Area-specific on-demand sensing reference signal configurations

Abstract

Disclosed are techniques for wireless communication. In an aspect, a sensing node may receive, from a sensing server, a first on-demand sensing zone-specific reference signal (RS) configuration comprising one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources. In some cases, each set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources may be associated with a corresponding sensing zone identifier. The sensing node may perform zone-specific sensing RS transmissions on at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

Description

AREA-SPECIFIC ON-DEMAND SENSING REFERENCE SIGNAL CONFIGURATIONSBACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE1. Field of the Disclosure

[0001] Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to wireless technologies.2. Description of the Related Art

[0002] Wireless communication systems have developed through various generations, including a first-generation analog wireless phone service (1G), a second-generation (2G) digital wireless phone service (including interim 2.5G and 2.75G networks), a third-generation (3G) high speed data, Internet-capable wireless service and a fourth-generation (4G) service (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). There are presently many different types of wireless communication systems in use, including cellular 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), the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), etc.

[0003] A fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, referred to as New Radio (NR), enables higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. The 5G standard, according to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, is designed to provide higher data rates as compared to previous standards, 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. These enhancements, as well as the use of higher frequency bands, advances in PRS processes and technology, and high-density deployments for 5G, enable highly accurate 5G-based positioning.SUMMARY

[0004] The following presents a simplified summary relating to one or more aspects disclosed herein. Thus, the following summary should not be considered an extensive overviewrelating to all contemplated aspects, nor should the following summary be considered to identify key or critical elements relating to all contemplated aspects or to delineate the scope associated with any particular aspect. Accordingly, the following summary has the sole purpose to present certain concepts relating to one or more aspects relating to the mechanisms disclosed herein in a simplified form to precede the detailed description presented below.

[0005] In an aspect, a method of communication performed by a sensing node includes receiving, from a sensing server, a first on-demand sensing zone-specific reference signal (RS) configuration comprising one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources, each set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources associated with a corresponding sensing zone identifier; and performing zone-specific sensing RS transmissions on at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0006] In some aspects, the method includes receiving, from the sensing server, a first request requesting whether the sensing node supports on-demand sensing zone specific RS configurations; and transmitting, to the sensing server and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific sensing indication indicating that the sensing node supports the on-demand sensing zone-specific RS configurations.

[0007] In some aspects, the zone-specific sensing indication is expressed as a single bit.

[0008] In some aspects, the method includes transmitting, to the sensing server, second information indicating whether the sensing node can support the one or more sets of on- demand sensing RS resources.

[0009] In some aspects, the second information is transmitted with the first information responsive to the first request.

[0010] In some aspects, the second information indicates that the sensing node can support the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0011] In some aspects, the second information indicates a set of transmission-reception points (TRPs) associated with the sensing node that can support the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0012] In some aspects, the method includes measuring one or more sensing parameters associated with one or more reflections of the zone-specific sensing RS transmissions; or receiving one or more measurements corresponding to the one or more sensingparameters associated with the one or more reflections of the zone-specific sensing RS transmissions.

[0013] In some aspects, the method includes transmitting sensing measurement data corresponding to the one or more sensing parameters, the sensing measurement data including the corresponding sensing zone identifier associated with the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0014] In some aspects, the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs a rectangular-shaped zone.

[0015] In some aspects, the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of a cube dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0016] In some aspects, the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of hl*N2 + yl*N + xl, where: hl= Floor (h / L) Modulo N, yl= Floor (y / L) Modulo N, xl= Floor (x / L) Modulo N, N is a cube dimension unit, L is a zone length value, h is a distance in height between a zone and geographical coordinates (0, 0, 0) in accordance with a global reference model, y is a geodesic distance in latitude between the zone and geographic coordinates (0, 0,0) in accordance with the global reference model, and x is a geodesic distance in longitude between the zone and geographic coordinates (0, 0, 0) in accordance with the global reference model.

[0017] In some aspects, the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs a frustoconical-shaped zone.

[0018] In some aspects, the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of at least one spherical dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0019] In some aspects, the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of rl, 91, and (J)l, where: rl= Floor (r / LI) Modulo Nl, 91= Floor (9 / L2) Modulo N2, (J) 1 = Floor (<J) / L2) Modulo N2, r 1 , 91 , (j) 1 are spherical coordinates of a zone with respect to geographic coordinates (9,9,9) in accordance with a global reference model, Nl is a first spherical dimension unit, N2 is a second spherical dimension unit, LI is a first zone length value, and L2 is a second zone length value.

[0020] In some aspects, the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs at least one of: a nonrectangular-shaped zone, a shape of one or more zone boundaries, a union of a plurality of zone shape portions, or any combination thereof.

[0021] In some aspects, the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources corresponds to one or more of: one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, one or more downlink (DL)-PRS resources, one or more uplink (UL)-PRS resources, one or more sidelink (SL)-PRS resources, one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, or any combination thereof.

[0022] In some aspects, the sensing node is a next-generation radio access node (NG-RAN) node.

[0023] In some aspects, the NG-RAN node is a base station.

[0024] In some aspects, the NG-RAN node is a user equipment (UE).

[0025] In an aspect, a method of communication performed by a server includes transmitting, to a node, a first request requesting whether the node supports on-demand zone specific reference signal (RS) configurations; receiving, from the node and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific indication indicating that the node supports the on-demand zone-specific RS configurations; and transmitting, to the node and responsive to the first information, a first on-demand zone-specific RS configuration that comprises a set of on-demand RS resources associated with a zone identifier.

[0026] In some aspects, the zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of a cube dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0027] In some aspects, the zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of at least one spherical dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0028] In some aspects, the set of on-demand RS resources corresponds to one or more of: one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, one or more downlink (DL)-PRS resources, one or more uplink (UL)-PRS resources, one or more sidelink (SL)-PRS resources, one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, or any combination thereof.

[0029] In some aspects, the server is at least one of: a location server, positioning system server, sensing system server, or any combination thereof.

[0030] In some aspects, the node is at least one of a next-generation radio access network (NG- RAN) sensing device or an NG-RAN positioning device.

[0031] In some aspects, the NG-RAN sensing device or the NG-RAN positioning device is a base station.

[0032] In some aspects, the NG-RAN sensing device or the NG-RAN positioning device is a user equipment (UE).

[0033] In an aspect, a sensing node includes one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, configured to: receive, via the one or more transceivers and from a sensing server, a first on-demand sensing zone-specific reference signal (RS) configuration comprising one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources, each set of the one or more sets of on- demand sensing RS resources associated with a corresponding sensing zone identifier; and perform zone-specific sensing RS transmissions on at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0034] In an aspect, a server includes one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, configured to: transmit, via the one or more transceivers and to a node, a first request requesting whether the node supports on-demand zone specific reference signal (RS) configurations; receive, via the one or more transceivers, from the node and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific indication indicating that the node supports the on-demand zone-specific RS configurations; and transmit, via the one or more transceivers, to the node and responsive to the first information, a first on- demand zone-specific RS configuration that comprises a set of on-demand RS resources associated with a zone identifier.

[0035] In an aspect, a sensing node includes means for receiving, from a sensing server, a first on-demand sensing zone-specific reference signal (RS) configuration comprising one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources, each set of the one or more sets of on- demand sensing RS resources associated with a corresponding sensing zone identifier; and means for performing zone-specific sensing RS transmissions on at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0036] In an aspect, a server includes means for transmitting, to a node, a first request requesting whether the node supports on-demand zone specific reference signal (RS) configurations; means for receiving, from the node and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific indication indicating that the node supports the on-demand zone-specific RS configurations; and means for transmitting, to the node and responsiveto the first information, a first on-demand zone-specific RS configuration that comprises a set of on-demand RS resources associated with a zone identifier.

[0037] In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a sensing node, cause the sensing node to: receive, from a sensing server, a first on-demand sensing zone-specific reference signal (RS) configuration comprising one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources, each set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources associated with a corresponding sensing zone identifier; and perform zone-specific sensing RS transmissions on at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0038] In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a server, cause the server to: transmit, to a node, a first request requesting whether the node supports on-demand zone specific reference signal (RS) configurations; receive, from the node and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific indication indicating that the node supports the on-demand zone-specific RS configurations; and transmit, to the node and responsive to the first information, a first on-demand zone-specific RS configuration that comprises a set of on-demand RS resources associated with a zone identifier.

[0039] Other obj ects and advantages associated with the aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the accompanying drawings and detailed description.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0040] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in the description of various aspects of the disclosure and are provided solely for illustration of the aspects and not limitation thereof.

[0041] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0042] FIGS. 2 A, 2B, and 2C illustrate example wireless network structures, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0043] FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C are simplified block diagrams of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a user equipment (UE), a base station, and a network entity, respectively, and configured to support communications as taught herein.

[0044] FIG. 4 illustrates examples of various positioning methods supported in New Radio (NR), according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0045] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0046] FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate different types of radar, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0047] FIG. 7 illustrates an example call flow for a New Radio (NR)-based sensing procedure in which the network configures the sensing parameters, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0048] FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a location server-initiated on-demand PRS positioning procedure, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0049] FIG. 9A illustrates an example transmission-reception point (TRP) information exchange procedure, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0050] FIGS. 9B to 9E illustrate example information elements (IES) that may be used in the TRP information exchange procedure of FIG. 9 A, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0051] FIG. 10A illustrates an example positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration exchange procedure, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0052] FIGS. 10B to 10E illustrate example IEs that may be used in the PRS configuration exchange procedure of FIG. 10A, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0053] FIG. 11 A illustrates an example NR sidelink measurement reporting procedure, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0054] FIGS. 11B and 11C illustrate example IEs that may be used in the NR sidelink measurement reporting procedure of FIG. 11 A, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0055] FIG. 12 illustrates a first example wireless communication system for sensing operations, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0056] FIG. 13 illustrates a second example wireless communication system for sensing operations, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0057] FIG. 14 illustrates an example on-demand sensing reference signal configuration exchange procedure, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0058] FIGS. 15 and 16 illustrate example processes of wireless communication, according to aspects of the disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0059] Aspects of the disclosure are provided in the following description and related drawings directed to various examples provided for illustration purposes. Alternate aspects may be devised without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of the disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the disclosure.

[0060] Various aspects relate generally to on-demand reference signal configurations. Some aspects more specifically relate to area-specific on-demand sensing reference signal configurations and three-dimensional zone shapes and corresponding sensing zone identifiers. In some examples, a sensing node may receive, from a sensing server, an on- demand sensing zone-specific reference signal configuration. The configuration may include one or more sets of on-demand sensing reference signal resources. In some cases, each set of on-demand sensing reference signal resources may be associated with a corresponding sensing zone identifier. The sensing zone identifier may inform a three- dimensional shape. In some cases, the sensing node may perform zone-specific sensing reference signal transmissions using the on-demand sensing reference signal resources.

[0061] In some examples, a server may transmit, to a node, a request requesting whether the node supports on-demand zone specific reference signal configurations. The server may receive, from the node and responsive to the request, information including a zonespecific indication. The information including the zone-specific indication may indicate that the node supports the on-demand zone-specific reference signal configurations. In some cases, the zone-specific indication may correspond to a three-dimensional shape. The server may transmit, to the node and responsive to the information, an on-demand zone-specific reference signal configuration that includes a set of on-demand reference signal resources associated with a zone identifier.

[0062] Particular aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented to realize one or more of the following potential advantages. In some examples, by transmitting and receiving on demand sensing zone-specific reference signal configuration, wide-area radio frequency (RF) sensing capabilities may be enabled in a wireless communication network.

[0063] 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 disclosure” does not require that all aspects of the disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage or mode of operation.

[0064] Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the information and signals described below may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the description below 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, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, etc.

[0065] 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 recognized that various actions described herein can be performed by specific circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, the sequence(s) of actions described herein can be considered to be embodied entirely within any form of non- transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a corresponding set of computer instructions that, upon execution, would cause or instruct an associated processor of a device to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the various aspects of the disclosure may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which have been 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 aspects may be described herein as, for example, “logic configured to” perform the described action.

[0066] As used herein, the terms “user equipment” (UE) and “base station” are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT), unless otherwise noted. In general, a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, consumer asset locating device, wearable (e.g., smartwatch, glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), vehicle (e.g., automobile, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), Internet of Things (loT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. A UE may be mobile or may (e.g., at certain times) be stationary, and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term “UE” may be referred to interchangeablyas an “access terminal” or “AT,” a “client device,” a “wireless device,” a “subscriber device,” a “subscriber terminal,” a “subscriber station,” a “user terminal” or “UT,” a “mobile device,” a “mobile terminal,” a “mobile station,” or variations thereof. Generally, UEs can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network the UEs can be connected with external networks such as the Internet and with other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms of connecting to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible for the UEs, such as over wired access networks, wireless local area network (WLAN) networks (e.g., based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specification, etc.) and so on.

[0067] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs in communication with UEs depending on the network in which it is deployed, and may be alternatively referred to as an access point (AP), a network node, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), a New Radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), etc. A base station may be used primarily to support wireless access by UEs, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the supported UEs. In some systems a base station may provide purely edge node signaling functions while in other systems it may provide additional control and / or network management functions. A communication link through which UEs can send signals to a base station is called an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). A communication link through which the base station can send signals to UEs is called a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein the term traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an uplink / reverse or downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0068] The term “base station” may refer to a single physical transmission-reception point (TRP) or to multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be co-located. For example, where the term “base station” refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station corresponding to a cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. Where the term “base station” refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRPs may be an array of antennas (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where the base station employs beamforming) of the base station. Where the term “base station” refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRPsmay be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transport medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-located physical TRPs may be the serving base station receiving the measurement report from the UE and a neighbor base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signals the UE is measuring. Because a TRP is the point from which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, as used herein, references to transmission from or reception at a base station are to be understood as referring to a particular TRP of the base station.

[0069] In some implementations that support positioning of UEs, a base station may not support wireless access by UEs (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for UEs), but may instead transmit reference signals to UEs to be measured by the UEs, and / or may receive and measure signals transmitted by the UEs. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., when transmitting signals to UEs) and / or as a location measurement unit (e.g., when receiving and measuring signals from UEs).

[0070] An “RF signal” comprises an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transports information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single “RF signal” or multiple “RF signals” to a receiver. However, the receiver may receive multiple “RF signals” corresponding to each transmitted RF signal due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between the transmitter and 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” where it is clear from the context that the term “signal” refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal.

[0071] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system 100, according to aspects of the disclosure. The wireless communication system 100 (which may also be 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 macro cell base stations (high power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low power cellular base stations). In an aspect, the macro cell 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 a NR network, ora combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0072] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC)) through backhaul links 122, and through the core network 170 to one or more location servers 172 (e.g., a location management function (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)). The location server(s) 172 may be part of core network 170 or may be external to core network 170. A location server 172 may be integrated with a base station 102. A UE 104 may communicate with a location server 172 directly or indirectly. For example, a UE 104 may communicate with a location server 172 via the base station 102 that is currently serving that UE 104. A UE 104 may also communicate with a location server 172 through another path, such as via an application server (not shown), via another network, such as via a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) (e.g., AP 150 described below), and so on. For signaling purposes, communication between a UE 104 and a location server 172 may be represented as an indirect connection (e.g., through the core network 170, etc.) or a direct connection (e.g., as shown via direct connection 128), with the intervening nodes (if any) omitted from a signaling diagram for clarity.

[0073] In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 may perform functions that relate to one or more of transferring user data, radio channel ciphering and deciphering, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, distribution for non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment trace, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC / 5GC) over backhaul links 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0074] 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 a base station 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 resource, referred to as acarrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, band, or the like), 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.) for distinguishing cells operating via the same or a different carrier frequency. In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine-type communication (MTC), narrowband loT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access for different types of UEs. Because a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term “cell” may refer to either or both of the logical communication entity and the base station that supports it, depending on the context. In addition, because a TRP is typically the 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 a geographic coverage area of a base station (e.g., a sector), insofar as a carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within some portion of geographic coverage areas 110.

[0075] While neighboring macro cell base station 102 geographic coverage areas 110 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover region), some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may be substantially overlapped by a larger geographic coverage area 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' (labeled “SC” for “small cell”) may have a geographic coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the geographic coverage area 110 of one or more macro cell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell and macro cell base stations may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include home eNBs (HeNBs), which may provide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0076] The communication links 120 between the base stations 102 and the UEs 104 may include uplink (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from a UE 104 to a base station 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from a base station 102 to a UE 104. The communication links 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication links 120 may be through one or more carrier frequencies. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to downlink and uplink (e.g., more or less carriers may be allocated for downlink than for uplink).

[0077] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 in communication with WLAN stations (STAs) 152 via communication links 154 in an unlicensed frequency spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in an 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 prior to communicating in order to determine whether the channel is available.

[0078] The small cell base station 102' may operate in a licensed and / or an unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell base station 102' may employ LTE or NR technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum as used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102', employing LTE / 5G in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, may boost coverage to and / or increase capacity of the access network. NR in 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®.

[0079] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180 that may operate in mmW frequencies and / or near mmW frequencies in communication with a UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as a millimeter wave. Near mmW may extend down to a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, also referred to as centimeter wave. Communications using the mmW / near mmW radio frequency band have high path loss and a relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmit and / or receive) over a mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. Further, it will be appreciated that in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or near mmW and beamforming. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the foregoing illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed to limit the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0080] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, itbroadcasts the signal in all directions (omni-directionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing a faster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal for the receiving device(s). To change the directionality of the RF signal when transmitting, a network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters that are broadcasting the RF signal. For example, a network node may use an array of antennas (referred to as a “phased array” or an “antenna array”) that creates a beam of RF waves that can be “steered” to point in different directions, without actually moving the antennas. Specifically, the RF current from the transmitter is fed to the individual antennas with the correct phase relationship so that the radio waves from the separate antennas add together to increase the radiation in a desired direction, while cancelling to suppress radiation in undesired directions.

