Phase and timing error groups for carrier phase positioning

Abstract

Techniques for carrier phase positioning in wireless networks are disclosed. The techniques include specifying physical layer measurements and signaling to support NR downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) carrier phase positioning for User Equipment (UE)-based, UE-assisted, and NG-RAN node assisted positioning of a wireless device. Embodiments utilize existing DL Position Reference Signals (PRS) and UL Sounding Reference Signals (SRS) for NR carrier phase measurements to determine the carrier phase position.

Description

TITLE: Phase and Timing Error Groups for Carrier Phase PositioningFIELD

[0001] The present application relates to wireless devices and wireless networks including devices, computer-readable media, and methods for carrier phase positioning of devices.BACKGROUND

[0002] Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. In recent years, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers have become increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting telephone calls, many mobile devices now provide access to the internet, email, text messaging, navigation using the global positioning system (GPS), and are capable of operating sophisticated applications that utilize these functionalities. Additionally, there exist numerous different wireless communication technologies and standards. Some examples of wireless communication standards include GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE Advanced (LTE-A), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e g., IxRTT, IxEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), IEEE 802.11 (WLAN or Wi-Fi), BLUETOOTH™, etc.

[0003] The ever increasing number of features and functionality introduced in wireless communication devices also creates a continuous need for improvement in both wireless communications and in wireless communication devices. To increase coverage and better serve the increasing demand and range of envisioned uses ofwireless communication, in addition to the communication standards mentioned above, there are further wireless communication technologies under development, including fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) communication. Accordingly, improvements in the field in support of such development and design are desired.

[0004] Carrier phase positioning is widely used in various applications that require high-accuracy and high-precision positioning, such as surveying, mapping, navigation, and remote sensing.SUMMARY

[0005] In general, embodiments relate to carrier phase positioning in wireless networks. Embodiments specify physical layer measurements and signaling to support NR downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) carrier phase positioning for User Equipment (UE)-based, UE-assisted, and NG-RAN node assisted positioning of the UE. Embodiments utilize existing DL Position Reference Signals (PRS) and UL Sounding Reference Signals (SRS) for NR carrier phase measurements to determine the position.

[0006] In one aspect, embodiments are directed to a method for carrier phase positioning that includes a wireless device receiving a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) from a Transmission / Reception Point (TRP). The wireless device determines a User Equipment (UE) reception Positioning Error Group (PEG) based on the received PRS. The wireless device transmits the UE reception PEG to a Location Management Function (LMF) of a node, and the LMF determines a location of the wireless device based on the UE reception PEG. The method may further includethe TRP determining a TRP transmission PEG from transmission of the PRS and transmitting the TRP transmission PEG to the LMF of the node. The UE reception PEG may include a plurality of Reference Signal Carrier Phases (RSCP) or a plurality of Reference Signal Carrier Phase differences (RSCPD) that are determined to be within a specified margin based on the reception of the PRS.

[0007] In another aspect, embodiments are directed to a method for carrier phase positioning that includes a wireless device receiving a PRS from a TRP and determining a UE reception PEG based on the received PRS. The method also includes the wireless device receiving a TRP transmission PEG based on the PRS from a LMF of a node of the core network. The wireless device determines a location of the wireless device based on the UE reception PEG and the TRP transmission PEG.

[0008] In another aspect, embodiments are directed to method for carrier phase positioning that includes a wireless device transmitting a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) to a TRP. The TRP determines a TRP reception PEG based on the received SRS and transmits the TRP reception PEG to a LMF of a node. In some embodiments, the method includes the wireless device determining a UE transmission PEG based on the transmitted SRS and transmitting the UE transmission PEG based on the SRS to the LMF of the node. The LMF may then determine a location of the wireless device based on the TRP reception PEG and the UE transmission PEG. In other embodiments, the method includes the LMF of the node transmitting the TRP reception PEG to the wireless device. The wireless devicedetermines a UE transmission PEG based on the transmitted SRS and determines a location of the wireless device based on the TRP reception PEG and a UE transmission PEG.

[0009] The techniques described herein may be implemented in and / or used with a number of different types of devices, including but not limited to cellular phones, wireless devices, tablet computers, wearable computing devices, portable media players, and any of various other computing devices.

[0010] This Summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the subject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the above-described features are merely examples and should not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subject matter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparent from the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0011] A better understanding of the present subj ect matter can be obtained when the following detailed description of various aspects is considered in conjunction with the following drawings.

[0012] Figure 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system, according to some aspects.

[0013] Figure 2 illustrates an example block diagram of a UE, according to some aspects.

[0014] Figure 3 illustrates a base station (BS) in communication with a user equipment (UE) device, according to some aspects.

[0015] Figure 4 illustrates a system for carrier phase positioning, according to some aspects.

[0016] Figure 5 illustrates a method for carrier phase positioning using a PRS, according to some aspects.

[0017] Figure 6 illustrates a method for carrier phase positioning using a SRS, according to some aspects.

[0018] While the features described herein may be susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific aspects thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to be limiting to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] C arrier phase positioning is widely used in applications that require high- accuracy and high-precision positioning of devices. Embodiments disclosed herein are directed to methods, devices, and systems for determining the position of a device using carrier phase positioning in wireless networks. Embodiments specify physical layer measurements and signaling to support NR downlink (DL) and uplink (UL)carrier phase positioning for User Equipment (UE)-based, UE-assisted, and NG- RAN node assisted positioning of the UE. Embodiments utilize existing DL Position Reference Signals (PRS) and UL Sounding Reference Signals (SRS) for NR carrier phase measurements to determine a highly accurate position. The measurements reported may be limited to a single carrier or to a positioning frequency layer (PFL).

[0020] Embodiments disclosed herein introduce UE or Transmission Reception Point (TRP) Tx / Rx phase error groups (PEGs) for the Tx / Rx of the DL PRS and / or UL SRS signals. The definition of such PEGs may be established analogously to current UE / TRP Tx / Rx timing error groups (TEGs).

[0021] Herein, embodiments introduce the definition of UE / TRP Tx / Rx phase error groups (PEGs) for the Tx / Rx of DL PRS / UL SRS signals. Embodiments further improve the accuracy of the positioning by mitigating phase delays for reference signal carrier phase (RSCP) and reference signal carrier phase differences (RSCPD) estimation. Embodiments outline the measurements and positioning methods utilized, as well as the capabilities, configurations, and reporting methods for carrier phase positioning in a wireless system. Embodiments may further include the definition of new information elements (IE) to report carrier phase measurement qualities.

