First network node, third network node and methods performed thereby, for handling a configuration

Abstract

A method performed by a first network node (111). The first network node (111) determines (207) one or more first configurations to be used by a second network node (112) for transmitting a signal to sense an object (116) or an environment. The one or more first configurations are determined out of a plurality of configurations available to the second network node (112). With the proviso transmission of the signal is estimated, based on a calculated estimate, to cause a level of interference at a set of receivers (130), expected to communicate in the resources lower than an interference threshold, the configurations are determined as the configuration, or configurations, resulting in a level of transmitted energy, in a desired direction, above an energy threshold. The first network node (111) initiates transmission (209) of the signal using the determined one or more first configurations during the first set of time-frequency resources.

Description

[0001] FIRST NETWORK NODE, THIRD NETWORK NODE AND METHODS PERFORMED THEREBY, FOR HANDLING A CONFIGURATION

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present disclosure relates generally to a first network node and methods performed thereby for handling a configuration. The present disclosure further relates generally to a third network node and methods performed thereby, for handling the configuration. The present disclosure also relates generally to a wireless communications network, and methods performed thereby for handling the configuration.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] Wireless devices within a wireless communications network may be e.g., User Equipments (UEs), stations (STAs), mobile terminals, wireless terminals, terminals, and / or Mobile Stations (MS). Wireless devices are enabled to communicate wirelessly in a cellular communications network or wireless communication network, sometimes also referred to as a cellular radio system, cellular system, or cellular network. The communication may be performed e.g., between two wireless devices, between a wireless device and a regular telephone and / or between a wireless device and a server via a Radio Access Network (RAN) and possibly one or more core networks, comprised within the wireless communications network. Wireless devices may further be referred to as mobile telephones, cellular telephones, laptops, or tablets with wireless capability, just to mention some further examples. The wireless devices in the present context may be, for example, portable, pocket-storable, hand-held, computer-comprised, or vehicle-mounted mobile devices, enabled to communicate voice and / or data, via the RAN, with another entity, such as another terminal or a server.

[0006] The wireless communications network covers a geographical area which may be divided into cell areas, each cell area being served by a network node, which may be an access node such as a radio network node, radio node or a base station, e.g., a Radio Base Station (RBS), which sometimes may be referred to as e.g., gNB, evolved Node B (“eNB”), “eNodeB”, “NodeB”, “B node”, Transmission Point (TP), or Base Transceiver Station (BTS), depending on the technology and terminology used. The base stations may be of different classes such as e.g., Wide Area Base Stations, Medium Range Base Stations, Local Area Base Stations, Home Base Stations, pico base stations, etc... , based on transmission power and thereby also cell size. A cell is the geographical area where radio coverage may be provided by the base station or radio node at a base station site, or radio node site, respectively. One base station, situated on the base station site, may serve one or several cells. Further, each base station may support one or several communication technologies. The base stations communicate over the air interface operating on radio frequencies with the wireless devices within range of the base stations. The wireless communications network may also comprise network nodes which may serve receiving nodes, such as wireless devices, with serving beams. In 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE), base stations, which may be referred to as eNodeBs or even eNBs, may be directly connected to one or more core networks. In the context of this disclosure, the expression Downlink (DL) may be used for the transmission path from the base station to the wireless device. The expression Uplink (UL) may be used for the transmission path in the opposite direction i.e. , from the wireless device to the base station.

[0007] The standardization organization 3GPP is currently in the process of specifying a New Radio Interface called NR or 5G-UTRA, as well as a Fifth Generation (5G) Packet Core Network, which may be referred to as Next Generation (NG) Core Network, abbreviated as NG-CN, NGC, 5G CN or 5G Core (5GC). NG may be understood to refer to the interface / reference point between the Radio Access Network (RAN) and the CN in 5G / NR. In a 5G System (5GS), a radio base station in NR may be referred to as a gNB or 5G Node B. An NR UE may be referred to as an nUE.

[0008] One of the main goals of NR is to provide more capacity for operators to serve ever increasing traffic demands and variety of applications. Because of this, NR may be able to operate on high frequencies, such as frequencies over 6 GHz, until 60 or even 100 GHz. The expansion towards higher frequencies is expected to continue into 6th Generation (6G) networks.

[0009] Operation in higher frequencies makes it possible to use smaller antenna elements, which may enable antenna arrays with many antenna elements. Such antenna arrays may facilitate beamforming, where multiple antenna elements may be used to form narrow beams and thereby compensate for the challenging propagation properties.

[0010] Furthermore, usage of these new frequencies may be understood to provide the potential for accurate sensing, e.g., based on radar-like technology.

[0011] Sensing may be understood as a procedure whereby reflections of transmitted signals may be received in a network and processed to yield spatial knowledge of the physical environment.

[0012] A sensing system may be understood as a system which may enable to perform such a procedure, transmitting signals, detecting the reflections, and processing them to yield spatial knowledge of the physical environment.