[0081] Transmit beams may be quasi-co-located, meaning that they appear to the receiver (e.g., a UE) as having the same parameters, regardless of whether or not the transmitting antennas of the network node themselves are physically co-located. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relations. Specifically, a QCL relation of a given type means that certain parameters about a second reference RF signal on a second beam can be derived from information about a source reference RF signal on a source beam. Thus, if the source reference RF signal is QCL Type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial receive parameter of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0082] In receive beamforming, the receiver uses a receive beam to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver can increase the gain setting and / or adjust the phase setting of an array of antennas in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., toincrease the gain level of) the RF signals received from that direction. Thus, when a receiver is said to beamform in a certain direction, it means the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain along other directions, or the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gain in that direction of all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal -to- interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), etc.) of the RF signals received from that direction.

[0083] Transmit and receive beams may be spatially related. A spatial relation means that parameters for a second beam (e.g., a transmit or receive beam) for a second reference signal can be derived from information about a first beam (e.g., a receive beam or a transmit beam) for a first reference signal. For example, a 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 can 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.

[0084] Note that a “downlink” beam may be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a base station is forming the downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to a UE, the downlink beam is a transmit beam. If the UE is forming the downlink beam, however, it is a receive beam to receive the downlink reference signal. Similarly, an “uplink” beam may be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a base station is forming the uplink beam, it is an uplink receive beam, and if a UE is forming the uplink beam, it is an uplink transmit beam.

[0085] The electromagnetic spectrum is often subdivided, based on frequency / wavelength, into various classes, bands, channels, etc. 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 although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “Sub-6 GHz” band in various documents and articles. A similar nomenclature issue sometimes occurs with regard to FR2, which is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “millimeter wave” band in documents and articles, despite being different from the extremely high frequency (EHF)band (30 GHz - 300 GHz) which is identified by the INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION® as a “millimeter wave” band.

[0086] The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR studies have identified an operating band for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 GHz - 24.25 GHz). Frequency bands falling within FR3 may inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, and thus may effectively extend features of FR1 and / or FR2 into 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 - 71 GHz), FR4 (52.6 GHz - 114.25 GHz), and FR5 (114.25 GHz - 300 GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0087] With the above aspects in mind, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that the term “sub-6 GHz” or the like if used herein may broadly represent frequencies that may be less than 6 GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. Further, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that the term “millimeter wave” or the like if used herein may broadly represent frequencies that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2, FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1, and / or FR5, or may be within the EHF band.

[0088] In a multi-carrier system, such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as the “primary carrier” or “anchor carrier” or “primary serving cell” or “PCell,” and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as “secondary carriers” or “secondary serving cells” or “SCells.” In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is the carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by a UE 104 / 182 and the cell in which the UE 104 / 182 either performs the initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and UE-specific control channels, and may be a carrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). A secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that may be configured once the RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier and that may be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier may be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may contain only necessary signalinginformation and signals, for example, those that are UE-specific may not be present in the secondary carrier, since both primary uplink and downlink carriers are typically UE- specific. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplink primary carriers. The network is able to change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers. Because a “serving cell” (whether a PCell or an SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency / component carrier over which some base station is communicating, the term “cell,” “serving cell,” “component carrier,” “carrier frequency,” and the like can be used interchangeably.

[0089] For example, still referring to FIG. 1, one of the frequencies utilized by the macro cell base stations 102 may be an anchor carrier (or “PCell”) and other frequencies utilized by the macro cell base stations 102 and / or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers (“SCells”). The simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers enables the UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rates. For example, two 20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically lead to a two-fold increase in data rate (i.e., 40 MHz), compared to that attained by a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0090] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a UE 164 that may communicate with a macro cell base station 102 over a communication link 120 and / or the mmW base station 180 over a mmW communication link 184. For example, the macro cell 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.

[0091] In some cases, the UE 164 and the UE 182 may be capable of sidelink communication. Sidelink-capable UEs (SL-UEs) may communicate with base stations 102 over communication links 120 using the Uu interface (i.e., the air interface between a UE and a base station). SL-UEs (e.g., UE 164, UE 182) may also communicate directly with each other over a wireless sidelink 160 using the PC5 interface (i.e., the air interface between sidelink-capable UEs). A wireless sidelink (or just “sidelink”) is an adaptation of the core cellular (e.g., LTE, NR) standard that allows direct communication between two or more UEs without the communication needing to go through a base station. Sidelink communication may be unicast or multicast, and may be used for device-to-device (D2D) media-sharing, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X)communication (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communication, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communication, 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 a base station 102. Other SL-UEs in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of a base station 102 or be otherwise unable to receive transmissions from a base station 102. In some cases, groups of SL-UEs communicating via sidelink communications may utilize a one-to-many (1 :M) system in which each SL-UE transmits to every other SL-UE in the group. In some cases, a base station 102 facilitates the scheduling of resources for sidelink communications. In other cases, sidelink communications are carried out between SL-UEs without the involvement of a base station 102.

[0092] In an aspect, the sidelink 160 may operate over a wireless communication medium of interest, which may be shared with other wireless communication between other vehicles and / or infrastructure access points, as well as other RATs. A “medium” may be composed of one or more time, frequency, and / or space communication resources (e.g., encompassing one or more channels across one or more carriers) associated with wireless communication between one or more transmitter / receiver pairs. In an aspect, the medium of interest 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 certain communication systems (e.g., by a government entity such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States), these systems, in particular those employing small cell access points, have recently extended operation into unlicensed frequency bands such as the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band used by wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies, most notably IEEE 802.1 lx WLAN technologies generally referred to as “Wi-Fi.” Example systems of this type include different variants of CDMA systems, TDMA systems, FDMA systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, and so on.

[0093] Note that although FIG. 1 only illustrates two of the UEs as SL-UEs (i.e., UEs 164 and 182), any of the illustrated UEs may be SL-UEs. Further, although only UE 182 was described as being capable of beamforming, any of the illustrated UEs, including UE 164, may be capable of beamforming. Where SL-UEs are capable of beamforming, they maybeamform towards each other (i.e., towards other SL-UEs), towards other UEs (e.g., UEs 104), towards base stations (e.g., base stations 102, 180, small cell 102’, access point 150), etc. Thus, in some cases, UEs 164 and 182 may utilize beamforming over sidelink 160.

[0094] 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 an aspect, the SVs 112 may be part of a satellite positioning system that a UE 104 can 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 a transmitter typically transmits a signal marked with a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code of a set number of chips. While typically located in SVs 112, transmitters may sometimes be located on ground-based control stations, base stations 102, and / or other UEs 104. A UE 104 may include one or more dedicated receivers specifically designed to receive signals 124 for deriving geo location information from the SVs 112.

[0095] In a satellite positioning system, the use of signals 124 can 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 an SBAS may include an augmentation system(s) that provides integrity information, differential corrections, etc., such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multifunctional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), the Global Positioning System (GPS) Aided Geo Augmented Navigation or GPS and Geo Augmented Navigation system (GAGAN), and / or the like. 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.

[0096] In an aspect, SVs 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more nonterrestrial networks (NTNs). In an NTN, an SV 112 is connected to an earth station (also referred to as 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 5GC. This element would in turn provide access to otherelements in the 5G network and ultimately to entities external to the 5G network, such as Internet web servers and other user devices. In that way, a UE 104 may receive communication signals (e.g., signals 124) from an SV 112 instead of, or in addition to, communication signals from a terrestrial base station 102.

[0097] The wireless communication system 100 may further include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, that connects indirectly 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, UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of the UEs 104 connected to one of the base stations 102 (e.g., through which UE 190 may indirectly obtain cellular connectivity) and a D2D P2P link 194 with WLAN STA 152 connected to the WLAN AP 150 (through which UE 190 may indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity). In an example, the D2D P2P links 192 and 194 may be supported with any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WI-FI DIRECT®, BLUETOOTH®, and so on.

[0098] FIG. 2A illustrates an example wireless network structure 200. For example, a 5GC 210 (also referred to as a Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be viewed functionally as control plane (C-plane) functions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and user plane (U-plane) functions 212, (e.g., UE gateway function, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.) which operate cooperatively to form the core network. User plane interface (NG-U) 213 and control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5GC 210 and specifically to the user plane functions 212 and control plane functions 214, respectively. In an additional configuration, an ng-eNB 224 may also be connected to the 5GC 210 via NG-C 215 to the control plane functions 214 and NG-U 213 to user plane functions 212. Further, ng-eNB 224 may directly communicate with gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both ng-eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. Either (or both) gNB 222 or ng-eNB 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0099] Another optional aspect may include a location server 230, which may be in communication with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance for UE(s) 204. The location server 230 can be implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physicallyseparate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternately may each correspond to a single server. The location server 230 can be configured to support one or more location services for UEs 204 that can connect to the location server 230 via the core network, 5GC 210, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). Further, the location server 230 may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively may be external to the core network (e.g., a third party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or service server).

[0100] FIG. 2B illustrates another example wireless network structure 240. A 5GC 260 (which may correspond to 5GC 210 in FIG. 2A) can be viewed functionally as control plane functions, provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) 264, and user plane functions, provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate cooperatively to form the 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 the 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, and receives the intermediate key that was established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case of authentication based on a UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) subscriber identity module (USIM), the AMF 264 retrieves the security material from the AUSF. The functions of the AMF 264 also include security context management (SCM). The SCM receives a key from the SEAF that it uses to derive access-network specific keys. The functionality of the AMF 264 also includes location services management for regulatory services, transport for location services messages between the UE 204 and a location management function (LMF) 270 (which acts as a location server 230), transport for location services messages between the NG-RAN 220 and the LMF 270, evolved packet system (EPS) bearer identifier allocation for interworking with the EPS, and UE 204 mobility event notification. In addition, the AMF264 also supports functionalities for non-3GPP® (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0101] 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 of interconnect to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, quality of service (QoS) handling for the user plane (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in the downlink), uplink traffic verification (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 of one or more “end markers” to the source RAN node. The UPF 262 may also support transfer of location services messages over a user plane between the UE 204 and a location server, such as an SLP 272.

[0102] 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 at the UPF 262 to route traffic to the proper destination, control of part of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface over which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 is referred to as the Ni l interface.

[0103] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270, which may be in communication with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance for UEs 204. The LMF 270 can be implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternately may each correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more location services for UEs 204 that can connect to the LMF 270 via the core network, 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). The SLP 272 may support similar functions to the LMF 270, but whereas the LMF 270 may communicate with the AMF 264, NG-RAN 220, and UEs 204 over a control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to convey signaling messages and not voice or data), the SLP 272 may communicate with UEs 204 and external clients(e.g., third-party server 274) over a user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and / or data like the transmission control protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0104] 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. As such, 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 server 274 can be implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternately may each correspond to a single server.

[0105] User plane interface 263 and control plane interface 265 connect the 5GC 260, and specifically the UPF 262 and AMF 264, respectively, to one or more gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 in the NG-RAN 220. The interface between gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 and the AMF 264 is referred to as the “N2” interface, and the interface between 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 backhaul connections 223, referred to as the “Xn-C” interface. One or more of gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 over a wireless interface, referred to as the “Uu” interface.

[0106] The functionality of a 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. A gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes the base station functions of transferring user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, and the like, except for those functions allocated exclusively to the gNB-DU(s) 228. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 generally host the radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) protocols of the gNB 222. A gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that generally hosts the radio link control (RLC) and medium access control (MAC) layer of the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 can support one or more cells, and one cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and the one or more gNB-DUs 228 is referred toas the “Fl” interface. The physical (PHY) layer functionality of a 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 a gNB-DU 228 and a gNB-RU 229 is referred to as the “Fx” interface. Thus, a UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers, with a gNB-DU 228 via the RLC and MAC layers, and with a gNB-RU 229 via the PHY layer.

[0107] Deployment of communication systems, such as 5G NR systems, may be arranged in multiple manners with various components or constituent parts. In a 5G NR system, or network, a network node, a network entity, a mobility element of a network, a RAN node, a core network node, a network element, or a network equipment, such as a base station, or one or more units (or one or more components) performing base station functionality, may be implemented in an aggregated or disaggregated architecture. For example, a base station (such as a Node B (NB), evolved NB (eNB), NR base station, 5G NB, AP, TRP, cell, etc.) may be implemented as an aggregated base station (also known as a standalone base station or a monolithic base station) or a disaggregated base station.

[0108] An aggregated base station may be configured to utilize a radio protocol stack that is physically or logically integrated within a single RAN node. A disaggregated base station may be configured to utilize a protocol stack that is physically or logically distributed among two or more units (such as one or more central or centralized units (CUs), one or more distributed units (DUs), or one or more radio units (RUs)). In some aspects, a CU may be implemented within a RAN node, and one or more DUs may be co-located with the CU, or alternatively, may be geographically or virtually distributed throughout one or multiple other RAN nodes. The DUs may be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs. Each of the CU, DU and RU also can be implemented as virtual units, i.e., a virtual central unit (VCU), a virtual distributed unit (VDU), or a virtual radio unit (VRU).

[0109] Base station-type operation or network design may consider aggregation characteristics of base station functionality. For example, disaggregated base stations may be utilized in an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open radio access network (0-RAN (such as the network configuration sponsored by the 0-RAN ALLIANCE®)), or a virtualized radio access network (vRAN, also known as a cloud radio access network (C- RAN)). Disaggregation may include distributing functionality across two or more units at various physical locations, as well as distributing functionality for at least one unitvirtually, which can enable flexibility in network design. The various units of the disaggregated base station, or disaggregated RAN architecture, can be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit.

[0110] FIG. 2C illustrates an example disaggregated base station architecture 250, according to aspects of the disclosure. The disaggregated base station architecture 250 may include one or more central units (CUs) 280 (e.g., gNB-CU 226) that can communicate directly with a core network 267 (e.g., 5GC 210, 5GC 260) via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 267 through one or more disaggregated base station units (such as a Near-Real Time (Near-RT) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) 259 via an E2 link, or a Non-Real Time (Non-RT) RIC 257 associated with a Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) Framework 255, or both). A CU 280 may communicate with one or more DUs 285 (e.g., gNB-DUs 228) via respective midhaul links, such as an Fl interface. The DUs 285 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 287 (e.g., gNB-RUs 229) via respective fronthaul links. The RUs 287 may communicate with respective UEs 204 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, the UE 204 may be simultaneously served by multiple RUs 287.

[0111] Each of the units, i.e., the CUs 280, the DUs 285, the RUs 287, as well as the Near-RT RICs 259, the Non-RT RICs 257 and the SMO Framework 255, may include one or more interfaces or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or transmit signals, data, or information (collectively, signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of the units, or an associated processor or controller providing instructions to the communication interfaces of the units, can be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via the transmission medium. For example, the units can include a wired interface configured to receive or transmit signals over a wired transmission medium to one or more of the other units. Additionally, the units can include a wireless interface, which may include a receiver, a transmitter or transceiver (such as a RF transceiver), configured to receive or transmit signals, or both, over a wireless transmission medium to one or more of the other units.

[0112] In some aspects, the CU 280 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions can include RRC, PDCP, service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), or the like. Each control function can be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by the CU 280. The CU 280may be configured to handle user plane functionality (i.e., Central Unit - User Plane (CU- UP)), control plane functionality (i.e., Central Unit - Control Plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some implementations, the CU 280 can be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. The CU-UP unit can communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP unit via an interface, such as the El interface when implemented in an O-RAN configuration. The CU 280 can be implemented to communicate with the DU 285, as necessary, for network control and signaling.

[0113] The DU 285 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions to control the operation of one or more RUs 287. In some aspects, the DU 285 may host one or more of a RLC layer, a MAC layer, and one or more high PHY layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, or the like) depending, at least in part, on a functional split, such as those defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®). In some aspects, the DU 285 may further host one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (or module) can be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by the DU 285, or with the control functions hosted by the CU 280.

[0114] Lower-layer functionality can be implemented by one or more RUs 287. In some deployments, an RU 287, controlled by a DU 285, may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions, or low-PHY layer functions (such as performing fast Fourier transform (FFT), inverse FFT (iFFT), digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, or the like), or both, based at least in part on the functional split, such as a lower layer functional split. In such an architecture, the RU(s) 287 can be implemented to handle over the air (OTA) communication with one or more UEs 204. In some implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control and user plane communication with the RU(s) 287 can be controlled by the corresponding DU 285. In some scenarios, this configuration can enable the DU(s) 285 and the CU 280 to be implemented in a cloud-based RAN architecture, such as a vRAN architecture.

[0115] The SMO Framework 255 may be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of non-virtualized and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 255 may be configured to support thedeployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements which may be managed via an operations and maintenance interface (such as an 01 interface). For virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 255 may be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) 269) to perform network element life cycle management (such as to instantiate virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as an 02 interface). Such virtualized network elements can include, but are not limited to, CUs 280, DUs 285, RUs 287 and Near-RT RICs 259. In some implementations, the SMO Framework 255 can communicate with a hardware aspect of a 4G RAN, such as an open eNB (0-eNB) 261, via an 01 interface. Additionally, in some implementations, the SMO Framework 255 can communicate directly with one or more RUs 287 via an 01 interface. The SMO Framework 255 also may include a Non-RT RIC 257 configured to support functionality of the SMO Framework 255.

[0116] The Non-RT RIC 257 may be configured to include a logical function that enables non- real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updates, or policy-based guidance of applications / features in the Near-RT RIC 259. The Non-RT RIC 257 may be coupled to or communicate with (such as via an Al interface) the Near- RT RIC 259. The Near-RT RIC 259 may be configured to include a logical function that enables near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions over an interface (such as via an E2 interface) connecting one or more CUs 280, one or more DUs 285, or both, as well as an 0-eNB, with the Near-RT RIC 259.

[0117] In some implementations, to generate AI / ML models to be deployed in the Near-RT RIC 259, the Non-RT RIC 257 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from external servers. Such information may be utilized by the Near-RT RIC 259 and may be received at the SMO Framework 255 or the Non-RT RIC 257 from non-network data sources or from network functions. In some examples, the Non-RT RIC 257 or the Near-RT RIC 259 may be configured to tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the Non-RT RIC 257 may monitor long-term trends and patterns for performance and employ AI / ML models to perform corrective actions through the SMO Framework 255(such as reconfiguration via 01) or via creation of RAN management policies (such as Al policies).

