Neighbor aware networking communication with wireless local-area network sensing

Abstract

This disclosure provides methods, components, devices and systems for Neighbor Aware Networking (NAN) communications between two devices for performing a WLAN sensing operation. A NAN cluster includes a first NAN device and a second NAN device. Each of the first NAN device and the second NAN device may be running an application or a service. The first NAN device indicates its capability and availability to perform a WLAN sensing operation to the second NAN device. The second NAN device conveys its capability and availability to perform a WLAN sensing operation to the first NAN device. A sounding sequence is initiated in view of the respective availabilities and capabilities of the first NAN device and the second NAN device to extract CSI information.

Description

NEIGHBOR AWARE NETWORKING COMMUNICATION WITH WIRELESS LOCAL-AREA NETWORK SENSINGTECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] This disclosure relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically, to Neighbor Aware Networking (NAN) communication with wireless local-area network (WLAN) sensing.DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED TECHNOLOGY

[0002] A wireless local area network (WLAN) may be formed by one or more wireless access points (APs) that provide a shared wireless communication medium for use by multiple client devices also referred to as wireless stations (STAs). The basic building block of a WLAN conforming to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards is a Basic Service Set (BSS), which is managed by an AP. Each BSS is identified by a Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) that is advertised by the AP. An AP periodically broadcasts beacon frames to enable any STAs within wireless range of the AP to establish or maintain a communication link with the WLAN.

[0003] A WLAN network may support Neighbor Aware Networking (NAN), also known as Wi-Fi Aware Networking. The NAN protocol is defined by the Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) Neighbor Aware Networking standard specification. A NAN Data Link (NDL) network is a network of NAN devices that typically supports one or more services or applications, such as video or audio streaming, that is of interest to devices within the NDL network. Participant NAN devices in an NDL network receive services by associating with other NAN devices in the network. NAN devices may advertise the services that they can provide and may discover services advertised by nearby NAN devices. NDL networks do not typically depend on a network infrastructure, such as one or more access points (APs), or Wi-Fi direct group formation, to access services. Additionally, in some scenarios or instances, NAN devices may not use, or at least not rely on, a Global Positioning System (GPS), cellular data, or Internet.SUMMARY

[0004] The systems, methods and devices of this disclosure each have several innovative aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for the desirable attributes disclosed herein.

[0005] One innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a method for wireless communication by a first neighbor aware networking (NAN) device. The method includes transmitting, to a second NAN device, a first indication indicating that the first NAN device is capable of performing a WLAN sensing operation. The method includes receiving, from the second NAN device, a second indication indicating that the second NAN device is capable of performing the WLAN sensing operation. The method includes transmitting, to the second NAN device, a first setup frame comprising at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation. The method includes receiving, from the second NAN device, a second setup frame comprising at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation. The method includes transmitting, to the second NAN device, at least one physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) associated with the WLAN sensing operation. The PPDU is associated with extraction of Channel State Information (CSI).

[0006] Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a Neighbor Aware Networking (NAN) device. The NAN device includes at least one memory. At least one processor is communicatively coupled with the at least one memory and is operable to cause the NAN device to transmit, to a second NAN device, a first indication indicating that the first NAN device is capable of performing a WLAN sensing operation. The at least one processor is further operable to cause the NAN device to receive, from the second NAN device, a second indication indicating that the second NAN device is capable of performing the WLAN sensing operation. The at least one processor is further operable to cause the NAN device to transmit, to the second NAN device, a first setup frame comprising at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation. The at least one processor is further operable to cause the NAN device to receive, from the second NAN device, a second setup frame comprising at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation. The at least one processor is further operable to cause the NAN device to transmit, to the second NAN device, at least one physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) associated with the WLAN sensing operation. The PPDU is associated with extraction of Channel State Information (CSI).

[0007] Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a Neighbor Aware Networking (NAN) device. The NAN device includes means for transmitting, to a second NAN device, a first indication indicating that NM-TK

[0008] the first NAN device is capable of performing a WLAN sensing operation. The NAN device includes means for receiving, from the second NAN device, a second indication indicating that the second NAN device is capable of performing the WLAN sensing operation. The NAN device includes means transmitting, to the second NAN device, a first setup frame comprising at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation. The NAN device includes means for receiving, from the second NAN device, a second setup frame comprising at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation. The NAN device includes means for transmitting, to the second NAN device, at least one physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) associated with the WLAN sensing operation. The PPDU is associated with extraction of Channel State Information (CSI).BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] Figure 1 shows a pictorial diagram of an example wireless communication network.

[0010] Figure 2 shows an example NAN device architecture, according to some aspects.

[0011] Figure 3 schematically shows the setup and execution of a WLAN sensing procedure, in an implementation.

[0012] Figure 4 shows an example NAN frame usable for communication between NAN devices, according to some aspects.

[0013] Figure 5 shows an example device capability attribute, according to some aspects.

[0014] Figure 6 shows an example sensing information attribute usable by a NAN device to communicate one or more sensing parameters, in an aspect.

[0015] Figure 7 shows an example sensing measurement attribute usable by a NAN device to communicate one or more sensing parameters, in an aspect.

[0016] Figure 8 shows an example sensing measurement report container field, in an aspect.

[0017] Figure 9 schematically shows the setup and execution of a WLAN sensing procedure, in an implementation.

[0018] Figure 10 schematically shows a WLAN sensing procedure, in an implementation.

[0019] Figure 11 shows a flowchart illustrating a process for performing a wireless communication method by a first NAN device, according to an implementation.

[0020] Figure 12 shows a block diagram of an example wireless communication device that supports WLAN sensing, according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] The following description is directed to some particular examples for the purposes of describing innovative aspects of this disclosure. However, a person having ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the teachings herein can be applied in a multitude of different ways. Some or all of the described examples may be implemented in any device, system or network that is capable of transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals according to one or more of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards, the IEEE 802.15 standards, the Bluetooth® standards as defined by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), or the Long Term Evolution (LTE), 3G, 4G or 5G (New Radio (NR)) standards promulgated by the 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP), among others. The described examples can be implemented in any device, system or network that is capable of transmitting and receiving RF signals according to one or more of the following technologies or techniques: code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), spatial division multiple access (SDMA), ratesplitting multiple access (RSMA), multi-user shared access (MUSA), single-user (SU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and multi-user (MU)-MIMO. The describedexamples also can be implemented using other wireless communication protocols or RF signals suitable for use in one or more of a wireless personal area network (WPAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless wide area network (WWAN), a wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN), or an internet of things (IOT) network.

[0023] WLAN technologies are being explored to realize sensing functionalities such as detection, localization, and recognition. However, the WLANs standards are developed mainly for the purpose of communication, and not for sensing. Consequently, different devices from different manufacturers may employ disparate sensing mechanisms for indoor and outdoor sensing applications. To harmonize WLAN sensing, a new Task Group (TG), namely IEEE 802.1 Ibf, has been established by the IEEE 802.11 working group, with the objective of creating a new amendment to the WLAN standard to provide advanced sensing requirements while minimizing the effect on communications.

[0024] The current Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) Neighbor Aware Networking (NAN) standard specification (Version 4.0) provides for communication among two or more NAN-compliant devices (hereinafter also referred to as “NAN devices”). Specifically, NAN clusters are formed for neighboring devices, and devices in the same NAN cluster follow the same wake-up time schedule (called discovery window) to facilitate cluster formation and enable low power consumption operation. The current WFA NAN standard specification also provides for a pairing protocol whereby communications between two NAN devices in a NAN pair are secured and encrypted. NAN communications allow two NAN devices to connect in a peer-to-peer fashion, i.e., without the need for an access point (AP).

[0025] WLAN sensing techniques, such as those outlined in the current draft (DI.2) promulgated by the IEEE 802.1 Ibf TG, typically involve an AP and a station (STA) connected to the AP. Neither the current IEEE802.11bf specifications, nor the current NAN specifications, provide for WLAN sensing to be effectuated by two or more devices communicating in a peer-to-peer fashion using NAN communications.

[0026] Various aspects relate generally to Wi-Fi sensing and the Neighbor Aware Networking (NAN) protocol. Some aspects more specifically relate to extracting channel state information (CSI) via NAN-compliant devices. In some examples, the NAN- compliant devices support High-Efficiency Wireless (HEW) operation outlined in IEEE 802.1 lax.

[0027] A NAN cluster includes a first NAN device and a second NAN device. Each of the first NAN device and the second NAN device may be running an application or a service. The first NAN device indicates its capability and availability to perform a WLAN sensing operation to the second NAN device. The second NAN device conveys its capability and availability to perform a WLAN sensing operation to the first NAN device. A sounding sequence is initiated in view of the respective availabilities and capabilities of the first NAN device and the second NAN device to extract CSI information. In an implementation, the CSI is extracted using a Null Data Packet (NDP) sounding procedure outlined in IEEE 802.11bf or defined for operation in a subsequent or different generation of the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless communication protocol standards.

[0028] Particular aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented to realize one or more of the following potential advantages. Extracting CSI using two NAN devices that communicate with each other without an access point (AP) provides greater flexibility to determine the state of a given environment (e.g., a room) relative to extracting CSI using an AP that caters to multiple stations (STAs) in a basic service set (BSS).