[0013] A communication system may be understood as a system within a wireless communications network which may enable communication between the system and other systems or devices within the wireless communications network. Whereas both communication and sensing systems are well researched as separate topics, the integrated communication and sensing design concept in wireless radio networks is still in its infancy [1],

[0014] When performing sensing, the transmitter may often beamform the signal used for sensing, referred to herein as well as sensing signal. Reasons for transmitter beamforming may include, among others, increase in the link budget and a smaller, more focused illuminated area, which may be understood to result in less clutter. Clutter may be understood to refer to undesired radio echoes from the environment that may be of no interest, such as, e.g., echoes from a house wall behind a car, when only detecting the car may be of interest. Since the illuminated area of the beamformed signal may be smaller than the area that may have to be sensed, the signal may be "swept" over this larger area that may have to be sensed. That is, beamforming may be done in all directions of interest, one direction at a time. This may be referred to as “sensing beam sweeping”, or “sensing signal scanning”.

[0015] Existing methods [2] outline resource allocation approaches for coexistence of wireless communications and radar sensing for a UE that communicates in the uplink, downlink and sidelink and performs radar sensing. The resource allocations may include indicating time, e.g., slots, symbols, and frequency, e.g., bandwidth parts, subcarriers, resources for communications and sensing. Such methods [2] address a case where the UE may perform radar sensing on time / frequency resources that partially or fully overlap with downlink, uplink or sidelink resources for communication. Approaches discussed to deal with this issue involve application of spatial or angular separation between radar sensing transmission and DL / UL / SL communication transmission / reception when transmitting over overlapping, fully or partially, time-frequency resources for communication and sensing. In one proposed approach, an interface between a sensing module and a communication module may exchange signalling or information in order to coordinate selection of different beams for communication and sensing. For example, different beam / spatial filter / spatial angles may be used for each of sensing transmission / reception and communication. In a different example, different antenna panel / arrays may be used for each of sensing transmission / reception and communication, so that two different beams may be generated by the UE at the same time or in overlapping time resources. In a further example, the corresponding transmissions may be performed in nonoverlapping time or frequency resources, and the UE may be equipped with a same antenna panel / array for both radar sensing transmissions and communication transmissions. In an additional example, the UE may be equipped with one antenna array for communication Rx, and with a different, separate, antenna array / panel for radar sensing receptions. In accordance with this example, the different antenna array / panels may be the same, or different from, antenna panel(s) / array(s) used for communication Tx or radar sensing Tx [2]). In a wireless communication system, radio signals may be understood to be transmitted by one communicating party via a transmitter and received by the other communicating party via a receiver. In a wireless communication system, the receiver may execute the following functions for estimating a channel and / or receiving data. One function may be understood to be channel estimation. Channel estimation may be understood as a process whereby a response of a wireless channel may be determined in order to characterize any transformation that may have been suffered by a transmitted signal prior to being received. Estimation of the radio channels may be understood to be needed to demodulate uplink transmissions, for example to coherently combine signals from multiple antennas, and correct the phase and amplitude in a frequency selective way. In NR, and Long-Term Evolution (LTE), the channel 10 may be estimated using uplink or downlink demodulation reference signals (DMRS). These may be understood to be signals known to the receiver that may be interleaved in the physical resource together with data. The uplink channel may be understood to also be estimated via uplink sounding reference signals (SRSs), e.g., for downlink precoding computation purposes, and downlink channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs), e.g., for downlink channel estimation in frequency division multiplexing (FDD) systems.

[0016] A transmitted signal may be received by a receiver (Rx), where it may first undergo signal processing. The received signal may consist of a linear combination of the transmitted signal, filtered through the channel, and the noise / interference.

[0017] Typically, a sensing transmission into a single direction may be only one or a few symbols long, much shorter than the duration of a typical communication transmission. If a sensing beam sweep is co-scheduled with communication transmissions, the sensing transmission may be understood to create interference at the communication receiver that may vary during the course of the communication transmission. Such time-varying interference may lead to an increased error rate for the communication receiver, since the interference may be understood to be different from what may have been assumed during scheduling, when the transmission parameters may have been set.

[0018] Current wireless networks may be understood to be designed solely from a communication centric design. Future generation networks may not be limited by the existing communication or sensor standards and a new approach jointly optimizing both communication and sensing may be needed. Furthermore, communication assisted sensing, where sensing may be provided as a service add-on, may be a more convenient way to introduce and to upkeep wide-area sensing functionality, compared to building separate systems for communication and sensing.

[0019] Wireless network topologies in wide and urban area deployments may be understood to be well suited for operation in frequency ranges less than 3.5 GHz and 3.5-15 GHz, respectively. Both cell size and mobility range of connected devices may also diminish when operating in higher frequency bands. Multi-antenna technologies available may be understood to also depend on the frequency band of operation. In low and mid band, digital beamforming may be feasible, whereas in high band, e.g., mm-Wave spectrum and sub-THz, the multiantenna technology may be understood to comprise hybrid or analog beamforming architectures in practice.