[0022] The following is a glossary of terms that may be used in this disclosure:

[0023] Memory Medium - Any of various types of non-transitory memory devices or storage devices. The term “memory medium” is intended to include an installation medium, e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks, or tape device; a computersystem memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; a non-volatile memory such as a Flash, magnetic media, e.g., a hard drive, or optical storage; registers, or other similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium may include other types of non- transitory memory as well or combinations thereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a first computer system in which the programs are executed, or may be located in a second different computer system which connects to the first computer system over a network, such as the Internet. In the latter instance, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer for execution. The term “memory medium” may include two or more memory mediums which may reside in different locations, e.g., in different computer systems that are connected over a network. The memory medium may store program instructions (e.g., embodied as computer programs) that may be executed by one or more processors.

[0024] Carrier Medium - a memory medium as described above, as well as a physical transmission medium, such as a bus, network, and / or other physical transmission medium that conveys signals such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals.

[0025] Programmable Hardware Element - includes various hardware devices comprising multiple programmable function blocks connected via a programmable interconnect. Examples include FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), FPOAs (Field Programmable Object Arrays), andCPLDs (Complex PLDs). The programmable function blocks may range from fine grained (combinatorial logic or look up tables) to coarse grained (arithmetic logic units or processor cores). A programmable hardware element may also be referred to as “reconfigurable logic.”

[0026] Computer System - any of various types of computing or processing systems, including a personal computer system (PC), mainframe computer system, workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance, personal digital assistant (PDA), television system, grid computing system, or other device or combinations of devices. In general, the term “computer system” can be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combination of devices) having at least one processor that executes instructions from a memory medium.

[0027] User Equipment (UE) (also “User Device” or “UE Device”) - any of various types of computer systems or devices that are mobile or portable and that perform wireless communications. Examples of UE devices include mobile telephones or smart phones (e.g., iPhone™, Android™-based phones), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS™, PlayStation Portable™, Gameboy Advance™, iPhone™), laptops, wearable devices (e.g., smart watch, smart glasses), PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices, other handheld devices, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, an instrument cluster, head-up display (HUD) devices, onboard diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminals (MDTs), Electronic Engine Management System (EEMS), electronic / engine control units(ECUs), electronic / engine control modules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMS), networked or “smart” appliances, machine type communications (MTC) devices, machine-to- machine (M2M), internet of things (loT) devices, etc. In general, the term “UE” or “UE device” can be broadly defined to encompass any electronic, computing, and / or telecommunications device (or combination of devices) which is transportable by a user and capable of wireless communication.

[0028] Wireless Device - any of various types of computer systems or devices that perform wireless communications. A wireless device can be portable (or mobile) or may be stationary or fixed at a certain location. A UE is an example of a wireless device.

[0029] Communication Device - any of various types of computer systems or devices that perform communications, where the communications can be wired or wireless. A communication device can be portable (or mobile) or may be stationary or fixed at a certain location. A wireless device is an example of a communication device. A UE is another example of a communication device.

[0030] Base Station - The term “base station” or “wireless station” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning, and at least includes a wireless communication station installed at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system. For example, if the base station is implemented in the context of LTE, it may alternately be referred to as an ‘eNodeB’ or ‘eNB’. If the base station is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternately be referredto as a ‘gNodeB’ or ‘gNB’. Although certain aspects are described in the context ofLTE or 5G NR, references to “eNB,” “gNB,” “nodeB,” “base station,” “NB,” etc., may refer to one or more wireless nodes that service a cell to provide a wireless connection between user devices and a wider network generally and that the concepts discussed are not limited to any particular wireless technology. Although certain aspects are described in the context of LTE or 5G NR, references to “eNB,” “gNB,” “nodeB,” “base station,” “NB,” etc., are not intended to limit the concepts discussed herein to any particular wireless technology and the concepts discussed may be applied in any wireless system.

[0031] Node - The term “node,” or “wireless node” as used herein, may refer to one more apparatus associated with a cell that provide a wireless connection between user devices and a wired network generally.

[0032] Processing Element (or Processor) - refers to various elements or combinations of elements that are capable of performing a function in a device, such as a user equipment or a cellular network device. Processing elements may include, for example: processors and associated memory, portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processor cores, individual processors, processor arrays, circuits such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), programmable hardware elements such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA), as well any of various combinations of the above.

[0033] Channel - a medium used to convey information from a sender (transmitter) to a receiver. It should be noted that since characteristics of the term“ channel” may differ according to different wireless protocols, the term “channel” as used herein may be considered as being used in a manner that is consistent with the standard of the type of device with reference to which the term is used. In some standards, channel widths may be variable (e.g., depending on device capability, band conditions, etc.). For example, LTE may support scalable channel bandwidths from 1.4 MHz to 20MHz. In contrast, WLAN channels may be 22MHz wide while Bluetooth channels may be IMhz wide. Other protocols and standards may include different definitions of channels. Furthermore, some standards may define and use multiple types of channels, e.g., different channels for uplink or downlink and / or different channels for different uses such as data, control information, etc.

[0034] Band - The term “band” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning, and at least includes a section of spectrum (e.g., radio frequency spectrum) in which channels are used or set aside for the same purpose.

[0035] Automatically - refers to an action or operation performed by a computer system (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or device (e.g., circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASICs, etc.), without user input directly specifying or performing the action or operation. Thus the term “automatically” is in contrast to an operation being manually performed or specified by the user, where the user provides input to directly perform the operation. An automatic procedure may be initiated by input provided by the user, but the subsequent actions that are performed “automatically” are not specified by the user, i.e., are not performed “manually”, where the user specifies each action to perform. For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting each field and providing input specifyinginformation (e.g., by typing information, selecting checkboxes, radio selections, etc.) is filling out the form manually, even though the computer system must update the form in response to the user actions. The form may be automatically filled out by the computer system where the computer system (e.g., software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of the form and fills in the form without any user input specifying the answers to the fields. As indicated above, the user may invoke the automatic filling of the form, but is not involved in the actual filling of the form (e.g., the user is not manually specifying answers to fields but rather they are being automatically completed). The present specification provides various examples of operations being automatically performed in response to actions the user has taken.

[0036] Approximately - refers to a value that is almost correct or exact. For example, approximately may refer to a value that is within 1 to 10 percent of the exact (or desired) value. It should be noted, however, that the actual threshold value (or tolerance) may be application dependent. For example, in some aspects, “approximately” may mean within 0.1% of some specified or desired value, while in various other aspects, the threshold may be, for example, 2%, 3%, 5%, and so forth, as desired or as required by the particular application.