[0029] Figure 1 shows a pictorial diagram of an example wireless communication network 100. According to some aspects, the wireless communication network 100 can be an example of a WLAN. For example, the wireless communication network 100 can be a network implementing at least one of the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless communication protocol standards (such as that defined by the IEEE 802.11-1010 specification or amendments thereof including, but not limited to, 802.1 lay, 802.1 lax, 802.11 az, 802.11ba, 802.11bd, 802.11be, 802.11bf, and the 802.11 amendment associated with Wi-Fi 8). The wireless communication network 100 may include multiple stations (STA) 104. Each of the STAs 104 also may be referred to as a mobile station (MS), a mobile device, a mobile handset, a wireless handset, an access terminal (AT), a user equipment (UE), a subscriber station (SS), or a subscriber unit, among other possibilities. The STAs 104 may represent various devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistant (PDAs), other handheld devices, netbooks, notebook computers, tablet computers, laptops, display devices (for example, TVs, computer monitors, navigation systems, among others), music or other audio or stereo devices, remote control devices (“remotes”), printers, kitchen or other household appliances, key fobs (for example, for passive keyless entry and start (PKES) systems), among other possibilities.Wireless communication device 1200 described herein with reference to Figure 12 may be an example of a STA 104.

[0030] The wireless communication network 100 may be an example of a peer-to- peer (P2P), ad hoc, or mesh network. STAs 104 can communicate directly with each other via P2P wireless links 110 (without the use of an intermediary access point (AP)). In some examples, the wireless communication network 100 is an example of a Neighbor Aware Networking (NAN) network operating in accordance with the Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) Neighbor Aware Networking standard specification. NAN-compliant STAs 104 (or simply “NAN devices 104”) transmit and receive NAN communications, for example, in the form of Wi-Fi packets including frames conforming to at least one of the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless communication protocol standards (such as that defined by the IEEE 802.11-1010 specification or amendments thereof including, but not limited to, 802. Hay, 802.1 lax, 802.11 az, 802.11ba, 802.11bd, 802.11be, 802.11bf, and the 802.11 amendment associated with Wi-Fi 8). These communications may be transmitted to another NAN device 104 and / or received from another NAN device via wireless P2P links 110 (also referred to as NAN links 110) using a data packet routing protocol, such as Hybrid Wireless Mesh Protocol (HWMP), for path selection.

[0031] A NAN network generally refers to a collection of NAN devices that share a common set of NAN parameters including: the time period between consecutive discovery windows, the time duration of the discovery windows, the NAN beacon interval, and the NAN discovery channel(s). A NAN ID is an identifier signifying a specific set of NAN parameters for use within the NAN network. NAN networks are dynamically self-organized and self-configured. NAN devices 104 in the network automatically establish an ad-hoc network with other NAN devices 104 such that network connectivity can be maintained. Each NAN device 104 is configured to relay data for the NAN network such that various NAN devices 104 may cooperate in the distribution of data within the network. As a result, a message can be transmitted from a source NAN device to a destination NAN device by being propagated along a path, hopping from one NAN device to the next until the destination is reached.

[0032] Each NAN device 104 is configured to transmit two types of beacons: NAN discovery beacons and NAN synchronization beacons. When a NAN device 104 is turned on, or otherwise when NAN-functionality is enabled, the NAN device periodically transmits NAN discovery beacons (for example, every 100 Tus, every 128 Tus or another suitable period) and NAN synchronization beacons (for example, every 512 Tus oranother suitable period). Discovery beacons are management frames, transmitted between discovery windows, used to facilitate the discovery of NAN clusters. A NAN cluster is a collection of NAN devices within a NAN network that are synchronized to the same clock and discovery window schedule using a time synchronization function (TSF). To join NAN clusters, NAN devices 104 passively scan for discovery beacons from other NAN devices, typically in particular channels (such as channel 6 (2.437 GHz) in the 2.4 GHz band, channel 44 (5. 110 GHz) in the 5 GHz lower band (5.150-5.250 GHz), channel 149 (5.745 GHz) in the 5 GHz upper band (5.725-5.825 GHz), and channel 149 if both 5 GHz upper and lower bands are allowed). In some examples, the NAN-compliant devices 104 support High-Efficiency Wireless (HEW) operation outlined in IEEE 802.1 lax.

[0033] When two NAN devices 104 come within a transmission range of one another, they will discover each other based on such discovery beacons. Respective master preference values determine which of the NAN devices 104 will become the master device. If a NAN cluster is not discovered, a NAN device 104 may start a new NAN cluster. When a NAN device 104 starts a NAN cluster, it assumes the master role and broadcasts a discovery beacon. Additionally, a NAN device may choose to participate in more than one NAN cluster within a NAN network.

[0034] The links between the NAN devices 104 in a NAN cluster are associated with discovery windows — the times and channel on which the NAN devices converge. At the beginning of each discovery window, one or more NAN devices 104 may transmit a NAN synchronization beacon, which is a management frame used to synchronize the timing of the NAN devices within the NAN cluster to that of the master device. The NAN devices 104 may then transmit multicast or unicast NAN service discovery frames directly to other NAN devices within the service discovery threshold and in the same NAN cluster during the discovery window. The service discovery frames indicate services supported by the respective NAN devices 104.

[0035] Some NAN devices 104 also may be configured for wireless communication with other networks such as with a Wi-Fi WLAN or a wireless (for example, cellular) wide area network (WWAN), which may, in turn, provide access to external networks including the Internet. For example, a NAN device 104 may be configured to associate and communicate, via a Wi-Fi or cellular link, with an AP or base station 102 of a WLAN or WWAN network, respectively. In such instances, the NAN device 104 may include software-enabled access point (SoftAP) functionality enabling the STA to operate as aWi-Fi hotspot to provide other NAN devices 104 with access to the external networks via the associated WLAN or WWAN backhaul. Such a NAN device 104 (referred to as a NAN concurrent device) is capable of operating in both a NAN network as well as another type of wireless network, such as a Wi-Fi BSS. In some such implementations, a NAN device 104 may, in a service discovery frame, advertise an ability to provide such access point services to other NAN devices 104.

[0036] There are two general NAN service discovery messages: publish messages and subscribe (or subscription) messages. Generally, publishing is a mechanism for an application on a NAN device to make selected information about the capabilities and services of the NAN device available to other NAN devices, while subscribing or subscription is a mechanism for an application on a NAN device to gather selected types of information about the capabilities and services of other NAN devices. A NAN device may generate and transmit a subscription message when requesting other NAN devices operating within the same NAN cluster to provide a specific service. For example, in an active subscriber mode, a subscription function executing within the NAN device may transmit a NAN service discovery frame to actively seek the availability of specific services. A publish function executing within a publishing NAN device capable of providing a requested service may, for example, transmit a publish message to reply to the subscribing NAN device responsive to the satisfaction of criteria specified in the subscription message. The publish message may include a range parameter indicating the service discovery threshold, which represents the maximum distance at which a subscribing NAN device can avail itself of the services of the publishing NAN device. A NAN also may use a publish message in an unsolicited manner, for example, a publishing NAN device may generate and transmit a publish message to make its services discoverable for other NAN devices operating within the same NAN cluster. In a passive subscriber mode, the subscription function does not initiate the transfer of any subscription message, rather, the subscription function looks for matches in received publish messages to determine the availability of desired services.

[0037] Subsequent to a discovery window is a transmission opportunity period. This period includes numerous resource blocks. A NAN Data Link (NDL) refers to the negotiated resource blocks between NAN devices used for NAN operations. An NDL can include more than one “hop.” The number of hops depends on the number of devices between the device providing the service and the device consuming or subscribing to the service. An example of an NDL that includes two hops includes three NAN devices: theprovider, the subscriber, and a proxy to relay the information between the provider and the subscriber. In such a configuration, the first hop refers to the communication of information between the provider and the proxy, and the second hop refers to the communication of the information between the proxy and the subscriber. An NDL may refer to a subset of NAN devices capable of one-hop service discovery, but an NDL also may be capable of service discovery and subscription over multiple hops (a multi-hoppair NDL).

[0038] There are two general NDL types: paged NDL (P-NDL) and synchronized NDL (S-NDL). Each common resource block (CRB) of a P-NDL includes a paging window (PW) followed by a transmission window (TxW). All NAN devices participating in a P-NDL operate in a state to receive frames during the paging window. Generally, the participating NAN devices wake up during the paging window to listen on the paging channel to determine whether there is any traffic buffered for the respective devices. For example, a NAN device that has pending data for transmission to another NAN device may transmit a traffic announcement message to the other NAN device during the paging window to inform the other NAN device of the buffered data. If there is data available, the NAN device remains awake during the transmission window to exchange the data. If there is no data to send, the NAN device may transition back to a sleep state during the transmission window to conserve power. A NAN device transmits a paging message to its NDL peer during a paging window if it has buffered data available for the peer. The paging message includes, for example, the MAC addresses or identifiers of the destination devices for which data is available. A NAN device that is listed as a recipient in a received paging message transmits a trigger frame to the transmitting device and remains awake during the subsequent transmission window to receive the data. The NDL transmitter device transmits the buffered data during the transmission window to the recipient devices from whom it received a trigger frame. A NAN device that establishes an S-NDL with a peer NAN device may transmit data frames to the peer from the beginning of each S-NDL CRB without transmitting a paging message in advance.