[0020] Sensing may be performed either based on the signal of the communication system, which may be understood to be random in nature due to the random data and applied scrambling that may be transmitted, or based on dedicated sensing signals. The use of communication signals may be undesirable due to this random nature and because it may be understood to couple the two systems, communication and sensing systems, that may make implementation more convoluted. Furthermore, a suitable communication signal may not always be transmitted when needed.

[0021] When using dedicated sensing signals, a system that illuminates, or scans, the surrounding environment with a sensing signal with desirable properties may be envisioned. When using dedicated sensing signals, care may have to be taken not to create excessive interference to the communication system, especially interference that may vary over the duration of an ongoing communication transmission. Communication users that may need to be protected from such interference may include users served by the own base station, other base stations or other networks, as well as to other base station receivers.

[0022] Interference may be caused to: radar sensing receptions of a device by communication transmissions / receptions from the same or other devices, communication receptions by radar sensing transmissions / receptions from the same or other devices, or reception of a communication transmissions at a radio network node, by radar sensing transmissions / receptions from the same or other devices.

[0023] As described above, in existing approaches [2] a base station may configure and transmit to a user equipment resource allocation information including a time pattern information for downlink, uplink and sensing resources. Approaches have been discussed [2] to reduce or prevent the interference arising from joint operation of communication and sensing over overlapping, fully or partially, frequency resources. Control by the network may aim at ensuring that radar sensing reference signals may not cause significant interference to the system or neighboring UEs by indicating to avoid strong interfering beams.

[0024] Overlap of communication and sensing may result in inter-UE interference, such as those caused by LIL / SL communication by a first UE interfering with a sensing reception of a second UE, a sensing transmission by a first UE interfering with DL / SL communication of a second UE, a sensing transmission by a first UE interfering with a sensing reception of a second UE. Interference between UEs may occur between UEs within a same cell or different cells. Interference between UEs for communication and sensing may also occur between UEs in different cells. Communication transmissions by UEs in a cell may cause interference with radar sensing receptions for UEs in another cell, e.g., a neighbor cell, or such as radar sensing transmissions by UEs in a cell may cause interference on communication receptions for UEs in a different, e.g., neighbor, cell. Cross-link interference (CLI) or remote interference management (RIM) methods have been proposed to be used by a UE to manage interference between UEs.

[0025] In order to manage intra-UE interference, several approaches involving time / frequency / spatial resource configuration or sequence configuration, e.g., root sequence or cyclic shift, have been proposed to ensure transmissions / receptions may be "orthogonal" for a same UE so as to avoid interference. Non-orthogonal resource allocation for radar and communication resources has been also proposed in conjunction with usage of (self)- interference techniques at the UE to distinguish communication from sensing signals.

[0026] For management of inter-UE interference between radar and communication, UE- specific configuration of time / frequency / spatial resource(s) and / or sequence(s) for radar sensing may be performed to enable a radio base station to may ensure that different UEs may be provided with orthogonal resources, so that interference may be avoided. In one example, a radio base station may configure UEs in a group, such as UEs which may be close in space, with non-overlapping sensing resources, and reuse those sensing resources to UEs or UE groups that may be further away, so that inter-UE interference may be avoided or reduced [2],

[0027] Existing methods to manage interference in networks wherein communication and sensing systems may coexist may be difficult to implement, have limited applicability, e.g., be only applicable to scenarios where a UE may act as a sensing transmitter, and may result in an inefficient use of resources, e.g., waste of resources, and / or poor performance of the network.

[0028] SUMMARY

[0029] As part of the development of embodiments herein, one or more problems with the existing technology will first be identified and discussed.

[0030] Avoiding the use of beams for sensing, specifically those strong interference beams at the UE for sensing, to avoid causing significant interference to the system or neighboring UEs, may not always meet the required sensing performance and may be understood to be also an excessive measure.

[0031] Furthermore, cross-link interference and interference management methods for inter-UE interference handling may be unsuited to control the time-varying interference expected at the UE receiver and may also require fine synchronization among devices. Ensuring that sensing and communication beams may be orthogonal, or close to orthogonal, does not necessarily mean that the interference that the sensing transmission causes to the communication receiver is limited, for example in the case the environment may be dispersive and there may be multipath propagation.

[0032] Furthermore, the scheduling of both orthogonal resources or non-orthogonal resources is not an efficient use of spectral resources. In the former, interference may be completely eliminated with wastage of time-frequency resources and in the latter case, scheduling of non- orthogonal resources among UEs in a group or groups of UEs that may be further away including methods to rely on self-interference techniques at the UE may impact the communication performance, as the UE devices may be in general limited in capability of combating interference.

[0033] Embodiments herein may address the problems of the existing methods just described.