[0037] Concurrent - refers to parallel execution or performance, where tasks, processes, or programs are performed in an at least partially overlapping manner. For example, concurrency may be implemented using “strong” or strict parallelism, where tasks are performed (at least partially) in parallel on respective computational elements, or using “weak parallelism”, where the tasks are performed in aninterleaved manner, e.g., by time multiplexing of execution threads.

[0038] Configured to - Various components may be described as “configured to” perform a task or tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broad recitation generally meaning “having structure that” performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the component can be configured to perform the task even when the component is not currently performing that task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors may be configured to electrically connect a module to another module, even when the two modules are not connected). In some contexts, “configured to” may be a broad recitation of structure generally meaning “having circuitry that” performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the component can be configured to perform the task even when the component is not currently on. In general, the circuitry that forms the structure corresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuits.

[0039] Various components may be described as performing a task or tasks, for convenience in the description. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including the phrase “configured to.” Reciting a component that is configured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not to invoke 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) interpretation for that component.

[0040] Example Wireless Communication System

[0041] Turning now to Figure 1, a simplified example of a wireless communication system is illustrated, according to some aspects. It is noted that the system of Figure 1 is a non-limiting example of a possible system, and that featuresof this disclosure may be implemented in any of various systems, as desired.

[0042] As shown, the example wireless communication system includes a base station 102A, which communicates over a transmission medium with one or more user devices 106A and 106B, through 106Z. Each of the user devices may be referred to herein as a “user equipment” (UE). Thus, the user devices 106 are referred to as UEs or UE devices.

[0043] The base station (BS) 102A may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or cell site (e.g., a “cellular base station”) and may include hardware that enables wireless communication with the UEs 106A through 106Z.

[0044] The communication area (or coverage area) of the base station may be referred to as a “cell.” The base station 102 A and the UEs 106 may be configured to communicate over the transmission medium using any of various radio access technologies (RATs), also referred to as wireless communication technologies, or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000. Note that if the base station 102A is implemented in the context of LTE, it may alternately be referred to as an ‘eNodeB’ or ‘eNB’ . Note that if the base station 102A is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternately be referred to as a ‘gNodeB’ or ‘gNB’.

[0045] In some aspects, the UEs 106 may be loT UEs, which may comprise a network access layer designed for low-power loT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. An loT UE may utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC forexchanging data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), proximity service (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensor networks, or loT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An loT network describes interconnecting loT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. As an example, vehicles to everything (V2X) may utilize ProSe features using a PC5 interface for direct communications between devices. The loT UEs may also execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, and the like) to facilitate the connections of the loT network.

[0046] As shown in Figure 1, the UEs 106, such as UE 106A and UE 106B, may directly exchange communication data via a PC5 interface 108 A. Also, the UEs 106C, 106N, and 106Z, may collectively exchange communication data via a PC5 interfaces 108B, 108C, and 108D. In general, such PC5 interfaces are referred to as SL connections.

[0047] The PC5 interface 108 may comprise one or more physical channels, including but not limited to a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH), and a Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH). The PC5 interface 108 may be responsible for direct communication between devices (unicast), group messaging among select devices (groupcast), and broadcast messaging in accordance with embodiments disclosed herein.

[0048] In V2X scenarios, one or more of the base stations 102 may be or act as Road Side Units (RSUs). The term RSU may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable wireless node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE , eNB, or by a gNB. For example, an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs.

[0049] As shown, the base station 102A may also be equipped to communicate with a network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, a telecommunication network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN), and / or the Internet, among various possibilities). Thus, the base station 102A may facilitate communication between the user devices and / or between the user devices and the network 100. In particular, the cellular base station 102A may provide UEs 106 with various telecommunication capabilities, such as voice, SMS and / or data services.

[0050] Base station 102 A and other similar base stations (such as base stations 102B through 102N) operating according to the same or a different cellular communication standard may thus be provided as a network of cells, which may provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to UEs 106A-106Z and similar devices over a geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards.

[0051] Thus, while base station 102A may act as a “serving cell” for UEs 106A-106Z as illustrated in Figure 1, each UE 106 may also be capable of receiving signals from (and possibly within communication range of) one or more other cells (which may be provided by base stations 102B-102Z and / or any other base stations), which may be referred to as “neighboring cells.” Such cells may also be capable of facilitating communication between user devices and / or between user devices and the network 100. Such cells may include “macro” cells, “micro” cells, “pico” cells, and / or cells which provide any of various other granularities of service area size. For example, base stations 102A and 102B illustrated in Figure 1 may be macro cells, while base station 102Z may be a micro cell. Other configurations are also possible.

[0052] In some aspects, base station 102 A may be a next generation base station, (e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or “gNB”). In some aspects, a gNB may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to a NR core (NRC) / 5G core (5GC) network. In addition, a gNB cell may include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). In addition, a UE capable of operating according to 5G NR may be connected to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs. For example, it may be possible that that the base station 102A and one or more other base stations 102 support joint transmission, such that UE 106 may be able to receive transmissions from multiple base stations (and / or multiple TRPs provided by the same base station). For example, as illustrated in Figure 1, both base station 102 A and base station 102C are shown as serving UE 106 A.

[0053] Note that a UE 106 may be capable of communicating using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, the UE 106 may be configured tocommunicate using a wireless networking (e.g., Wi-Fi) and / or peer-to-peer wireless communication protocol (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi peer-to-peer, and the like) in addition to some of the cellular communication protocols discussed herein. The UE 106 may also or alternatively be configured to communicate using one or more global navigational satellite systems (GNSS) (e.g., GPS or GLONASS), one or more mobile television broadcasting standards e.g., ATSC-M / H), and / or any other wireless communication protocol, if desired. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible.

[0054] In one or more embodiments, the UE 106 may be a device with cellular communication capability such as a mobile phone, a hand-held device, a computer, a laptop, a tablet, a smart watch, or other wearable device, or virtually any type of wireless device.

[0055] The UE 106 may include a processor (processing element) that is configured to execute program instructions stored in memory. The UE 106 may perform any of the method aspects described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively, or in addition, the UE 106 may include a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field-programmable gate array), an integrated circuit, and / or any of various other possible hardware components that are configured to perform (e.g., individually or in combination) any of the method aspects described herein, or any portion of any of the method aspects described herein.