[0039] Each NDL is associated with a respective NDL schedule which indicates times at which the CRBs are available for use by the NAN devices. For example, the NDL schedule may identify a set of NAN slots, per Discovery Window interval, during which the NDL is available. A pair of NAN devices may establish a NAN Data Path (NDP) to communicate over an NDL. The address that is used for an NDP is called a NAN Data Interface (NDI) address. An NDP is a data connection between one or more NDIs of atransmitting NAN device and one or more NDIs of a receiving NAN device. Once an NDP is established, each NAN device participating in the NDP is to be available for data communications during the times indicated by the NDL schedule. For example, if the NDL schedule associated with an NDP indicates that the first four NAN slots of a Discovery Window interval can be used for data communications between a pair of NAN devices, each of the NAN devices are to be available to transmit or receive data over the NDL during the first four NAN slots of each discovery window interval.

[0040] A NAN device may support ranging operations. In these implementations, ranging capable NAN device may indicate its ranging capability in at least one of a NAN synchronization beacon, a NAN discovery beacon, and / or service discovery frames (SDFs). The NAN ranging operations may be based on the Fine Time Measurement (FTM) protocol, i.e., may be based on Round-Trip Time (RTT). The NAN ranging operations may allow two NAN devices to determine a distance between the NAN devices and other such locational data.

[0041] As noted, a NAN device, in a discovery window, may send NAN service discovery frames to subscribe to or publish services that the device is interested in or provides. Once a device finds a service of interest, it can establish a data path with a peer. Prior to the R3 version of the NAN specification, as part of the data path setup, a security key (referred to as a Pairwise Transient Key (PTK)) may be generated, assuming that a Pairwise Master Key (PMK) is available to both peers through OOB (out-of-band) information (e.g., application data or information from the cloud). In the R4 version of the NAN specification, a PMK may be generated without the need for such OOB information, e.g., by using the latest and most advanced security protocols, such as preassociation security negotiation (PASN). PASN is a mechanism that establishes security associations and allows management frame protection before association. This protocol may be used in an unauthenticated mode or an authenticated mode (e.g., SAE (simultaneous peer authentication) tunnel) to derive a Pairwise Master Key (PMK) and a NAN-management transient key (NM-TK). The PMK may be generated prior to any other NAN operations that may require security, including data path establishment (in addition to other operations such as discovery or ranging).

[0042] Figure 2 shows an example NAN device architecture 200, according to some aspects. Applications / services 202A, 202B, and 202N represent several different applications and / or services running on a NAN device, such as the NAN device 104 in Figure 1. Each application / service 202A, 202B, and 202N may require a differentcommunication schedule. Each application / service 202 A, 202B, and 202N may selectively communicate with a NAN engine 204. The NAN engine 204 may be in the NAN layer. The NAN engine 204 may manage a NAN proxy device 205, a NAN discovery engine 206, a NAN ranging engine 208, a NAN data engine 210, a NAN sensing engine 214, a NAN scheduler 216, and a NAN Medium Access Control (MAC) 218. The NAN device architecture 200 may optionally include a NAN pairing engine 212.

[0043] Conventional NAN devices may transmit a service discovery frame (SDF) for a subscription to a service. The SDF may indicate a registration for the service with a detected NAN proxy device 205. The NAN device, e.g., device 104, may receive a service availability message from the NAN proxy device 205 during a reception period, which may be based at least partly on timing information included in the SDF. The subscription may enable reception of content at the NAN device 104 from one or more other NAN devices.

[0044] The NAN discovery engine 206 may provide publication and subscription services to the applications (e.g., Application 202A to 202N) for service discovery purposes.

[0045] The NAN Ranging service or engine 208 may provide peer-to-peer (P2P) ranging using Fine Time Measurement (FTM) as defined, for example, in IEEE 802.1 Imc standard, or defined for operation in a subsequent or different generation of the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless communication protocol standards. The NAN ranging engine 208 may determine an approximate distance to other nearby devices.

[0046] The NAN data engine 210 may provide NAN data path setup. The data path setup may include setup of one or both of unicast data path and multicast data path.

[0047] The NAN pairing engine 212 may be usable to form a NAN pair consisting of two NAN devices in a NAN cluster. A NAN pair may be established using PASN, as described above. In some implementations, as discussed herein, a sensing session between two NAN devices may only be established after those devices have formed a NAN pair. In other implementations, the NAN devices participating in a sensing session with each other may not be paired.

[0048] In implementations, the NAN engine 204 includes a NAN sensing engine 214.The NAN sensing engine 214 may also be referred to herein as the NAN sensing service 214, the NAN sensing module 214, the NAN sensing component 214, or the NAN sensingelement 214. A NAN sensing engine, such as the NAN sensing engine 214, is not provided in the current NAN specifications.

[0049] The NAN sensing engine 214 may employ received WLAN signals to detect features of an intended target in a given environment. As described in more detail herein, the NAN sensing engine 214 may be responsible for or may facilitate the extraction of channel state information (CSI). CSI may include the channel frequency response between each transmit antenna and each receive antenna used in the transmission and reception of the signal used for measurements. In some implementations, the CSI may include one or both of channel amplitude and phase information over different subcarriers. The NAN sensing engine 214 may measure or facilitate the measurement of range, velocity, and angular information. The NAN sensing engine 214 may likewise detect or facilitate the detection of motion, presence, proximity, objects, people, and animals. In some implementations, the NAN sensing engine 214 may employ a NAN- management transient key (NM-TK). The NM-TK may be derived from the NM-TKSA that is established on successful completion of the NAN pairing protocol. The NM-TK may be used to secure the sensing measurement, report, and termination frames.

[0050] The NAN scheduler 216 may be responsible for synchronizing the NAN device 104 with other devices in the NAN cluster and for scheduling data transmission during each discovery window. The NAN scheduler 216 may provide time synchronization and discovery windows between devices in the NAN cluster. The NAN scheduler 216 may provide common availability periods in time and frequency domains for NAN operations.

[0051] The NAN MAC layer 218 may be configured to generate, process or handle one or more NAN messages including NAN Beacon frames or NAN Service Discovery frames. The 802.11 PHY layer 220 may be responsible for bit-level transmission between different devices. The NAN protocol may use the conventional IEEE 802.11 PHY layer as its PHY layer. In implementations, a NAN device, e.g., the NAN device 104 having NAN device architecture 200, may be configured to participate in a NAN sensing procedure with another NAN device. The other NAN device may have a corresponding device architecture 200.

[0052] Figure 3 schematically shows the setup and execution of a NAN sensing procedure 300, in an implementation. In the illustrated example, the NAN sensing procedure 300 is associated with two NAN devices 304A and 304B. Each NAN device304 A and 304B may be an example of the NAN device 104 and may have a NAN device architecture 200 or another suitable NAN device architecture.

[0053] In aspects, the NAN sensing procedure 300 may include one or more of the following phases or stages: a sensing capability conveyance phase 310; a sensing setup phase 312; a sounding phase 314; a reporting phase 316; and a termination phase 318. These phases are described in more detail herein. In some implementations, one or more of the sensing capability conveyance phase 310, the 312, the 314, the reporting phase 316, and the termination phase 318 may be implemented by or in conjunction with the sensing engine 214. The phrase “WLAN sensing” and the phrase “NAN sensing” (e.g., NAN sensing process and WLAN sensing process) may be used interchangeably herein. “NAN sensing” may indicate that the WLAN sensing is being performed in association with a NAN-capable device.

[0054] In brief, after a NAN cluster between NAN devices 304A and 304B is formed, the NAN device 304B may convey its NAN sensing capability to the NAN device 304 A in the sensing capability conveyance phase 310. For example, and as discussed herein, the NAN device 304B may transmit a service discovery frame to NAN device 304A that indicates that the NAN device 304B is capable of participating in WLAN sensing operations. The service discovery frame may include a subscribe or publish call associated, e.g., with an application or service.

[0055] In the sensing setup phase 312, the NAN device 304A may transmit to the NAN device 304B a NAN sensing measurement request frame and the NAN device 304B may respond by transmitting to the NAN device 304 A a NAN sensing measurement response frame. The measurement request and response setup frames may include parameters associated with the sensing operation and available time slots in which the sensing may be performed, as discussed herein.

[0056] Once the setup phase 312 is complete, the sounding phase 314 may be initiated. The sounding phase may include a sounding sequence involving Physical Layer Protocol Data Units (PPDUs), and specifically, Null Data PPDU (NDP) and NDP Announcements (NDP A) frames. The reporting phase 316 may involve generation and sharing of the Channel State Information (CSI), e.g., the NAN device 304B may transmit a measurement report to the NAN device 304A. The termination phase 318 may involve the termination of the sensing session. In implementations, the NAN sensing procedure may generally correspond to the NDP sounding procedure outlined in IEEE 802.1 Ibf or defined for operation in a subsequent or different generation of the IEEE 802.11 familyof wireless communication protocol standards, modified as described herein to facilitate sensing with NAN devices.

[0057] In more detail, the sensing procedure may employ two sets of roles: a NAN sensing initiator and a NAN sensing responder; and a NAN sensing transmitter and a NAN sensing receiver.