[0118] FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C illustrate several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated into a UE 304 (which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein), a base station 302 (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 the location server 230 and the LMF 270, or alternatively may be independent from the NG-RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure depicted in FIGS. 2 A and 2B, such as a private network) to support the operations described herein. It will be appreciated that these components may be implemented in different types of apparatuses in different implementations (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system-on-chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated components may also be incorporated into other apparatuses in a communication system. For example, other apparatuses in a system may include components similar to those described to provide similar functionality. Also, a given apparatus may contain one or more of the components. For example, an apparatus may include multiple transceiver components that enable the apparatus to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0119] The UE 304 and the base station 302 each include one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively, providing means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means fortuning, means for refraining from transmitting, etc.) via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown), such as an NR network, an LTE network, a GSM network, and / or the like. 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., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) over a wireless communication 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 for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, and so on), respectively, and, conversely, for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, and so on), respectively, in accordance with the designated RAT. Specifically, the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 include one ormore transmitters 314 and 354, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358, respectively, and one or more receivers 312 and 352, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358, respectively.

[0120] The UE 304 and the base station 302 each also include, at least in some cases, 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 provide means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for refraining from transmitting, etc.) with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., Wi-Fi, LTE Direct, 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 for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, and so on), respectively, and, conversely, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, and so on), respectively, in accordance with the designated RAT. Specifically, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 include one or more transmitters 324 and 364, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368, respectively, and one or more receivers 322 and 362, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368, respectively. As specific examples, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be Wi-Fi 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.

[0121] The UE 304 and the base station 302 also include, at least in some cases, satellite signal receivers 330 and 370. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and may provide means for receiving and / or measuring satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. Where 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, Galileosignals, Beidou signals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC), QuasiZenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. Where the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be communication signals (e.g., carrying control and / or user data) originating from a 5G network. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may comprise any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may request information and operations as appropriate from the other systems, and, at least in some cases, perform calculations to determine locations of the UE 304 and the base station 302, respectively, using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithm.

[0122] The base station 302 and the network entity 306 each include one or more network transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, providing means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, etc.) with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 302, other network entities 306). For example, the base station 302 may employ the one or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other base stations 302 or network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. As another example, the network entity 306 may employ the one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or more base station 302 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.

[0123] A transceiver may be configured to communicate over a wired or wireless link. A transceiver (whether a wired transceiver or a wireless transceiver) includes transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) and receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362). A transceiver may be an integrated device (e.g., embodying transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry in a single device) in some implementations, may comprise separate transmitter circuitry and separate receiver circuitry in some implementations, or may be embodied in other ways in other implementations. The transmitter circuitry 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. Wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) may include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, thatpermits the respective apparatus (e.g., UE 304, base station 302) to perform transmit “beamforming,” as described herein. Similarly, wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362) may include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, that permits the respective apparatus (e.g., UE 304, base station 302) to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In an aspect, the transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry may share the same plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such that the respective apparatus can only receive or transmit at a given time, not both at the same time. A wireless transceiver (e.g., WWAN transceivers 310 and 350, short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360) may also include a network listen module (NLM) or the like for performing various measurements.

[0124] As used herein, the 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 generally be characterized as “a transceiver,” “at least one transceiver,” or “one or more transceivers.” As such, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wireless transceiver may be inferred from the type of communication performed. For example, backhaul communication between network devices or servers will generally relate to signaling via a wired transceiver, whereas wireless communication between a UE (e.g., UE 304) and a base station (e.g., base station 302) will generally relate to signaling via a wireless transceiver.

[0125] The UE 304, the base station 302, and the network entity 306 also include other components that may be used in conjunction with the operations as disclosed herein. The UE 304, the base station 302, and the network entity 306 include one or more processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, for providing functionality relating to, for example, wireless communication, and for providing other processing functionality. The processors 332, 384, and 394 may therefore 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 programmablegate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuitry, or various combinations thereof.

[0126] The UE 304, the base station 302, and the network entity 306 include memory circuitry implementing memories 340, 386, and 396 (e.g., each including a memory device), respectively, for maintaining information (e.g., information indicative of reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, and so on). The memories 340, 386, and 396 may therefore provide means for storing, means for retrieving, means for maintaining, etc. In some cases, the UE 304, the base station 302, and the network entity 306 may include sensing component 342, 388, and 398, respectively. The sensing component 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 304, the base station 302, and the network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. In other aspects, the sensing component 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 component 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules stored in the memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively, that, when executed by the processors 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.), cause the UE 304, the base station 302, and the network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. FIG. 3A illustrates possible locations of the sensing component 342, which may be, for example, part of the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the memory 340, the one or more processors 332, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. FIG. 3B illustrates possible locations of the sensing component 388, which may be, for example, part of the one or more WWAN transceivers 350, the memory 386, the one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. FIG. 3C illustrates possible locations of the sensing component 398, which may be, for example, part of the one or more network transceivers 390, the memory 396, the one or more processors 394, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component.

[0127] The UE 304 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to the one or more processors 332 to provide means for sensing or detecting movement and / or orientation information that is independent of motion data derived from signals received by the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and / orthe 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 pressure altimeter), and / or any other type of movement detection sensor. Moreover, the sensor(s) 344 may include a plurality of different types of devices and combine their outputs in order to provide motion information. For example, the sensor(s) 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and orientation sensors to provide the ability to compute positions in two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate systems.

[0128] In addition, the UE 304 includes a user interface 346 providing means for providing indications (e.g., audible and / or visual indications) to a user and / or for receiving user input (e.g., upon user actuation of a sensing device such a keypad, a touch screen, a microphone, and so on). Although not shown, the base station 302 and the network entity 306 may also include user interfaces.

[0129] Referring to the one or more processors 384 in more detail, in 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 broadcasting of system information (e.g., master information block (MIB), 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 (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation 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.

[0130] The transmitter 354 and the receiver 352 may implement Layer- 1 (LI) functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer- 1, which includes a physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of the transport channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 handles mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with 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 produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially precoded to produce 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 estimate may be derived from a reference signal and / or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 304. Each spatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. The transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

[0131] At the UE 304, the receiver 312 receives a signal through its respective antenna(s) 316. The receiver 312 recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the one or more processors 332. The transmitter 314 and the receiver 312 implement 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 304. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 304, 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 comprises a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, and the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted by the base station 302.These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and de-interleaved to recover the data and control signals that were originally transmitted by the base station 302 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to the one or more processors 332, which implements Layer-3 (L3) and Layer-2 (L2) functionality.

[0132] In the downlink, the one or more processors 332 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. The one or more processors 332 are also responsible for error detection.

[0133] Similar to the functionality described in connection with the downlink transmission by the base station 302, the one or more processors 332 provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs) acquisition, RRC connections, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, and security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation 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 through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0134] Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 302 may be used by the transmitter 314 to select the appropriate coding and modulation schemes, 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 a respective spatial stream for transmission.

[0135] The uplink transmission is processed at the base station 302 in a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver function at the UE 304. The receiver 352 receives a signal through its respective antenna(s) 356. The receiver 352 recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the one or more processors 384.

[0136] In the uplink, the one or more processors 384 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 304. IP packets from the one or more processors 384 may be provided to the core network. The one or more processors 384 are also responsible for error detection.

[0137] For convenience, the UE 304, the base station 302, and / or the network entity 306 are shown in FIGS. 3 A, 3B, and 3C as including various components that may be configured according to the various examples described herein. It will be appreciated, however, that the illustrated components may have different functionality in different designs. In particular, various components in FIGS. 3A to 3C are optional in alternative configurations and the various aspects include configurations that may vary due to design choice, costs, use of the device, or other considerations. For example, in case of FIG. 3A, a particular implementation of UE 304 may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) 310 (e.g., a wearable device or tablet computer or personal computer (PC) or laptop may have Wi-Fi and / or BLUETOOTH® capability without cellular capability), 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, and so on. In another example, in case of FIG. 3B, a particular implementation of the base station 302 may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) 350 (e.g., a Wi-Fi “hotspot” access point without cellular capability), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver s) 360 (e.g., cellular-only, etc.), or may omit the satellite signal receiver 370, and so on. For brevity, illustration of the various alternative configurations is not provided herein, but would be readily understandable to one skilled in the art.

[0138] The various components of the UE 304, the base station 302, and the network entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to each other over data buses 334, 382, and 392, respectively. In an aspect, the data buses 334, 382, and 392 may form, or be part of, a communication interface of the UE 304, the base station 302, and the network entity 306, respectively. For example, where different logical entities are embodied in the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functionality incorporated into the same base station 302), the data buses 334, 382, and 392 may provide communication between them.

[0139] The components of FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, the components of FIGS. 3 A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in oneor more circuits such as, for example, one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Here, 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 to 346 may be implemented by processor and memory component(s) of the UE 304 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350 to 388 may be implemented by processor and memory component(s) of the base station 302 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of processor components). Also, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390 to 398 may be implemented by processor and memory component(s) of the network entity 306 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of processor components). For simplicity, various operations, acts, and / or functions are described herein as being performed “by a UE,” “by a base station,” “by a network entity,” etc. However, as will be appreciated, such operations, acts, and / or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of the UE 304, base station 302, network entity 306, etc., such as the processors 332, 384, 394, the transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, the memories 340, 386, and 396, the sensing component 342, 388, and 398, etc.

[0140] In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may be distinct from a network operator or operation of the cellular network infrastructure (e.g., NG RAN 220 and / or 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 304 via the base station 302 or independently from the base station 302 (e.g., over a non-cellular communication link, such as Wi-Fi).

[0141] NR supports a number of cellular network-based positioning technologies, including downlink-based, uplink-based, and downlink-and-uplink-based positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) in LTE, downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) in NR, and downlink angle-of-departure (DL-AoD) in NR. FIG. 4 illustrates examples of various positioning methods, according to aspects of the disclosure. In an OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioningprocedure, illustrated by scenario 410, a UE measures the differences between the times of arrival (ToAs) of reference signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) received from pairs of base stations, referred to as reference signal time difference (RSTD) or time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements, and reports them to a positioning entity. More specifically, the UE receives the identifiers (IDs) of a reference base station (e.g., a serving base station) and multiple non-reference base stations in assistance data. The UE then measures the RSTD between the reference base station and each of the non-reference base stations. Based on the known locations of the involved base stations and the RSTD measurements, the positioning entity (e.g., the UE for UE-based positioning or a location server for UE-assisted positioning) can estimate the UE’s location.

[0142] For DL-AoD positioning, illustrated by scenario 420, the positioning entity uses a measurement report from the UE of received signal strength measurements of multiple downlink transmit beams to determine the angle(s) between the UE and the transmitting base station(s). The positioning entity can then estimate the location of the UE based on the determined angle(s) and the known location(s) of the transmitting base station(s).

[0143] Uplink-based positioning methods include uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) and uplink angle-of-arrival (UL-AoA). UL-TDOA is similar to DL-TDOA, but is based on uplink reference signals (e.g., sounding reference signals (SRS)) transmitted by the UE to multiple base stations. Specifically, a UE transmits one or more uplink reference signals that are measured by a reference base station and a plurality of non-reference base stations. Each base station then reports the reception time (referred to as the relative time of arrival (RTOA)) of the reference signal(s) to a positioning entity (e.g., a location server) that knows the locations and relative timing of the involved base stations. Based on the reception-to-reception (Rx-Rx) time difference between the reported RTOA of the reference base station and the reported RTOA of each non-reference base station, the known locations of the base stations, and their known timing offsets, the positioning entity can estimate the location of the UE using TDOA.

[0144] For UL-AoA positioning, one or more base stations measure the received signal strength of one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS) received from a UE on one or more uplink receive beams. The positioning entity uses the signal strength measurements and the angle(s) of the receive beam(s) to determine the angle(s) between the UE and the basestation(s). Based on the determined angle(s) and the known location(s) of the base station(s), the positioning entity can then estimate the location of the UE.

[0145] Downlink-and-uplink-based positioning methods include enhanced cell-ID (E-CID) positioning and multi -round-trip-time (RTT) positioning (also referred to as “multi-cell RTT” and “multi-RTT”). In an RTT procedure, a first entity (e.g., a base station or a UE) transmits a first RTT-related signal (e.g., a PRS or SRS) to a second entity (e.g., a UE or base station), which transmits a second RTT-related signal (e.g., an SRS or PRS) back to the first entity. Each entity measures the time difference between the time of arrival (ToA) of the received RTT-related signal and the transmission time of the transmitted RTT- related signal. This time difference is referred to as a reception-to-transmission (Rx-Tx) time difference. The Rx-Tx time difference measurement may be made, or may be adjusted, to include only a time difference between nearest slot boundaries for the received and transmitted signals. Both entities may then send their Rx-Tx time difference measurement to a location server (e.g., an LMF 270), which calculates the round trip propagation time (i.e., RTT) between the two entities from the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements (e.g., as the sum of the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements). Alternatively, one entity may send its Rx-Tx time difference measurement to the other entity, which then calculates the RTT. The distance between the two entities can be determined from the RTT and the known signal speed (e.g., the speed of light). For multi- RTT positioning, illustrated by scenario 430, a first entity (e.g., a UE or base station) performs an RTT positioning procedure with multiple second entities (e.g., multiple base stations or UEs) to enable the location of the first entity to be determined (e.g., using multilateration) based on distances to, and the known locations of, the second entities. RTT and multi-RTT methods can be combined with other positioning techniques, such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD, to improve location accuracy, as illustrated by scenario 440.

[0146] The E-CID positioning method is based on radio resource management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, the timing advance (TA), and the identifiers, estimated timing, and signal strength of detected neighbor base stations. The location of the UE is then estimated based on this information and the known locations of the base station(s).

[0147] To assist positioning operations, a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide assistance data to the UE. For example, the assistance data mayinclude identifiers of the base stations (or the cells / TRPs of the base stations) from which to measure reference signals, the reference signal configuration parameters (e.g., the number of consecutive slots including PRS, periodicity of the consecutive slots including PRS, muting sequence, frequency hopping sequence, reference signal identifier, reference signal bandwidth, etc.), and / or other parameters applicable to the particular positioning method. Alternatively, the assistance data may originate directly from the base stations themselves (e.g., in periodically broadcasted overhead messages, etc.). In some cases, the UE may be able to detect neighbor network nodes itself without the use of assistance data.

[0148] In the case of an OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedure, the assistance data may further include an expected RSTD value and an associated uncertainty, or search window, around the expected RSTD. In some cases, the value range of the expected RSTD may be + / - 500 microseconds (ps). In some cases, when any of the resources used for the positioning measurement are in FR1, the value range for the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be + / - 32 ps. In other cases, when all of the resources used for the positioning measurement(s) are in FR2, the value range for the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be + / - 8 ps.

[0149] A location estimate may be referred to by other names, such as a position estimate, location, position, position fix, fix, or the like. A location estimate may be geodetic and comprise coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude) or may be civic and comprise a street address, postal address, or some other verbal description of a location. A location estimate may further be defined relative to some other known location or defined in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). A location estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume within which the location is expected to be included with some specified or default level of confidence).

[0150] Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (e.g., base stations and UEs). FIG. 5 is a diagram 500 illustrating an example frame structure, according to aspects of the disclosure. The frame structure may be a downlink or uplink frame structure. Other wireless communications technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels.

[0151] LTE, and in some cases NR, utilizes orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM)on the uplink. Unlike LTE, however, NR has an option to use OFDM on the uplink as well. OFDM and SC-FDM partition the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) may be dependent on the system bandwidth. For example, the spacing of the subcarriers may be 15 kilohertz (kHz) and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) may be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Consequently, the nominal fast Fourier transform (FFT) size may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048 for system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 megahertz (MHz), respectively. The system bandwidth may also be partitioned into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz, respectively.

[0152] LTE supports a single numerology (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR may support multiple numerologies (p), for example, subcarrier spacings of 15 kHz (p=0), 30 kHz (p=l), 60 kHz (p=2), 120 kHz (p=3), and 240 kHz (p=4) or greater may be available. In each subcarrier spacing, there are 14 symbols per slot. For 15 kHz SCS (p=0), there is one slot per subframe, 10 slots per frame, the slot duration is 1 millisecond (ms), the symbol duration is 66.7 microseconds (ps), and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 50. For 30 kHz SCS (p= 1 ), there are two slots per subframe, 20 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.5 ms, the symbol duration is 33.3 ps, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 100. For 60 kHz SCS (p=2), there are four slots per subframe, 40 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.25 ms, the symbol duration is 16.7 ps, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 200. For 120 kHz SCS (p=3), there are eight slots per subframe, 80 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.125 ms, the symbol duration is 8.33 ps, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 400. For 240 kHz SCS (p=4), there are 16 slots per subframe, 160 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.0625 ms, the symbol duration is 4.17 ps, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 800.

[0153] In the example of FIG. 5, a numerology of 15 kHz is used. Thus, in the time domain, a 10 ms frame is divided into 10 equally sized subframes of 1 ms each, and each subframeincludes one time slot. In FIG. 5, time is represented horizontally (on the X axis) with time increasing from left to right, while frequency is represented vertically (on the Y axis) with frequency increasing (or decreasing) from bottom to top.

[0154] A resource grid may be used to represent time slots, each time slot including one or more time-concurrent resource blocks (RBs) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into multiple resource elements (REs). An RE may correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. In the numerology of FIG. 5, for a normal cyclic prefix, an RB may contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and seven consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 84 REs. For an extended cyclic prefix, an RB may contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and six consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0155] Some of the REs may carry reference (pilot) signals (RS). The reference signals may include positioning reference signals (PRS), tracking reference signals (TRS), phase tracking reference signals (PTRS), cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), demodulation reference signals (DMRS), primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), sounding reference signals (SRS), etc., depending on whether the illustrated frame structure is used for uplink or downlink communication. FIG. 5 illustrates example locations of REs carrying a reference signal (labeled “R”).