[0056] The UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating usingone or more wireless communication protocols or technologies. In some aspects, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using, for example, NR or LTE using at least some shared radio components. As additional possibilities, the UE 106 could be configured to communicate using CDMA2000 (IxRTT / IxEV-DO / HRPD / eHRPD) or LTE using a single shared radio and / or GSM or LTE using the single shared radio. The shared radio may couple to a single antenna, or may couple to multiple antennas (e.g., for a multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) configuration) for performing wireless communications. In general, a radio may include any combination of a baseband processor, analog RF signal processing circuitry (e.g., including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, and the like), or digital processing circuitry (e.g., for digital modulation as well as other digital processing). Similarly, the radio may implement one or more receive and transmit chains using the aforementioned hardware. For example, the UE 106 may share one or more parts of a receive and / or transmit chain between multiple wireless communication technologies, such as those discussed above.

[0057] In some aspects, the UE 106 may include separate transmit and / or receive chains (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As a further possibility, the UE 106 may include one or more radios which are shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, and one or more radios which are used exclusively by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, the UE 106 might include a shared radio for communicating using either of LTE or 5G NR (or either of LTE or IxRTT, or either of LTE or GSM, among variouspossibilities), and separate radios for communicating using each of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Other configurations are also possible.

[0058] In some aspects, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any of the base stations 102 to the UEs 106, while uplink transmissions may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resource grid may comprise a number of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block comprises a set of resource elements. There are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.

[0059] One such channel is the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) that may carry user data and higher layer signaling to the UEs 106. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs 106 about the transport format, resource allocation, andHARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 102 within a cell) may be performed at any of the base stations 102 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 106. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs.

[0060] The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex- valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as resource element groups (REGs). Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the Downlink Control Information (DCI) and the channel condition. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=l, 2, 4, or 8).

[0061] Example Communication Device

[0062] Figure 2 illustrates user equipment 106 (e.g., one of the devices 106A through 106N) in communication with a base station 102 or other user equipment106, according to some aspects. The UE 106 may be a device with cellular communication capability such as a mobile phone, a hand-held device, a computer,a laptop, a tablet, a smart watch or other wearable device, or virtually any type of wireless device.

[0063] The UE 106 may include a processor (processing element) that is configured to execute program instructions stored in memory. The UE 106 may perform any of the method aspects described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively, or in addition, the UE 106 may include a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field-programmable gate array), an integrated circuit, and / or any of various other possible hardware components that are configured to perform (e.g., individually or in combination) any of the method aspects described herein, or any portion of any of the method aspects described herein.

[0064] The UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols or technologies. In some aspects, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using, for example, NR or LTE using at least some shared radio components. As additional possibilities, the UE 106 could be configured to communicate using CDMA2000 (IxRTT / IxEV-DO / HRPD / eHRPD) or LTE using a single shared radio and / or GSM or LTE using the single shared radio. The shared radio may couple to a single antenna, or may couple to multiple antennas (e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications. In general, a radio may include any combination of a baseband processor, analog RF signal processing circuitry (e.g., including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or digital processing circuitry (e.g., for digital modulation as well as other digital processing). Similarly, the radio may implement one or more receive andtransmit chains using the aforementioned hardware. For example, the UE 106 may share one or more parts of a receive and / or transmit chain between multiple wireless communication technologies, such as those discussed above.

[0065] In some aspects, the UE 106 may include separate transmit and / or receive chains (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As a further possibility, the UE 106 may include one or more radios which are shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, and one or more radios which are used exclusively by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, the UE 106 might include a shared radio for communicating using either of LTE or 5G NR (or either of LTE or IxRTT, or either of LTE or GSM, among various possibilities), and separate radios for communicating using each of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Other configurations are also possible.

[0066] In some aspects, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the base stations 102 to the UEs 106, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit ina resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resource grid may comprise a number of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements. There are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.

[0067] The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher layer signaling to the UEs 106. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs 106 about the transport format, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 102 within a cell) may be performed at any of the base stations 102 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 106. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs.

[0068] The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex- valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as resource element groups(REGs). Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=l, 2, 4, or 8).

[0069] Figure 2 illustrates an example simplified block diagram of a communication device 106, according to some aspects. It is noted that the block diagram of the communication device of Figure 2 is only one example of a possible communication device. According to aspects, communication device 106 may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet, and / or a combination of devices, among other devices. As shown, the communication device 106 may include a set of components 200 configured to perform core functions. For example, this set of components may be implemented as a system on chip (SOC), which may include portions for various purposes. Alternatively, this set of components 200 may be implemented as separate components or groups of components for the various purposes. The set of components 200 may be coupled (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to various other circuits of the communication device 106.

[0070] For example, the communication device 106 may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash 210), an input / output interface such as connector I / F 220 (e.g., for connecting to a computer system; dock; charging station;input devices, such as a microphone, camera, keyboard; output devices, such as speakers; etc.), the display 260, which may be integrated with or external to the communication device 106, and wireless communication circuitry 230 (e.g., forLTE, LTE-A, NR, UMTS, GSM, CDMA2000, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, etc ). In some aspects, communication device 106 may include wired communication circuitry (not shown), such as a network interface card, e.g., for Ethernet.

[0071] The wireless communication circuitry 230 may couple (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antenna(s) 335 as shown. The wireless communication circuitry 230 may include cellular communication circuitry and / or short to medium range wireless communication circuitry and may include multiple receive chains and / or multiple transmit chains for receiving and / or transmitting multiple spatial streams, such as in a multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) configuration.

[0072] In some aspects, as further described below, cellular communication circuitry 230 may include one or more receive chains (including and / or coupled to (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) dedicated processors and / or radios) for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). In addition, in some aspects, cellular communication circuitry 230 may include a single transmit chain that may be switched between radios dedicated to specific RATs. For example, a first radio may be dedicated to a first RAT, e.g., LTE, and may be in communication with a dedicated receive chain and a transmit chain shared with a second radio. The second radio may be dedicated to a second RAT, e.g., 5G NR,and may be in communication with a dedicated receive chain and the shared transmit chain. In some aspects, the second RAT may operate at mmWave frequencies. As mmWave systems operate in higher frequencies than typically found in LTE systems, signals in the mmWave frequency range are heavily attenuated by environmental factors. To help address this attenuating, mmWave systems often utilize beamforming and include more antennas as compared LTE systems. These antennas may be organized into antenna arrays or panels made up of individual antenna elements. These antenna arrays may be coupled to the radio chains.

[0073] The communication device 106 may also include and / or be configured for use with one or more user interface elements. The user interface elements may include any of various elements, such as display 260 (which may be a touchscreen display), a keyboard (which may be a discrete keyboard or may be implemented as part of a touchscreen display), a mouse, a microphone and / or speakers, one or more cameras, one or more buttons, and / or any of various other elements capable of providing information to a user and / or receiving or interpreting user input.