[0058] The NAN sensing initiator may be that NAN device that initiates the NAN sensing procedure (i.e., a device that supports the NAN sensing application), and the NAN sensing responder may be the NAN device that participates in the NAN sensing procedure by responding to the sensing initiator. The NAN sensing transmitter may be the NAN device that transmits the PPDUs to allow for sensing measurements, and the NAN sensing receiver may be the NAN device that receives the PPDUs sent by the NAN sensing transmitter to perform sensing measurement. In implementations, the NAN sensing initiator may also be the NAN sensing transmitter, the NAN sensing receiver, or both the NAN sensing transmitter and the NAN sensing receiver. The two sets of roles allow for different role configurations and allow for different use cases envisioned by different sensing applications to be addressed.

[0059] In an aspect, the sensing initiator NAN device may initiate a sounding sequence by transmitting a sensing NDP Announcement frame (NDPA) addressed to the NAN responder, followed by a Sensing Initiator to Sensing Responder (SI2SR) Null Data Packet (NDP) after a short interframe space (SIFS). The NAN device may transmit the SI2SR NDP with the same bandwidth as the PPDU carrying the Sensing NDP Announcement frame.

[0060] In response to receiving a sensing NDPA followed by an SIFS and an SI2SR NDP, the responder NAN device may transmit a Sensing Responder to Sensing Initiator (SR2SI) NDP to the initiator NAN device. The NAN responder may transmit the SR2SI NDP with the same bandwidth as the PPDU carrying the Sensing NDPA frame. In some examples, the format for Sensing NDP Announcement frame, the SI2SR NDP, and the SR2SI NDP frame may correspond to the format for these frames defined in the current draft (DI .2) of the IEEE 802.1 Ibf specifications or defined for operation in a subsequent or different generation of the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless communication protocol standards.

[0061] Figure 4 shows an example NAN frame 400 usable for communication between NAN devices, according to some aspects. The NAN devices may be STAs 104 described above with reference to Figure 1. The NAN frame 400 may be a managementframe, control frame, or other suitable frame. In some examples, the NAN frame 400 is a discovery beacon or a synchronization beacon, a service discovery frame, or other appropriate NAN frame. For ease of explanation, some information elements of the NAN frame 400 may also be referred to as a “field,” a “subfield,” an “element,” or a “subelement,” which may be considered interchangeable terms for purposes of discussion herein.

[0062] The NAN frame 400 may have at least a conventional Media Access Control (MAC) header 402 and a device capability field 418. In some examples, such as when the NAN frame 400 is a service discovery frame, the NAN frame 400 may further include at least a NAN availability attributes field 420.

[0063] The MAC header 402 may include a frame control field 404, a duration field 406, a receiver address (RA) field 408, a destination address (DA) field 410, a transmitting address (TA) field 412, a source address (SA) field, and a BSSID field 416. In line with WFA standard NAN specifications, the frame control field 404 and the duration field 406 may each be two octets in length, and the RA field 408, the DA field 410, the TA field 412, the SA field 414, and the BSSID field 416 may each be six octets in length. The device capability field 418 may have a length of 12 octets. And the NAN availability field 420, in accordance with the WFA standard NAN specifications, may have a variable length.

[0064] Figure 5 shows an example device capability attribute 500, according to some aspects. The NAN device capability attribute 500 may be an example of the device capability attribute 418 of Figure 4. The device capability attribute 500 may have an attributes ID field 502, a length field 504, a map ID field 506, a committed discovery window information field 508, a supported bands field 510, an operation mode field 512, a number of antennas field 514, a max channel switch time field 516, and a capabilities field 518.

[0065] The attributes ID field 502 may be one octet in length and may identify the type of NAN attribute. The length field 504 may be two octets in length and may indicate the length of the following fields. The map ID field 506 may be one octet in length and may be associated with a NAN Availability map. The Committed DW Info field 508 may be two octets in length and may indicate whether the device is to wake up for discovery windows in a particular frequency band. The supported bands field 510 may be one octet in length and may indicate supported frequency bands. The Operation Mode field 512 may be one octet in length and may indicate the maximum supported PHY mode andassociated bandwidth (such as VHT (very high throughput) support, VHT 80 + 80 MHz support, VHT 160 MHz support, or EHT 320 MHz (or subsequent generation) support). The number of antennas field 514 may be one octet in length and may outline the number of receiving and transmitting antennas. The max channel switch time field 516 may be two octets in length and may indicate the maximum channel switch time in microseconds. And in some examples, one or more of these fields 502-516 may include additional or different information.

[0066] In the current WFA NAN specification, the capability field 518 is one octet in length. Bit 0 is set to one to indicate whether the device is a master device, bit 1 is set to one to indicate whether the device supports an extended key ID mechanism, bit 2 is set to zero to indicate that the device does not support simultaneous NDP data reception, bit 3 is set to 1 to indicate that the device supports NDPE, and bit 4 is set to one to indicate that the device supports a sub slot schedule (S3). In the current WFA NAN specifications, each of bits 5 to 7 of the capabilities field 518 is reserved.

[0067] In an implementation, the device capability attribute 500 may be used to advertise support for a NAN sensing mechanism, e.g., in the sensing capability conveyance phase 310. For example, in an implementation, bit 5 of the capabilities field 518 may be set to one to indicate that the NAN device is capable of participating in a WLAN sensing operation, and bit 5 may otherwise be set to zero. Bits 6 to 7 of the capabilities field 518 may be reserved. The device capability attribute 500 may be included in an SDF and may, e.g., be invoked by an application or service (e.g., application or service 202A, 202B, and / or 202N in Figure 2).

[0068] Once a sensing-capable NAN device (e.g., NAN device 304B) advertises its NAN sensing capability to another sensing-capable NAN device (e.g., NAN device 304A), a NAN sensing session may be set up in the NAN sensing setup phase 312. In an implementation, the sensing setup phase 312 may involve: (a) the transmission of a NAN sensing measurement request frame from a first sensing-capable NAN device to a second sensing-capable NAN device (e.g., from the NAN device 304A to the NAN device 304B); and (b) in response, the transmission of a NAN sensing measurement response frame from the second sensing-capable NAN device to the first sensing-capable NAN device (e.g., from the NAN device 304B to the NAN device 304 A). The NAN sensing measurement request frame and the NAN sensing measurement response frame may be used to negotiate sensing parameters and availability slots for the sounding phase 314.

[0069] In implementations, the NAN sensing measurement request frame may be transmitted by the initiator device (i.e. the NAN device that seeks to initiate a NAN sensing session with another NAN device capable of performing the sensing measurements). In the example illustrated in Figure 3, the NAN device 304A is the initiator device and the NAN device 304B is the responder device; however, such is merely exemplary and either the NAN device 304 A or the NAN device 304B may be the initiator device. In some aspects, as discussed in more detail below, the NAN sensing measurement request frame may include a sensing information attribute (e.g., sensing information attribute 600 (Figure 6)) and a sensing measurement attribute (e.g., sensing measurement attribute 700 (Figure 7)). As discussed herein, a type field (i.e., in a type and status subfield 710) of the NAN sensing measurement attribute 700 in the NAN sensing measurement request frame may be set to zero. The initiator device, in the NAN sensing measurement request, may also include a unique dialog token (field 706 of the sensing measurement attribute 700) and a unique measurement ID (field 708 of the sensing measurement attribute 700) for every measurement setup. The NAN sensing measurement request frame may further include a NAN availability attribute. The NAN availability attribute may carry conditional and / or committed slots that may cover one or more Transmit Opportunities (TXOP) - i.e., a period of time in which there is contention- free channel access.

[0070] The NAN sensing measurement response frame may be sent by the NAN sensing-capable device that has received a NAN measurement request frame (i.e., the NAN sensing measurement response frame may be transmitted by the responder device). The NAN sensing measurement response frame may likewise include a sensing measurement attribute (e.g., sensing measurement attribute 700 (Figure 7)). As discussed herein, a type field (i.e., in a type and status subfield 710) of the NAN sensing measurement attribute 700 in the NAN sensing measurement request frame may be set to one, and the status field may be set according to the status of the responder device. If the NAN sensing request is accepted, the responder device may further include in the NAN measurement response frame a sensing information attribute (e.g., sensing information attribute 600 (Figure 6)) and a NAN availability attribute. Assuming the NAN sensing request is accepted, the NAN availability attribute in the NAN sensing response frame may include some committed and / or conditional slots which are a subset of the slots proposed by the initiator device.

[0071] Figure 6 shows an example sensing information attribute 600 usable by a NAN device to communicate one or more sensing parameters, in an aspect. The sensing information attribute 600 may be included in NAN sensing measurement request frame and the NAN sensing measurement response frame. The sensing information attribute 600 may, in aspects, also be included in an SDF frame.

[0072] The sensing information attribute 600 may include an attribute ID element 602, a length element 604, and a sensing element 606. The attributes ID element 602 may be one octet in length and identify the attribute as a sensing information attribute 600. The length element 604 may be two octets in length.