[0156] A collection of resource elements (REs) that are used for transmission of PRS is referred to as a “PRS resource.” The collection of resource elements can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and ‘N’ (such as 1 or more) consecutive symbol(s) within a slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol in the time domain, a PRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs in the frequency domain.

[0157] The transmission of a PRS resource within a given PRB has a particular comb size (also referred to as the “comb density”). A comb size ‘N’ represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency / tone spacing) within each symbol of a PRS resource configuration. Specifically, for a comb size ‘N,’ PRS are transmitted in every Nth subcarrier of a symbol of a PRB. For example, for comb-4, for each symbol of the PRS resource configuration, REs corresponding to every fourth subcarrier (such as subcarriers 0, 4, 8) are used totransmit PRS of the PRS resource. Currently, comb sizes of comb-2, comb-4, comb-6, and comb- 12 are supported for DL-PRS. FIG. 5 illustrates an example PRS resource configuration for comb-4 (which spans four symbols). That is, the locations of the shaded REs (labeled “R”) indicate a comb-4 PRS resource configuration.

[0158] Currently, a DL-PRS resource may span 2, 4, 6, or 12 consecutive symbols within a slot with a fully frequency-domain staggered pattern. A DL-PRS resource can be configured in any higher layer configured downlink or flexible (FL) symbol of a slot. There may be a constant energy per resource element (EPRE) for all REs of a given DL-PRS resource. The following are the frequency offsets from symbol to symbol for comb sizes 2, 4, 6, and 12 over 2, 4, 6, and 12 symbols. 2-symbol comb-2: {0, 1 }; 4-symbol comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1 }; 6-symbol comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1 }; 12-symbol comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1 }; 4-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3} (as in the example of FIG. 5); 12-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3}; 6-symbol comb-6: {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}; 12-symbol comb-6: {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5, 0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}; and 12-symbol comb-12: {0, 6, 3, 9, 1, 7, 4, 10, 2, 8, 5, H }.

[0159] A “PRS resource set” is a set of PRS resources used for the transmission of PRS signals, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. In addition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and is associated with a particular TRP (identified by a TRP ID). In addition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set have the same periodicity, a common muting pattern configuration, and the same repetition factor (such as “PRS- ResourceRepetitionF actor”) across slots. The periodicity is the time from the first repetition of the first PRS resource of a first PRS instance to the same first repetition of the same first PRS resource of the next PRS instance. The periodicity may have a length selected from 2^*{4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, 5120, 10240} slots, with p = 0, 1, 2, 3. The repetition factor may have a length selected from { 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32} slots.

[0160] A PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set is associated with a single beam (or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (where a TRP may transmit one or more beams). That is, each PRS resource of a PRS resource set may be transmitted on a different beam, and as such, a “PRS resource,” or simply “resource,” also can be referred to as a “beam.” Notethat this does not have any implications on whether the TRPs and the beams on which PRS are transmitted are known to the UE.

[0161] A “PRS instance” or “PRS occasion” is one instance of a periodically repeated time window (such as a group of one or more consecutive slots) where PRS are expected to be transmitted. A PRS occasion also may be referred to as a “PRS positioning occasion,” a “PRS positioning instance, a “positioning occasion,” “a positioning instance,” a “positioning repetition,” or simply an “occasion,” an “instance,” or a “repetition.”

[0162] A “positioning frequency layer” (also referred to simply as a “frequency layer”) is a collection of one or more PRS resource sets across one or more TRPs that have the same values for certain parameters. Specifically, the collection of PRS resource sets has the same subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix (CP) type (meaning all numerologies supported for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) are also supported for PRS), the same Point A, the same value of the downlink PRS bandwidth, the same start PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb-size. The Point A parameter takes the value of the parameter “ARFCN-ValueNR” (where “ARFCN” stands for “absolute radio-frequency channel number”) and is an identifier / code that specifies a pair of physical radio channel used for transmission and reception. The downlink PRS bandwidth may have a granularity of four PRBs, with a minimum of 24 PRBs and a maximum of 272 PRBs. Currently, up to four frequency layers have been defined, and up to two PRS resource sets may be configured per TRP per frequency layer.

[0163] The concept of a frequency layer is somewhat like the concept of component carriers and bandwidth parts (BWPs), but different in that component carriers and BWPs are used by one base station (or a macro cell base station and a small cell base station) to transmit data channels, while frequency layers are used by several (usually three or more) base stations to transmit PRS. A UE may indicate the number of frequency layers it can support when it sends the network its positioning capabilities, such as during an LTE positioning protocol (LPP) session. For example, a UE may indicate whether it can support one or four positioning frequency layers.

[0164] Note that the terms “positioning reference signal” and “PRS” generally refer to specific reference signals that are used for positioning in NR and LTE systems. However, as used herein, the terms “positioning reference signal” and “PRS” may also refer to any type of reference signal that can be used for positioning, such as but not limited to, PRS as definedin LTE and NR, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSLRS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, SRS, UL-PRS, etc. In addition, the terms “positioning reference signal” and “PRS” may refer to downlink, uplink, or sidelink positioning reference signals, unless otherwise indicated by the context. If needed to further distinguish the type of PRS, a downlink positioning reference signal may be referred to as a “DL-PRS,” an uplink positioning reference signal (e.g., an SRS-for-positioning, PTRS) may be referred to as an “UL-PRS,” and a sidelink positioning reference signal may be referred to as an “SL-PRS.” In addition, for signals that may be transmitted in the downlink, uplink, and / or sidelink (e.g., DMRS), the signals may be prepended with “DL,” “UL,” or “SL” to distinguish the direction. For example, “UL-DMRS” is different from “DL-DMRS.”

[0165] Wireless communication signals (e.g., radio frequency (RF) signals configured to carry orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in accordance with a wireless communications standard, such as LTE, NR, etc.) transmitted between a UE and a base station can be used for environment sensing (also referred to as “RF sensing” or “radar”). Using wireless communication signals for environment sensing can be regarded as consumer-level radar with advanced detection capabilities that enable, among other things, touchless / device-free interaction with a device / system. 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 particular example, the wireless communication signals may be an OFDM waveform as utilized in LTE and NR. High- frequency communication signals, such as millimeter wave (mmW) RF signals, are especially beneficial to use as radar signals because the higher frequency provides, at least, more accurate range (distance) detection.

[0166] Possible use cases of RF sensing include health monitoring use cases, such as heartbeat detection, respiration rate monitoring, and the like, gesture recognition use cases, such as human activity recognition, keystroke detection, sign language recognition, and the like, contextual information acquisition use cases, such as location detection / tracking, direction finding, range estimation, and the like, and automotive radar use cases, such as smart cruise control, collision avoidance, and the like.

[0167] There are different types of sensing, including monostatic sensing (also referred to as “active sensing”) and bistatic sensing (also referred to as “passive sensing”). FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate these different types of sensing. Specifically, FIG. 6A is a diagram 600illustrating a monostatic sensing scenario and FIG. 6B is a diagram 630 illustrating a bistatic sensing scenario. In FIG. 6A, the transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) are co-located in the same sensing device 604 (e.g., a UE). The sensing device 604 transmits one or more RF sensing signals 634 (e.g., uplink or sidelink positioning reference signals (PRS) where the sensing device 604 is a UE), and some of the RF sensing signals 634 reflect off a target object 606. The sensing device 604 can measure various properties (e.g., times of arrival (ToAs), angles of arrival (AoAs), phase shift, etc.) of the reflections 636 of the RF sensing signals 634 to determine characteristics of the target object 606 (e.g., size, shape, speed, motion state, etc.).

[0168] In FIG. 6B, the transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) are not co-located, that is, they are separate devices (e.g., a UE and a base station). Note that while FIG. 6B illustrates using a downlink RF signal as the RF sensing signal 632, uplink RF signals or sidelink RF signals can also be used as RF sensing signals 632. In a downlink scenario, as shown, the transmitter is a base station and the receiver is a UE, whereas in an uplink scenario, the transmitter is a UE and the receiver is a base station.

[0169] Referring to FIG. 6B in greater detail, the transmitter device 602 transmits RF sensing signals 632 and 634 (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) to the sensing device 604, but some of the RF sensing signals 634 reflect off a target object 606. The sensing device 604 (also referred to as the “sensing device”) can measure the times of arrival (ToAs) of the RF sensing signals 632 received directly from the transmitter device and the ToAs of the reflections 636 of the RF sensing signals 634 reflected from the target object 606.

[0170] 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 sensing 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 RF signals through multipath channels. Each path may be associated with a cluster of one or more channel taps. Generally, the time at which the receiver detects the first cluster of channel taps is considered the ToA of the RF signal on the line-of-site (LOS) path (i.e., the shortest path between the transmitter and the receiver). Later clusters of channel taps are considered to have reflected off objects between the transmitter and the receiver and therefore to have followed non-LOS (NLOS) paths between the transmitter and the receiver.

[0171] Thus, referring back to FIG. 6B, the RF sensing signals 632 followed the LOS path between the transmitter device 602 and the sensing device 604, and the RF sensing signals 634 followed an NLOS path between the transmitter device 602 and the sensing device 604 due to reflecting off the target object 606. The transmitter device 602 may have transmitted multiple RF sensing signals 632, 634, some of which followed the LOS path and others of which followed the NLOS path. Alternatively, the transmitter device 602 may have transmitted a single RF sensing signal in a broad enough beam that a portion of the RF sensing signal followed the LOS path (RF sensing signal 632) and a portion of the RF sensing signal followed the NLOS path (RF sensing signal 634).

[0172] Based on the ToA of the LOS path, the ToA of the NLOS path, and the speed of light, the sensing device 604 can determine the distance to the target object(s). For example, the sensing device 604 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 sensing device 604 is capable of receive beamforming, the sensing device 604 may be able to determine the general direction to a target object as the direction (angle) of the receive beam on which the RF sensing signal following the NLOS path was received. That is, the sensing device 604 may 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 sensing device 604 may then optionally report this information to the transmitter device 602, 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 sensing device 604 may report the ToA measurements to the transmitter device 602, or other sensing entity (e.g., if the sensing device 604 does not have the processing capability to perform the calculations itself), and the transmitter device 602 may determine the distance and, optionally, the direction to the target object 606.

[0173] Note that if the RF sensing signals are uplink RF signals transmitted by a UE to a base station, the base station would perform object detection based on the uplink RF signals just like the UE does based on the downlink RF signals.

[0174] Like conventional radar, wireless communication-based radar signal can be used to estimate the range (distance), velocity (Doppler), and angle (AoA) of a target object.However, the performance (e.g., resolution and maximum values of range, velocity, and angle) may depend on the design of the reference signal.

[0175] FIG. 7 illustrates an example call flow 700 for an NR-based sensing procedure (e.g., a bistatic sensing procedure) in which the network configures the sensing parameters, according to aspects of the disclosure. Although FIG. 7 illustrates a network-coordinated sensing procedure, the sensing procedure could be coordinated over sidelink channels.

[0176] At stage 705, a sensing server 770 (e.g., inside or outside the core network) sends a request for network (NW) information to a gNB 722 (e.g., the serving gNB of a UE 704). The request may be for a list of the UE’s 704 serving cell and any neighboring cells. At stage 710, the gNB 722 sends the requested information to the sensing server 770. At stage 715, the sensing server 770 sends a request for sensing capabilities to the UE 704. At stage 720, the UE 704 provides its sensing capabilities to the sensing server 770. At stage 725, the sensing server 770 sends a configuration to the UE 704 indicating the reference signals (RS) that will be transmitted for sensing. The reference signals for sensing may be transmitted by the serving and / or neighboring cells identified at stage 710. At stage 730, the sensing server 770 sends a request for sensing information to the UE 704. The UE 704 then measures the transmitted reference signals and, at stage 735, sends the measurements, or any sensing results determined from the measurements, to the sensing server 770.

[0177] In an aspect, the communication between the UE 704 and the sensing server 770 may be via the LTE positioning protocol (LPP). The communication between the sensing server 770 and the gNB may be via NR positioning protocol type A (NRPPa).

[0178] Aspects of the disclosure relate to on-demand PRS. In some designs, DL-PRS is an “always-on” signal. Such designs may cause unnecessary overhead and a waste of energy, for example, in a scenario where no UE positioning is required during a particular time or in a particular area of a wireless communication network (e.g., the wireless communication system 100). Additionally, when the DL-PRS is an “always-on” signal, the allocation of DL-PRS resources may be static. That is, a static DL-PRS resource allocation generally may not allow for a temporary increase of the DL-PRS resources for meeting higher positioning accuracy and / or lower latency positioning requirements during certain times or in certain areas of the wireless communication network. Additionally, a static DL-PRS resource allocation generally may not allow for a decreaseof DL-PRS resources, for example, in some cases when the positioning requirements can be met with fewer DL-PRS resources.

[0179] In some designs, on-demand DL-PRS functionality may be used in a wireless communication network. That is, on-demand DL-PRS refers to the capability to allow a UE (e.g., UE 304) or an LMF (e.g., LMF 270) to request DL-PRS for positioning measurements or to request an update or change in available DL-PRS times or periodicities.

[0180] FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a location server-initiated on-demand PRS positioning procedure 800, according to aspects of the disclosure. At stage 810, a TRP information exchange procedure may provide the on-demand DL-PRS parameters supported by the TRPs to the LMF 270. In some examples, one or more of the TRPs of gNBs 222 may provide a bit map (e.g., an “On-demand PRS Request Allowed” bit map) the LMF 270. That is, for example, the bit map may include: Bitl corresponding to a Resource Set Periodicity; Bit2 corresponding to a PRS Bandwidth; Bit3 corresponding to a Resource Repetition Factor; Bit4 corresponding to a Resource Number of Symbols; Bit5 corresponding to a Comb Size; Bit6 corresponding to a Number of Frequency Layers; Bit7 corresponding to a Start Time and Duration; Bit8 corresponding to an Off Indication; and Bit9 corresponding to a QCL Information. In some cases, for each bit in the bit map indicating support associated with an on-demand DL-PRS parameter, a supported value(s) may be provided to the LMF 270.

[0181] In some cases, a serving AMF 264 for a target UE 204 may invoke a service operation (e.g., a “Nlmf Location DetermineLocation” service operation) towards the UE’s 204 LMF 270 to request the current location of the UE 204. The service operation may include the UE’s 204 serving cell identity, the location services (LCS) client type (e.g., an emergency services client type or a commercial client type). In some cases, the service operation may include a required QoS.

[0182] In some cases, the LMF 270 may send an LPP Request Capabilities message to the target UE 204 to request the positioning capabilities of the UE 204. The UE 204 may return an LPP Provide Capabilities message to the LMF 270 to provide the positioning capabilities of the UE 204. The positioning capabilities may include the DL-PRS measurement capabilities of the UE 204.

[0183] At stage 820, based on the LCS client type, the QoS (if provided), and the DL-PRS measurement capabilities of the UE 204 (if provided), the LMF 270 may determine gNBs 222 proximate to the location of the UE 204 (e.g., as indicated by the serving cell identity) to be measured by the UE 204 and a new DL-PRS configuration (for the requested on- demand PRS) for each of the gNBs 222. The determination at stage 820 may also be based on location requests for other UEs 204 proximate to the target UE 204, which are received by the LMF 270 at about the same time. The new DL-PRS configuration may be initiated by the LMF 270 to request a gNB 222 to configure or update PRS transmission. That is, for example, a new DL-PRS configuration for one or more or gNB 222 may use increased DL-PRS bandwidth, a longer duration of DL-PRS positioning occasions, DL-PRS transmission on new frequencies, a higher frequency of DL-PRS positioning occasions, and / or the like. In some cases, the DL-PRS configuration may be selected from a set of one or more preconfigured sets of DL-PRS configuration parameters to support increased DL-PRS transmission. In the case of directional DL-PRS beams, the LMF 270 may determine directional DL-PRS beams for each gNB 222 that should be received by the target UE 204. The directional DL-PRS beams may be selected by the LMF 270 according to a known approximate location for the target UE 270 (e.g., as given by the serving cell identity).

[0184] At stage 825, the LMF 270 sends an NRPPa DL-PRS Reconfiguration Request message to each of the gNBs 222 determined at stage 820 and includes the new DL-PRS configuration (for on-demand PRS) determined for that gNB 222. For example, the Request message may include requested DL-PRS transmission characteristics and DL- PRS transmission off information (e.g., to turn off the DL-PRS transmission for certain TRPs). In some cases, the Request message may also include a start time for each new DL-PRS configuration and a duration.

[0185] At stage 830, each of the gNBs 222 returns a response to the LMF 270 indicating whether the new DL-PRS configuration can be supported. If some gNBs 222 indicate that the new DL-PRS configuration cannot be supported, the LMF 270 may restore the old DL-PRS configurations in each of the gNBs 222 that indicated a new DL-PRS configuration can be supported in order to avoid interference between gNBs 222 that support the new DL- PRS configuration and gNBs 222 that do not. In this case, the LMF 270 would provide the old DL-PRS configurations to the UE 204 at stage 840 instead of the new DL-PRSconfigurations. At stage 835, the gNBs 222 transmit the DL-PRS using the new configuration.

[0186] At stage 840, the LMF 270 sends an LPP Provide Assistance Data message to the UE 204. The LPP Provide Assistance Data message includes the new (on-demand) PRS configuration. In some cases, the LMF 270 may send an LPP Request Location Information message to the UE 204. The LPP Request Location Information message may instruct the UE 204 to measure and report the DL-PRS from the nearby gNBs 222. As such, the UE 204 may measures the DL-PRS from the nearby gNBs 222. That is, for example, the UE 204 may measure the ToA, RSRP, RSTD, Rx-Tx time difference, etc. of the DL-PRS from the gNBs 222. In some cases, the UE 204 optionally determines a location of the UE 204 (for UE-based positioning). In some cases, the UE 204 may send an LPP Provide Location Information message to the LMF 270. The LPP Provide Location Information message may include the measurements of the DL-PRS performed.

