radar signals, since the higher frequencies at least provide more accurate range (distance) detection.

[0089] Possible use cases for RF sensing include health monitoring use cases such as heart rate detection, respiration rate monitoring etc.; gesture recognition use cases such as human activity recognition, keystroke detection, sign language recognition etc.; contextual information acquisition use cases such as location detection / tracking, direction finding, range estimation etc.; and automotive radar use cases such as smart cruise control, collision avoidance etc.

[0090] There are different types of sensing, including monostatic sensing (also called "active sensing") and bistatic sensing (also called "passive sensing"). Figures 4A and 4B illustrate these different types of sensing. Specifically, Figure 4A is a diagram 400 illustrating a monostatic sensing scenario, and Figure 4B is a diagram 430 illustrating a bistatic sensing scenario. In Figure 4A, a transmitter (Tx) and a receiver (Rx) are co-located within the same device 404 (e.g., a UE). The sensing device 404 transmits one or more RF sensing signals 434 (e.g., an uplink or sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) if the device 404 is a UE), and some of the RF sensing signals 434 reflect from a target object 406. The sensing device 404 can measure various characteristics of the reflections 436 of the RF sensing signals 434 (e.g., times of arrival (ToAs), angles of arrival (AoAs), phase shift, etc.) to determine characteristics of the target object 406 (e.g., size, shape, speed, motion state, etc.).

[0091] Wi-Fi sensing is a type of monostatic sensing (called "channel capture") that is increasingly being integrated into Wi-Fi chipsets. Wi-Fi sensing can use mmW signals in the 60 GHz frequency range (although not limited to this frequency range) and can sense the surrounding environment and estimate the location, orientation, and dimensions of any nearby reflectors (e.g., walls, furniture, human body parts, etc.). Wi-Fi sensing can "see" through walls, generate 3D indoor maps, and sense both LOS and NLOS environments. Since Wi-Fi chipsets are already present in many devices, no additional hardware is required to perform Wi-Fi sensing.

[0092] In Figure 4B, the transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) are not co-located, i.e., they are separate devices (e.g., a UE and a base station). Note that while Figure 4B illustrates the use of a downlink RF signal as the RF sensing signal 432, an uplink RF signal or a sidelink RF signal may also be used as the RF sensing signal 432. In a downlink scenario, the transmitter is a base station and the receiver is a UE as shown, while in an uplink scenario, the transmitter is a UE and the receiver is a base station.

[0093] 4B in more detail, a transmitter device 402 transmits RF sensing signals 432 and 434 (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) to a receiver device 404, where some of the RF sensing signals 434 are reflected from a target object 406. The receiver device 404 (also referred to as a “sensing device”) can measure the times of arrival (ToAs) of the RF sensing signals 432 received directly from the transmitter device and the ToAs of reflections 436 of the RF sensing signals 434 reflected from the target object 406.

[0094] More specifically, as described above, a transmitter device (e.g., a base station) may transmit a single RF signal or multiple RF signals to a receiver device (e.g., a UE). However, the receiver may receive multiple RF signals corresponding to each transmitted RF signal due to the propagation characteristics of the RF signal through a multipath channel. Each path may be associated with one or more clusters of channel taps. In general, the time at which the receiver detects the first cluster of channel taps is considered to be the ToA of the RF signal on a line-of-site (LOS) path (i.e., the shortest path between the transmitter and the receiver). Subsequent clusters of channel taps are considered to have reflected off objects between the transmitter and the receiver and thus followed a non-LOS (NLOS) path between the transmitter and the receiver.

[0095] 4B , the RF sensing signal 432 followed an LOS path between the transmitter device 402 and the receiver device 404, and the RF sensing signal 434 followed an NLOS path between the transmitter device 402 and the receiver device 404 due to reflecting off the target object 406. The transmitter device 402 may have transmitted multiple RF sensing signals 432, 434, some of which followed an LOS path and others of which followed an NLOS path. Alternatively, the transmitter device 402 may have transmitted a single RF sensing signal in a beam wide enough for a portion of the RF sensing signal (RF sensing signal 432) to follow an LOS path and a portion of the RF sensing signal (RF sensing signal 434) to follow an NLOS path.

[0096] Based on the ToA of the LOS path, the ToA of the NLOS path, and the speed of light, the receiver device can determine the distance to the target object(s). For example, the receiver device can calculate the distance to the target object as the difference between the ToA of the LOS path and the ToA of the NLOS path multiplied by the speed of light. In addition, if the receiver device is capable of receive beamforming, the receiver device may be able to determine a rough direction to the target object as the direction (angle) of the receive beam at which the RF sensing signal following the NLOS path is received. That is, the receiver device can determine the direction to the target object as the angle of arrival (AoA) of the RF sensing signal, which is the angle of the receive beam used to receive the RF sensing signal. The receiver device may then optionally report this information to the transmitter device, its serving base station, an application server associated with the core network, an external client, a third-party application, or some other sensing entity. Alternatively, the receiver device may report the ToA measurements to a transmitter device or other sensing entity (e.g., if the receiver device does not have the processing capability to perform the calculations itself), and the transmitter device may determine the distance, and optionally, the direction, to the target object.

[0097] It should be noted that if the RF sensing signal is an uplink RF signal transmitted by the UE to the base station, the base station performs object detection based on the uplink RF signal, exactly in the same way that the UE performs object detection based on the downlink RF signal.

[0098] Similar to conventional radar, wireless communication-based radar signals can be used to estimate the range (distance), velocity (Doppler), and angle (AoA) of a target object. However, performance (e.g., resolution and maximum values ​​of range, velocity, and angle) can depend on the design of the reference signal.

[0099] 5 illustrates an example call flow 500 for an NR-based sensing procedure in which the network configures the sensing parameters (i.e., a bistatic sensing procedure) in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure. Although FIG. 5 illustrates a network-coordinated sensing procedure, the sensing procedure may be coordinated on a sidelink channel.

[0100] In step 505, a sensing server 570 (e.g., inside or outside the core network) sends a request for network (NW) information to a gNB 522 (e.g., a serving gNB of the UE 504). The request may be a request for a list of the serving cell of the UE 504 and any neighboring cells. In step 510, the gNB 522 sends the requested information to the sensing server 570. In step 515, the sensing server 570 sends a request to the UE 504 for sensing capabilities. In step 520, the UE 504 provides its sensing capabilities to the sensing server 570. In step 525, the sensing server 570 sends a configuration to the UE 504 indicating reference signals (RS) to be transmitted for sensing. The reference signals for sensing may be transmitted by the serving cell and / or neighboring cells identified in step 510. In step 530, the sensing server 570 sends a request for sensing information to the UE 504. The UE 504 then measures the transmitted reference signal and in step 535 sends the measurements, or any sensing results determined from the measurements, to the sensing server 570.

[0101] In one aspect, communication between the UE 504 and the sensing server 570 may be via the LTE positioning protocol (LPP). Communication between the sensing server 570 and the gNB may be via the NR positioning protocol type A (NRPPa).