[0074] The communication device 106 may further include one or more smart cards 245 that include SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) functionality, such as one or more UICC(s) (Universal Integrated Circuit Card(s)) cards 245.

[0075] As shown, the SOC 200 may include processor(s) 202, which may execute program instructions for the communication device 106 and display circuitry204, which may perform graphics processing and provide display signals to the display 260. The processor(s) 202 may also be coupled to memory management unit(MMU) 240, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor(s) 202 and translate those addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 206, read only memory (ROM) 250, NAND flash memory 210) and / or to other circuits or devices, such as the display circuitry 204, wireless communication circuitry 230, connector I / F 220, and / or display 260. The MMU 240 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or set up. In some aspects, the MMU 240 may be included as a portion of the processor(s) 202.

[0076] As noted above, the communication device 106 may be configured to communicate using wireless and / or wired communication circuitry. As described herein, the communication device 106 may include hardware and software components for implementing any of the various features and techniques described herein. The processor 202 of the communication device 106 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition), processor 202 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or in addition) the processor 202 of the communication device 106, in conjunction with one or more of the other components 200, 204, 206, 210, 220, 230, 240, 245, 250, 260 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein.

[0077] In addition, as described herein, processor 202 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processor 202 may include one or more integratedcircuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of processor 202. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor(s) 202.

[0078] Further, as described herein, wireless communication circuitry 230 may include one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in wireless communication circuitry 230. Thus, wireless communication circuitry 230 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of wireless communication circuitry 230. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of wireless communication circuitry 230.

[0079] Example Base Station

[0080] Figure 3 illustrates an example block diagram of a base station 102, according to some aspects. It is noted that the base station of Figure 3 is merely one example of a possible base station. As shown, the base station 102 may include processor(s) 304 which may execute program instructions for the base station 102. The processor(s) 304 may also be coupled to memory management unit (MMU) 340, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor(s) 304 and translate those addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 360 and read only memory (ROM) 350) or to other circuits or devices.

[0081] The base station 102 may include at least one network port 370. The network port 370 may be configured to couple to a telephone network and provide aplurality of devices, such as UE devices 106, access to the telephone network as described above in Figures 1 and 2.

[0082] The network port 370 (or an additional network port) may also or alternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility related services and / or other services to a plurality of devices, such as UE devices 106. In some cases, the network port 370 may couple to a telephone network via the core network, and / or the core network may provide a telephone network (e.g., among other UE devices serviced by the cellular service provider).

[0083] In some aspects, base station 102 may be a next generation base station, e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or “gNB.” In such aspects, base station 102 may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to a NR core (NRC) / 5G core (5GC) network. In addition, base station 102 may be considered a 5G NR cell and may include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). In addition, a UE capable of operating according to 5GNR may be connected to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

[0084] The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 334, and possibly multiple antennas. The at least one antenna 334 may be configured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with UE devices 106 via radio 330. The antenna 334 communicates with the radio 330 via communication chain 332. Communication chain 332 may be a receive chain, a transmit chain or both. The radio 330 may be configured to communicate via variouswireless communication standards, including, but not limited to, 5GNR, LTE, LTE-A, GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi, etc.

[0085] The base station 102 may be configured to communicate wirelessly using multiple wireless communication standards. In some instances, the base station 102 may include multiple radios, which may enable the base station 102 to communicate according to multiple wireless communication technologies. For example, as one possibility, the base station 102 may include an LTE radio for performing communication according to LTE as well as a 5G NR radio for performing communication according to 5G NR. In such a case, the base station 102 may be capable of operating as both an LTE base station and a 5G NR base station. When the base station 102 supports mmWave, the 5G NR radio may be coupled to one or more mmWave antenna arrays or panels. As another possibility, the base station 102 may include a multi-mode radio, which is capable of performing communications according to any of multiple wireless communication technologies (e.g., 5GNR and LTE, 5G NR and Wi-Fi, LTE and Wi-Fi, LTE and UMTS, LTE and CDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.).

[0086] As described further subsequently herein, the BS 102 may include hardware and software components for implementing or supporting implementation of features described herein. The processor 304 of the base station 102 may be configured to implement or support implementation of part or all of the methods described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer readable memory medium). Alternatively,the processor 304 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or a combination thereof. Alternatively (or in addition) the processor 304 of the BS 102, in conjunction with one or more of the other components 330, 332, 334, 340, 350, 360, 370 may be configured to implement or support implementation of part or all of the features described herein.

[0087] In addition, as described herein, processor(s) 304 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processor(s) 304 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of processor(s) 304. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor(s) 304.

[0088] Further, as described herein, radio 330 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, radio 330 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of radio 330. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of radio 330.

[0089] For NR downlink and / or uplink carrier phase positioning, the carrier phase at a radio frequency at a receiver is a phase that is a function of the signal propagation time from a transmission antenna reference point of a transmitter (e.g., a TRP or a UE) to a reception antenna reference point of the receiver (e.g., a UE or a TRP).

[0090] Figure 4 illustrates a system for carrier phase positioning, according tosome aspects. The system 400 includes a UE 405A, whose position may be determined based on carrier phase positioning. The position of UE 405 A may be determined based on RF exchanges between the UE 405A and one or more TRPs (TRP 1, TRP 2, TRP 3). Positional information may also be obtained through RF exchanges involving other UEs, such as between UE 405B and the TRPs (TRP 1, TRP 2, TRP 3) and between UE 405A and UE 405B, as shown.

[0091] One or more of the TRPs may be operable connected to a gNodeB or other network entities as defined in a 5G core network. As shown in Figure 4, TRP 3 is connected to gNodeB which is connected to a core network that includes a Location Management Function (LMF) 410. The LMF 410 is a network entity defined in the 5G Core Network that provides positioning functionality based on measuring downlink and uplink radio signals, in accordance with embodiments.

[0092] The carrier phase of an RF frequency at a receiver of the UE 405A or at a TRP (TRP 1, TRP 2, or TRP 3) is a phase that is a function of the signal propagation time. The range is the wavelength times a total phase where the total phase may be expressed as a portion of one cycle of the RF frequency plus an integer number of cycles. The carrier phase is independent of the number of integer cycles.

[0093] Carrier phase measurements may be carried out at the UE 405A or at a TRP (TRP 1, TRP 2, or TRP 3) in the system 400 in accordance with embodiments. In some embodiments, the carrier phase measurements may be reported together with previous legacy positioning measurements to the LMF 410. The LMF 410 may then use the received information to determine the position using carrier phasepositioning, herein referred to as the carrier phase position.