[0187] In some cases, the LMF 270 may determine a location of the UE 204 based on the measurements in the LPP Provide Location Information message and the known locations of the gNBs 222. In some cases, the LMF 270 may send the determined location of the UE 204 to the AMF 264 (e.g., in an “Nlmf Location DetermineLocation Response message). In some cases, the gNBs 222 may send NRPPa DL-PRS Reconfiguration Response messages to the LMF 270 to indicate successful (or unsuccessful) reconfiguration of the DL-PRS.

[0188] FIG. 9A illustrates an example TRP information exchange procedure 900, according to aspects of the disclosure. The TRP information exchange procedure 900 may be performed between an NG-RAN node 902 (e.g., a gNBs 222, ng-eNBs 224, or other network entity in the NG-RAN 220 described herein) and an LMF 906 (e.g., network entity 306, an LMF 270 or any of the LMFs and / or location servers described herein). The NG-RAN node 902 and LMF 906 may communicate via NRPPa signaling (e.g., which may be exchanged via an AMF 264).

[0189] In some examples, the purpose of the TRP information exchange procedure 900 is to allow the LMF 906 to request the NG-RAN node 902 to provide detailed information for TRPs hosted by the NG-RAN node 902. The LMF 906 may initiate the TRP information exchange procedure 900 by sending a TRP INFORMATION REQUEST message (e.g., for NRPPa) at stage 910. The NG-RAN node 902 may respond with a TRPINFORMATION RESPONSE message (e.g., for NRPPa) at stage 920 that contains the requested TRP information.

[0190] In some examples, if LMF 906 includes the TRP List information element (IE) in the TRP INFORMATION REQUEST message at stage 910, the NG-RAN node 902 may include the requested information for all TRPs included in the TRP List IE in the TRP INFORMATION RESPONSE message at stage 920. If LMF 906 does not include the TRP List IE in the TRP INFORMATION REQUEST message at stage 910, the NG-RAN node 902 may include the requested information for all TRPs hosted by the NG-RAN node in the TRP INFORMATION RESPONSE message at stage 920.

[0191] In some examples, for each TRP for which the NG-RAN node 902 is reporting information, the NG-RAN node 902 includes a TRP Information IE in the TRP INFORMATION RESPONSE message at stage 620. The TRP Information IE may include one or more of the following parameters: TRP ID, TRP Information Type, PCI, CGI, ARFCN, PRS Configuration, SSB Information, SFN Initialization Time, Spatial Direction Information, and Geographical Coordinates .

[0192] In some cases, if the PRS Muting IE is included in the PRS Configuration IE in the TRP Information IE in the TRP INFORMATION RESPONSE message at stage 920, the LMF 906 may take PRS muting information into account as the muting information for the given PRS resource set. In some cases, if the QCL Info IE is included in the PRS Configuration IE in the TRP Information IE in the TRP INFORMATION RESPONSE message at stage 920, the LMF 906 may take this QCL information into account for the given PRS resource list. In some cases, if the DL-PRS Resource Coordinates IE is included in the Geographical Coordinates IE in the TRP Information IE in the TRP INFORMATION RESPONSE message at stage 920, the LMF 906 may take this geographical coordinate information into account as the DL PRS Resource Coordinates relative to the TRP coordinate.

[0193] FIGS. 9B to 9E illustrate example IES that may be used in the TRP information exchange procedure 900 in the example of FIG. 9A, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0194] Referring to FIGS. 9 A and 9B, a TRP Informational Type Item IE 912 may be used in association with the TRP INFORMATION REQUEST message at stage 910. That is, for example, the LMF 906 may send a message requesting information for TRPs hosted by the NG-RAN node 902. The TRP Informational Type Item IE 912 may include variousIE types and references, including an on-demand PRS IE type and reference. In the example of FIG. 9B, the lE / Group Name column indicates the name of the IE or the IE group in a technical specification (e.g., 3GPP TS 38.455) for the TRP Informational Type Item IE 912. The Presence column indicates whether the presence of the IE the or IE group is Optional, Conditional, or Mandatory. The IE type and reference column indicates the type and reference for the particular IE or IE group. That is, the type of the IE or IE group may be Enumerated, a Bit String, an Octet String, an Integer, etc.

[0195] Referring to FIGS. 9A and 9C, a TRP Information IE 922 may be used in association with the TRP INFORMATION RESPONSE message at stage 920. That is, for example, the NG-RAN node 902 may send a message conveying TRP information to the LMF 906. The TRP Information IE 922 may include an IE type and reference to an On-demand PRS TRP Information IE 924. That is, for example, the NG-RAN node 902 may report the allowed parameters for on-demand PRS requests for one or more TRPs associated with the NG-RAN node 902. In the example of FIG. 9C, the lE / Group Name column indicates the name of the IE or the IE group in a technical specification (e.g., 3GPP TS 38.455) for the TRP Information IE 922. The Presence column indicates whether the presence of the IE the or IE group is Optional, Conditional, or Mandatory. The Range column indicates the allowed number of copies of repetitive IES or IE groups. For example, the TRP Information Item includes a maximum number of TRPs for which TRP information may be provided in the TRP Information IE 922.

[0196] The IE type and reference column indicates the type and reference for the IE or IE group. That is, the reference (if any) of the IE or IE group refers to a section of the technical specification for which further information is provided with respect to the IE or IE group. For example, section 9.2.25 refers to the further details for the TRP Information IE 922, which may include the On-demand PRS TRP Information IE 924. Section 9.2.65 refers to the further details for the On-demand PRS TRP Information IE 924. The Criticality column indicates the criticality of the IE or IE group. That is, each IE or IE group may have criticality information applied to it. For example, an indication of means that no criticality information is applied explicitly. An indication of ‘YES’ means that criticality information is applied (e.g., usable only for nonrepeatable IEs). An indication of “EACH” means that each repetition of the IE has its own criticality information (e.g., different criticality values are not allowed to be assigned to the repetitions). The AssignedCriticality column indicates the assigned criticality (if any) of the IE or IE group. That is, if criticality is applicable to the IE or IE group, the assigned criticality may be reject, ignore, or notify. The assigned criticality information is used in case of a missing IE or IE group abstract syntax error such that a receiving node may take different actions depending on the value of the assigned criticality information. For example, an assigned criticality of ‘reject’ means that the receiving node is to reject the IE; an assigned criticality of ‘ignore’ means that the receiving node is to ignore the IE; and an assigned criticality of ‘notify’ means that the receiving node is to ignore the IE and notify the sender of the error.

[0197] With further reference to FIG. 9D, a TRP Information IE 926 contains information for a TRP within NG-RAN node 902. In the example of FIG. 9D, the lE / Group Name column indicates the name of the IE or the IE group in a technical specification (e.g., 3GPP TS 38.455) for the TRP Information IE 926. The Presence column indicates whether the presence of the IE the or IE group is Optional, Conditional, or Mandatory. The Range column indicates the allowed number of copies of repetitive IES or IE groups. For example, the TRP Information Type includes a maximum number of TRP Information types for which TRP information may be provided in the TRP Information IE 926. The IE type and reference column indicates the type and reference for the IE or IE group. That is, the type of the IE or IE group may be Enumerated, a Bit String, an Octet String, an Integer, a Relative Time, etc. The reference of the IE or IE group refers to a section of the technical specification for which further information is provided with respect to the IE or IE group.

[0198] The Semantic Description column indicates the semantic description (if any) of the IE or IE group. The Criticality column indicates the criticality of the IE or IE group. That is, each IE or IE group may have a criticality information applied to it. For example, an indication of ‘-’ means that no criticality information is applied explicitly. An indication of ‘YES’ means that criticality information is applied (e.g., usable only for nonrepeatable IEs). The Assigned Criticality column indicates the assigned criticality (if any) of the IE or IE Group. That is, if criticality is applicable to the IE or IE group, the assigned criticality may be reject, ignore, or notify. The assigned criticality information is used in case of a missing IE or IE group abstract syntax error such that a receiving node may take different actions depending on the value of the assigned criticality information. Forexample, an assigned criticality of ‘reject’ means that the receiving node is to reject the IE when a missing IE or IE group abstract syntax error is detected.

[0199] With further reference to FIG. 9E, an On-demand PRS TRP Information IE 928 contains on-demand PRS information for the TRP within NG-RAN node 902. In the example of FIG. 9E, the lE / Group Name column indicates the name of the IE or the IE group in a technical specification (e.g., 3GPP TS 38.455) for the On-demand PRS TRP Information IE 928. The Presence column indicates whether the presence of the IE the or IE group is Optional, Conditional, or Mandatory. The IE type and reference column indicates the type and reference for the IE or IE group. That is, the type of the IE or IE group may be Enumerated, a Bit String, an Octet String, an Integer, a Relative Time, etc. The Semantic Description column indicates the semantic description (if any) of the IE or IE group.

[0200] FIG. 10A illustrates an example PRS configuration exchange procedure 1000, according to aspects of the disclosure. The PRS configuration exchange 1000 may be performed between an NG-RAN node 1002 (e.g., a gNBs 222, ng-eNBs 224, or other network entity in the NG-RAN 220 described herein) and an LMF 1006 (e.g., a network entity 306, an LMF 270 or any of the LMFs and / or location servers described herein). The NG-RAN node 1002 and LMF 1006 may communicate via NRPPa signaling (e.g., which may be exchanged via an AMF 264).

[0201] In some examples, the PRS configuration exchange procedure 1000 is initiated by the LMF 1006 to request the NG-RAN node 1002 to configure or update (e.g., turn off) PRS transmission. In some cases, this PRS configuration exchange procedure 1000 applies if the NG-RAN node 1002 is a gNB. The LMF 1006 may initiate the PRS configuration exchange procedure 1000 by sending a PRS CONFIGURATION REQUEST message at stage 1010 to the NG-RAN.

[0202] In some cases, if the PRS Configuration Request Type IE is set to “configure”, the NG- RAN node 1002 may use the information in the Requested DL PRS Transmission Characteristics IE to configure DL-PRS transmission by the indicated TRP(s) of the NG- RAN node 1002.

[0203] In some cases, if the PRS Configuration Request Type IE is set to “off’, the NG-RAN node 1002 may, if supported, use the information in the PRS Transmission Off Information IE to turn off the DL-PRS transmission for the indicated TRP(s) of the NG- RAN node 1002, PRS Resource Set(s), or PRS Resource(s).

[0204] In some cases, if DL-PRS transmission is successfully configured or updated for at least one of the TRPs, the NG-RAN node 1002 may respond with a PRS CONFIGURATION RESPONSE message at stage 1020.

[0205] FIGS. 10B to 10E illustrate example IES that may be used in the PRS configuration exchange procedure 1000 in the example of FIG. 10 A, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0206] Referring to FIGS. 10A and 10B, the PRS CONFIGURATION REQUEST message 1012 is sent by the LMF 1006 to request the NG-RAN node 1002 to configure or update PRS transmission. In the example of FIG. 10B, the lE / Group Name column indicates the name of the IE or the IE group in a technical specification (e.g., 3GPP TS 38.455) associated with the PRS CONFIGURATION REQUEST message 1012. The Presence column indicates whether the presence of the IE the or IE group is Optional, Conditional, or Mandatory. In some cases, the Presence column may include the condition associated with the conditional presence of the IE the or IE group. The Range column indicates the allowed number of copies of repetitive IEs or IE groups. The IE type and reference column indicates the type and reference for the IE or IE group. That is, the type of the IE or IE group may be Enumerated, a Bit String, an Octet String, an Integer, a Relative Time, etc. The reference of the IE or IE group refers to a section of the technical specification for which further information is provided with respect to the IE or IE group.

[0207] The Criticality column indicates the criticality of the IE or IE group. That is, each IE or IE group may have a criticality information applied to it. For example, an indication of ‘~ ’ means that no criticality information is applied explicitly. An indication of ‘YES’ means that criticality information is applied (e.g., usable only for nonrepeatable IEs). An indication of “EACH” means that each repetition of the IE has its own criticality information (e.g., different criticality values are not allowed to be assigned to the repetitions). The Assigned Criticality column indicates the assigned criticality (if any) of the IE or IE group. That is, if criticality is applicable to the IE or IE group, the assigned criticality may be reject, ignore, or notify. The assigned criticality information is used in case of a missing IE or IE group abstract syntax error such that a receiving node may take different actions depending on the value of the assigned criticality information. For example, an assigned criticality of ‘reject’ means that the receiving node is to reject the IE; an assigned criticality of ‘ignore’ means that the receiving node is to ignore the IE;and an assigned criticality of ‘notify’ means that the receiving node is to ignore the IE and notify the sender of the error.

[0208] Referring further to FIG. 10C, a Requested DL PRS Transmission Characteristics IE 1014 may be used in association with the PRS CONFIGURATION REQUEST message 1012 at stage 1010. That is, for example, the LMF 1006 may send the Requested DL PRS Transmission Characteristics IE 1014 containing the requested PRS configuration for transmission by the LMF 1006. In the example of FIG. 10C, the lE / Group Name column indicates the name of the IE or the IE group in a technical specification (e.g., 3GPP TS 38.455) for the Requested DL PRS Transmission Characteristics IE 1014. The Presence column indicates whether the presence of the IE the or IE group is Optional, Conditional, or Mandatory. The Range column indicates the allowed number of copies of repetitive IES or IE groups. For example, in accordance with some implementations, only a single Requested DL-PRS Resource Set List IE is used, and a Requested DL-PRS Resource Set Item IE may be repeated up to the maximum of the number of PRS resource sets.

[0209] The IE type and reference column indicates the type and reference for the IE or IE group. That is, the type of the IE or IE group may be Enumerated, a Bit String, an Octet String, an Integer, a Relative Time, a Start Time and Duration, etc. The reference of the IE or IE group refers to a section of the technical specification for which further information is provided with respect to the IE or IE group. The Semantic Description column indicates the semantic description (if any) of the IE or IE group.

[0210] Referring further to FIG. 10D, a Requested DL-PRS Resource List IE 1016 may be used in association with the PRS CONFIGURATION REQUEST message 1012 at stage 1010. That is, for example, the LMF 1006 may send the Requested DL-PRS Resource List IE 1016 containing the requested DL-PRS resource list. That is, for example, the LMF 1006 may request a PRS to be QCLed with a given PRS or SSB by using the Requested DL- PRS Resource List IE 1016. In the example of FIG. 10D, the lE / Group Name column indicates the name of the IE or the IE group in a technical specification (e.g., 3GPP TS 38.455) for the Requested DL-PRS Resource List E 1016. The Presence column indicates whether the presence of the IE the or IE group is Optional, Conditional, or Mandatory. The Range column indicates the allowed number of copies of repetitive IEs or IE groups. For example, in accordance with some implementations, only a single Requested DL- PRS Resource List IE is used, and a Requested DL-PRS Resource Item IE may berepeated up to the maximum of the number of PRS resources. The IE type and reference column indicates the type and reference for the IE or IE group. That is, the type of the IE or IE group may be Enumerated, a Bit String, an Octet String, an Integer, etc. The Semantic Description column indicates the semantic description (if any) of the IE or IE group.

[0211] Referring to FIGS. 10A and 10E, the PRS CONFIGURATION RESPONSE message 1022 may be sent by the NG-RAN node 1002 to acknowledge configuring or updating the PRS transmission. In the example of FIG. 10E, the lE / Group Name column indicates the name of the IE or the IE group in a technical specification (e.g., 3GPP TS 38.455) associated with the PRS CONFIGURATION RESPONSE message 1022. The Presence column indicates whether the presence of the IE the or IE group is Optional, Conditional, or Mandatory. The Range column indicates the allowed number of copies of repetitive IES or IE groups. For example, in accordance with some implementations, a PRS Transmission TRP Item IE may be repeated up to the maximum of the number of TRPs. The IE type and reference column indicates the type and reference for the IE or IE group. That is, the reference of the IE or IE group refers to a section of the technical specification for which further information is provided with respect to the IE or IE group.

[0212] The Criticality column indicates the criticality of the IE or IE group. That is, each IE or IE group may have a criticality information applied to it. For example, an indication of ‘~ ’ means that no criticality information is applied explicitly. An indication of ‘YES’ means that criticality information is applied (e.g., usable only for nonrepeatable IEs). An indication of “EACH” means that each repetition of the IE has its own criticality information (e.g., different criticality values are not allowed to be assigned to the repetitions). The Assigned Criticality column indicates the assigned criticality (if any) of the IE or IE group. That is, if criticality is applicable to the IE or IE group, the assigned criticality may be reject, ignore, or notify. That is, the assigned criticality information is used in case of a missing IE or IE group abstract syntax error such that a receiving node may take different actions depending on the value of the assigned criticality information. For example, an assigned criticality of ‘ignore’ means that the receiving node is to ignore the IE when a missing IE or IE group abstract syntax error is detected.

[0213] FIG. 11A illustrates an example NR sidelink measurement reporting procedure 1100, according to aspects of the disclosure. The NR sidelink measurement reporting procedure1100 may be performed between a UE 1104 (e.g., a UE 304 or other sidelink devices in the NG-RAN 220 described herein) and a UE 1104 (e.g., a UE 304 or other sidelink devices in the NG-RAN 220 described herein). The UEs 1104 may communicate to transfer measurement results from the UE to the peer UE.

[0214] In some examples, for the sl-MeasId IE for which the NR sidelink measurement reporting procedure 1100 was triggered, the UE may set the sl-MeasRe suits IE within the MeasurementReportSidelink message 1110. In some examples, the UE 1104 may determine an identity of a zone (i.e., Zone id) in which it is located using the following formulae, if sl-ZoneConfig is configured: xi= Floor (x / Z) Mod 64; yi= Floor (y / Z) Mod 64; Zone id =yi * 64 + xi. The parameters in the formulae may be defined as follows: L is the value of sl-ZoneLength included in sl-ZoneConfig x is the geodesic distance in longitude between UEs current location and geographical coordinates (0, 0) according to WGS84 model

[0058] and it is expressed in meters; and y is the geodesic distance in latitude between UEs current location and geographical coordinates (0, 0) according to WGS84 model

[0058] and it is expressed in meters.