[0102] Monostatic (active) sensing (e.g., where a UE transmits and receives sensing signal(s)) has various limitations compared to bistatic sensing. As an example, monostatic sensing may not be able to determine some characteristics of a target object (e.g., a human, a vehicle, a factory automation robot, a shipping container, furniture, etc.), and instead, multi-hop sensing (as in bistatic sensing) may be required. For example, a sensing device using monostatic sensing can only detect features on one side of a target object. Thus, if the target object is a human (e.g., an intruder), for example, the sensing device cannot detect the human's face if the human turns away from the sensing device.

[0103] As another example, due to power limitations, the distance at which a sensing device can use active sensing may be limited. Thus, relying solely on monostatic sensing may not be practical, especially when a target area or object of interest is outside the sensing range of the sensing device. As yet another example, there may be a requirement that sensing be more accurate in a particular area and / or direction, which may not be possible using monostatic sensing (e.g., due to limitations of the sensing device). Thus, it would be beneficial to allow the sensing device to switch between monostatic and bistatic sensing based on the sensing scenario.

[0104] The present disclosure provides various techniques for switching between monostatic and bistatic sensing. In some cases, the required sensing range may exceed the capabilities of monostatic sensing (e.g., Wi-Fi sensing) for various reasons such as greater attenuation of the sensing signal, dense surrounding environment, large required range of sensing, etc. In such cases, the present disclosure provides techniques for using both monostatic and bistatic sensing (e.g., NR-based sensing) to obtain a map of a larger area than can be obtained from monostatic sensing alone. More specifically, monostatic sensing (e.g., Wi-Fi sensing) is traditionally used at the maximum allowed power to cover the largest possible area, but is still limited by regulatory requirements and the transmit power capabilities of the sensing device (e.g., UE). However, in the case of bistatic sensing (e.g., NR-based sensing), the UE can request the gNB (e.g., gNB 522) or sensing server (e.g., sensing server 570) to configure the sensing reference signal to be transmitted toward or from a particular direction of interest to the UE, thereby extending the range of sensing. In one aspect, the UE may send a request to switch from monostatic to bistatic sensing, although this does not necessarily have to be the case, with or without an explicit switch.

[0105] In addition, the UE can perform simultaneous sensing procedures (i.e., sensing operations) using multiple sources (e.g., monostatic and bistatic). The UE (or sensing server) can then combine information from each source to improve the image or determination of the object. Alternatively, the UE can select only one sensing source, or a subset of the available sensing sources, based on environmental conditions (e.g., attenuation, density of the surrounding environment, required range, etc.).

[0106] In some cases, bistatic sensing (e.g., NR-based sensing requested by the UE or initiated by the network) may be configured based on more specific information than monostatic sensing, such as the direction of interest of the sensing device (e.g., the direction towards a detected object). Thus, the present disclosure provides techniques for indicating the direction in which a sensing device (e.g., UE) is interested in sensing. For example, if the UE is interested in sensing in all directions, the UE may indicate that it is interested in omnidirectional sensing. Otherwise, the UE may indicate that it is interested in a particular direction. The network may then configure the sensing procedure using sidelink and / or downlink reference signals based on the direction requested from the UE. For example, if the UE is requesting to perform sensing only in a particular direction, the network (e.g., sensing server 570, gNB 522) may configure only some gNBs and / or some sidelink UEs to transmit reference signals based on that direction. Or, if the UE is requesting to perform sensing in multiple directions (e.g., omni-directional), the network may configure multiple gNBs and / or sidelink UEs to transmit sensing reference signals based on multiple directions. For example, referring to FIG. 4B, when the receiver 404 determines a direction to the target object 406 (e.g., using monostatic sensing), it may indicate that direction (i.e., a direction of interest) to the transmitter 402. The transmitter 402 may then transmit a sensing signal (e.g., RF sensing signal 434) in a direction toward and / or across the direction of interest (i.e., a transmission direction).

[0107] The present disclosure also provides techniques for dynamically changing the type of sensing based on changes in movement and / or orientation of a detected target. For example, if a target is moving away from the sensing device (e.g., UE) or if the target rotates or turns away from the UE, the UE may request sensing to change from monostatic to bistatic. As an example, if the target is a person and the person turns away from the UE, the UE may request sensing to change from monostatic to bistatic. Bistatic sensing with assistance from the network (e.g., sensing server 570, gNB 522) may thereby be enabled and / or disabled in real time ("on the fly").

[0108] The UE can request this dynamic sensing switch through radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a MAC control element (MAC-CE), or a special uplink control information (UCI) message. The request can be to enable or disable sensing reference signal transmission for bistatic sensing. The sensing signal can be a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) (e.g., downlink PRS or some other CRS) from the gNB, or a sounding reference signal (SRS) or sidelink PRS (SL-PRS) from another UE. Alternatively, the sensing signal can be a reference signal specially designed for sensing.

[0109] In one aspect, bistatic sensing may also be performed solely by a sensing device (e.g., a UE) without assistance from the network. For example, the sensing device may request other devices in the vicinity to transmit sensing signals. The request may be transmitted using a D2D protocol such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi-Direct, NR sidelink, etc. The request may indicate a particular direction in which the sensing device is targeted, a particular configuration of the sensing signal, etc., as well as a request to the network.

[0110] The present disclosure further provides techniques for calibration of monostatic sensing and / or bistatic sensing using pre-configured data. In one aspect, a sensing device (e.g., UE) may use monostatic sensing (e.g., Wi-Fi sensing) to determine characteristics of an object or environment and then use these to calibrate (e.g., determine) parameters for bistatic sensing (e.g., NR-based sensing). For example, the parameters may include a direction from the UE to the target object, an estimated location of the target object, a frequency range for the transmitted sensing signal, a periodicity of the transmitted sensing signal, a transmit power level of the sensing signal, etc. Monostatic and bistatic sensing may be performed simultaneously or sequentially depending on the sensing requirements and / or the capabilities of the sensing device. The sensing device may also, or alternatively, use known pre-configured characteristics of the object or environment (e.g., from architectural plans, street maps, etc.) to calibrate parameters for a subsequent bistatic sensing procedure.

[0111] Although the above generally describes monostatic sensing as Wi-Fi sensing and bistatic sensing as NR sensing, it should be understood that monostatic and bistatic sensing may use other techniques, or in some cases the same technique with different parameters (e.g., different reference signal configurations, different transmit powers, different periodicities, etc.).

[0112] 6 illustrates an example method 600 for dynamically switching between monostatic and bistatic sensing in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure. The method 600 may be performed by a sensing device, such as a UE.

[0113] In step 610, the sensing device evaluates current sensing requirements, such as attenuation of reflected sensing signals, density of the sensing device's surrounding environment, required range of sensing, movement or motion of target objects, direction the sensing device is interested in sensing, etc. In one aspect, operation 610 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, 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.

[0114] At stage 620, the sensing device determines whether bistatic sensing (e.g., NR sensing) is required based on the evaluated sensing requirements. In one aspect, operation 620 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, 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.

[0115] In step 630, if bistatic sensing is required, the sensing device initiates bistatic sensing (i.e., a bistatic sensing operation) with the network or nearby UEs. The sensing device then continues to evaluate sensing requirements. In an aspect, operation 630 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, 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.