[0094] In some embodiments, a UE 405B may operate as a positioning reference unit (PRU) to limit the effect of initial random phase errors at the UE and the gNB. That is, a PRU, e.g. UE 405B, may be used to help evaluate results associated with UE 405 A by removing the contributions to the initial phase of the transmitter and the receiver. Similar to the UE 405 A, for DL NR carrier phase positioning, the PRU UE 405B receives the DL PRS reference signals and provides the DL carrier phase measurements to the LMF 410. At the LMF 410, the difference of the DL carrier phase measurements from the target UE 405A and those from the PRU UE 405B may be used to eliminate contributions to some measurement errors.

[0095] For UL NR carrier phase positioning, the PRU UE 405B may operate as a UE that transmits the UL SRS signals for positioning. In such embodiments, the TRPs may provide the UL carrier phase measurements obtained from the UL SRS signals of the target UE 405 A and the PRU UE 405B to the LMF 410. At the LMF 410, the difference of these UL carrier phase measurements may be used to eliminating some of the measurement errors.

[0096] The specific RF frequency associated with a DL (or an UL) carrier phase measurement is defined, by default, as the center frequency of the DL PFL. The center frequency of the DL PFL is within the transmission bandwidth of the SRS for positioning purposes.

[0097] The NR DL reference signal carrier phase (RSCP) (of the i-th path) is defined as the phase of the channel response at the i-th path delay derived from theresource elements (REs) that carry the DL PRS signals configured for the measurement. The RSCP is associated with a specific RF frequency. In embodiments herein, the DL RSCP may be reported together with the UE reception-transmission time difference measurements.

[0098] The NR DL reference signal carrier phase difference (RSCPD) measurement for NR carrier phase positioning is defined as the difference of the RSCPs measured from the DL PRS signals from the target TRP and the reference TRP. In some embodiments, the DL RSCPD may be reported together with the RSCP measurement.

[0099] Similarly, the NR UL RSCP of the i-th path is defined as the phase of the channel response at the i-th path delay derived from the REs that carry the UL SRS signal for positioning purposes configured for the position measurement. The UL RSCP is associated with a specific RF frequency. In some embodiments, the TRP may report the UL RSCP together with a transmission-reception time difference measurements to the LMF. In such embodiments, the report of the UL carrier phase measurement with gNB reception-transmission time difference does not necessarily require the report of DL carrier phase measurement with the UE receptiontransmission time difference.

[0100] Figure 5 illustrates a method for carrier phase positioning using a PRS, according to some aspects. The method 5000 illustrates a general method for determining the carrier phase position using a PRS transmitted from a TRP in accordance with one or more embodiments.

[0101] In the method 5000, a wireless device receives a PRS from a TRP in Step 5002. The wireless device determines the UE reception PEG in Step 5004. Concurrently, the TRP determines the TRP transmission PEG associated with the transmission of the PRS in Step 5006.

[0102] At this stage, the method 5000 may use the LMF in the core network in the system to determine the carrier phase position (Steps 5008, 5010, 5012). That is, the wireless device transmits the UE reception PEG to the LMF in Step 5008. Step 5008 may be transmitted as association information using the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) from the UE to the LMF. The TRP transmits the TRP transmission PEG to the LMF in Step 5010. Step 5010 may be transmitted as association information using the NR Positioning Protocol a (NRPPa) from the TRP to the LMF. With this information, the LMF may determine the carrier phase position of the wireless device in Step 5012.

[0103] Alternatively, the method 5000 may use the wireless device to determine the carrier phase position (Steps 5009, 5011, 5013). That is, the TRP may transmit the TRP transmission PEG to the LMF in Step 5009. Step 5009 may be transmitted as association information using the NRPPa from the TRP to the LMF. The LMF of the node then transmits the TRP transmission PEG to the wireless device in Step 5011. Step 5011 may be transmitted as association information using the LTE LPP from the LMF to the UE. With the TRP transmission PEG and UE reception PEG, the wireless device determines the carrier phase position in Step 5013.

[0104] Figure 6 illustrates a method for carrier phase positioning using a SRS,according to some aspects. The method 6000 illustrates a general method for determining the carrier phase position using a SRS transmitted from a wireless device in accordance with one or more embodiments.

[0105] In the method 6000, a wireless device transmits a SRS to a TRP in Step 6002. The wireless device determines the UE transmission PEG in Step 6004. Concurrently, the TRP determines the TRP reception PEG associated with the transmission of the SRS in Step 6006.

[0106] At this stage, the method 6000 may use the LMF in the system to determine the carrier phase position (Steps 6008, 6010, 6012). That is, the wireless device transmits the UE transmission PEG to the LMF in Step 6008. Step 6008 may be transmitted as association information using the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) from the UE to the LMF. The TRP transmits the TRP reception PEG to the LMF in Step 6010. Step 6010 may be transmitted as association information using the NR Positioning Protocol a (NRPPa) from the TRP to the LMF. With this information, the LMF may determine the carrier phase position of the wireless device in Step 6012.

[0107] Alternatively, the method 6000 may use the wireless device to determine the carrier phase position (Steps 6009, 6011, 6013). That is, the TRP may transmit the TRP reception PEG to the LMF in Step 6009. Step 6009 may be transmitted as association information using the NRPPa from the TRP to the LMF. The LMF then transmits the TRP reception PEG to the wireless device in Step 6011. Step 6011 may be transmitted as association information using the LPP from the LMF to the UE.With the TRP reception PEG and UE transmission PEG, the wireless device determines the carrier phase position in Step 6013.

[0108] Embodiments are directed to addressing the impact of the phase delays on Tx / Rx RF chains. To that end, embodiments introduce UE / TRP Tx / Rx phase error groups (PEGs) for the Tx / Rx of DL PRS / UL SRS signals. Embodiments may also incorporate Tx / Rx RF antenna IDs or Tx / Rx RF chain IDs to identify the individual Tx / Rx RF chains for transmitting / receiving the DL PRS / UL SRS signals. In such embodiments, the device transmitting the PRS or positioning SRS provides the transmission antenna ID or transmission Chain ID, while the device receiving the PRS or positioning SRS provides the reception antenna ID or reception Chain ID. Embodiments may also use an Antenna Reference Point (ARP) ID for the Rx / Tx of DL PRS / UL SRS signals.