[0215] FIG. 1 IB illustrates an example of a portion of a SL-Re sourcePool IE 1112 that may be used in the NR sidelink measurement reporting procedure 1100 of FIG. 11 A, according to aspects of the disclosure. The SL-ResourcePool IE 1112 may specify the configuration information for NR sidelink communication resource pool. For example, certain fields and / or parameters of the SL-ResourcePool IE 1112 may correspond to Zone ID and minimum communication range (MCR) features of the NR sidelink communication resource pool. For example, the sl-TransRange field may indicate the communication range requirement for the corresponding sl-ZoneConfigMCR-Index . The sl-ZoneConfig field may indicate the zone configuration for the corresponding sl-ZoneConfigMCR- Index. In some cases, the zone configuration may be indicated by a SL-ZoneConfig IE. Additionally, or alternatively, the sl-ZoneConfigMCR-Index field may indicate the codepoint of the communication range requirement field in SCI.

[0216] FIG. 11C illustrates an example a SL-ZoneConfig IE 1114 that may be used in the NR sidelink measurement reporting procedure 1100 of FIG. 11 A, according to aspects of the disclosure. The SL-ZoneConfig IE may be used to configure the zone ID related parameters. For example, the sl-ZoneLength field may indicate the length of each geographic zone.

[0217] FIG. 12 illustrates a first example wireless communication system 1200 for sensing operations, according to aspects of the disclosure. In certain aspects, the wireless communication system 1200 is an example of, or includes aspects of, the corresponding elements described with reference to FIGS. 1-11C, 13, and 14. The wireless communication system 1200 includes base stations (e.g., gNBs 222, ng-eNBs 224, base stations 302, or other network entities in the NG-RAN 220 described herein) and UEs 1204 (e.g., UEs 304 or other network devices in the NG-RAN 220 described herein). In some examples, the wireless communication system 1200 includes a first base station 1202-a as a first receiving node in the sensing operations, a second base station 1202-b as a second receiving node in the sensing operations, a third base station 1202-c as a third receiving node in the sensing operations, and a fourth base station 1202-d as a first transmitting node in the sensing operations. Additionally, the wireless communication system 1200 may include a first UE 1204-a as a first positioning or sensing target device in the sensing operations and a second UE 1204-b as a second positioning or sensing target device in the sensing operations.

[0218] In some examples, a sensing server 1206 (e.g., network entity 306, the LMF 270 or any of the LMFs, sensing server 770, and / or location or sensing-based servers described herein) may be operatively coupled to each of the base stations 1202. The sensing server 1206 may coordinate with the base stations 1202 and / or the UEs 1204 in various positioning and / or sensing operations. In some examples, the fourth base station 1202-d may transmit reference signals via transmit beams 1224 (e.g., using beamforming techniques) towards both the first UE 1204-a and the second UE 1204-b. Each of the first base station 1202-a, the second base station 1202-b, and the third base station 1202-c may receive one or more reflections of the transmitted reference signals via receive beams 1226 (e.g., using beamforming techniques). That is, for example, the transmitted reference signals may reflect off of the first UE 1204-a and / or the second UE 1204-b and be received by first base station 1202-a, the second base station 1202-b, and / or the third base station 1202-c via the receive beams 1226.

[0219] In some examples, radar server-initiated beam coordination may performed by the sensing server 1206 for wide-area RF sensing. That is, for example, sensing server 1206 may coordinate the transmit beams 1224 and the receive beams 1226 for various beam directions to be scanned by each of base station the base station 1202 in a specificgeographic area. In some examples, the server 1206 may configure search windows to the first base station 1202-a, second base station 1202-b, and third base station 1202-c as the receiving nodes in the angular domain (e.g., expected AoA, expected AoA spread, etc.). That is, for example, a specific sequence of search windows across time instances may be configured by the server 1206.

[0220] According to some aspects, sensing server 1206 may perform server-initiated beam coordination through on-demand PRS configuration. It is to be appreciated that in some designs, on-demand PRS defined in NR does not support flexible configuration of transmit and receive beams. For example, in such designs, an LMF requests a PRS to be QCLed with a given PRS or SSB. In other words, the PRS beams may not be requested with any desirable directions. Additionally, in some designs, it may be preferable for network vendors to have flexibility on how to implement the PRS beams. Accordingly, aspects of the disclosure include solutions to achieve the wide-area RF sensing with transmitting and receiving node coordination while still enabling flexibility on how to implement the sensing beams.

[0221] FIG. 13 illustrates a second example wireless communication system 1300 for sensing operations, according to aspects of the disclosure. In certain aspects, the wireless communication system 1300 is an example of, or includes aspects of, the corresponding elements described with reference to FIGS. 1-12 and 14. The wireless communication system 1300 includes base stations (e.g., gNBs 222, ng-eNBs 224, base stations 302, or other network entities in the NG-RAN 220 described herein) and UEs 1304 (e.g., UEs 304 or other network devices in the NG-RAN 220 described herein).

[0222] In some examples, the wireless communication system 1300 includes a first base station 1302-a as a first receiving node in the sensing operations, a second base station 1302-b as a second receiving node in the sensing operations, a third base station 1302-c as a third receiving node in the sensing operations, and a fourth base station 1302-d as a first transmitting node in the sensing operations. Additionally, the wireless communication system 1300 may include a first UE 1304-a as a first positioning or sensing target device in the sensing operations and a second UE 1304-b as a second positioning or sensing target device in the sensing operations.

[0223] In some examples, a sensing server 1306 (e.g., network entity 306, the LMF 270 or any of the LMFs, sensing server 770, and / or location or sensing-based servers describedherein) may be operatively coupled to each of the base stations 1302. The sensing server 1306 may coordinate with the base stations 1302 and / or the UEs 1304 in various positioning and / or sensing operations. In some examples, the fourth base station 1302-d may transmit reference signals via wide transmit beams 1324-a (e.g., using beamforming techniques) towards the first UE 1304-a and may transmit reference signals via narrow transmit beams 1324-b (e.g., using beamforming techniques) towards the second UE 1304-b.

[0224] In some examples, the first base station 1302-a and the second base station 1302-b receive one or more reflections of the transmitted reference signals via wide receive beams 1326- a. That is, for example, the transmitted reference signals via wide transmit beams 1324-a may reflect off of the first UE 1304-a and may be received by first base station 1302-a and / or the second base station 1302-b via the wide receive beams 1326-a. In some examples, the second base station 1302-b and the third base station 1302-c may receive one or more reflections of the transmitted reference signals via narrow receive beams 1326-b. That is, for example, the transmitted reference signals via narrow transmit beams 1324-a may reflect off of the second UE 1304-b and may be received by the second base station 1302-b and / or the third base station 1302-c via the narrow receive beams 1326-b.

[0225] In some examples, the wireless communication system 1300 may utilize a sensing area specific on-demand sensing reference signal request and measurement report. For example, communication between the sensing server 1306 and the base stations 1302 may be via NRPPa. In some examples, the sensing server 1306 may perform a TRP information exchange procedure configured to determine whether the TRPs of the base stations 1302 support sensing zone-specific on-demand sensing reference signal transmissions. That is, for example, the TRP information exchange procedure may provide the on-demand DL-PRS and sensing reference signal parameters supported by the TRPs of the base stations 1302 to the sensing server 1306.

[0226] In some examples, one or more of the TRPs of base stations 1302 may provide a bit map (e.g., an “On-demand PRS and Sensing Reference Signal Request Allowed” bit map) the sensing server 1306. That is, for example, the bit map may include: Bitl corresponding to a Resource Set Periodicity; Bit2 corresponding to a PRS Bandwidth; Bit3 corresponding to a Resource Repetition Factor; Bit4 corresponding to a Resource Number of Symbols; Bit5 corresponding to a Comb Size; Bit6 corresponding to a Number ofFrequency Layers; Bit7 corresponding to a Start Time and Duration; Bit8 corresponding to an Off Indication; Bit9 corresponding to a QCL Information, and BitlO corresponding to Zone-Specific Sensing. In some cases, for each bit in the bit map indicating support associated with an on-demand DL-PRS or sensing reference signal parameter, a supported value(s) may be provided to the sensing server 1306.

[0227] For example, if BitlO is set to indicate support for Zone-Specific Sensing, the sensing server 1306 may initiate an on-demand sensing reference signal configuration exchange procedure with one or more TRPs of the base stations 1302. That is, for example, the sensing server 1306 may initiate a group of on-demand sensing reference signals with a specific sensing area or zone.

[0228] FIG. 14 illustrates an example on-demand sensing reference signal configuration exchange procedure 1400, according to aspects of the disclosure. In certain aspects, the on-demand sensing reference signal configuration exchange procedure 1400 is an example of, or includes aspects of, the corresponding elements described with reference to FIGS. 1-12 and 14. The on-demand sensing reference signal configuration exchange procedure 1400 may be performed between an NG-RAN node 1402 (e.g., a base station 1302, a base station 1202, a gNBs 222, ng-eNBs 224, or other network entity in the NG- RAN 220 described herein) and a sensing server 1406 (e.g., a sensing server 1306, a sensing server 1206, a network entity 306, an LMF 270 or any of the LMFs and / or location servers described herein). The NG-RAN node 1402 and sensing server 1406 may communicate via NRPPa signalling (e.g., which may be exchanged via an AMF 264).

[0229] In some examples, the on-demand sensing reference signal configuration exchange procedure 1400 is initiated by the sensing server 1406 to request the NG-RAN node 1402 to configure or update (e.g., turn off) PRS transmission. In some cases, this on-demand sensing reference signal configuration exchange procedure 1400 applies if the NG-RAN node 1402 is a gNB. The sensing server 1406 may initiate the on-demand sensing reference signal configuration exchange procedure 1400 by sending an ON-DEMAND SENSING REFERENCE SIGNAL CONFIGURATION REQUEST message at stage 1410 to the NG-RAN.

[0230] In some cases, a specific sensing area identifier or sensing zone identifier may be provided in the ON-DEMAND SENSING REFERENCE SIGNAL CONFIGURATION REQUEST message. The NG-RAN node 1402 (e.g., the sensing nodes) may respondwhether one or more TRP(s) of the NG-RAN node 1402 could support such on-demand sensing reference signal transmission to sense the associated sensing zone identifier. If one or more TRPs are determined to support such on-demand sensing reference signal transmission to sense the associated sensing zone identifier, the NG-RAN node 1402 may use the sensing zone identifier information to configure sensing reference signal transmission by the one or more TRP(s) of the NG-RAN node 1402.

[0231] In some cases, if the on-demand sensing reference signal configuration is successfully configured or updated for at least one of the TRPs, the NG-RAN node 1402 may respond with an ON-DEMAND SENSING REFERENCE SIGNAL CONFIGURATION RESPONSE message at stage 1420.

[0232] In some examples, the sensing server 1406 may initiate the on-demand sensing reference signal configuration exchange procedure 1400 with multiple sensing zone identifiers. In some examples, one or more TRP(s) of the NG-RAN node 1402 may conduct the zonespecific sensing reference signal transmission / measurement in accordance with the on- demand sensing reference signal configuration. As used herein, zone-specific reference signals for sensing and / or positioning may correspond to a reference signal configuration that divides portions an area covered by a wireless communication network into different zones. In some cases, each zone may be associated with a three-dimensional area. Each reference signal transmitted and / or measured in a corresponding zone may include specific transmission characteristics (e.g., time-domain, frequency-domain, etc.) for optimized and / or identifiable reception in the corresponding zone. Additionally, or alternatively, each reference signal transmitted and / or measured in a corresponding zone may include information to indicate the corresponding zone. In some cases, one or more TRP(s) of the NG-RAN node 1402 may report the sensing measurements with the associated sensing zone identifier(s). In some cases, a UE may initiate the on-demand sensing reference signal configuration exchange procedure 1400.

[0233] With reference to example of FIG. 11 A, the NR sidelink measurement reporting procedure 1100 may utilize two-dimensional zones (e.g., xi= Floor (x I E) Mod 64; yi= Floor (y I E) Mod 64; Zone_id = yi * 64 + xi). In some examples, the sensing zone identifiers used in the on-demand sensing reference signal configuration exchange procedure 1400 represent three-dimensional zones. For example, the sensing zone identifier may be a function of / ?i *N2+ i*N + Xi, in accordance with some examples. Insome cases, the identity of a sensing zone may be determined using the following first formulae: Z?i= Floor (A / Z) Modulo N; yi= Floor (y I E) Modulo N; and i= Floor (x I E) Modulo N. The parameters in the first sensing zone formulae may be defined as follows: N is a cube dimension unit, L is a zone length value; h is a distance in height between a zone and geographical coordinates (0, 0, 0) in accordance with a global reference model (e.g., according to a WGS84 model and may be expressed in meters); y is a geodesic distance in latitude between the zone and geographic coordinates (0, 0,0) in accordance with the global reference mode (e.g., according to the WGS84 model and may be expressed in meters); and x is a geodesic distance in longitude between the zone and geographic coordinates (0, 0, 0) in accordance with the global reference model x is a geodesic distance in longitude between the zone and geographic coordinates (0, 0, 0) in accordance with the global reference model (e.g., according to the WGS84 model and may be expressed in meters). In some examples, the sensing zone identifier using the first sensing zone formulae may inform a rectangular-shaped zone.

[0234] In some implementations, a rectangular-shaped zone and corresponding grid structure may not be an optimized way to cover various sensing beam type and / or directions. Accordingly, in some examples, the sensing zone identifier may be a function of n, 0i, and i, in accordance with some examples. In some cases, the identity of a sensing zone may be determined using the following second formulae: n= Floor (r / LI) Modulo Nl; 0i= Floor (01 L2) Modulo N2; and 0i= Floor ( / L2) Modulo N2. The parameters in the second sensing zone formulae may be defined as follows: n, 0i, i are spherical coordinates of a zone with respect to geographic coordinates (0,0,0) in accordance with a global reference model (e.g., according to a WGS84 model and may be expressed in meters); Nl is a first spherical dimension unit; N2 is a second spherical dimension unit; LI is a first zone length value; and L2 is a second zone length value. In some examples, the sensing zone identifier using the second sensing zone formulae may inform a nonrectangular-shaped zone. The nonrectangular-shaped zone may include a frustoconical-shaped zone, a spherical-shaped zone, etc., in accordance with some implementations.

[0235] In some aspects, a sensing zone identifier using the first sensing zone formulae and / or the second sensing zone formulae may be a non-contiguous zone. That is, for example, a sensing zone identifier may inform a shape of one or more zone boundaries, a union ofmultiple zone shape portions, etc. These various sensing zone identifiers may be communicated via on-demand sensing reference signal configuration exchange procedure 1400, in accordance with various aspects. In some implementations, the techniques for sensing zones and sensing reference signal transmission may be applied to UE positioning operations. That is, for example, area-specific sensing zones may also be applied as a UE positioning zones for on-demand UE positioning purposes.

[0236] Referring now to the examples of FIGS. 13 and 14, various examples and implementations may be described.

[0237] In some examples, a sensing node (e.g., a TRP of base station 1302-d) may receive, from a sensing server (e.g., the sensing server 1306), an on-demand sensing zone-specific reference signal configuration (e.g., a configuration based on the on-demand sensing reference signal configuration exchange procedure 1400). The on-demand sensing zonespecific reference signal configuration may include one or more sets of on-demand sensing reference signal resources. In some cases, each set of the one or more sets of on- demand sensing RS resources associated with a corresponding sensing zone identifier. In some examples, the sensing node may perform zone-specific sensing reference signal transmission (e.g., via wide transmit beams 1324-a and / or narrow transmit beams 1324- b) using the one or more sets of on-demand sensing reference signal resources.

[0238] In some examples, a sensing node (e.g., a TRP of base station 1302-b) may measure sensing parameters (e.g., range, speed, velocity, angle, phase shift, ToA, AoA, etc.) associated with the reflections (e.g., NLOS paths) of the zone-specific sensing reference signal transmissions (e.g., via wide receive beams 1326-a and / or narrow receive beams 1326-b).

[0239] In some examples, a sensing node (e.g., a TRP of base station 1302-d) may receive one or more measurements corresponding to sensing parameters associated with the reflections of the zone-specific sensing reference signal transmissions (e.g., received from a TRP of base station 1302-b).

[0240] In some examples, a sensing node (e.g., a TRP of base station 1302-b) may transmit sensing measurement data corresponding to the sensing parameters. For example, the sensing node may transmit the sensing measurement data to another sensing node (e.g., a TRP of base station 1302-d) and / or a sensing server (e.g., the sensing server 1306). In some examples, the sensing measurement data may include the corresponding sensingzone identifier associated with a set of on-demand sensing RS resources used in the measurements.

[0241] In some examples, a server (e.g., the sensing server 1306, a network entity, an LMF, a positioning system server, location server, etc.) may transmit to a node (e.g., (e.g., a TRP of a base station 1302, a UE 1302, etc.) a request requesting whether the node supports on-demand zone specific reference signal configurations (e.g., an ON-DEMAND SENSING REFERENCE SIGNAL CONFIGURATION REQUEST message). In some cases, the server may receive, from the node and responsive to the request, information including a zone-specific indication. That is, for example, the zone-specific indication may indicate that the node supports the on-demand zone-specific reference signal configurations (e g., an ON-DEMAND SENSING REFERENCE SIGNAL CONFIGURATION RESPONSE message). In some cases, the server may transmit, to the node and responsive to the information including the zone-specific indication, an on- demand zone-specific reference configuration (e.g., a configuration based on the on- demand sensing reference signal configuration exchange procedure 1400). In some cases, the on-demand zone-specific reference configuration may include a set of on-demand RS resources associated with a zone identifier.

[0242] FIG. 15 is a flowchart of an example process 1500 associated with area-specific on- demand sensing reference signal configurations, according to aspects of the disclosure. In some implementations, one or more process blocks of FIG. 15 may be performed by a sensing node (e.g., base station 302, UE 304, etc.). In some implementations, one or more process blocks of FIG. 15 may be performed by another device or a group of devices separate from or including the sensing node. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more process blocks of FIG. 15 may be performed by one or more components of an apparatus, such as a processor(s), memory, or transceiver s), any or all of which may be means for performing the operations of process 1500.