[0116] In step 640, if bistatic sensing is not required, the sensing device performs monostatic sensing (i.e., monostatic sensing operation). The sensing device then continues to evaluate sensing requirements. In one aspect, operation 640 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, 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.

[0117] 7 illustrates an example method 700 of environmental sensing according to an aspect of the disclosure. In one aspect, the method 700 may be performed by a UE (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0118] At 710, the UE performs a monostatic sensing operation (procedure) to detect one or more characteristics of one or more objects in the UE's environment. In an aspect, the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects may include one or more motion states of the one or more objects, one or more orientations of the one or more objects, one or more velocities of the one or more objects, one or more directions of movement of the one or more objects, one or more numbers of objects, or any combination thereof. In an aspect, the operation 710 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, 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.

[0119] At 720, the UE, based on the detection of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects, transmits a request to a network entity (e.g., a sensing server, a base station, the UE) to one or more network nodes (e.g., one or more base stations, one or more UEs, or a combination thereof) to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals to assist the UE in performing a bistatic sensing operation (procedure). In one aspect, operation 720 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, 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.

[0120] At 730, the UE performs a bistatic sensing operation based on receipt of the one or more wireless sensing signals to detect additional characteristics of the one or more objects. In an aspect, the additional characteristics of the one or more objects may include values ​​of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects that are more detailed than the values ​​of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects determined from the monostatic sensing operation. In an aspect, the operation 730 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered a means for performing the operation. In an aspect, the bistatic sensing operation may be performed using the same or different transceivers of the one or more WWAN transceivers 310 and / or one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 as those that performed the monostatic sensing operation.

[0121] 8 illustrates an example method 800 of environmental sensing according to an aspect of the disclosure. In one aspect, the method 800 may be performed by a UE (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0122] At 810, the UE performs a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of the UE's environment, one or more objects in the UE's environment, or both. In one aspect, the operation 810 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, 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.

[0123] At 820, the UE transmits one or more parameters for the bistatic sensing operation to a network entity (e.g., a sensing server, a base station, the UE), the one or more parameters having been determined based at least in part on one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both. In one aspect, operation 820 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, 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.

[0124] At 830, the UE performs a bistatic sensing operation based on receiving one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by one or more network nodes (e.g., one or more base stations, one or more UEs, or a combination thereof), the one or more wireless sensing signals being configured based on one or more parameters. In one aspect, the operation 830 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, 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. In one aspect, the bistatic sensing operation may be performed using the same or different transceivers of the one or more WWAN transceivers 310 and / or one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 as those that performed the monostatic sensing operation.

[0125] 9 illustrates an example method 900 of environmental sensing according to an aspect of the disclosure. In one aspect, the method 900 may be performed by a UE (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0126] At 910, the UE performs a monostatic sensing operation to determine at least one direction for the bistatic sensing operation. In one aspect, the operation 910 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning components 342, any or all of which may be considered a means for performing this operation.

[0127] At 920, the UE transmits a request to a network entity (e.g., a sensing server, a base station, a UE) to one or more network nodes (e.g., one or more base stations, one or more UEs, or a combination thereof) to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals based on the at least one direction of interest to assist the UE in performing a bistatic sensing operation. In one aspect, based on the at least one direction of interest being omnidirectional, the one or more network nodes may include multiple network nodes around the UE. In another aspect, based on the at least one direction of interest being a specific angle, the one or more network nodes may include at least one network node configured to transmit wireless sensing signals based on the specific angle. In another aspect, based on the at least one direction of interest being a multiple specific angles, the one or more network nodes may comprise at least one network node configured to transmit wireless sensing signals based on the multiple specific angles. In one aspect, operation 920 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, 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.

[0128] At 930, the UE performs a bistatic sensing operation based on receiving one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted based on at least one direction of interest. In an aspect, operation 930 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered a means for performing the operation. In an aspect, the bistatic sensing operation may be performed using the same or different transceivers of one or more WWAN transceivers 310 and / or one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 that performed the monostatic sensing operation.

[0129] As will be appreciated, although the methods described with reference to Figures 7, 8, and 9 have been described as being performed by a UE, the methods may also be performed by a network node, such as a base station, an access point, or an RSU.

[0130] As can be appreciated, a technical advantage of the methods 700 through 900 is improved sensing performance based on the UE being able to utilize both monostatic and bistatic sensing.

[0131] In the above detailed description, it can be seen that in each example, various features are grouped together. This manner of disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the exemplary clauses have more features than are expressly stated in each clause. Rather, various aspects of the disclosure may include fewer features than all features of each disclosed exemplary clause. Thus, the following clauses should be considered to be incorporated in the description, and each clause may stand alone as a separate example. Although each dependent clause may refer to a specific combination with one of the other clauses in the clause, the aspect(s) of the dependent clause are not limited to that specific combination. It will be understood that other exemplary clauses may also include combinations of the aspect(s) of the dependent clause with any other dependent clause or subject matter of the independent clause, or combinations of any features with other dependent clauses and independent clauses. Various aspects disclosed herein expressly include combinations of specific combinations (e.g., inconsistent aspects, such as defining an element as both an electrical insulator and an electrical conductor) unless these combinations are expressly expressed or can be easily inferred to be not intended. 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.

[0132] The following numbered clauses describe example implementations.

[0133] Clause 1. A method of environmental sensing performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: performing a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of one or more objects in the UE's environment; transmitting a request to a network entity to request one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals to assist the UE in performing a bistatic sensing operation based on the detection of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects; and performing a bistatic sensing operation based on receipt of the one or more wireless sensing signals to detect additional characteristics of the one or more objects.

[0134] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE, and the bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE.

[0135] Clause 3. The method of clause 2, wherein the first wireless transceiver is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) transceiver and the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver.

[0136] Clause 4. The method of clause 2, wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

[0137] Clause 5. The method of any of clauses 1 to 4, wherein the network entity is a serving base station for the UE and the one or more network nodes are one or more base stations (e.g., the serving base station, one or more secondary base stations, one or more neighboring base stations, or any combination thereof).

[0138] Clause 6. The method of clause 5, wherein the request is sent to a network entity via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling, or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling.

[0139] Clause 7. The method of clause 5 or 6, wherein the one or more wireless sensing signals include one or more cell-specific reference signals (CRS) transmitted by one or more network nodes, or one or more reference signals dedicated to sensing, to enable the UE to detect additional characteristics of one or more objects.

[0140] Clause 8. The method of any of clauses 1 to 4, wherein the network entity is a second UE that communicates with the UE, and the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs that communicate with the UE (e.g., the second UE, one or more other UEs, or any combination thereof).

[0141] Clause 9. The method of clause 8, wherein the request is sent to a network entity via device-to-device (D2D) signaling (e.g., sidelink or other D2D signaling).

[0142] Clause 10. The method of clause 8 or 9, wherein the one or more wireless sensing signals include one or more Sounding Reference Signals (SRS) or one or more Sidelink Positioning Reference Signals (SL-PRS) transmitted by one or more network nodes to enable the UE to detect additional characteristics of one or more objects.

[0143] Clause 11. A method according to any of clauses 1 to 4, wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with one or more network nodes.