[0073] The sensing element 606 may be nine octets in length. In aspects, the sensing attribute 606 may generally track the sensing attribute outlined in the current draft (DI.2) of the IEEE 802.1 Ibf specifications or defined for operation in a subsequent or different generation of the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless communication protocol standards. In an aspect, the sensing element 606 may include: an invitation of responder for sensing field 612, a bandwidth field 614, a Max Tx STS < 80 MHz field 616, a Max Tx STS = 160 MHz field 618, a Max Tx STS = 320 MHz field 620, a Max Rx STS < 80 MHz field 622, a Max Rx STS = 160 MHz field 624, a Max Rx STS = 320 MHz field 626, a Max Tx Repetition field 628, a Max Rx Repetition field 630, a Max Tx HE-LTF Total field 632, a Max Rx HE-LTF Total field 634, a Max Rx EHT-LTF Total field 636, a Device Class field 638, a Full Bandwidth UL MU-MIMO field 640, a Max Number of Supported Setups field 642, a Min Time Between Measurements field 644, a Poll Required field 646, a Threshold-based Reporting field 648, and a Reserved field 650.

[0074] The invitation of responder for sensing field 612 field may be one octet in length and may be set to 1 in a probe response frame to indicate the need for new sensing responders, and may be set to 0 to indicate new sensing responders are not needed. The BW field 614 may be three octets in length and may indicate the maximum bandwidth supported by the transmitter STA for the SI2SR / R2I NDP exchange as part of the non- TB sensing or TB sensing exchange. SI2SR / R2I NDP exchange is discussed in more detail herein. The Max Tx STS < 80 MHz field 616 may be three octets and may indicate, for bandwidths less than or equal to 80 MHz, the maximum number of space-time streams that a STA supports in the transmission of an SR2SI or a SI2SR NDP in the sensing measurement instances. The Max Tx STS = 160 MHz field 618 may be three octets and may indicate, for bandwidth equal to 160 MHz, the maximum number of space-time streams that a STA supports in the transmission of an SR2SI or a SI2SR NDP in thesensing measurement instances. The Max Tx STS = 320 MHz field 620 may be three octets and may indicate, for bandwidth equal to 320 MHz, the maximum number of spacetime streams that a STA supports in the transmission of an SR2SI or a SI2SR NDP in the sensing measurement instances.

[0075] The Max Rx STS < 80 MHz field 622 may be three octets and may indicate, for bandwidths less than or equal to 80 MHz, the maximum number of space-time streams that a STA supports in the reception of an SR2SI or a SI2SR NDP in the sensing measurement instances. The Max Rx STS = 160 MHz field 624 may be three octets and may indicate, for bandwidth equal to 160 MHz, the maximum number of space-time streams that a STA supports in the reception of an SR2SI or a SI2SR NDP in the sensing measurement instances. The Max Rx STS = 320 MHz field 626 may be three octets and may indicate, for bandwidth equal to 320 MHz, the maximum number of space-time streams that a STA supports in the reception of an SR2SI or a SI2SR NDP in the sensing measurement instances.

[0076] The Max Tx Repetition field 628 may be three octets and may be set to the maximum number of HE-LTF repetitions that a STA supports in the transmission of an SR2SI or a SI2SR NDP that is a HE Ranging NDP or HE TB Ranging NDP. The Max Rx Repetition field 630 may be three octets and may be set to the maximum number of HE-LTF repetitions that a STA supports in reception of an SR2SI or a SI2SR NDP that is either a HE Ranging NDP or a HE TB Ranging NDP.

[0077] The Max Tx HE-LTF Total field 632and the Max Rx HE-LTF Total field 634 may each be two octets and may respectively indicates the maximum number of HE-LTFs that a STA supports in transmission or reception of an SR2SI or SI2SR NDP that is either a HE Ranging NDP or a HE TB Ranging NDP. The Max Rx EHT-LTF Total field 634 may be two octets and may indicate the maximum number of EHT-LTFs that a STA supports in reception in an SR2SI or SI2SR NDP that is a EHT sounding NDP. The Max Rx EHT-LTF Total field 636 may be three octets and may have the same format as in the Maximum Number Of Supported EHT-LTFs field in the EHT Capabilities element, as outlined in the current draft (DI.2) of IEEE 802.1 Ibf specifications.

[0078] The Device Class field 638 and the Full Bandwidth UL MU-MIMO field 640 may each be one octet and may respectively correspond to the Device Class and Full Bandwidth UL MU-MIMO fields defined in the current draft (DI.2) of IEEE 802.1 Ibf specifications (e.g., Table 9-366 of draft DI.2 of the IEEE 802.1 Ibf specification). The Max Number of Supported Setups field 642 may be one octet and may correspond to themaximum number of simultaneous measurement setups that the transmitter STA is capable of performing with another STA. The Min Time Between Measurements field 644 may be 23 octets and may indicates the minimum time between two consecutive non- TB sensing measurement instances, in units of 100 ps, that the transmitter STA supports. This field may be reserved when sent in a Probe Request, Association Request or Measurement Setup Query frame. The Poll Required field 646 may be one octet and may be set to 1 to indicate the transmitter STA requires to be polled for any TB measurement instance that it participates as sensing responder and is set to 0 otherwise. The Thresholdbased Reporting field 648 may be one octet and may be set to 1 to indicate the thresholdbased reporting is supported by the transmitter STA, and may be set to 0 to indicate the threshold-based reporting is not supported by the transmitter STA.

[0079] Figure 7 shows an example sensing measurement attribute 700 usable by a NAN device to communicate one or more sensing parameters, in an aspect. The sensing measurement attribute 700 may be included in NAN sensing measurement request frame and the NAN sensing measurement response frame (together with the sensing information attribute 600 of Figure 6). The sensing measurement attribute 700 may, in aspects, also be included in an SDF frame.

[0080] In an aspect, the sensing measurement attribute 700 may include an attribute ID field 702, a length field 704, a dialog token field 706, a measurement ID field 708, a type and status field 710, a reason code field 712, a sensing control field 714, a sensing measurement parameter field 716, and a measurement schedule entry list field 718.

[0081] The attribute ID field 702 may be one octet and may indicate attribute type. The length field 704 may indicate the length of the attribute. The dialog token field 706 may be set to a non-zero value to identify a request-response sequence. The measurement ID field 708 may be set to a non-zero value to assign a unique ID for every sensing measurement instance.

[0082] The type and status field 710 may be one octet and may identify the type and status of the attribute 700.

[0083] In an aspect, the bit 0 to bit 3 of the type and status field 710 may indicate the type of the attribute 700. For example, the values may be as follows:0: Request 1 : Response 2: Termination 3-15: Reserved.Bit 4 to bit 7 may indicate the status of the attribute 700. For example, the values may be as follows:0: Accepted 1 : Rejected 2-15: Reserved.

[0084] The sensing control field 714 may be five octets. Bit one may be set to 1 if NAN Fine Time Measurement parameters are present, and may be set to 0 otherwise. Bit 2 may be set to 1 if the Ranging Schedule Entry List field is present, and may be set to 0 otherwise.

[0085] The sensing measurement parameter field 716 may be of variable length. In an aspect, the sensing measurement parameter field 716 may correspond to the sensing measurement parameter field outlined in the current draft (DI.2) of the IEEE 802.11bf specifications or of a subsequent version of an IEEE 802.11bf or other standard. In an implementation, the sensing measurement parameter field 716 may include a sensing transmitter field 720, a sensing receiver field 722, a sensing measurement report requested field 724, a measurement setup expiry exponent field 726, a BW field 728, a Tx Repetition field 730, a Rx Repetition field 732, a Tx STS field 734, a Rx STS field 736, a Reserved field 738, and a BSS color information field 740.

[0086] In an implementation, the sensing transmitter field 720 may be one octet and may be set to 1 to indicate a sensing transmitter role for the sensing responder, and may be set to 0 otherwise. The sensing receiver field 722 may be one octet and may be set to 1 to indicate a sensing receiver role for the sensing responder, and may be set to 0 otherwise. The sensing transmitter field 720 and the sensing receiver field 722 may not both be set to 0.

[0087] The sensing measurement report requested field 724 may be one octet and may be reserved if the sensing receiver field is set to 0 If the sensing receiver field 722 is set to 1, the sensing measurement report requested field 724 may be set to 1 to indicate that the sensing responder sends sensing measurement report frames in sensing measurement instances that result from the sensing measurement setup. The sensing measurement report requested field 724 may be set to 0 to indicate that the sensing responder does not send sensing measurement report frames in sensing measurement instances that result from the sensing measurement setup. The measurement setup expiry exponent field 726 may be four octets and may contain an unsigned integer. The measurement setup expiry value may equal to ms and may indicate a time after which theMeasurement setup is terminated. The BW field 728 may be three octets and may indicate the maximum bandwidth used to transmit the SI2SR / R2I NDP exchange as part of the non-TB sensing, or TB sensing exchange.

[0088] The Tx Repetition field 730 may be three octets and may be set to the number of HE-LTF repetitions that a STA uses in the transmission of an SR2SI or a SI2SR NDP that is a HE Ranging NDP or HE TB Ranging NDP, and the field 730 may be set to the number of HE-LTF repetitions minus 1. The Rx Repetition field 732 may be three octets and may be set to the number of HE-LTF repetitions that a STA uses in the preamble of an SR2SI or a SI2SR NDP that is either a HE Ranging NDP or a HE TB Ranging NDP, and the field may be set to the number of HE-LTF repetitions minus 1. The Tx STS field 734 may be three octets and may indicate for bandwidths less than or equal to the value signaled in the BW field 728, the number of space-time streams that a STA uses in the transmission of an SR2SI or a SI2SR NDP in the sensing measurement instances. The Rx STS field 736 may be three octets and may indicate for bandwidths less than or equal the value signaled in the BW field 728, the number of space-time streams that a STA uses in the reception of an SR2SI or a SI2SR NDP in the sensing measurement instances. The BSS Color Information field 740 may be eight octets and may be reserved in a Sensing Measurement Request or Sensing Measurement Response frame if the transmitter of the frame is a non-AP STA.