[0243] As shown in FIG. 15, process 1500 may include, at block 1510, receiving, from a sensing server, a first on-demand sensing zone-specific reference signal (RS) configuration comprising one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources, each set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources associated with a corresponding sensing zone identifier. Means for performing the operation of block 1510 may include the processor(s), memory, or transceiver s) of any of the apparatuses described herein. Forexample, the sensing node may receive, from a sensing server, a first on-demand sensing zone-specific reference signal (RS) configuration comprising one or more sets of on- demand sensing RS resources, each set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources associated with a corresponding sensing zone identifier, using transceiver s) 310, 320, 350, or 360.

[0244] As further shown in FIG. 15, process 1500 may include, at block 1520, performing zonespecific sensing RS transmissions on at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources. Means for performing the operation of block 1520 may include the processor( s), memory, or transceiver s) of any of the apparatuses described herein. For example, the sensing node may perform zone-specific sensing RS transmissions on at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources, using transceiver s) 310, 320, 350, or 360.

[0245] Process 1500 may include additional implementations, such as any single implementation or any combination of implementations described below and / or in connection with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

[0246] In some aspects, process 1500 includes receiving, from the sensing server, a first request requesting whether the sensing node supports on-demand sensing zone specific RS configurations, and transmitting, to the sensing server and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific sensing indication indicating that the sensing node supports the on-demand sensing zone-specific RS configurations.

[0247] In some aspects, the zone-specific sensing indication is expressed as a single bit.

[0248] In some aspects, process 1500 includes transmitting, to the sensing server, second information indicating whether the sensing node can support the one or more sets of on- demand sensing RS resources.

[0249] In some aspects, the second information is transmitted with the first information responsive to the first request.

[0250] In some aspects, the second information indicates that the sensing node can support the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0251] In some aspects, the second information indicates a set of transmission-reception points (TRPs) associated with the sensing node that can support the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0252] In some aspects, process 1500 includes measuring one or more sensing parameters associated with one or more reflections of the zone-specific sensing RS transmissions, or receiving one or more measurements corresponding to the one or more sensing parameters associated with sensing parameters associated with sensing parameters associated with sensing parameters associated with the one or more reflections of the zone-specific sensing RS transmissions.

[0253] In some aspects, process 1500 includes transmitting sensing measurement data corresponding to the one or more sensing parameters, the sensing measurement data including the corresponding sensing zone identifier associated with the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0254] In some aspects, the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs a rectangular-shaped zone.

[0255] In some aspects, the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of a cube dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0256] In some aspects, the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of hl*N2 + yl*N + xl, where hl= Floor (h / L) Modulo N, yl= Floor (y / L) Modulo N, xl= Floor (x / L) Modulo N, N is a cube dimension unit, L is a zone length value, h is a distance in height between a zone and geographical coordinates (0, 0, 0) in accordance with a global reference model, y is a geodesic distance in latitude between the zone and geographic coordinates (0, 0,0) in accordance with the global reference model, and x is a geodesic distance in longitude between the zone and geographic coordinates (0, 0, 0) in accordance with the global reference model.

[0257] In some aspects, the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs a frustoconical-shaped zone.

[0258] In some aspects, the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of at least one spherical dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0259] In some aspects, the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a functi on of r 1 , 91 , and (J) 1 , where rl= Floor (r / Ll) Modul oNl, 91= Floor (9 / L2) Modul o N2, (J) 1= Floor (c[) / L2) Modulo N2, rl, 91, (J) 1 are spherical coordinates of a zone with respect to geographic coordinates (0,0,0) in accordance with a global reference model, N1 is a first spherical dimension unit, N2 is a second spherical dimension unit, LI is a first zone length value, and L2 is a second zone length value.

[0260] In some aspects, the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs at least one of a nonrectangular-shaped zone, a shape of one or more zone boundaries, a union of a plurality of zone shape portions, or any combination thereof.

[0261] In some aspects, the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources corresponds to one or more of one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, one or more downlink (DL)-PRS resources, one or more uplink (UL)-PRS resources, one or more sidelink (SL)-PRS resources, one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, or any combination thereof.

[0262] In some aspects, the sensing node is a next-generation radio access node (NG-RAN) node.

[0263] In some aspects, the NG-RAN node is a base station.

[0264] In some aspects, the NG-RAN node is a user equipment (UE).

[0265] Although FIG. 15 shows example blocks of process 1500, in some implementations, process 1500 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted in FIG. 15. Additionally, or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of process 1500 may be performed in parallel.

[0266] FIG. 16 is a flowchart of an example process 1600 associated with area-specific on- demand sensing reference signal configurations, according to aspects of the disclosure. In some implementations, one or more process blocks of FIG. 16 may be performed by a server (e.g., network entity 306). In some implementations, one or more process blocks of FIG. 16 may be performed by another device or a group of devices separate from or including the server. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more process blocks of FIG. 16 may be performed by one or more components of an apparatus, such as a processor(s), memory, or transceiver(s), any or all of which may be means for performing the operations of process 1600.

[0267] As shown in FIG. 16, process 1600 may include, at block 1610, transmitting, to a node, a first request requesting whether the node supports on-demand zone specific reference signal (RS) configurations. Means for performing the operation of block 1610 may include the processor(s), memory, or transceiver(s) of any of the apparatuses described herein. For example, the server may transmit, to a node, a first request requesting whether the node supports on-demand zone specific reference signal (RS) configurations, using network transceiver(s) 390.

[0268] As further shown in FIG. 16, process 1600 may include, at block 1620, receiving, from the node and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific indication indicating that the node supports the on-demand zone-specific RS configurations. Means for performing the operation of block 1620 may include the processor(s), memory, or transceiver s) of any of the apparatuses described herein. For example, the server may receive, from the node and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific indication indicating that the node supports the on-demand zone-specific RS configurations, using network transceiver(s) 390.

[0269] As further shown in FIG. 16, process 1600 may include, at block 1630, transmitting, to the node and responsive to the first information, a first on-demand zone-specific RS configuration that comprises a set of on-demand RS resources associated with a zone identifier. Means for performing the operation of block 1630 may include the processor(s), memory, or transceiver s) of any of the apparatuses described herein. For example, the server may transmit, to the node and responsive to the first information, a first on-demand zone-specific RS configuration that comprises a set of on-demand RS resources associated with a zone identifier, using network transceiver s) 390.

[0270] Process 1600 may include additional implementations, such as any single implementation or any combination of implementations described below and / or in connection with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

[0271] In some aspects, the zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of a cube dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0272] In some aspects, the zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of at least one spherical dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0273] In some aspects, the set of on-demand RS resources corresponds to one or more of one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, one or more downlink (DL)-PRS resources, one or more uplink (UL)-PRS resources, one or more sidelink (SL)-PRS resources, one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, or any combination thereof.

[0274] In some aspects, the server is at least one of a location server, positioning system server, sensing system server, or any combination thereof.

[0275] In some aspects, the node is at least one of a next-generation radio access network (NG- RAN) sensing device or an NG-RAN positioning device.

[0276] In some aspects, the NG-RAN sensing device or the NG-RAN positioning device is a base station.

[0277] In some aspects, the NG-RAN sensing device or the NG-RAN positioning device is a user equipment (UE).

[0278] Although FIG. 16 shows example blocks of process 1600, in some implementations, process 1600 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted in FIG. 16. Additionally, or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of process 1600 may be performed in parallel.

[0279] As will be appreciated, a technical advantage of the processes 1500 and 1600 includes enabling wide-area RF sensing capabilities in a wireless communication network. Another technical advantage of the processes 1500 and 1600 may include power savings in performing sensing operations by using an on-demand sensing reference signal configuration. Another technical advantage of the processes 1500 and 1600 may include coordination of three-dimensional sensing zones while allowing for flexibility on sensing beam transmission implementations.

[0280] In the detailed description above it can be seen that different features are grouped together in examples. This manner of disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the example clauses have more features than are explicitly mentioned in each clause. Rather, the various aspects of the disclosure may include fewer than all features of an individual example clause disclosed. Therefore, the following clauses should hereby be deemed to be incorporated in the description, wherein each clause by itself can stand as a separate example. Although each dependent clause can refer in the clauses to a specific combination with one of the other clauses, the aspect(s) of that dependent clause are not limited to the specific combination. It will be appreciated that other example clauses can also include a combination of the dependent clause aspect(s) with the subject matter of any other dependent clause or independent clause or a combination of any feature with other dependent and independent clauses. The various aspects disclosed herein expressly include these combinations, unless it is explicitly expressed or can be readily inferred that a specific combination is not intended (e.g., contradictory aspects, such as defining an element as both an electrical insulator and an electrical conductor). Furthermore, it is also intended that aspects of a clause can be included in any other independent clause, even if the clause is not directly dependent on the independent clause.

[0281] Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0282] Clause 1. A method of communication performed by a sensing node, comprising: receiving, from a sensing server, a first on-demand sensing zone-specific reference signal (RS) configuration comprising one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources, each set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources associated with a corresponding sensing zone identifier; and performing zone-specific sensing RS transmissions on at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0283] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, further comprising: receiving, from the sensing server, a first request requesting whether the sensing node supports on-demand sensing zone specific RS configurations; and transmitting, to the sensing server and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific sensing indication indicating that the sensing node supports the on-demand sensing zone-specific RS configurations.

[0284] Clause 3. The method of clause 2, wherein the zone-specific sensing indication is expressed as a single bit.

[0285] Clause 4. The method of any of clauses 2 to 3, further comprising: transmitting, to the sensing server, second information indicating whether the sensing node can support the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0286] Clause 5. The method of clause 4, wherein the second information is transmitted with the first information responsive to the first request.

[0287] Clause 6. The method of any of clauses 4 to 5, wherein the second information indicates that the sensing node can support the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0288] Clause 7. The method of clause 6, wherein the second information indicates a set of transmission-reception points (TRPs) associated with the sensing node that can support the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0289] Clause 8. The method of any of clauses 1 to 7, further comprising: measuring one or more sensing parameters associated with one or more reflections of the zone-specific sensing RS transmissions; or receiving one or more measurements corresponding to the one or more sensing parameters associated with the one or more reflections of the zone-specific sensing RS transmissions.

[0290] Clause 9. The method of clause 8, further comprising: transmitting sensing measurement data corresponding to the one or more sensing parameters, the sensing measurement data including the corresponding sensing zone identifier associated with the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0291] Clause 10. The method of any of clauses 1 to 9, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs a rectangular-shaped zone.

[0292] Clause 11. The method of any of clauses 1 to 10, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of a cube dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0293] Clause 12. The method of any of clauses 1 to 11, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of hl*N2 + yl*N + xl, where: hl= Floor (h / L) Modulo N, yl= Floor (y / L) Modulo N, xl= Floor (x / L) Modulo N, N is a cube dimension unit, L is a zone length value, h is a distance in height between a zone and geographical coordinates (0, 0, 0) in accordance with a global reference model, y is a geodesic distance in latitude between the zone and geographic coordinates (0, 0,0) in accordance with the global reference model, and x is a geodesic distance in longitude between the zone and geographic coordinates (0, 0, 0) in accordance with the global reference model.

[0294] Clause 13. The method of any of clauses 1 to 12, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs a frustoconical-shaped zone.

[0295] Clause 14. The method of any of clauses 1 to 13, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of at least one spherical dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0296] Clause 15. The method of any of clauses 1 to 14, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of rl, 91, and 4)1, where: rl= Floor (r / LI) Modulo Nl, 91= Floor (9 / L2) Modulo N2, )1= Floor ( ) / L2) Modulo N2, rl, 91, )1 are spherical coordinates of a zone with respect to geographic coordinates (9,9,9) in accordance with a global reference model, Nl is a first spherical dimension unit, N2 is a second spherical dimension unit, LI is a first zone length value, and L2 is a second zone length value.

[0297] Clause 16. The method of any of clauses 1 to 15, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs at least one of: a nonrectangular-shaped zone, a shape of one or more zone boundaries, a union of a plurality of zone shape portions, or any combination thereof.

[0298] Clause 17. The method of any of clauses 1 to 16, wherein the one or more sets of on- demand sensing RS resources corresponds to one or more of: one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, one or more downlink (DL)-PRS resources, one or more uplink (UL)-PRS resources, one or more sidelink (SL)-PRS resources, one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, or any combination thereof.

[0299] Clause 18. The method of any of clauses 1 to 17, wherein the sensing node is a nextgeneration radio access node (NG-RAN) node.

[0300] Clause 19. The method of clause 18, wherein the NG-RAN node is a base station.

[0301] Clause 20. The method of clause 18, wherein the NG-RAN node is a user equipment (UE).

[0302] Clause 21. A method of communication performed by a server, comprising: transmitting, to a node, a first request requesting whether the node supports on-demand zone specific reference signal (RS) configurations; receiving, from the node and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific indication indicating that the node supports the on-demand zone-specific RS configurations; and transmitting, to the node and responsive to the first information, a first on-demand zone-specific RS configuration that comprises a set of on-demand RS resources associated with a zone identifier.

[0303] Clause 22. The method of clause 21, wherein the zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of a cube dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0304] Clause 23. The method of any of clauses 21 to 22, wherein the zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of at least one spherical dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0305] Clause 24. The method of any of clauses 21 to 23, wherein the set of on-demand RS resources corresponds to one or more of: one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, one or more downlink (DL)-PRS resources, one or more uplink (UL)-PRS resources, one or more sidelink (SL)-PRS resources, one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, or any combination thereof.

[0306] Clause 25. The method of any of clauses 21 to 24, wherein the server is at least one of: a location server, positioning system server, sensing system server, or any combination thereof.

[0307] Clause 26. The method of any of clauses 21 to 25, wherein the node is at least one of a next-generation radio access network (NG-RAN) sensing device or an NG-RAN positioning device.

[0308] Clause 27. The method of clause 26, wherein the NG-RAN sensing device or the NG- RAN positioning device is a base station.

[0309] Clause 28. The method of clause 26, wherein the NG-RAN sensing device or the NG- RAN positioning device is a user equipment (UE).

[0310] Clause 29. A sensing node, comprising: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, configured to: receive, via the one or more transceivers and from a sensing server, a first on-demand sensing zone-specific reference signal (RS) configuration comprising one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources, each set of the one or more sets of on- demand sensing RS resources associated with a corresponding sensing zone identifier; and perform zone-specific sensing RS transmissions on at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0311] Clause 30. The sensing node of clause 29, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: receive, via the one or more transceivers and from the sensing server, a first request requesting whether the sensing node supports on-demand sensing zone specific RS configurations; and transmit, via the one or more transceivers, to the sensing server and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific sensing indication indicating that the sensing node supports the on-demand sensing zone-specific RS configurations.

[0312] Clause 31. The sensing node of clause 30, wherein the zone-specific sensing indication is expressed as a single bit.

[0313] Clause 32. The sensing node of any of clauses 30 to 31, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: transmit, via the one or more transceivers and to the sensing server, second information indicating whether the sensing node can support the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0314] Clause 33. The sensing node of clause 32, wherein the second information is transmitted with the first information responsive to the first request.

[0315] Clause 34. The sensing node of any of clauses 32 to 33, wherein the second information indicates that the sensing node can support the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0316] Clause 35. The sensing node of clause 34, wherein the second information indicates a set of transmission-reception points (TRPs) associated with the sensing node that can support the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0317] Clause 36. The sensing node of any of clauses 29 to 35, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: measure one or more sensing parameters associated with one or more reflections of the zone-specific sensing RS transmissions; or receive, via the one or more transceivers, one or more measurements corresponding to the one or more sensing parameters associated with the one or more reflections of the zone-specific sensing RS transmissions.

[0318] Clause 37. The sensing node of clause 36, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: transmit, via the one or more transceivers, sensing measurement data corresponding to the one or more sensing parameters, the sensing measurement data including the corresponding sensing zone identifier associated with the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0319] Clause 38. The sensing node of any of clauses 29 to 37, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs a rectangular-shaped zone.

[0320] Clause 39. The sensing node of any of clauses 29 to 38, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of a cube dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0321] Clause 40. The sensing node of any of clauses 29 to 39, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of hl*N2 + yl*N + xl, where: hl = Floor (h / L) Modulo N, y 1= Floor (y / L) Modulo N, xl = Floor (x / L) Modulo N, N is a cube dimension unit, L is a zone length value, h is a distance in height between a zone and geographical coordinates (0, 0, 0) in accordance with a global reference model, y is a geodesic distance in latitude between the zone and geographic coordinates (0, 0,0) in accordance with the global reference model, and x is a geodesic distance in longitudebetween the zone and geographic coordinates (0, 0, 0) in accordance with the global reference model.

[0322] Clause 41. The sensing node of any of clauses 29 to 40, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs a frustoconical-shaped zone.

[0323] Clause 42. The sensing node of any of clauses 29 to 41, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of at least one spherical dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0324] Clause 43. The sensing node of any of clauses 29 to 42, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of rl, 91, and (J) 1 , where: rl= Floor (r / LI) Modulo Nl, 91= Floor (9 / L2) Modulo N2, (J) 1 = Floor (c]i / L2) Modulo N2, rl, 91, (J) 1 are spherical coordinates of a zone with respect to geographic coordinates (9,9,9) in accordance with a global reference model, Nl is a first spherical dimension unit, N2 is a second spherical dimension unit, LI is a first zone length value, and L2 is a second zone length value.

[0325] Clause 44. The sensing node of any of clauses 29 to 43, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs at least one of: a nonrectangular-shaped zone, a shape of one or more zone boundaries, a union of a plurality of zone shape portions, or any combination thereof.

[0326] Clause 45. The sensing node of any of clauses 29 to 44, wherein the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources corresponds to one or more of: one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, one or more downlink (DL)-PRS resources, one or more uplink (UL)-PRS resources, one or more sidelink (SL)-PRS resources, one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, or any combination thereof.

[0327] Clause 46. The sensing node of any of clauses 29 to 45, wherein the sensing node is a next-generation radio access node (NG-RAN) node.

[0328] Clause 47. The sensing node of clause 46, wherein the NG-RAN node is a base station.

[0329] Clause 48. The sensing node of clause 46, wherein the NG-RAN node is a user equipment (UE).