[0034] According to a first aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a method performed by a first network node. The method is for handling a configuration. The first network node operates in a wireless communications network. The first network node determines one or more first configurations to be used by a second network node for transmitting a signal. The signal is to sense an object or an environment in the wireless communications network. The one or more first configurations are determined out of a plurality of configurations available to the second network node. The plurality of configurations are available to the second network node for transmitting the signal to sense the object or the environment. With the proviso transmission of the signal to sense the object or the environment with the one or more first configurations in the first set of time-frequency resources is estimated, based on a calculated estimate, to cause a level of interference at a set of receivers in the wireless communications network, expected to communicate in the first set of time-frequency resources with one or more third network nodes, lower than an interference threshold, the one or more first configurations are determined as the configuration or configurations, out of the plurality of configurations, resulting in a level of transmitted energy, by the signal to sense the object or the environment in a desired direction, above an energy threshold. The first network node then initiates transmission of the signal to sense the object or the environment using the determined one or more first configurations during the first set of time-frequency resources.

[0035] According to a second aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a method, performed by a third network node. The method is for handling the configuration. The second network node operates in the wireless communications network. The third network node obtains a third indication of an estimated level of interference at the set of receivers in the wireless communications network. The interference is estimated to be caused by the transmission, by the second network node operating in the wireless communications network, in the first set of time-frequency resources, of the signal to sense the object or the environment in the wireless communications network with the one or more first configurations. The third network node is expected to communicate with one or more first receivers in the set of receivers in the first set of time-frequency resources. The third network node also receives, from the first network node operating in the wireless communications network, a fourth indication of the one or more first configurations, determined by the first network node for transmission of the signal. The fourth indication is based on the obtained third indication. The third network node also initiates performance of an action to handle the estimated level of interference for communicating with the one or more first receivers in the first set of timefrequency resources.

[0036] According to a third aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by the first network node. The first network node may be understood to be for handling the configuration. The first network node is configured to operate in the wireless communications network. The first network node is configured to determine the one or more first configurations to be used by the second network node for transmitting the signal to sense the object or the environment in the wireless communications network. The one or more first configurations are configured to be determined out of the plurality of configurations configured to be available to the second network node for transmitting the signal to sense the object or the environment. With the proviso transmission of the signal to sense the object or the environment with the one or more first configurations in the first set of time-frequency resources is estimated, based on the calculated estimate, to cause the level of interference at the set of receivers in the wireless communications network, expected to communicate in the first set of time-frequency resources with the one or more third network nodes, lower than the interference threshold, the one or more first configurations are configured to be determined as the configuration or configurations, out of the plurality of configurations, resulting in the level of transmitted energy, by the signal to sense the object or the environment in a the desired direction, above the energy threshold. The first network node is also configured to initiate transmission of the signal to sense the object or the environment using the one or more first configurations configured to be determined, during the first set of time-frequency resources.

[0037] According to a fourth aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by the second network node. The third network node may be understood to be for handling the configuration. The third network node is configured to operate in the wireless communications network. The third network node is configured to obtain the third indication of the estimated level of interference at the set of receivers in the wireless communications network. The interference is configured to be estimated to be caused by transmission, by the second network node configured to operate in the wireless communications network, in the first set of time-frequency resources, of the signal to sense an object or the environment in the wireless communications network with one or more first configurations. The third network node is expected to communicate with one or more first receivers in the set of receivers in the first set of time-frequency resources. The third network node is also configured to receive, from the first network node configured to operate in the wireless communications network, the fourth indication of the one or more first configurations, configured to be determined by the first network node for transmission of the signal. The fourth indication is configured to be based on the third indication configured to be obtained. The third network node is further configured to initiate performance of the action to handle the estimated level of interference for communicating with the one or more first receivers in the first set of time-frequency resources.

[0038] By determining the one or more first configurations to be used by the second network node for transmitting the signal to sense the object or the environment in this Action, so that the one or more first configurations may be estimated to cause the level of interference at the set of receivers lower than the interference threshold, but that may result in a level of transmitted energy above the energy threshold, the first network node may be enabled to choose a sensing configuration such that the performance degradation seen by the set of receivers may be limited to below a given threshold, while enabling to meet any required sensing performance and communication performance. This may apply even, for example, in the case the environment may be dispersive and there may be multipath propagation. Furthermore, the first network node may enable an efficient use of spectral resources by not necessarily requiring usage of orthogonal resources.

[0039] By initiating transmission of the signal using the determined one or more first configurations, the first network node may enable to achieve the advantages just described, and thereby enable that the sensing and communication systems may co-exist over the same, fully or partially overlapping, time-frequency resource.

[0040] By the third network node obtaining the third indication of the estimated level of interference at the set of receivers estimated to be caused by the transmission of the signal, the third network node may be enabled to then use the third indication to determine which action the third network node may need to initiate performing in order to handle the estimated level of interference for communicating with the one or more first receivers in the first set of time-frequency resources. For example, the third network node may be enabled to select an appropriate modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for its receiver UEs.

[0041] By the third network node also receiving the fourth indication of the one or more first configurations, the third network node may also be enabled to determine which action the third network node may need to initiate performing in order to handle the estimated level of interference for communicating with the one or more first receivers in the first set of timefrequency resources. Embodiments herein may be understood to enable to ensure that the interference caused by a sensing system that may operate in the same time-frequency resource as a communication network may be kept under control. Embodiments herein may be understood to further enable the sensing to transparently take place in a resource otherwise dedicated to communication, and may enable the sensing to coexist in the same time-frequency resources with neighboring base stations.