[0144] Clause 12. The method of any of clauses 1 to 11, wherein the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects comprises a motion state of the one or more objects, an orientation of the one or more objects, a speed of the one or more objects, a direction of movement of the one or more objects, a number of the one or more objects, or any combination thereof.

[0145] Clause 13. A method according to any of clauses 1 to 12, wherein the additional properties of the one or more objects include values ​​of the one or more properties of the one or more objects that are more detailed than the values ​​of the one or more properties of the one or more objects determined from the monostatic sensing operation.

[0146] Clause 14. A method of environmental sensing performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: performing a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of the UE's environment, one or more objects in the UE's environment, or both; transmitting one or more parameters for a bistatic sensing operation to a network entity, the one or more parameters being determined based at least in part on one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both; and performing a bistatic sensing operation based on receiving one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by one or more network nodes, the one or more wireless sensing signals being configured based on the one or more parameters.

[0147] Clause 15. The method of clause 14, wherein the one or more parameters include at least one parameter based on preconfigured characteristics of the environment, one or more objects, or both.

[0148] Clause 16. The method of clause 15, wherein the pre-configured characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both, include a map of the environment.

[0149] Clause 17. A method according to any of clauses 14 to 16, wherein the one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both, comprise a location of the UE within the environment, an orientation of the UE relative to the environment, a motion state of the one or more objects, an orientation of the one or more objects, a velocity of the one or more objects, a direction of movement of the one or more objects, a number of the one or more objects, or any combination thereof.

[0150] Clause 18. A method as described in any of clauses 14 to 17, wherein the one or more parameters for the bistatic sensing operation include a direction of one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by the one or more network nodes, a frequency range of the one or more wireless sensing signals, a periodicity of the one or more wireless sensing signals, or any combination thereof.

[0151] Clause 19. The method of any of clauses 14 to 18, wherein the monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE and the bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE.

[0152] Clause 20. The method of clause 19, wherein the first wireless transceiver is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) transceiver and the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver.

[0153] Clause 21. The method of clause 19, wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

[0154] Clause 22. The method of any of clauses 14 to 21, wherein the network entity is a serving base station for the UE, the one or more network nodes are one or more base stations (e.g., the serving base station, one or more secondary base stations, one or more neighboring base stations, or any combination thereof), and the one or more parameters are transmitted to the network entity via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling, or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling.

[0155] Clause 23. A method according to any of clauses 14 to 21, wherein the network entity is a second UE that communicates with the UE, the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs (e.g. the second UE, one or more other UEs, or any combination thereof) that communicate with the UE, and the one or more parameters are transmitted to the network entity via Device-to-Device (D2D) signalling.

[0156] Clause 24. A method according to any of clauses 14 to 21, wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with one or more network nodes.

[0157] Clause 25. A method of environmental sensing performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: performing a monostatic sensing operation to determine at least one direction of interest for a bistatic sensing operation; transmitting a request to a network entity to request one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals based on the at least one direction of interest to assist the UE in performing the bistatic sensing operation; and performing the bistatic sensing operation based on reception of the one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted based on the at least one direction of interest.

[0158] Clause 26. The method of clause 25, wherein the one or more network nodes include a plurality of network nodes around the UE, based on at least one direction of interest being omnidirectional.

[0159] Clause 27. The method of clause 25 or 26, comprising one or more network nodes, the at least one network node configured to transmit a wireless sensing signal based on a particular angle, based on at least one direction of interest being at a particular angle.

[0160] Clause 28. A method according to any of clauses 25 to 27, comprising at least one network node configured to transmit wireless sensing signals based on a plurality of particular angles, the one or more network nodes being based on at least one direction of interest being a plurality of particular angles.

[0161] Clause 29. The method of any of clauses 25 to 28, wherein the monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE and the bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE.

[0162] Clause 30. The method of clause 29, wherein the first wireless transceiver is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) transceiver and the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver.

[0163] Clause 31. The method of clause 29, wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

[0164] Clause 32. The method of any of clauses 25 to 31, wherein the network entity is a serving base station for the UE, the one or more network nodes are one or more base stations (e.g., the serving base station, one or more secondary base stations, one or more neighboring base stations, or any combination thereof), and the request is sent to the network entity via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling, or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling.

[0165] Clause 33. A method according to any of clauses 25 to 31, wherein the network entity is a second UE in communication with the UE, the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs in communication with the UE (e.g. the second UE, one or more other UEs, or any combination thereof), and the request is sent to the network entity via device-to-device (D2D) signalling.

[0166] Clause 34. A method according to any of clauses 25 to 31, wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with one or more network nodes.

[0167] Clause 35. A user equipment (UE), 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: perform a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of one or more objects in an environment of the UE; transmit a request to one or more network entities via the at least one transceiver to request one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals to assist the UE in performing a bistatic sensing operation based on the detection of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects; and perform a bistatic sensing operation based on receipt of the one or more wireless sensing signals to detect additional characteristics of the one or more objects.

[0168] Clause 36. The UE of clause 35, wherein a monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE and a bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE.

[0169] Clause 37. The UE of clause 36, wherein the first wireless transceiver is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) transceiver and the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver.

[0170] Clause 38. The UE of clause 36, wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

[0171] Clause 39. A UE according to any of clauses 35 to 38, wherein the network entity is a serving base station for the UE and the one or more network nodes are one or more base stations.

[0172] Clause 40. The UE of clause 39, wherein the request is transmitted to the network entity via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling, or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling.

[0173] Clause 41. A UE as described in clause 39 or 40, wherein the one or more wireless sensing signals include one or more cell-specific reference signals (CRS) transmitted by one or more network nodes, or one or more reference signals dedicated to sensing, to enable the UE to detect additional characteristics of one or more objects.

[0174] Clause 42. The UE of any of clauses 35 to 38, wherein the network entity is a second UE in communication with the UE, and the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs in communication with the UE.

[0175] Clause 43. The UE of clause 42, wherein the request is sent to the network entity via device-to-device (D2D) signaling.

[0176] Clause 44. A UE as described in Clause 42 or 43, wherein the one or more wireless sensing signals include one or more Sounding Reference Signals (SRS) or one or more Sidelink Positioning Reference Signals (SL-PRS) transmitted by one or more network nodes to enable the UE to detect additional characteristics of one or more objects.

[0177] Clause 45. A UE according to any of clauses 35 to 38, wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with one or more network nodes.

[0178] Clause 46. The UE of any of clauses 35 to 45, wherein the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects include a motion state of the one or more objects, an orientation of the one or more objects, a speed of the one or more objects, a direction of movement of the one or more objects, a number of the one or more objects, or any combination thereof.

[0179] Clause 47. A UE as described in any of clauses 35 to 46, wherein the additional characteristics of the one or more objects include values ​​of one or more characteristics of the one or more objects that are more detailed than the values ​​of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects determined from the monostatic sensing operation.

[0180] Clause 48. A user equipment (UE), 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: perform a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of an environment of the UE, one or more objects in the UE's environment, or both; transmit one or more parameters for the bistatic sensing operation to a network entity via the at least one transceiver, the one or more parameters being determined based at least in part on the one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both; and perform the bistatic sensing operation based on receiving one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by one or more network nodes, the one or more wireless sensing signals being configured based on the one or more parameters.