[0109] Embodiments may also result in RAN 1 sending an LS to RAN4 to request that the RAN4 consider whether there is a need to define a new UE / TRP Tx / Rx phase error group (PEG); introduce new IDs (e.g., Tx / Rx RF antenna IDs ) to present the phase delays for the Tx / Rx of DL PRS / UL SRS signals; or reuse or enhance UE / TRP Tx / Rx TEGs with smaller margin values. Embodiments may provide the appropriate definitions if RAN4 decides it is needed.

[0110] Embodiments improve accuracy of carrier phase positioning by mitigating UE Rx / Tx (or TRP Rx / Tx) phase delays within a PEG. This is achieved by defining the UE Tx / Rx PEGs for the Tx / Rx of PRSs in the DL and SRS signals in the UL.[OHl] More specifically, the Tx phase error in the frequency domain is due to the time delay from the time when the digital signal is generated at the baseband to the time when the RF signal is transmitted from the Tx antenna. Similarly, the Rx phase error in frequency domain is due to a time delay from the time when the RF signal arrives at the Rx antenna to the time when the signal is digitized and time- stamped at the baseband.

[0112] The Tx PEG is associated with the transmissions of one or more positioning RS resources, which all have Tx phase errors within a certain margin. The UE Tx PEG is defined for Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) used for the positioning transmission. The TRP Tx PEG is defined for PRSs transmission.

[0113] The Rx PEG is associated with one or more measurements, which have the Rx Phase errors within a certain margin. The UE Rx PEG is defined for PRS reception, while the TRP Rx PEG is defined for SRS reception.

[0114] The UE Rx / Tx PEG is associated with one or more UE Rx / Tx time difference measurements, and one or more UL SRS resources for the positioning purpose, which have reception phase errors and transmission phase errors within a certain margin. The TRP Rx / Tx PEG is associated with one or more gNB Rx / Tx time difference measurements and one or more DL PRS resources reception phase errors and transmission phase errors within a certain margin. The phase errors impact the accuracy of the positioning (e.g. to sub-meter accuracy) for carrier phase positioning techniques.

[0115] In accordance with embodiments, the mitigation of PEGs (Rx / Tx atUE / gNB) is a focus of the enhancements for carrier phase positioning methods disclosed herein. The PEGs may be transmitted with UE positioning assistance information with each PEG of a specific PEG type assigned a PEG ID.

[0116] As noted, the Tx Phase error in frequency domain is based on the time delay from the time when the digital signal is generated at baseband to the time when the RF signal is transmitted from the Tx antenna. For carrier phase positioning, the UE / TRP may implement an internal calibration / compensation of the Tx time delay for the transmission of the DL PRS / UL SRS signals. The implementation may include the calibration / compensation of the relative time delay between different RF chains in the same TRP / UE. The compensation may consider the offset of the Tx antenna phase center to the physical antenna center. However, the remaining Tx phase due to the transmission time delay after the calibration, or the uncalibrated transmission phase, is still considered part of the transmission phase error.

[0117] As noted, the reception phase error in the frequency domain is based on the time delay from the time when the RF signal arrives at the Rx antenna to the time when the signal is digitized and time-stamped at the baseband. In accordance with embodiments, the UE / TRP may implement an internal calibration / compensation of the reception time delay before it reports the measurements that are obtained from the DL PRS / UL SRS signals. Such implementation may also include the calibration / compensation of the relative time delay between different RF chains in the same TRP / UE. The compensation may also consider the offset of the reception antenna phase center to the physical antenna center. However, the phase error due tothe remaining reception time delay after the calibration, or the uncalibrated Rx phase, is still defined as reception phase error.

[0118] Embodiments herein mitigate the phase delays for RSCP and RSCPD estimation. In accordance with embodiments, in the carrier phase positioning, a UE may measure the RSCP or RSCPD. Such measurements represent the carrier phase of the PRS / SRS, or the time difference of the carrier phase between two PRS receptions from two different TRPs. For each PRS reception, there are two sources of PEGs, the TRP transmission PEG and UE reception PEG.

[0119] In embodiments, the TRP may provide the association information of the DL PRS resources with the TRP transmission PEGs to the LMF. Analogously, the LMF may provide the association information of the DL PRS resources with the TRP transmission PEGs to the UE for UE-based positioning.

[0120] In accordance with some embodiments, the UE may provide the association information of RSCP measurements with the UE reception PEGs to the LMF when the UE reports the RSCP measurements to the LMF. Subject to UE capability, the UE may include one or more UE reception PEG IDs for reference PRSs and one or more UE reception PEG ID for target PRSs.

[0121] In accordance with some embodiments, subject to the UE capability, the LMF may request the UE to optionally measure the same DL PRS resource of a TRP with different UE reception PEGs and report the corresponding multiple RSCPD measurements. The LMF may then consider differences between the two RSCPs to reveal differences between associated PEGs.

[0122] In some embodiments, in the carrier phase positioning, the UE measures the carrier phase of the SRS and determines the RSCP. In such embodiments, for each SRS reception, there are two PEGs that may be determined, the UE transmission PEG and TRP reception PEG. Embodiments of the TRP provide the association information of the UL SRS resources with TRP reception PEGs to an LMF. In some embodiments, the LMF may then send the information to the UE for UE-based positioning. The LMF may also provide association information of UL PRS resources with the TRP reception PEGs to a UE for UE-based positioning. A UE may share the association information of RSCP measurements with the UE transmission PEGs sent to the LMF.

[0123] In embodiments, information with respect to the UE Rx / Tx Time difference, as well as the UL and DL Time difference of arrival (TDoA) may be shared between the UE and the LMF. For example, for the UE Rx / Tx Time difference, the UE reception PEG IDs, UE transmission PEG IDs, and UE Rx / Tx PEG IDs associated with UE Rx-Tx time difference measurements may be transferred from UE to the LMF. Other measurement results, such as the association of the UE transmission PEG ID to the SRS used may also be transferred from the UE to the LMF. The TRP transmission PEG association information may be transferred from a TRP (or gNodeB) to the LMF.

[0124] Regarding the DL-TDoA, the association information of DL-PRS resources with the TRP transmission PEG ID may be transferred from the LMF to the UE in UE-based positioning. The UE reception PEG IDs for the DL RSCPmeasurements may be transferred from the UE to the LMF in UE-assisted positioning. The TRP transmission PEG association information may be transferred from the TRP (or gNodeB) to the LMF.

[0125] Regarding the UL-TDOA, the association information of the SRS resources with LE transmission PEG ID may be included in UE configuration data transferred from the serving gNodeB to the LMF.