[0042] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0043] Examples of embodiments herein are described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, according to the following description.

[0044] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating two non-limiting examples, in panels a) and b), of a wireless communications network, according to embodiments herein.

[0045] Figure 2 is a flowchart depicting a method in a first network node, according to embodiments herein.

[0046] Figure 3 is a flowchart depicting a method in third network node, according to embodiments herein.

[0047] Figure 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a first network node, according to embodiments herein.

[0048] Figure 5 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a third network node, according to embodiments herein.

[0049] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0050] Certain aspects of the present disclosure and their embodiments address the challenges identified in the Background and Summary sections with the existing methods and provide solutions to the challenges discussed.

[0051] Embodiments herein may be understood to relate to sensing signal configuration limiting interference to communication users.

[0052] Embodiments herein may be understood to relate to providing a framework of sharing of network resources between communication and sensing systems, with tunable control on the performance of each service. This fine control may allow for a network design that may attempt to efficiently allocate spectrum and power for communication and sensing services. Sensing may be understood to use beam sweeping to cover the desired target area. Problems may particularly arise from fast scanning sensing beams that may create timevarying interference to co-scheduled communication receivers. Embodiments herein may be understood to relate to enabling to control the time-varying interference affecting communication users which may be caused due to sensing. Some of the embodiments contemplated will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which examples are shown. In this section, the embodiments herein will be illustrated in more detail by a number of exemplary embodiments. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein. The disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art. It should be noted that the exemplary embodiments herein are not mutually exclusive. Components from one embodiment may be tacitly assumed to be present in another embodiment and it will be obvious to a person skilled in the art how those components may be used in the other exemplary embodiments.

[0053] Several embodiments and examples are comprised herein. It should be noted that the embodiments and / or examples herein are not mutually exclusive. Components from one embodiment or example may be tacitly assumed to be present in another embodiment or example and it will be obvious to a person skilled in the art how those components may be used in the other exemplary embodiments and / or examples.

[0054] Figure 1 depicts two non-limiting examples, in panel a) and panel b), respectively, of a wireless network or wireless communications network 100, sometimes also referred to as a wireless communications system, cellular radio system, or cellular network, in which embodiments herein may be implemented. The wireless communications network 100 may be a 5G system, 5G network, or Next Gen System or network, or a newer system, e.g., 6G, with similar functionality. In other examples, the wireless communications network 100 may additionally support other technologies such as, for example, Long-Term Evolution (LTE), e.g., LTE-M, LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), LTE HalfDuplex Frequency Division Duplex (HD-FDD), LTE operating in an unlicensed band, such as LTE Licensed-Assisted Access (LAA), enhanced eLAA (eLAA), further enhanced LAA (feLAA) and / or MulteFire. The wireless communications network 100 may support Machine Type Communication (MTC), enhanced MTC (eMTC), Internet of Things (loT) and / or NarrowBand loT (NB-loT). Yet in other examples, the wireless communications network 100 may, in addition, further support other technologies such as, for example Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) TDD, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) network, GSM / Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) Radio Access Network (GERAN) network, Ultra-Mobile Broadband (UMB), EDGE network, network comprising of any combination of Radio Access Technologies (RATs) such as e.g. Multi-Standard Radio (MSR) base stations, multi-RAT base stations etc., any 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) cellular network, WiFi networks, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), or any cellular network or system. Thus, although terminology from 5G / NR and LTE may be used in this disclosure to exemplify embodiments herein, this should not be seen as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein to only the aforementioned system.

[0055] The wireless communications network 100 may comprise a plurality of network nodes, such as a first network node 111 , a second network node 112 and one or more third network nodes 113, of which the first network node 111, the second network node 112 and one of the one or more third network nodes 113 are depicted in the two non-limiting examples of Figure 1. It may be understood that there may be additional network nodes comprised in the wireless communications network 100.

[0056] Each of the second network node 112 and the one or more third network nodes 113 may be understood to be radio network nodes, such as the radio network node 114 depicted in Figure 1. That is, a transmission point such as a radio base station, for example a gNB, or any other network node with similar features capable of serving a user equipment, such as a wireless device or a machine type communication device, in the wireless communications network 100. In some examples, any of the first network node 111, the second network node 112, the third network node and the radio network node 114 may be a distributed node, such as a virtual node in a cloud 115, as depicted for the first network node 111 in the non-limiting example depicted in Figure b), and may perform its functions entirely on the cloud 115, or partially, in collaboration with a radio network node. The radio network node 114 may be, in some examples, a relay node. In some particular examples, the radio network node 114 may be an Integrated access and backhaul (I AB) node.

[0057] In some examples, all of the first network node 111 , the second network node 112 and at least one of the one or more third network nodes 113 may be radio network nodes.