[0181] Clause 49. The UE of clause 48, wherein the one or more parameters include at least one parameter based on preconfigured characteristics of an environment, one or more objects, or both.

[0182] Clause 50. The UE of clause 49, wherein the preconfigured characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both, include a map of the environment.

[0183] Clause 51. A UE as described in any of clauses 48 to 50, wherein the one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both, comprise a location of the UE within the environment, an orientation of the UE relative to the environment, a motion state of the one or more objects, an orientation of the one or more objects, a speed of the one or more objects, a direction of movement of the one or more objects, a number of the one or more objects, or any combination thereof.

[0184] Clause 52. A UE as described in any of clauses 48 to 51, wherein the one or more parameters for the bistatic sensing operation include a direction of one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by one or more network nodes, a frequency range of the one or more wireless sensing signals, a periodicity of the one or more wireless sensing signals, or any combination thereof.

[0185] Clause 53. A UE as described in any of clauses 48 to 52, wherein a monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE and a bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE.

[0186] Clause 54. The UE of clause 53, wherein the first wireless transceiver is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) transceiver and the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver.

[0187] Clause 55. The UE of clause 53, wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

[0188] Clause 56. A UE as described in any of clauses 48 to 55, wherein the network entity is a serving base station for the UE, the one or more network nodes are one or more base stations, and the one or more parameters are transmitted to the network entity via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling, or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling.

[0189] Clause 57. A UE as described in any of clauses 48 to 55, wherein the network entity is a second UE that communicates with the UE, the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs that communicate with the UE, and the one or more parameters are transmitted to the network entity via device-to-device (D2D) signaling.

[0190] Clause 58. A UE according to any of clauses 48 to 55, wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with one or more network nodes.

[0191] Clause 59. A user equipment (UE), 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: perform a monostatic sensing operation to determine at least one direction of interest for a bistatic sensing operation; transmit a request to a network entity via the at least one transceiver to request one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals based on the at least one direction of interest to assist the UE in performing the bistatic sensing operation; and perform the bistatic sensing operation based on reception of the one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted based on the at least one direction of interest.

[0192] Clause 60. The UE of clause 59, wherein the one or more network nodes include a plurality of network nodes around the UE, based on at least one direction of interest being omnidirectional.

[0193] Clause 61. A UE as described in Clause 59 or 60, including at least one network node configured to transmit a wireless sensing signal based on a particular angle, where the one or more network nodes are configured to transmit a wireless sensing signal based on the particular angle, based on at least one direction of interest being at a particular angle.

[0194] Clause 62. A UE as described in any of clauses 59 to 61, including at least one network node configured to transmit a wireless sensing signal based on a plurality of particular angles, where the one or more network nodes are configured to transmit a wireless sensing signal based on a plurality of particular angles, based on at least one direction of interest being a plurality of particular angles.

[0195] Clause 63. A UE as described in any of clauses 59 to 62, wherein a monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE and a bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE.

[0196] Clause 64. The UE of clause 63, wherein the first wireless transceiver is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) transceiver and the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver.

[0197] Clause 65. The UE of clause 63, wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

[0198] Clause 66. A UE as described in any of clauses 59 to 65, wherein the network entity is a serving base station for the UE, the one or more network nodes are one or more base stations, and the request is sent to the network entity via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling, or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling.

[0199] Clause 67. A UE as described in any of clauses 59 to 65, wherein the network entity is a second UE that communicates with the UE, the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs that communicate with the UE, and the request is sent to the network entity via device-to-device (D2D) signaling.

[0200] Clause 68. A UE according to any of clauses 59 to 65, wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with one or more network nodes.

[0201] Clause 69. A user equipment (UE), comprising: means for performing a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of one or more objects in an environment of the UE; means for transmitting a request to a network entity to request one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals to assist the UE in performing a bistatic sensing operation based on the detection of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects; and means for performing a bistatic sensing operation based on reception of the one or more wireless sensing signals to detect additional characteristics of the one or more objects.

[0202] Clause 70. The UE of clause 69, wherein a monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE, and a bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE.

[0203] Clause 71. The UE of clause 70, wherein the first wireless transceiver is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) transceiver and the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver.

[0204] Clause 72. The UE of clause 70, wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

[0205] Clause 73. A UE according to any of clauses 69 to 72, wherein the network entity is a serving base station for the UE and the one or more network nodes are one or more base stations.

[0206] Clause 74. The UE of clause 73, wherein the request is transmitted to the network entity via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, medium access control control element (MAC-CE) signaling, or uplink control information (UCI) signaling.

[0207] Clause 75. A UE as described in clause 73 or 74, wherein the one or more wireless sensing signals include one or more cell-specific reference signals (CRS) transmitted by one or more network nodes, or one or more reference signals dedicated to sensing, to enable the UE to detect additional characteristics of one or more objects.

[0208] Clause 76. The UE of any of clauses 69 to 72, wherein the network entity is a second UE in communication with the UE, and the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs in communication with the UE.

[0209] Clause 77. The UE of clause 76, wherein the request is sent to the network entity via device-to-device (D2D) signaling.

[0210] Clause 78. A UE as described in Clause 76 or 77, wherein the one or more wireless sensing signals include one or more Sounding Reference Signals (SRS) or one or more Sidelink Positioning Reference Signals (SL-PRS) transmitted by one or more network nodes to enable the UE to detect additional characteristics of one or more objects.

[0211] Clause 79. The UE according to any of clauses 69 to 72, wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with one or more network nodes.

[0212] Clause 80. The UE of any of clauses 69 to 79, wherein the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects include a motion state of the one or more objects, an orientation of the one or more objects, a speed of the one or more objects, a direction of movement of the one or more objects, a number of the one or more objects, or any combination thereof.

[0213] Clause 81. A UE as described in any of clauses 69 to 80, wherein the additional characteristics of the one or more objects include values ​​of one or more characteristics of the one or more objects that are more detailed than the values ​​of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects determined from the monostatic sensing operation.

[0214] Clause 82. A user equipment (UE), comprising: means for performing a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of the UE's environment, one or more objects in the UE's environment, or both; means for transmitting one or more parameters for the bistatic sensing operation to a network entity, the one or more parameters being determined based at least in part on the one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both; and means for performing a bistatic sensing operation based on receiving one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by one or more network nodes, the one or more wireless sensing signals being configured based on the one or more parameters.

[0215] Clause 83. The UE of clause 82, wherein the one or more parameters include at least one parameter based on preconfigured characteristics of an environment, one or more objects, or both.

[0216] Clause 84. The UE of clause 83, wherein the preconfigured characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both, include a map of the environment.

[0217] Clause 85. A UE as described in any of clauses 82 to 84, wherein the one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both, comprise a position of the UE in the environment, an orientation of the UE relative to the environment, a motion state of the one or more objects, an orientation of the one or more objects, a speed of the one or more objects, a direction of movement of the one or more objects, a number of the one or more objects, or any combination thereof.