[0330] Clause 49. A server, comprising: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, configured to: transmit, via the one or more transceivers and to a node, a first requestrequesting whether the node supports on-demand zone specific reference signal (RS) configurations; receive, via the one or more transceivers, from the node and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific indication indicating that the node supports the on-demand zone-specific RS configurations; and transmit, via the one or more transceivers, to the node and responsive to the first information, a first on- demand zone-specific RS configuration that comprises a set of on-demand RS resources associated with a zone identifier.

[0331] Clause 50. The server of clause 49, wherein the zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of a cube dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0332] Clause 51. The server of any of clauses 49 to 50, wherein the zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of at least one spherical dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0333] Clause 52. The server of any of clauses 49 to 51, wherein the set of on-demand RS resources corresponds to one or more of one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, one or more downlink (DL)-PRS resources, one or more uplink (UL)-PRS resources, one or more sidelink (SL)-PRS resources, one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, or any combination thereof.

[0334] Clause 53. The server of any of clauses 49 to 52, wherein the server is at least one of a location server, positioning system server, sensing system server, or any combination thereof.

[0335] Clause 54. The server of any of clauses 49 to 53, wherein the node is at least one of a next-generation radio access network (NG-RAN) sensing device or an NG-RAN positioning device.

[0336] Clause 55. The server of clause 54, wherein the NG-RAN sensing device or the NG-RAN positioning device is a base station.

[0337] Clause 56. The server of clause 54, wherein the NG-RAN sensing device or the NG-RAN positioning device is a user equipment (UE).

[0338] Clause 57. A sensing node, comprising: means for receiving, from a sensing server, a first on-demand sensing zone-specific reference signal (RS) configuration comprising one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources, each set of the one or more sets of on- demand sensing RS resources associated with a corresponding sensing zone identifier;and means for performing zone-specific sensing RS transmissions on at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0339] Clause 58. The sensing node of clause 57, further comprising: means for receiving, from the sensing server, a first request requesting whether the sensing node supports on- demand sensing zone specific RS configurations; and means for transmitting, to the sensing server and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zonespecific sensing indication indicating that the sensing node supports the on-demand sensing zone-specific RS configurations.

[0340] Clause 59. The sensing node of clause 58, wherein the zone-specific sensing indication is expressed as a single bit.

[0341] Clause 60. The sensing node of any of clauses 58 to 59, further comprising: means for transmitting, to the sensing server, second information indicating whether the sensing node can support the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0342] Clause 61. The sensing node of clause 60, wherein the second information is transmitted with the first information responsive to the first request.

[0343] Clause 62. The sensing node of any of clauses 60 to 61, wherein the second information indicates that the sensing node can support the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0344] Clause 63. The sensing node of clause 62, wherein the second information indicates a set of transmission-reception points (TRPs) associated with the sensing node that can support the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0345] Clause 64. The sensing node of any of clauses 57 to 63, further comprising: means for measuring one or more sensing parameters associated with one or more reflections of the zone-specific sensing RS transmissions; or means for receiving one or more measurements corresponding to the one or more sensing parameters associated with the one or more reflections of the zone-specific sensing RS transmissions.

[0346] Clause 65. The sensing node of clause 64, further comprising: means for transmitting sensing measurement data corresponding to the one or more sensing parameters, the sensing measurement data including the corresponding sensing zone identifier associated with the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0347] Clause 66. The sensing node of any of clauses 57 to 65, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs a rectangular-shaped zone.

[0348] Clause 67. The sensing node of any of clauses 57 to 66, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of a cube dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0349] Clause 68. The sensing node of any of clauses 57 to 67, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of hl*N2 + yl*N + xl, where: hl = Floor (h / L) Modulo N, y 1= Floor (y / L) Modulo N, xl = Floor (x / L) Modulo N, N is a cube dimension unit, L is a zone length value, h is a distance in height between a zone and geographical coordinates (0, 0, 0) in accordance with a global reference model, y is a geodesic distance in latitude between the zone and geographic coordinates (0, 0,0) in accordance with the global reference model, and x is a geodesic distance in longitude between the zone and geographic coordinates (0, 0, 0) in accordance with the global reference model.

[0350] Clause 69. The sensing node of any of clauses 57 to 68, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs a frustoconical-shaped zone.

[0351] Clause 70. The sensing node of any of clauses 57 to 69, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of at least one spherical dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0352] Clause 71. The sensing node of any of clauses 57 to 70, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of rl, 91, and (J) 1 , where: rl= Floor (r / LI) Modulo Nl, 91= Floor (9 / L2) Modulo N2, (J) 1 = Floor (c]i / L2) Modulo N2, rl, 91, (J) 1 are spherical coordinates of a zone with respect to geographic coordinates (9,9,9) in accordance with a global reference model, Nl is a first spherical dimension unit, N2 is a second spherical dimension unit, LI is a first zone length value, and L2 is a second zone length value.

[0353] Clause 72. The sensing node of any of clauses 57 to 71, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs at least one of: a nonrectangular-shaped zone, a shape of one or more zone boundaries, a union of a plurality of zone shape portions, or any combination thereof.

[0354] Clause 73. The sensing node of any of clauses 57 to 72, wherein the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources corresponds to one or more of: one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, one or more downlink (DL)-PRS resources, one or moreuplink (UL)-PRS resources, one or more sidelink (SL)-PRS resources, one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, or any combination thereof.

[0355] Clause 74. The sensing node of any of clauses 57 to 73, wherein the sensing node is a next-generation radio access node (NG-RAN) node.

[0356] Clause 75. The sensing node of clause 74, wherein the NG-RAN node is a base station.

[0357] Clause 76. The sensing node of clause 74, wherein the NG-RAN node is a user equipment (UE).

[0358] Clause 77. A server, comprising: means for transmitting, to a node, a first request requesting whether the node supports on-demand zone specific reference signal (RS) configurations; means for receiving, from the node and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific indication indicating that the node supports the on-demand zone-specific RS configurations; and means for transmitting, to the node and responsive to the first information, a first on-demand zone-specific RS configuration that comprises a set of on-demand RS resources associated with a zone identifier.

[0359] Clause 78. The server of clause 77, wherein the zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of a cube dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0360] Clause 79. The server of any of clauses 77 to 78, wherein the zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of at least one spherical dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0361] Clause 80. The server of any of clauses 77 to 79, wherein the set of on-demand RS resources corresponds to one or more of: one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, one or more downlink (DL)-PRS resources, one or more uplink (UL)-PRS resources, one or more sidelink (SL)-PRS resources, one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, or any combination thereof.

[0362] Clause 81. The server of any of clauses 77 to 80, wherein the server is at least one of: a location server, positioning system server, sensing system server, or any combination thereof.

[0363] Clause 82. The server of any of clauses 77 to 81, wherein the node is at least one of a next-generation radio access network (NG-RAN) sensing device or an NG-RAN positioning device.

[0364] Clause 83. The server of clause 82, wherein the NG-RAN sensing device or the NG-RAN positioning device is a base station.

[0365] Clause 84. The server of clause 82, wherein the NG-RAN sensing device or the NG-RAN positioning device is a user equipment (UE).

[0366] Clause 85. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a sensing node, cause the sensing node to: receive, from a sensing server, a first on-demand sensing zone-specific reference signal (RS) configuration comprising one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources, each set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources associated with a corresponding sensing zone identifier; and perform zone-specific sensing RS transmissions on at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0367] Clause 86. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 85, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the sensing node, cause the sensing node to: receive, from the sensing server, a first request requesting whether the sensing node supports on-demand sensing zone specific RS configurations; and transmit, to the sensing server and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific sensing indication indicating that the sensing node supports the on-demand sensing zone-specific RS configurations.

[0368] Clause 87. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 86, wherein the zonespecific sensing indication is expressed as a single bit.

[0369] Clause 88. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 86 to 87, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the sensing node, cause the sensing node to: transmit, to the sensing server, second information indicating whether the sensing node can support the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0370] Clause 89. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 88, wherein the second information is transmitted with the first information responsive to the first request.

[0371] Clause 90. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 88 to 89, wherein the second information indicates that the sensing node can support the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

[0372] Clause 91. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 90, wherein the second information indicates a set of transmission-reception points (TRPs) associatedwith the sensing node that can support the at least one set of the one or more sets of on- demand sensing RS resources.

[0373] Clause 92. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 85 to 91, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the sensing node, cause the sensing node to: measure one or more sensing parameters associated with one or more reflections of the zone-specific sensing RS transmissions; or receive one or more measurements corresponding to the one or more sensing parameters associated with the one or more reflections of the zone-specific sensing RS transmissions.

[0374] Clause 93. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 92, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the sensing node, cause the sensing node to: transmit sensing measurement data corresponding to the one or more sensing parameters, the sensing measurement data including the corresponding sensing zone identifier associated with the at least one set of the one or more sets of on- demand sensing RS resources.

[0375] Clause 94. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 85 to 93, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs a rectangular-shaped zone.

[0376] Clause 95. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 85 to 94, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of a cube dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0377] Clause 96. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 85 to 95, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of hl*N2 + yl*N + xl, where: hl= Floor (h / L) Modulo N, yl= Floor (y / L) Modulo N, xl= Floor (x / L) Modulo N, N is a cube dimension unit, L is a zone length value, h is a distance in height between a zone and geographical coordinates (0, 0, 0) in accordance with a global reference model, y is a geodesic distance in latitude between the zone and geographic coordinates (0, 0,0) in accordance with the global reference model, and x is a geodesic distance in longitude between the zone and geographic coordinates (0, 0, 0) in accordance with the global reference model.

[0378] Clause 97. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 85 to 96, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs a frustoconical-shaped zone.

[0379] Clause 98. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 85 to 97, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of at least one spherical dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0380] Clause 99. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 85 to 98, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of rl, 91, and (J)l, where: rl= Floor (r / LI) Modulo Nl, 91= Floor (9 / L2) Modulo N2, (J) 1= Floor (c[) / L2) Modulo N2, rl, 91, (J)l are spherical coordinates of a zone with respect to geographic coordinates (9,9,9) in accordance with a global reference model, Nl is a first spherical dimension unit, N2 is a second spherical dimension unit, LI is a first zone length value, and L2 is a second zone length value.

[0381] Clause 100. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 85 to 99, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs at least one of: a nonrectangular-shaped zone, a shape of one or more zone boundaries, a union of a plurality of zone shape portions, or any combination thereof.

[0382] Clause 101. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 85 to 100, wherein the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources corresponds to one or more of: one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, one or more downlink (DL)-PRS resources, one or more uplink (UL)-PRS resources, one or more sidelink (SL)- PRS resources, one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, or any combination thereof.

[0383] Clause 102. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 85 to 101, wherein the sensing node is a next-generation radio access node (NG-RAN) node.

[0384] Clause 103. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 102, wherein the NG-RAN node is a base station.

[0385] Clause 104. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 102, wherein the NG-RAN node is a user equipment (UE).

[0386] Clause 105. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a server, cause the server to: transmit, to a node, a first request requesting whether the node supports on-demand zone specific reference signal (RS) configurations; receive, from the node and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific indication indicating that the node supports the on-demand zone-specific RS configurations; and transmit, to the node and responsive tothe first information, a first on-demand zone-specific RS configuration that comprises a set of on-demand RS resources associated with a zone identifier.

[0387] Clause 106. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 105, wherein the zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of a cube dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0388] Clause 107. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 105 to 106, wherein the zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of at least one spherical dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

[0389] Clause 108. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 105 to 107, wherein the set of on-demand RS resources corresponds to one or more of one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, one or more downlink (DL)-PRS resources, one or more uplink (UL)-PRS resources, one or more sidelink (SL)-PRS resources, one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, or any combination thereof.

[0390] Clause 109. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 105 to 108, wherein the server is at least one of a location server, positioning system server, sensing system server, or any combination thereof.

[0391] Clause 110. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 105 to 109, wherein the node is at least one of a next-generation radio access network (NG-RAN) sensing device or an NG-RAN positioning device.

[0392] Clause 111. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 110, wherein the NG-RAN sensing device or the NG-RAN positioning device is a base station.

[0393] Clause 112. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 110, wherein the NG-RAN sensing device or the NG-RAN positioning device is a user equipment (UE).

[0394] Those of skill in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0395] Further, those of skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinationsof both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative 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 upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0396] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field-programable 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 in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0397] 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. A software module may reside in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An example storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, 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). In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

[0398] In one or more example 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 over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. 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 media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0399] While the foregoing disclosure shows illustrative aspects of the disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications could be made herein without departing from the scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. For example, the functions, steps and / or actions of the method claims in accordance with the aspects of the disclosure described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Further, no component, function, action, or instruction described or claimed herein should be construed as critical or essential unless explicitly described as such. Furthermore, as used herein, the terms “set,” “group,” and the like are intended to include one or more of the stated elements. Also, as used herein, the terms “has,” “have,” “having,” “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” and the like does not preclude the presence of one or more additional elements (e.g., an element “having” A may also have B). Further, thephrase “based on” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly stated otherwise. Also, as used herein, the term “or” is intended to be inclusive when used in a series and may be used interchangeably with “and / or,” unless explicitly stated otherwise (e.g., if used in combination with “either” or “only one of’) or the alternatives are mutually exclusive (e.g., “one or more” should not be interpreted as “one and more”). Furthermore, although components, functions, actions, and instructions may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated. Accordingly, as used herein, the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” and “said” are intended to include one or more of the stated elements. Additionally, as used herein, the terms “at least one” and “one or more” encompass “one” component, function, action, or instruction performing or capable of performing a described or claimed functionality and also “two or more” components, functions, actions, or instructions performing or capable of performing a described or claimed functionality in combination.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A method of communication performed by a sensing node, comprising: receiving, from a sensing server, a first on-demand sensing zone-specific reference signal (RS) configuration comprising one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources, each set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources associated with a corresponding sensing zone identifier; and performing zone-specific sensing RS transmissions on at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the sensing server, a first request requesting whether the sensing node supports on-demand sensing zone specific RS configurations; and transmitting, to the sensing server and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific sensing indication indicating that the sensing node supports the on-demand sensing zone-specific RS configurations.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the zone-specific sensing indication is expressed as a single bit.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising: transmitting, to the sensing server, second information indicating whether the sensing node can support the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the second information is transmitted with the first information responsive to the first request.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the second information indicates that the sensing node can support the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the second information indicates a set of transmission-reception points (TRPs) associated with the sensing node that can support the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: measuring one or more sensing parameters associated with one or more reflections of the zone-specific sensing RS transmissions; or receiving one or more measurements corresponding to the one or more sensing parameters associated with the one or more reflections of the zone-specific sensing RS transmissions.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: transmitting sensing measurement data corresponding to the one or more sensing parameters, the sensing measurement data including the corresponding sensing zone identifier associated with the at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs a rectangular-shaped zone.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of a cube dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of Ai*N2+ i*N + xi, where:Z?i= Floor (h I L) Modulo N, yi= Floor (y I L) Modulo N, i= Floor (x / L) Modulo N,N is a cube dimension unit,L is a zone length value,h is a distance in height between a zone and geographical coordinates (0, 0, 0) in accordance with a global reference model, is a geodesic distance in latitude between the zone and geographic coordinates (0, 0,0) in accordance with the global reference model, and x is a geodesic distance in longitude between the zone and geographic coordinates (0, 0, 0) in accordance with the global reference model.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs a frustoconical-shaped zone.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of at least one spherical dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of n, 0i, and 0i, where: ri= Floor (r I LI) Modulo Nl,0i= Floor (01 L2) Modulo N2, i= Floor ( / L2) Modulo N2, n, 0i, 0i are spherical coordinates of a zone with respect to geographic coordinates (0,0,0) in accordance with a global reference model,Nl is a first spherical dimension unit,N2 is a second spherical dimension unit,LI is a first zone length value, andL2 is a second zone length value.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the corresponding sensing zone identifier informs at least one of: a nonrectangular-shaped zone, a shape of one or more zone boundaries, a union of a plurality of zone shape portions, or any combination thereof.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources corresponds to one or more of: one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, one or more downlink (DL)-PRS resources, one or more uplink (UL)-PRS resources, one or more sidelink (SL)-PRS resources, one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, or any combination thereof.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensing node is a next-generation radio access node (NG-RAN) node.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the NG-RAN node is a base station.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the NG-RAN node is a user equipment (UE).

21. A method of communication performed by a server, comprising: transmitting, to a node, a first request requesting whether the node supports on- demand zone specific reference signal (RS) configurations; receiving, from the node and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific indication indicating that the node supports the on-demand zone-specific RS configurations; and transmitting, to the node and responsive to the first information, a first on- demand zone-specific RS configuration that comprises a set of on-demand RS resources associated with a zone identifier.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of a cube dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the zone identifier is based at least in part on a function of at least one spherical dimension unit and three geographic coordinates.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the set of on-demand RS resources corresponds to one or more of: one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, one or more downlink (DL)-PRS resources, one or more uplink (UL)-PRS resources, one or more sidelink (SL)-PRS resources, one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, or any combination thereof.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the server is at least one of: a location server, positioning system server, sensing system server, or any combination thereof.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein the node is at least one of a next-generation radio access network (NG-RAN) sensing device or an NG-RAN positioning device.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the NG-RAN sensing device or the NG-RAN positioning device is a base station.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the NG-RAN sensing device or the NG-RAN positioning device is a user equipment (UE).

29. A sensing node, comprising: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, configured to:receive, via the one or more transceivers and from a sensing server, a first on-demand sensing zone-specific reference signal (RS) configuration comprising one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources, each set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources associated with a corresponding sensing zone identifier; and perform zone-specific sensing RS transmissions on at least one set of the one or more sets of on-demand sensing RS resources.

30. A server, comprising: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, configured to: transmit, via the one or more transceivers and to a node, a first request requesting whether the node supports on-demand zone specific reference signal (RS) configurations; receive, via the one or more transceivers, from the node and responsive to the first request, first information comprising a zone-specific indication indicating that the node supports the on-demand zone-specific RS configurations; and transmit, via the one or more transceivers, to the node and responsive to the first information, a first on-demand zone-specific RS configuration that comprises a set of on-demand RS resources associated with a zone identifier.

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