[0089] The measurement schedule entry list 718 may be of variable length and may include a map ID field 742, a time bitmap control field 744, a time bitmap length field 746, and a time bitmap field 748.

[0090] The map ID field 742 may be one octet. Bit 0 to bit 3 may indicate the NAN availability attribute associated with the subsequent schedule bitmap. Bit 4 to bit 7 may be reserved.

[0091] The time bitmap control field 744 may be two octets and may indicate the parameters associated with the time bitmap field 748. In implementations, the time bitmap control field 744 may be defined as outlined in Table 1 below.Table 1 : Time Bitmap Control subfield 744

[0092] The time bitmap length field 746 may be one octet and may indicate the length of the following time bitmap field 748 in the number of octets. And the time bitmap field 748 may be of variable length and may indicate the time windows associated with the schedule.

[0093] Returning to Figure 3, after a first (or each) NAN device (e.g., NAN device 304B) has communicated its capability to participate in a NAN sensing operation to a second NAN device (e.g., NAN device 304A) in the sensing capability conveyance phase 310 (e.g., using the device capability attribute 500), the NAN sensing setup phase 312 may commence. In the NAN sensing setup phase 312, the initiator device (e.g., the NAN device 304A) may transmit a sensing measurement request frame, e.g., to responder device (e.g., the NAN device 304B). The responder device, in response, may transmit a NAN sensing response frame to the initiator NAN device.

[0094] The NAN sensing measurement request frame may include at least one parameter associated with the NAN sensing operation. The at least one parameter may be included in a NAN sensing information attribute 600 and / or a NAN sensing measurement attribute 700 that are part of the NAN sensing measurement request frame. The NAN sensing measurement request frame, as discussed above, may further include a NAN availability attribute that carries conditional and / or committed slots sufficient to cover one or more TXOPs.

[0095] The NAN sensing measurement response frame may likewise include at least one parameter associated with the NAN sensing operation. The at least one parameter may be included in a NAN sensing information attribute 600 and / or a NAN sensingmeasurement attribute 700 that are part of the NAN sensing measurement response frame. The NAN sensing measurement response frame, as discussed above, may further include a NAN availability attribute that carries conditional and / or committed slots that are a subset of the slots proposed by the initiator device.

[0096] As discussed, the NAN sensing initiator device can take the role of sensing transmitter, sensing receiver, or both. The role of the sensing initiator device may be defined in the NAN sensing measurement request frame, e.g., in the sensing measurement parameters 716 of the sensing measurement attribute 700. Specifically, if the NAN sensing initiator device indicates it is the sensing transmitter in the sensing transmitter field 720, then the initiator device may perform the sensing function by using the feedback of measurements from the NAN sensing responder device. Alternately, if the NAN sensing initiator indicates it is the sensing receiver via the sensing receiver field 722, then it can perform the sensing function upon reception of the Sensing Responder to Sensing Receiver NDP PPDU without needing a sensing feedback / report frame. And, if the NAN sensing initiator device indicates that it is both the sensing transmitter and the sensing receiver, then it can perform the uplink sensing measurement from the received PPDU and perform downlink sensing measurement through sensing feedback / report frame.

[0097] Once the NAN sensing measurement request frame has been communicated by the initiator device to the responder device and the NAN sensing measurement response frame has been communicated from the responder device to the initiator device to complete the NAN sensing setup phase 312, the sounding phase 314 may commence. The sounding phase 314 may include one or more sounding sequences. As discussed above, the sensing initiator NAN device may initiate a sounding sequence by transmitting a sensing NDP Announcement frame (NDP A) addressed to the NAN responder, followed by a Sensing Initiator to Sensing Responder (SI2SR) Null Data Packet (NDP) after a short interframe space (SIFS). The NAN device may transmit the SI2SR NDP with the same bandwidth as the PPDU carrying the Sensing NDP Announcement frame. In response to receiving a sensing NDPA followed by an SIFS and an SI2SR NDP, the responder NAN device may transmit a Sensing Responder to Sensing Initiator (SR2SI) NDP to the initiator NAN device, to commence the sounding sequence(s). The one or more sounding sequences may be used to extract channel state information (CSI). That is, the CSI may include the channel frequency response between each transmit antenna and each receive antenna used in the transmission and reception of the signal used for measurements.

[0098] Returning to Figure 3, once the sounding phase 314 is complete, the reporting phase 316 may commence. The reporting phase 316 may involve the transmission of a sensing measurement report frame. In aspects, the reporting phase 316 may be an optional phase. For example, in some implementations, the reporting phase 316 may only be present if the sensing measurement report requested field 724 within the NAN Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame that resulted in the sensing measurement instance is set to 1. In implementations, the NAN sensing responder may send a Sensing Measurement Report frame to the initiating NAN device a short interframe space (SIFS) after transmitting the SR2SI NDP

[0099] The sensing measurement report may be an action no-acknowledgement frame transmitted by the NAN sensing responder device if it is requested by the NAN sensing initiator device. The report frame may provide sensing measurement results and scaled and quantized CSI values. In implementations, the format of the sensing measurement report frame may, e.g., be in line with the current draft (DI.2) of the IEEE 802.1 Ibf specifications or of a subsequent version of an IEEE 802.1 Ibf or other standard.

[0100] Figure 8 shows an example sensing measurement report container field 800, in an aspect. The sensing measurement report container field 800 may include a container length field 802, a segmentation control field 804, a sensing measurement report control field 806, and a sensing measurement report field 808.

[0101] The container length field 802 may indicate the number of octets in the Sensing Measurement Report Container field 800, including the two octets for the container length subfield. The segmentation control field 804 may provide the information related to the type and segments of the sensing measurement report 808.

[0102] The sensing measurement report control field 806 may contain information necessary to interpret and process the sensing measurement report field 808. The sensing measurement report control field 806 may indicate the channel width (CW), the number of transmit antennas, the number of receive antennas, and the number of bits used for each encoded CSI value, and an indicator of the subcarrier grouping.

[0103] The sensing measurement report field 808 may contain sensing measurement report information or successive portions thereof in the case of segmented sensing measurement report. The scaled and quantized CSI values may be contained in the sensing measurement report 808. For example, the sensing measurement report 808 may include the scaling factor for transmit antennas and corresponding receive antennas and the CSI for various subcarriers.

[0104] With reference again to Figure 3, once the reporting phase 316 has been executed (assuming that this optional phase is executed), or at a different time at which the sensing procedure 300 is to be terminated, the termination phase 318 may commence. The termination phase 318 may involve termination of the sensing procedure 300 and may be triggered by either initiator or responder device. In an implementation, the terminal phase 318 may include the transmission of a measurement termination frame to conclude the sensing process.

[0105] Figure 9 schematically shows the setup and execution of a NAN sensing procedure 900, in an implementation. In the illustrated example, the NAN sensing procedure 900 is associated with two NAN devices 904A and 904B. Each NAN device 904 A and 904B may be an example of the NAN device 104 and may have a NAN device architecture 200 or another suitable NAN device architecture.

[0106] The NAN sensing procedure 900 may include one or more of the following phases or stages: a sensing capability conveyance phase 910; a sensing setup phase 912; a sounding phase 914; a reporting phase 916; and a termination phase 918. Each of the sensing capability conveyance phase 910, the sensing setup phase 912, the sounding phase 914, the reporting phase 916, and the termination phase 918 may generally respectively correspond to the sensing capability conveyance phase 310, the sensing setup phase 312, the sounding phase 314, the reporting phase 316, and the termination phase 318 of the NAN sensing procedure 300, except as specifically noted and / or described or would be inherent.

[0107] In an aspect, a primary difference between the NAN sensing procedure 900 and the NAN sensing procedure 300 may be that the NAN sensing procedure 900 may include a pairing phase 930 for pairing the NAN devices 904 A and 904B. In implementations, the pairing phase 930 may be effectuated prior to the sensing setup phase 912.

[0108] As described above, two NAN devices (e.g., NAN devices 904A and 904B) in a NAN cluster may be paired with each other using pre-association security negotiation (PASN). For example, the NAN devices 904A and 904B may each include the NAN device architecture 200 and the NAN pairing engine 212 thereof may pair or facilitate the pairing of the NAN devices 904 A and 904B. The pairing of the two NAN devices 904 A and 904B may allow the devices to authenticate each other. The pairing engine 212 may use the NM-TK to encrypt / decry pt the sensing measurement setup, report and termination frames. Thus, in embodiments where the sensing communications are between pairedNAN devices, security and privacy may be achieved as NAN sensing may be built on top of the NAN pairing protocol and the sensing session may be established only between authenticated devices.

[0109] Figure 10 schematically shows a NAN sensing procedure 1000, in an implementation. A first NAN device may have a NAN engine 1002. The first NAN device may be in a NAN cluster that includes a second NAN device having a NAN engine 1004. The NAN engines 1002 and 1004 may each generally correspond to the NAN engine 204 shown in Figure 2. The NAN engine 1002 may transmit service discovery frames that are received by the NAN engine 1004, and the NAN engine 1004 may likewise transmit service discovery frames that are received by the NAN engine 1002.