[0218] Clause 86. A UE as described in any of clauses 82 to 85, wherein the one or more parameters for the bistatic sensing operation include a direction of one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by one or more network nodes, a frequency range of the one or more wireless sensing signals, a periodicity of the one or more wireless sensing signals, or any combination thereof.

[0219] Clause 87. A UE as described in any of clauses 82 to 86, wherein a monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE and a bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE.

[0220] Clause 88. The UE of clause 87, wherein the first wireless transceiver is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) transceiver and the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver.

[0221] Clause 89. The UE of clause 87, wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

[0222] Clause 90. A UE as described in any of clauses 82 to 89, wherein the network entity is a serving base station for the UE, the one or more network nodes are one or more base stations, and the one or more parameters are transmitted to the network entity via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling, or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling.

[0223] Clause 91. A UE as described in any of clauses 82 to 89, wherein the network entity is a second UE that communicates with the UE, the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs that communicate with the UE, and the one or more parameters are transmitted to the network entity via device-to-device (D2D) signaling.

[0224] Clause 92. A UE according to any of clauses 82 to 89, wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with one or more network nodes.

[0225] Clause 93. A user equipment (UE), comprising: means for performing a monostatic sensing operation to determine at least one direction of interest for a bistatic sensing operation; means for transmitting a request to a network entity to request one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals based on the at least one direction of interest to assist the UE in performing the bistatic sensing operation; and means for performing the bistatic sensing operation based on reception of the one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted based on the at least one direction of interest.

[0226] Clause 94. The UE of clause 93, wherein the one or more network nodes include a plurality of network nodes around the UE, based on at least one direction of interest being omnidirectional.

[0227] Clause 95. A UE as described in Clause 93 or 94, including at least one network node configured to transmit a wireless sensing signal based on a particular angle, where the one or more network nodes are configured to transmit a wireless sensing signal based on the particular angle, based on at least one direction of interest being at a particular angle.

[0228] Clause 96. A UE as described in any of clauses 93 to 95, including at least one network node configured to transmit wireless sensing signals based on a plurality of particular angles, where the one or more network nodes are configured to transmit wireless sensing signals based on a plurality of particular angles, based on at least one direction of interest being a plurality of particular angles.

[0229] Clause 97. A UE as described in any of clauses 93 to 96, wherein a monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE and a bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE.

[0230] Clause 98. The UE of clause 97, wherein the first wireless transceiver is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) transceiver and the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver.

[0231] Clause 99. The UE of clause 97, wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

[0232] Clause 100. A UE as described in any of clauses 93 to 99, wherein the network entity is a serving base station for the UE, the one or more network nodes are one or more base stations, and the request is sent to the network entity via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, medium access control control element (MAC-CE) signaling, or uplink control information (UCI) signaling.

[0233] Clause 101. A UE as described in any of clauses 93 to 99, wherein the network entity is a second UE that communicates with the UE, the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs that communicate with the UE, and the request is sent to the network entity via device-to-device (D2D) signaling.

[0234] Clause 102. A UE according to any of clauses 93 to 99, wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with one or more network nodes.

[0235] Clause 103. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to perform a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of one or more objects in the UE's environment, transmit a request to a network entity to request one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals to assist the UE in performing a bistatic sensing operation based on the detection of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects, and perform a bistatic sensing operation based on receipt of the one or more wireless sensing signals to detect additional characteristics of the one or more objects.

[0236] Clause 104. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 103, wherein the monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE and the bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE.

[0237] Clause 105. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 104, wherein the first wireless transceiver is a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver and the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver.

[0238] Clause 106. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 104, wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

[0239] Clause 107. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 103 to 106, wherein the network entity is a serving base station for the UE and the one or more network nodes are one or more base stations.

[0240] Clause 108. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 107, wherein the request is transmitted to the network entity via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, medium access control control element (MAC-CE) signaling, or uplink control information (UCI) signaling.

[0241] Clause 109. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 107 or 108, wherein the one or more wireless sensing signals include one or more cell-specific reference signals (CRS) transmitted by one or more network nodes to enable the UE to detect additional characteristics of one or more objects, or one or more reference signals dedicated to sensing.

[0242] Clause 110. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 103 to 106, wherein the network entity is a second UE that communicates with the UE, and the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs that communicate with the UE.

[0243] Clause 111. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 110, wherein the request is transmitted to the network entity via device-to-device (D2D) signaling.

[0244] Clause 112. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 110 or 111, wherein the one or more wireless sensing signals include one or more sounding reference signals (SRS) or one or more sidelink positioning reference signals (SL-PRS) transmitted by one or more network nodes to enable the UE to detect additional characteristics of one or more objects.

[0245] Clause 113. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 103 to 106, wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with one or more network nodes.

[0246] Clause 114. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 103 to 113, wherein the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects include a motion state of the one or more objects, an orientation of the one or more objects, a speed of the one or more objects, a direction of movement of the one or more objects, a number of the one or more objects, or any combination thereof.

[0247] Clause 115. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any of clauses 103 to 114, wherein the additional properties of the one or more objects include values ​​of the one or more properties of the one or more objects that are more detailed than the values ​​of the one or more properties of the one or more objects determined from the monostatic sensing operation.

[0248] Clause 116. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to perform a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of the UE's environment, one or more objects in the UE's environment, or both, and to transmit one or more parameters for the bistatic sensing operation to a network entity, the one or more parameters being determined based at least in part on the one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both, and to perform the bistatic sensing operation based on reception of one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by one or more network nodes, the one or more wireless sensing signals being configured based on the one or more parameters.

[0249] Clause 117. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 116, wherein the one or more parameters include at least one parameter based on preconfigured characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both.

[0250] Clause 118. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 117, wherein the pre-configured characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both, include a map of the environment.

[0251] Clause 119. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 116 to 118, wherein the one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both include a location of the UE within the environment, an orientation of the UE relative to the environment, a motion state of the one or more objects, an orientation of the one or more objects, a velocity of the one or more objects, a direction of movement of the one or more objects, a number of the one or more objects, or any combination thereof.

[0252] Clause 120. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any of clauses 116 to 119, wherein the one or more parameters for the bistatic sensing operation include a direction of one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by one or more network nodes, a frequency range of the one or more wireless sensing signals, a periodicity of the one or more wireless sensing signals, or any combination thereof.

[0253] Clause 121. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 116 to 120, wherein the monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE and the bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE.

[0254] Clause 122. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 121, wherein the first wireless transceiver is a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver and the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver.

[0255] Clause 123. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 121, wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

[0256] Clause 124. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 116 to 123, wherein the network entity is a serving base station for the UE, the one or more network nodes are one or more base stations, and the one or more parameters are transmitted to the network entity via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling, or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling.

[0257] Clause 125. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any of clauses 116 to 123, wherein the network entity is a second UE that communicates with the UE, the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs that communicate with the UE, and the one or more parameters are transmitted to the network entity via device-to-device (D2D) signaling.

[0258] Clause 126. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 116 to 123, wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with one or more network nodes.