[0058] In other examples, the first network node 111 may be a core network node.

[0059] The second network node 112 may be understood to be a radio network node having a capability to transmit a signal to sense an object 116 or an environment in the wireless communications network 100, that is, in a coverage area of the wireless communications network 100, and / or a capability to sense signals reflected by the object 116 in response to the transmission of the sensing signal. That is, the second network node 112 may be understood to be a sensing node. The second network node 112, that is, the sensing node or system, may refer to both the sensing transmitter and / or sensing receivers. In some examples, the sensing transmitter and sensing receiver may refer to the node, that is, manage the same logical entity. The object 116 is depicted in Figure 1 as a moving car, but this may be understood to be nonlimiting and for illustration purposes only.

[0060] Any of the one or more third network nodes 113 may be understood to be a radio network node having a capability to communicate with one or more devices. That is, the third network node 113 may be understood to be a communication transmitter and / or a communication receiver.

[0061] Any of the first network node 111 , the second network node 112 and the one or more third network nodes 113 may be co-localized or be the same node, that is, manage or run the same logical entity. In particular examples, the second network node 112, that is, the sensing transmitter, and at least one of the one or more third network nodes 113, that is, the communication transmitter, may refer to the same node, that is, manage or run the same logical entity.

[0062] In the non-limiting example depicted in Figure 1 a), the first network node 111 , the second network node 112 and at least one of the one or more third network nodes 113 are the same node, a radio network node on the left, equipped with a sensing and communication transmitter, that is communicating to two users and sensing for the object 116.

[0063] In the non-limiting example depicted in Figure 1 b), the one of the one or more third network nodes 113 comprise a single network node, and the second network node 112 and the third network node 113 are the same node, the radio network node on the left, equipped with a sensing and communication transmitter, that is communicating to two users and sensing for the object 116.

[0064] The wireless communications network 100 may cover a geographical area, which in some embodiments may be divided into cell areas, wherein each cell area may be served by a radio network node, although, one radio network node may serve one or several cells. In the example of Figure 1 , only a first cell 121 served by the third network node 113 and a second cell 122 served by the radio network node 114 are depicted. Any of the first network node 111 , the second network node 112, the one or more third network nodes 113 and the radio network node 114 operating in the wireless communications network 100 may be of different classes, such as, e.g., macro base station, home base station or pico base station, based on transmission power and thereby also cell size. Any of the first network node 111 , the second network node 112, the one or more third network nodes 113 and the radio network node 114 operating in the wireless communications network 100 may serve receiving nodes with serving beams, as depicted for the radio network node on the left in the non-limiting examples of Figure 1. Any of the first network node 111 , the second network node 112, the one or more third network nodes 113 and the radio network node 114 may support one or several communication technologies, and its name may depend on the technology and terminology used. Any of the first network node 111 , the second network node 112, the one or more third network nodes 113 and the radio network node 114 may be directly connected to one or more core networks, e.g., to one or more network nodes in the one or more core networks.

[0065] A set of receivers 130 is comprised in the wireless communication network 100. In the particular non-limiting examples of Figure 1 , the set of receivers comprises a first receiver 131 , as second receiver 132, a third receiver 133, a fourth receiver 134 and a fifth receiver 135. Each of the receivers in the set of receivers 130 may be understood to be able to receive radio transmissions in the wireless communications network 100. The one or more third network nodes 113 may communicate in the wireless communications network 100 with one or more first receivers 136, which in the particular non-limiting example of Figure 1 comprises the first receiver 131 and the second receiver 132.

[0066] Any of the receivers in the set of receivers 130 may be comprised in a wireless device, that is, a wireless communication device such as a 5G or 6G User Equipment (UE) or nUE, or a UE, which may also be known as e.g., mobile terminal, wireless terminal and / or mobile station, a mobile telephone, cellular telephone, or laptop with wireless capability, just to mention some further examples. Any of the wireless devices comprised in the wireless communications network 100, may be, for example, portable, pocket-storable, hand-held, computer-comprised, or a vehicle-mounted mobile device, enabled to communicate voice and / or data, via the RAN, with another entity, such as a server, a laptop, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or a tablet, Machine-to-Machine (M2M) device, a sensor, loT device, NB-loT device, device equipped with a wireless interface, such as a printer or a file storage device, modem, or any other radio network unit capable of communicating over a radio link in a communications system. Any of the wireless devices comprised in the wireless communications network 100, may be enabled to communicate wirelessly in the wireless communications network 100. The communication may be performed e.g., via a RAN, and possibly the one or more core networks, which may be comprised within the wireless communications network 100. The number of wireless devices depicted in Figure 1 may be understood to be for illustrative purposes only and non-limiting. Fewer or more wireless devices may be comprised in the wireless communication network 100. In the particular nonlimiting examples of Figure 1, the first receiver 131 is located in a radio system of a helicopter, the second receiver 132 and the fourth receiver 134 are comprised in different mobile telephones and the third receiver 133 is located in an unmanned aerial vehicle.