[0110] As described above, there are two basic NAN service primitives which are carried in service discovery frames: Publish and Subscribe. Publish-related methods are used to make a service discoverable for other devices. A call to the Publish method can be translated either to a periodic broadcast of Publish messages announcing the service, or limited to the generation of a response only when a Subscribe message is received for that service. Subscribe methods allow NAN devices to search for a given service. The Subscribe function may be configured to operate either in passive (waiting for corresponding Publish messages sent by other devices) or in active mode (transmitting Subscribe messages). The service discovery frames transmitted by the NAN engine 1002 may include a publish or a subscription call. Similarly, the service discovery frames transmitted by the NAN engine 1004 may include a publish or a subscription call. The service discovery frames transmitted by the NAN engine 1002 and NAN engine 1004 may further include a sensing information attribute (such as the sensing information attribute 600) that includes sensing parameters of the associated NAN device, a NAN device capability attribute (such as the device capability attribute 500) that indicates that the associated NAN device supports sensing, and a NAN availability attribute that indicates the availability of the associated device.[OHl] As shown in Figure 10, a service or application, such as the service or application 1006, may send a sensing request to the NAN engine 1002. The NAN engine 1002 may transmit or cause to transmit a sensing measurement request frame to the NAN engine 1004. As described above, the NAN sensing measurement request frame may include a sensing information attribute (such as the sensing information attribute 600), a sensing measurement attribute (such as the sensing measurement attribute 700), and a NAN availability attribute.

[0112] The NAN engine 1004 may convey a sensing indication to a service or application, such as a service or application 1008, and receive therefrom a sensing response. The NAN engine 1004 may transmit or cause to be transmitted to the NAN engine 1002 a sensing measurement response frame. As described above, the NAN sensing measurement response frame may include a sensing information attribute (such as the sensing information attribute 600), a sensing measurement attribute (such as the sensing measurement attribute 700), and a NAN availability attribute.

[0113] One or more sensing sequences to extract channel state information (CSI), such as one or more sensing sequences in accordance with the current draft (DI.2) of the IEEE 802.11bf specifications or defined for operation in a subsequent or different generation of the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless communication protocol standards, may be conducted. The sensing sequences may be conducted by the NAN engines 1002 and 1004 on the agreed-upon slots, as described above. The sensing results may be communicated by the NAN engine 1002 to the service or application 1006 that requested the channel sensing information. As illustrated, additional sensing sequences may be carried out and the results may be transmitted to the service or application 1006.

[0114] Figure 11 shows a flowchart illustrating a process 1100 for performing a wireless communication method by a first NAN device. The first NAN device is a NAN cluster with a second NAN device. Each of the first NAN device and the second NAN device may, e.g., be a NAN device 104 with a NAN device architecture 200.

[0115] At block 1102, the first NAN device may transmit, to the second NAN device, a first indication indicating that the first NAN device is capable of performing a WLAN sensing operation. At block 1104, the first NAN device may receive, from the second NAN device, a second indication indicating that the second NAN device is capable of performing the WLAN sensing operation. At block 1106, the first NAN device may transmit, to the second NAN device, a first setup frame comprising at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation. At block 1108, the first NAN device may receive, from the second NAN device, a second setup frame comprising at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation. At block 1110, the first NAN device may transmit, to the second NAN device, at least one physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) associated with the WLAN sensing operation. The PPDU, for e.g., may be associated with extraction of CSI.

[0116] Figure 12 shows a block diagram of an example wireless communication device 1200 that supports WLAN or NAN sensing, according to some aspects of thepresent disclosure. The wireless communication device 1200 may also be referred to herein as NAN device 1200. In some examples, the wireless communication device 1200 is configured or operable to perform the process 1100 described with reference to Figure 11. In some examples, the wireless communication device 1200 is configured or operable to perform or participate in the performance of one or more of the processes 300, 900, and 1000 described with reference to Figures 3, 9, and 10, respectively.

[0117] In various examples, the wireless communication device 1200 can be a chip, SoC, chipset, package or device that may include: one or more modems (such as, a WiFi (IEEE 802.11) modem or a cellular modem such as 3GPP 4G LTE or 5G compliant modem); one or more processors, processing blocks or processing elements (collectively “the processor”); one or more radios (collectively “the radio”); and, one or more memories or memory blocks (collectively “the memory”).

[0118] In some examples, the wireless communication device 1200 can be a device for use in a STA, such as STA 104 described with reference to Figure 1 and having a NAN architecture 200 described with reference to Figure 2. In some other examples, the wireless communication device 1200 can be a STA that includes such a chip, SoC, chipset, package or device as well as multiple antennas. The wireless communication device 1200 is capable of transmitting and receiving wireless communications in the form of, for example, wireless packets. For example, the wireless communication device can be configured or operable to transmit and receive packets in the form of physical layer PPDUs and MPDUs conforming to one or more of the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless communication protocol standards. In some examples, the wireless communication device 1200 also includes or can be coupled with an application processor which may be further coupled with another memory. In some examples, the wireless communication device 1200 further includes a user interface (UI) (such as a touchscreen or keypad) and a display, which may be integrated with the UI to form a touchscreen display. In some examples, the wireless communication device 1200 may further include one or more sensors such as, for example, one or more inertial sensors, accelerometers, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, or altitude sensors. In some examples, the wireless communication device 1200 may support NAN networks, including multi-NDL communications.

[0119] The wireless communication device 1200 includes one or more processors, processing blocks, or processing elements 1202 (collectively, “the processor 1202”), one or more memory blocks or elements 1204 (collectively, “the memory 1204”), one or moredisplays 1206 (collectively, “the display 1206”), a user interface 1208 (such as a keypad or a touch screen), one or more modems 1210 (collectively, “the modem 1210”), and one or more radios 1212 (collectively, “the radio 1212”). Portions of one or more of the components 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, and 1212 may be implemented at least in part in discovery window or firmware. In some examples, at least some of the components of the device 1200 are implemented at least in part by a processor and as software stored in a memory. For example, portions of one or more of the display 1206, the user interface 1208, the modem 1210, and the radio 1212 can be implemented as non-transitory instructions (or “code”) executable by the processor 1202 to perform the functions or operations of the respective module.

[0120] In some examples, the processor 1202 may be a component of a processing system. A processing system may generally refer to a system or series of machines or components that receives inputs and processes the inputs to produce a set of outputs (which may be passed to other systems or components of, for example, the device 1200). For example, a processing system of the device 1200 may refer to a system including the various other components or subcomponents of the device 1200, such as the processor 1202, or a transceiver, or a communications manager, or other components or combinations of components of the device 1200. The processing system of the device 1200 may interface with other components of the device 1200, and may process information received from other components (such as inputs or signals) or output information to other components. For example, a chip or modem of the device 1200 may include a processing system, a first interface to output information and a second interface to obtain information. In some examples, the first interface may refer to an interface between the processing system of the chip or modem 1210 and a transmitter, such that the device 1200 may transmit information output from the chip or modem 1210. In some examples, the second interface may refer to an interface between the processing system of the chip or modem 1210 and a receiver, such that the device 1202 may obtain information or signal inputs, and the information may be passed to the processing system. The first interface also may obtain information or signal inputs, and the second interface also may output information or signal outputs.

[0121] The processor 1202 is capable of, configured to, or operable to processes information received through the radio 1212 and the modem 1210, and processes information to be output through the modem 1210 and the radio 1212 for transmission through the wireless medium. The processor 1202 may perform logical and arithmeticoperations based on program instructions stored within the memory 1204. The instructions in the memory 1204 may be executable (by the processor 1202, for example) to implement the methods described herein. In some examples, the processor 1202, together with the memory 1204, is capable of, configured to, or operable to generate, transmit, and receive NAN frames, such as NAN frames associated with NAN sensing, and take an action in accordance therewith.

[0122] The memory 1204 is capable of, configured to, or operable to provide instructions and data to the processor 1202. The user interface 1208 may be any device that allows a user to interact with the wireless communication device 1200, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a microphone. In aspects, the user interface 1208 may be integrated with the display 1206 to form a touchscreen. The modem 1210 is capable of, configured to, or operable to implement a PHY layer. For example, the modem 1210 is configured to modulate packets and to output the modulated packets to the radio 1212 for transmission over the wireless medium. The modem 1210 is similarly configured to obtain modulated packets received by the radio 1212 and to demodulate the packets to provide demodulated packets.

[0123] The radio 1212 includes at least one radio frequency transmitter and at least one radio frequency receiver, which may be combined into one or more transceivers. The transmitted s) and receiver(s) may be coupled to one or more antennas. In some aspects, the processor 1202, the memory 1204, the modem 1210, and the radio 1212 may collectively facilitate the wireless communication of the wireless communication device 1200 with other wireless communication devices over multiple frequency bands (such as 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and / or 6 GHz).