[0126] With respect to the UE capability, the UE may indicate a maximum number of UE-Rx-PEGs, UE-Tx-PEGs, and UE-RxTx-PEGs that are supported and reported by the UE. The UE may indicate the maximum number of different UE reception PEGs that the UE can support in order to measure the same DL-PRS resources of a TRP. The UE may also indicate the maximum number of UE reception PEGs for measuring the same DL-PRS resources simultaneously. The UE may also indicate support for PEG measurements for DL-TDoA, UL-TDoA and determining multiple round trip times (multi-RTT). In embodiments, the UE may only be capable of measuring the reception PEG only, or both the reception PEG and the transmission PEG.

[0127] In embodiments, the reporting may be configured periodically, or configured to respond to a request for the data. For periodic reporting, the PEG may be configured and reported with legacy timing error group (TEG) reporting or may be reported independently of the TEG.

[0128] Embodiments disclosed herein may be incorporated into existing TEG techniques (with smaller margin values). Embodiments may enhance current TEGdefinitions to allow for both legacy positioning methods and the carrier phase positioning techniques disclosed herein. In some embodiments, the legacy TEG margin values may be applied to the legacy positioning methods, and the carrier phase techniques herein may use a margin value derived from the legacy margin value. For example, 1 / 10 the legacy value may be used as the carrier phase positioning margin. In some embodiments, the function for determining the carrier phase margins are signaled as part of the setup. For example, a ratio of 1, 1 / 2, 1 / 10, or 1 / 100 may be indicated to determine the carrier phase margin from the legacy value.

[0129] If two TEG values may be sent, one of the values may be used for the legacy positioning methods based on the legacy margin values, and the other value may be used for the carrier phase positioning with the smaller margin values described herein.

[0130] Aspects of the present disclosure may be realized in any of various forms.For example, some aspects may be realized as a computer-implemented method, a computer-readable memory medium, or a computer system. Other aspects may be realized using one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. Still other aspects may be realized using one or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs.

[0131] In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium may be configured so that it stores program instructions and / or data, where the program instructions, if executed by a computer system, cause the computer systemto perform a method, e.g., any of a method aspects described herein, or, any combination of the method aspects described herein, or, any subset of any of the method aspects described herein, or, any combination of such subsets.

[0132] In some aspects, a device (e.g., a UE 106, a BS 102) may be configured to include a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium, where the memory medium stores program instructions, where the processor is configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory medium, where the program instructions are executable to implement any of the various method aspects described herein (or, any combination of the method aspects described herein, or, any subset of any of the method aspects described herein, or, any combination of such subsets). The device may be realized in any of various forms.

[0133] Although the aspects above have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A method for carrier phase positioning, the method comprising: receiving, by a wireless device, a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) from a Transmission / Reception Point (TRP); determining a User Equipment (UE) reception Positioning Error Group (PEG) based on the received PRS; transmitting, by the wireless device, the UE reception PEG to a Location Management Function (LMF) of a core network; determining, by the LMF, a location of the wireless device based on the UE reception PEG.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the TRP, a TRP transmission PEG from transmission of the PRS; transmitting, by the TRP, the TRP transmission PEG to the LMF of the core network;3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the UE reception PEG comprises: determining a plurality of Reference Signal Carrier Phases (RSCP) within a specified margin based on the reception of the PRS.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the UE reception PEG comprises:determining a plurality of Reference Signal Carrier Phase differences(RSCPD) within a specified margin based on the reception of the PRS.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, by the wireless device, a UE capability signal, the UE capability signal comprising at least one of the following: a maximum number of UE reception PEGs and a maximum number of UE transmission PEGs supported by the wireless device; a maximum number of different UE reception PEGs for the PRS of the TRP supported by the wireless device; and a maximum number of simultaneous UE reception PEGs for the PRS of the TRP.

6. A method for carrier phase positioning, the method comprising: receiving, by a wireless device, a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) from a Transmission / Reception Point (TRP); determining a User Equipment (UE) reception Positioning Error Group (PEG) based on the received PRS; receiving, by the wireless device, a TRP transmission PEG based on the PRS from a Location Management Function (LMF) of a core network;determining, by the wireless device, a location of the wireless device based on the UE reception PEG and the TRP transmission PEG.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the UE reception Positioning Error Group (PEG) comprises: determining a plurality of Reference Signal Carrier Phases (RSCP) within a specified margin based on the reception of the PRS.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the UE reception PEG comprises: determining a plurality of Reference Signal Carrier Phase differences (RSCPD) within a specified margin based on the reception of the PRS.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising: transmitting, by the wireless device, a UE capability signal, the UE capability signal comprising at least one of the following: a maximum number of UE reception PEGs and a maximum number of UE transmission PEGs supported by the wireless device; a maximum number of different UE reception PEGs for the PRS of the TRP supported by the wireless device; and a maximum number of simultaneous UE reception PEGs for the PRS of the TRP.

10. A method for carrier phase positioning, the method comprising: transmitting, by a wireless device, a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) to a Transmission / Reception Point (TRP); determining, by the TRP, a TRP reception Positioning Error Group (PEG) based on the received SRS; transmitting, by the TRP, the TRP reception PEG to a Location Management Function (LMF) of a core network.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: determining, by the wireless device, a UE transmission PEG based on the transmitted SRS; transmitting, by the wireless device, the UE transmission PEG based on the SRS to the LMF of the core network; determining, by the LMF, a location of the wireless device based on the TRP reception PEG and the UE transmission PEG.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising: transmitting, by the core network, the TRP reception PEG to the wireless device; determining, by the wireless device, a UE transmission PEG based on the transmitted SRS; determining, by the wireless device, a location of the wireless device based on the TRP reception PEG and a UE transmission PEG.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the UE transmission PEG comprises: determining a plurality of Reference Signal Carrier Phases (RSCP) within a specified margin based on the transmission of the SRS.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the UE transmission PEG comprises: determining a plurality of Reference Signal Carrier Phase differences (RSCPD) within a specified margin based on the transmission of the SRS.

15. The method of claim 8, further comprising: transmitting, by the wireless device, a UE capability signal, the UE capability signal comprising at least one of the following: a maximum number of UE reception PEGs and a maximum number of UE transmission PEGs supported by the wireless device; a maximum number of different UE reception PEGs for the PRS of the TRP supported by the wireless device; and a maximum number of simultaneous UE reception PEGs for the PRS of the TRP.

16. The wireless device of the methods of claims 1-15.

17. The TRP of the methods of claims 1-15.

18. A system comprising the wireless device and the TRP of the methods of claims

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