[0067] In some examples, such as depicted in Figure 1 for the fifth receiver 135, any of the receivers in the set of receivers 130 may be comprised in a radio network node, such as the radio network node 114 depicted on the right side of each of the non-limiting examples depicted in panels a) and b) of Figure 1. In some examples, the set of receivers 130 may comprise relay nodes and other sensing receivers. In some particular examples, the set of receivers 130 may comprise I AB nodes.

[0068] It may be understood that the wireless communications network 100 may comprise additional radio network nodes and / or additional receivers, e.g., wireless devices, than those depicted in Figure 1. The first network node 111 may be configured to communicate within the wireless communications network 100 with the second network node 112 over a first link 141 , e.g., a radio link, or a wired link. The first network node 111 may be configured to communicate within the wireless communications network 100 with the one or more third network nodes 113 over the first link 141 , in the examples wherein the one or more third network nodes 113 and the second network node 112 may be co-located, or in a different link, which is not depicted in Figure 1. Similarly, the second network node 112 may be configured to communicate within the wireless communications network 100 with the one or more third network nodes 113 over a respective link, also not depicted in Figure 1. The one or more third network nodes 113 may be configured to communicate within the wireless communications network 100 with the one or more first receivers 136 in the set of receivers over a respective second link 142, e.g., a radio link, or a wired link. This is depicted in Figure 1 for the respective second link 142 between the third network node 113 and the second receiver 132 only, to avoid overcrowding the Figure. The radio network node 114 may be configured to communicate within the wireless communications network 100 with one or more devices, such as each of the third receiver 133 and the fourth receiver 134 over a respective third link, e.g., a radio link, or a wired link, which is not depicted in Figure 1 to avoid overcrowding the Figure.

[0069] Any of the first link 141 , the different link and the respective link, may be a direct link or may be comprised of a plurality of individual links, wherein it may go via one or more computer systems or one or more core networks in the computer system 100, which are not depicted in Figure 1 , or it may go via an optional intermediate network. The intermediate network may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; the intermediate network, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, the intermediate network may comprise two or more sub-networks, which is not shown in Figure 1.

[0070] In general, the usage of “first”, “second”, “third” and / or “fourth”, herein may be understood to be an arbitrary way to denote different elements or entities, and may be understood to not confer a cumulative or chronological character to the nouns they modify.

[0071] Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is clearly given and / or is implied from the context in which it is used. All references to a / an / the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methods disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following or preceding another step and / or where it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, wherever appropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may apply to any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from the following description.

[0072] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0073] Embodiments of a method, performed by the first network node 111 , will now be described with reference to the flowchart depicted in Figure 2. The method may be understood to be computer-implemented. The method is for handling a configuration. The first network node 111 operates in the wireless communications network 100.

[0074] Several embodiments are comprised herein. In some embodiments all the actions may be performed. In some embodiments, some actions may be optional. In Figure 2, optional actions are indicated with dashed lines. It should be noted that the examples herein are not mutually exclusive. Components from one embodiment may be tacitly assumed to be present in another embodiment and it will be obvious to a person skilled in the art how those components may be used in the other exemplary embodiments. One or more embodiments may be combined, where applicable. All possible combinations are not described to simplify the description.

[0075] In some embodiments, the first network node 111 may be the same as the second network node 112.

[0076] In some embodiments, the second network node 112 may be the same as at least one or the one or more third network nodes 113.

[0077] Action 201

[0078] In this Action 201 , the first network node 111 may determine the set of receivers 130. That is, the set of receivers 130 in the wireless communications network 100 that may be expected to communicate in a first set of time-frequency resources. The first set of timefrequency resources may be understood to be time-frequency resources wherein the second network node 112 may transmit the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment in the wireless communications network 100.

[0079] The time-frequency resources may be understood to be radio time-frequency resources, such as, for example resource elements (REs).

[0080] The signal to sense the object 116 or the environment, that is, the sensing signal, may be one of a variety of choices. The suitability of a signal for sensing may be often characterized by an autocorrelation function of the signal. There may be understood to be trade-off between resolution and sidelobe suppression, and limitations due to hardware. Some non-limiting examples that may used as the signal may be chirp signals and Zadoff--Chu sequences. However, these examples may be understood to be for illustrative purposes. Embodiments herein, may be understood to not be limited to a particular type of sensing signal.

[0081] Embodiments herein may be understood to aim to ultimately enable to reduce the interference that transmission of a signal to sense the object 116 or the environment in the wireless communications network 100, that is, of a sensing signal, may cause to the set of receivers 130 listening to other signals when beam sweeping of the sensing signal may be performed by the second network node 112. The set of receivers 130 may be referred to be in embodiments herein as “protected receivers” or “protected users”, e.g., set ffprotect. The set or receivers 130 may be understood to be the set of receiver nodes that embodiments herein may seek to protect from interference. The set or receivers 130 may be understood to be receivers that may receive signals concurrently to the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment in the wireless communications network 100, both intra-cell and inter-cell. That is, concurrently to the sensing transmission. “Concurrently” may be understood to mean in the same time-frequency resources. The intra-cell users may be understood to be the communication receivers that may be receiving communication signals in the same timefrequency resources overlapping with sensing operation at the sensing transmitter.