[0259] Clause 127. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to perform a monostatic sensing operation to determine at least one direction of interest for the bistatic sensing operation, transmit a request to a network entity to request one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals based on the at least one direction of interest to assist the UE in performing the bistatic sensing operation, and perform a bistatic sensing operation based on receipt of the one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted based on the at least one direction of interest.

[0260] Clause 128. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 127, wherein the one or more network nodes include a plurality of network nodes around the UE based on at least one direction of interest being omnidirectional.

[0261] Clause 129. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 127 or 128, comprising at least one network node configured to transmit a wireless sensing signal based on a particular angle, the one or more network nodes being configured to transmit a wireless sensing signal based on a particular angle, based on at least one direction of interest being at a particular angle.

[0262] Clause 130. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any of clauses 127 to 129, comprising at least one network node, the one or more network nodes being configured to transmit wireless sensing signals based on a plurality of particular angles, based on at least one direction of interest being a plurality of particular angles.

[0263] Clause 131. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 127 to 130, wherein the monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE and the bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE.

[0264] Clause 132. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 131, wherein the first wireless transceiver is a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver and the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver.

[0265] Clause 133. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 131, wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

[0266] Clause 134. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 127 to 133, wherein the network entity is a serving base station for the UE, the one or more network nodes are one or more base stations, and the request is sent to the network entity via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling, or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling.

[0267] Clause 135. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any of clauses 127 to 133, wherein the network entity is a second UE that communicates with the UE, the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs that communicate with the UE, and the request is sent to the network entity via device-to-device (D2D) signaling.

[0268] Clause 136. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 127 to 133, wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with one or more network nodes.

[0269] 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.

[0270] Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various exemplary components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may realize the described functionality in various ways for each particular application, and such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0271] The various example logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed using a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0272] 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.

[0273] 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 include 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 may be 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 are also intended to be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0274] 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. A method of environment sensing implemented by a user equipment (UE), comprising: performing a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of one or more objects in an environment of the UE; transmitting a request to a network entity to request one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals to assist the UE in performing a bistatic sensing operation based on detection of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects; performing the bistatic sensing operation based on receiving the one or more wireless sensing signals to detect additional characteristics of the one or more objects; The method includes:

2. The monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE; The bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE. The method of claim 1.

3. the first wireless transceiver is a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver; the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver; The method of claim 2.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

5. the network entity is a serving base station for the UE; the one or more network nodes being one or more base stations; The method of claim 1.

6. the request is sent to the network entity via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling, or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling. The method according to claim 5.

7. the one or more wireless sensing signals: one or more Cell-Specific Reference Signals (CRS) transmitted by the one or more network nodes to enable the UE to detect the additional characteristic of the one or more objects; or including one or more reference signals dedicated to sensing; The method according to claim 5.

8. the network entity is a second UE in communication with the UE; the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs in communication with the UE; The method of claim 1.

9. the request is sent to the network entity via device-to-device (D2D) signaling. The method according to claim 8.

10. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more wireless sensing signals comprise one or more Sounding Reference Signals (SRS) or one or more Sidelink Positioning Reference Signals (SL-PRS) transmitted by the one or more network nodes to enable the UE to detect the additional characteristics of the one or more objects.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with the one or more network nodes.

12. 2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects comprise a motion state of the one or more objects, an orientation of the one or more objects, a velocity of the one or more objects, a direction of movement of the one or more objects, a number of the one or more objects, or any combination thereof.

13. 2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the additional properties of the one or more objects include values ​​of the one or more properties of the one or more objects that are more detailed than values ​​of the one or more properties of the one or more objects determined from the monostatic sensing operation.

14. A method of environment sensing implemented by a user equipment (UE), comprising: performing a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of an environment of the UE, one or more objects in the environment of the UE, or both; transmitting one or more parameters for a bistatic sensing operation to a network entity, the one or more parameters being determined based at least in part on the one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both; performing the bistatic sensing operation based on receiving one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by one or more network nodes, the one or more wireless sensing signals being configured based on the one or more parameters; A method comprising:

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more parameters include at least one parameter based on preconfigured characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the pre-configured characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both, include a map of the environment.

17. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both include a location of the UE in the environment, an orientation of the UE with respect to the environment, a motion state of the one or more objects, an orientation of the one or more objects, a velocity of the one or more objects, a direction of movement of the one or more objects, a number of the one or more objects, or any combination thereof.

18. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more parameters for the bistatic sensing operation include a direction of the one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by the one or more network nodes, a frequency range of the one or more wireless sensing signals, a periodicity of the one or more wireless sensing signals, a transmit power level of the one or more wireless sensing signals, or any combination thereof.

19. The monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE; The bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE. The method of claim 14.

20. the first wireless transceiver is a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver; the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver; 20. The method of claim 19.

21. 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

22. the network entity is a serving base station for the UE; the one or more network nodes being one or more base stations; the one or more parameters are transmitted to the network entity via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling, or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling. The method of claim 14.

23. the network entity is a second UE in communication with the UE; the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs in communication with the UE; the one or more parameters are transmitted to the network entity via device-to-device (D2D) signaling. The method of claim 14.

24. The method of claim 14 , wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with the one or more network nodes.

25. A method of environment sensing implemented by a user equipment (UE), comprising: performing a monostatic sensing operation to determine at least one direction that is subject to a bistatic sensing operation; sending a request to a network entity to request one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals based on the at least one direction of interest to assist the UE in performing the bistatic sensing operation; performing the bistatic sensing operation based on receiving the one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted based on at least one direction of interest; A method comprising:

26. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein the one or more network nodes include a plurality of network nodes around the UE based on the at least one direction of interest being omnidirectional.

27. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein the one or more network nodes include at least one network node configured to transmit a wireless sensing signal based on the at least one direction of interest being at a particular angle.

28. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein the one or more network nodes include at least one network node configured to transmit a wireless sensing signal based on the plurality of particular angles, based on the at least one direction of interest being a plurality of particular angles.

29. The monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE; The bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE.

26. The method of claim 25.

30. the first wireless transceiver is a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver; the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver; 30. The method of claim 29.

31. 30. The method of claim 29, wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

32. the network entity is a serving base station for the UE; the one or more network nodes being one or more base stations; the request is sent to the network entity via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling, or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling.

26. The method of claim 25.

33. the network entity is a second UE in communication with the UE; the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs in communication with the UE; the request is sent to the network entity via device-to-device (D2D) signaling.

26. The method of claim 25.

34. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with the one or more network nodes.

35. A user equipment (UE), Memory, At least one transceiver; at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor comprising: performing a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of one or more objects within an environment of the UE; transmitting, via the at least one transceiver, a request to one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals to assist the UE in performing a bistatic sensing operation based on detection of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects; performing the bistatic sensing operation based on receiving the one or more wireless sensing signals to detect additional characteristics of the one or more objects. The UE is configured to:

36. The monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE; The bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE.

36. The UE of claim 35.

37. the first wireless transceiver is a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver; the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver; 37. The UE of claim 36.

38. 37. The UE of claim 36, wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

39. the network entity is a serving base station for the UE; the one or more network nodes being one or more base stations; 36. The UE of claim 35.

40. the request is sent to the network entity via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling, or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling.