[0124] Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:1. A method for wireless communication at a first neighbor aware networking (NAN) device, the method including: transmitting, to a second NAN device, a first indication indicating that the first NAN device is capable of performing a WLAN sensing operation; receiving, from the second NAN device, a second indication indicating that the second NAN device is capable of performing the WLAN sensing operation; transmitting, to the second NAN device, a first setup frame including at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation; receiving, from the second NAN device, a second setup frame including at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation; andtransmitting, to the second NAN device, at least one physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) associated with the WLAN sensing operation; where, the PPDU is associated with extraction of Channel State Information (CSI).2. The method of clause 1, further including receiving, from the second NAN device, a report associated with the extracted CSI.3. The method of clause 1 , further including forming a NAN pair with the second NAN device; where the NAN pair between the first NAN device and the second NAN device is formed prior to the transmission of the first setup frame.4. The method of clause 1, where the WLAN sensing operation is terminated in association with a termination frame.5. The method of clause 1, where the first indication is included in a NAN device capability attribute.6. The method of clause 5, where the first indication is included in a service discovery frame.7. The method of clause 6, where the first indication is included in the service discovery frame in response to a new publishing service on the first NAN device.8. The method of clause 1, where the first setup frame comprises a sensing measurement request frame.9. The method of clause 8, where the sensing measurement request frame includes a sensing information attribute and a sensing measurement attribute.10. The method of clause 9, where the first NAN device is configured to perform a subscription servicesubscription servicesubscription service.11. The method of clause 1, where the first setup frame includes an availability map indicating at least one committed or conditional time slot.12. An apparatus for wireless communication at a neighbor aware networking (NAN) device, the apparatus including: at least one memory; and at least one processor communicatively coupled with the at least one memory and operable to cause the NAN device to: transmit, to a second NAN device, a first indication indicating that the first NAN device is capable of performing a WLAN sensing operation; receive, from the second NAN device, a second indication indicating that the second NAN device is capable of performing the WLAN sensing operation; transmit, to the second NAN device, a first setup frame including at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation; receive, from the second NAN device, a second setup frame including at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation; and transmit, to the second NAN device, at least one physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) associated with the WLAN sensing operation; where, the PPDU is associated with extraction of Channel State Information (CSI).13. The apparatus of clause 12, where the at least one processor is further operable to cause the NAN device to receive, from the second NAN device, a report associated with the extracted CSI.14. The apparatus of clause 12, where the at least one processor is further operable to cause the NAN device to form a NAN pair with the second NAN device prior to the transmission of the first setup frame.15. The apparatus of clause 12, where the at least one processor is further operable to terminate the WLAN operation in association with a termination frame.16. The apparatus of clause 12, where the first indication is included in a NAN device capability attribute.17. The apparatus of clause 16, where the first indication is included in a service discovery frame.18. The apparatus of clause 17, where the first indication is included in the service discovery frame in response to a new publishing service on the first NAN device.19. The apparatus of clause 12, where the first setup frame comprises a sensing measurement request frame.20. The apparatus of clause 19, where the sensing measurement request frame includes a sensing information attribute and a sensing measurement attribute.21. The apparatus of clause 20, where the first NAN device is running a subscription service.22. The apparatus of clause 12, where the first setup frame includes an availability map indicating at least one committed or conditional time slot.23. An apparatus for wireless communication at a neighbor aware networking (NAN) device, including: means for transmitting, to a second NAN device, a first indication indicating that the first NAN device is capable of performing a WLAN sensing operation; means for receiving, from the second NAN device, a second indication indicating that the second NAN device is capable of performing the WLAN sensing operation; means transmitting, to the second NAN device, a first setup frame including at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation; means for receiving, from the second NAN device, a second setup frame including at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation; and means for transmitting, to the second NAN device, at least one physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) associated with the WLAN sensing operation; where, the PPDU is associated with extraction of Channel State Information (CSI).24. The apparatus of clause 23, further including means for receiving, from the second NAN device, a report associated with the extracted CSI.

[0125] As used herein, the term “determine” or “determining” encompasses a wide variety of actions and, therefore, “determining” can include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (such as via looking up in a table, a database or another data structure), inferring, ascertaining, measuring, and the like. Also, “determining” can include receiving (such as receiving information), accessing (such as accessing data stored in memory), transmitting (such as transmitting information) and the like. Also, “determining” can include resolving, selecting, obtaining, choosing, establishing and other such similar actions.

[0126] As used herein, a phrase referring to “at least one of’ a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intended to cover: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c. As used herein, “or” is intended to be interpreted in the inclusive sense, unless otherwise explicitly indicated. For example, “a or b” may include a only, b only, or a combination of a and b.

[0127] As used herein, “based on” is intended to be interpreted in the inclusive sense, unless otherwise explicitly indicated. For example, “based on” may be used interchangeably with “based at least in part on,” “associated with”, or “in accordance with” unless otherwise explicitly indicated. Specifically, unless a phrase refers to “based on only ‘a,’” or the equivalent in context, whatever it is that is “based on ‘a,’” or “based at least in part on ‘a,’” may be based on “a” alone or based on a combination of “a” and one or more other factors, conditions or information.

[0128] The various illustrative components, logic, logical blocks, modules, circuits, operations and algorithm processes described in connection with the examples disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, firmware, software, or combinations of hardware, firmware or software, including the structures disclosed in this specification and the structural equivalents thereof. The interchangeability of hardware, firmware and software has been described generally, in terms of functionality, and illustrated in the various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits and processes described above. Whether such functionality is implemented in hardware, firmware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0129] Various modifications to the examples described in this disclosure may be readily apparent to persons having ordinary skill in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other examples without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the examplesshown herein, but are to be accorded the widest scope consistent with this disclosure, the principles and the novel features disclosed herein.

[0130] Additionally, various features that are described in this specification in the context of separate examples also can be implemented in combination in a single implementation. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single implementation also can be implemented in multiple examples separately or in any suitable subcombination. As such, although features may be described above as acting in particular combinations, and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.

[0131] Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. Further, the drawings may schematically depict one or more example processes in the form of a flowchart or flow diagram. However, other operations that are not depicted can be incorporated in the example processes that are schematically illustrated. For example, one or more additional operations can be performed before, after, simultaneously, or between any of the illustrated operations. In some circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various system components in the examples described above should not be understood as requiring such separation in all examples, and it should be understood that the described program components and systems can generally be integrated together in a single software product or packaged into multiple software products.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A method for wireless communication at a first neighbor aware networking (NAN) device, the method comprising: transmitting, to a second NAN device, a first indication indicating that the first NAN device is capable of performing a WLAN sensing operation; receiving, from the second NAN device, a second indication indicating that the second NAN device is capable of performing the WLAN sensing operation; transmitting, to the second NAN device, a first setup frame comprising at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation; receiving, from the second NAN device, a second setup frame comprising at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation; and transmitting, to the second NAN device, at least one physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) associated with the WLAN sensing operation; wherein, the PPDU is associated with extraction of Channel State Information (CSI).

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from the second NAN device, a report associated with the extracted CSI.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming a NAN pair with the second NAN device; wherein the NAN pair between the first NAN device and the second NAN device is formed prior to the transmission of the first setup frame.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the WLAN sensing operation is terminated in association with a termination frame.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first indication is included in a NAN device capability attribute.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first indication is included in a service discovery frame.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first indication is included in the service discovery frame in response to a new publishing service on the first NAN device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first setup frame comprises a sensing measurement request frame.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the sensing measurement request frame includes a sensing information attribute and a sensing measurement attribute.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first NAN device is configured to perform a subscription service.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first setup frame includes an availability map indicating at least one committed or conditional time slot.

12. An apparatus for wireless communication at a neighbor aware networking (NAN) device, the apparatus including: at least one memory; and at least one processor communicatively coupled with the at least one memory and operable to cause the NAN device to: transmit, to a second NAN device, a first indication indicating that the first NAN device is capable of performing a WLAN sensing operation; receive, from the second NAN device, a second indication indicating that the second NAN device is capable of performing the WLAN sensing operation; transmit, to the second NAN device, a first setup frame comprising at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation; receive, from the second NAN device, a second setup frame comprising at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation; and transmit, to the second NAN device, at least one physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) associated with the WLAN sensing operation; wherein, the PPDU is associated with extraction of Channel State Information (CSI).

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further operable to cause the NAN device to receive, from the second NAN device, a report associated with the extracted CSI.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further operable to cause the NAN device to form a NAN pair with the second NAN device prior to the transmission of the first setup frame.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further operable to terminate the WLAN operation in association with a termination frame.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first indication is included in a NAN device capability attribute.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first indication is included in a service discovery frame.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first indication is included in the service discovery frame in response to a new publishing service on the first NAN device.

19. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first setup frame comprises a sensing measurement request frame.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the sensing measurement request frame includes a sensing information attribute and a sensing measurement attribute.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the first NAN device is running a subscription service.

22. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first setup frame includes an availability map indicating at least one committed or conditional time slot.

23. An apparatus for wireless communication at a neighbor aware networking (NAN) device, comprising: means for transmitting, to a second NAN device, a first indication indicating that the first NAN device is capable of performing a WLAN sensing operation; means for receiving, from the second NAN device, a second indication indicating that the second NAN device is capable of performing the WLAN sensing operation; means transmitting, to the second NAN device, a first setup frame comprising at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation; means for receiving, from the second NAN device, a second setup frame comprising at least one parameter associated with the WLAN sensing operation; and means for transmitting, to the second NAN device, at least one physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) associated with the WLAN sensing operation; wherein, the PPDU is associated with extraction of Channel State Information (CSI).

24. The apparatus of claim 23, further comprising means for receiving, from the second NAN device, a report associated with the extracted CSI.

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