40. The UE of claim 39.

41. the one or more wireless sensing signals: one or more Cell-Specific Reference Signals (CRS) transmitted by the one or more network nodes to enable the UE to detect the additional characteristic of the one or more objects; or including one or more reference signals dedicated to sensing; 40. The UE of claim 39.

42. the network entity is a second UE in communication with the UE; the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs in communication with the UE; 36. The UE of claim 35.

43. the request is sent to the network entity via device-to-device (D2D) signaling.

43. The UE of claim 42.

44. 43. The UE of claim 42, wherein the one or more wireless sensing signals comprise one or more Sounding Reference Signals (SRS) or one or more Sidelink Positioning Reference Signals (SL-PRS) transmitted by the one or more network nodes to enable the UE to detect the additional characteristics of the one or more objects.

45. 36. The UE of claim 35, wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with the one or more network nodes.

46. 36. The UE of claim 35, wherein the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects include a motion state of the one or more objects, an orientation of the one or more objects, a velocity of the one or more objects, a direction of movement of the one or more objects, a number of the one or more objects, or any combination thereof.

47. 36. The UE of claim 35, wherein the additional characteristics of the one or more objects include values ​​of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects that are more detailed than values ​​of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects determined from the monostatic sensing operation.

48. A user equipment (UE), Memory, At least one transceiver; at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor comprising: performing a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of an environment of the UE, one or more objects in the environment of the UE, or both; transmitting one or more parameters for a bistatic sensing operation to a network entity via the at least one transceiver, the one or more parameters being determined based at least in part on the one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both; performing the bistatic sensing operation based on receiving one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by one or more network nodes, the one or more wireless sensing signals being configured based on the one or more parameters. The UE is configured to:

49. 49. The UE of claim 48, wherein the one or more parameters include at least one parameter based on preconfigured characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both.

50. 50. The UE of claim 49, wherein the pre-configured characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both include a map of the environment.

51. 49. The UE of claim 48, wherein the one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both include a location of the UE within the environment, an orientation of the UE relative to the environment, a motion state of the one or more objects, an orientation of the one or more objects, a velocity of the one or more objects, a direction of movement of the one or more objects, a number of the one or more objects, or any combination thereof.

52. 49. The UE of claim 48, wherein the one or more parameters for the bistatic sensing operation include a direction of the one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by the one or more network nodes, a frequency range of the one or more wireless sensing signals, a periodicity of the one or more wireless sensing signals, or any combination thereof.

53. The monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE; The bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE.

49. The UE of claim 48.

54. the first wireless transceiver is a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver; the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver; 54. The UE of claim 53.

55. 54. The UE of claim 53, wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

56. the network entity is a serving base station for the UE; the one or more network nodes being one or more base stations; the one or more parameters are transmitted to the network entity via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling, or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling.

49. The UE of claim 48.

57. the network entity is a second UE in communication with the UE; the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs in communication with the UE; the one or more parameters are transmitted to the network entity via device-to-device (D2D) signaling.

49. The UE of claim 48.

58. 49. The UE of claim 48, wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with the one or more network nodes.

59. A user equipment (UE), Memory, At least one transceiver; at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor comprising: performing a monostatic sensing operation to determine at least one direction that is subject to a bistatic sensing operation; transmitting a request to a network entity via the at least one transceiver to request one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals based on the at least one direction of interest to assist the UE in performing the bistatic sensing operation; performing the bistatic sensing operation based on receiving the one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted based on the at least one direction of interest. The UE is configured to:

60. 60. The UE of claim 59, wherein the one or more network nodes include a plurality of network nodes around the UE based on the at least one direction of interest being omnidirectional.

61. 60. The UE of claim 59, wherein the one or more network nodes include at least one network node configured to transmit a wireless sensing signal based on the at least one direction of interest being a particular angle.

62. 60. The UE of claim 59, wherein the one or more network nodes include at least one network node configured to transmit a wireless sensing signal based on the plurality of particular angles, based on the at least one direction of interest being a plurality of particular angles.

63. The monostatic sensing operation is performed using a first wireless transceiver of the UE; The bistatic sensing operation is performed using a second wireless transceiver of the UE.

60. The UE of claim 59.

64. the first wireless transceiver is a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver; the second wireless transceiver is a cellular network transceiver; 64. The UE of claim 63.

65. 64. The UE of claim 63, wherein the second wireless transceiver is the same as the first wireless transceiver.

66. the network entity is a serving base station for the UE; the one or more network nodes being one or more base stations; the request is sent to the network entity via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling, or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling.

60. The UE of claim 59.

67. the network entity is a second UE in communication with the UE; the one or more network nodes are one or more UEs in communication with the UE; the request is sent to the network entity via device-to-device (D2D) signaling.

60. The UE of claim 59.

68. 60. The UE of claim 59, wherein the network entity is a sensing server in communication with the one or more network nodes.

69. A user equipment (UE), means for performing a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of one or more objects in an environment of the UE; means for transmitting a request to a network entity to one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals to assist the UE in performing a bistatic sensing operation based on detection of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects; means for performing the bistatic sensing operation based on receipt of the one or more wireless sensing signals to detect additional characteristics of the one or more objects; A UE comprising:

70. A user equipment (UE), means for performing a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of an environment of the UE, one or more objects in the environment of the UE, or both; means for transmitting one or more parameters for a bistatic sensing operation to a network entity, the one or more parameters being determined based at least in part on the one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both; means for performing the bistatic sensing operation based on reception of one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by one or more network nodes, the one or more wireless sensing signals being configured based on the one or more parameters; A UE comprising:

71. A user equipment (UE), means for performing a monostatic sensing operation to determine at least one direction in which a bistatic sensing operation is performed; means for transmitting a request to a network entity to request one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals based on the at least one direction of interest to assist the UE in performing the bistatic sensing operation; means for performing the bistatic sensing operation based on receiving the one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted based on the at least one direction of interest; A UE comprising:

72. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: performing a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of one or more objects within an environment of the UE; causing a network entity to transmit a request to one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals to assist the UE in performing a bistatic sensing operation based on detection of the one or more characteristics of the one or more objects; performing the bistatic sensing operation based on receiving the one or more wireless sensing signals to detect additional characteristics of the one or more objects. Non-transitory computer-readable medium.

73. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: performing a monostatic sensing operation to detect one or more characteristics of an environment of the UE, one or more objects in the environment of the UE, or both; causing a network entity to transmit one or more parameters for a bistatic sensing operation, the one or more parameters being determined based at least in part on the one or more characteristics of the environment, the one or more objects, or both; performing the bistatic sensing operation based on receiving one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted by one or more network nodes, the one or more wireless sensing signals being configured based on the one or more parameters. Non-transitory computer-readable medium.

74. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: performing a monostatic sensing operation to determine at least one direction in which the bistatic sensing operation is performed; causing a network entity to transmit a request to one or more network nodes to transmit one or more wireless sensing signals based on the at least one direction of interest to assist the UE in performing the bistatic sensing operation; performing the bistatic sensing operation based on receiving the one or more wireless sensing signals transmitted based on the at least one direction of interest. Non-transitory computer-readable medium.

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