[0082] The non-limiting example depicted in Figure 1 will be used to explain which set of receivers 130 may be protected receivers. Figure 1 illustrates a possible scenario where there is only one third network node 113, and the second network node 112 and the third network node 113 may be the same network node, the base station on the left. In other words, in Figure 1, the base station on the left is equipped with a sensing and communication transmitter. In this example, there are two cells: the first cell 121 and the second cell 122. In this non-limiting scenario, the second network node 112, that is, the sensing transmitter, may need to sense for the object 116, and the third network node 113, that is, the communication transmitter, may be communicating with two users, the first receiver 131 comprised in the helicopter, and the second receiver 132 comprised in the mobile telephone, over the same time-frequency resources between sensing signal and communication signal. The base station may be able to use beamforming to, e.g., transmit sensing beams. Embodiments herein may ultimately enable that the communication and sensing beams may be designed to limit the sensing interference observed by the one or more first receivers 136 in the set of receivers 130, that is, the communication receivers. Embodiments herein may also enable that the base station on the left may choose to design precoders for communication and sensing to protect receivers of the set of receivers 130 in the neighboring cell, that is the second cell 122, such as the third receiver 133, the fourth receiver 134 and the fifth receiver 135.

[0083] Accordingly, examples of the set of receivers 130, that is of protected users, may be communication receivers served by a communication transmitter that may be co-located with a sensing transmitter. This may be, for example, the first receiver 131 and the second receiver 132, served by the third network node 113, which is co-localized in Figure 1 with the second network node 113. Accordingly, the set of receivers 130, that is, the protected receivers, may comprise communication users in the same cell as the second network node 112, e.g. the first cell 121 in Figure 1.

[0084] Other examples of the set of receivers 130, that is of protected users, may be users in other cells, such as the second cell 122, e.g., communication users or sensing receivers in adjacent cells, or other base stations, such as the radio network node 114, that may either receive communication signals or sensing signals from a different sensing system operating in the same time-frequency resource.

[0085] In some examples, determining in this Action 201 may be understood as calculating, checking or selecting. In other examples, determining in this Action 201 may be understood to comprise receiving an indication of the set of receivers 130, as determined by a different node. That node may be, in some examples, any of the one or more third network nodes 113. In such examples, the determining of the set of receivers 130 in this Action 201 may comprise receiving an indication, referred to herein as “another indication”, from the third network node 113. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the set of receivers 130 may be indicated by another indication received from at least one of the one or more third network nodes 113 operating in the wireless communications network 100 expected to communicate with the set of receivers 130 in the first set of time-frequency resources.

[0086] In other examples, the determining in this Action 201 may be understood as fetching, e.g., from another node or memory in the wireless communications network 100, where the estimations may be stored.

[0087] The determining of the intra-cell receivers of the set of receivers 130 may be performed by selecting a first subset of the devices belonging to the respective cells of the one or more third network nodes 113, e.g., the first cell 121 in the non-limiting example of Figure 1, that may be active in the same time-frequency resource as the sensing transmission, that is the transmission of the signal.

[0088] The determining of the inter-cell receivers of the set of receivers 130 may be performed by selecting a second subset of devices belonging to adjacent cells, e.g., the second cell 122 in the non-limiting example of Figure 1 , that may be active in the same time-frequency resource as the sensing transmission, that is the transmission of the signal, or by listening to signals transmitted by the devices in the uplink, or by reading from a common database containing information about static receivers that may need to be protected from sensing transmissions, that is the transmissions of the signal.

[0089] By in this Action 201 determining the set of receivers 130, the first network node 111 may then be enabled to ultimately determine which configurations the second network node 112 may use to transmit the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment, such that interference on the set of receivers 130 may be avoided or kept under certain, tolerable, level.

[0090] Action 202

[0091] In this Action 202, the first network node 111 may obtain channel vectors of the set of receivers 130.

[0092] The channel vectors hsimay be understood to correspond to a set of estimates of respective channels between each of the receivers in the set of receivers 130 and the second network node 112, that is, the sensing transmitter. In other words, the channel vectors may comprise the estimates of the channels hi,hsifrom the communication transmitter and the sensing transmitter to receiver i, for all i e ffprotect-

[0093] Each of the estimates of the respective channels in the channel vector may be obtained in different ways, depending on what type of system and what type of protected user may be at hand. In some examples, obtaining may comprise determining, e.g., calculating itself. The first network node 111 may, for example, estimate the respective channels itself in embodiments wherein the first network node 111 may be co-localized or be the same network node as any of the second network node 112 or the one or more third network nodes 113. For example, in Figure 1 , there is only one third network node 113, and the base station is both the third network node 113, that is, the communication transmitter, and the second network node 112, that is, the sensing transmitter, hence the same channel estimates as already present in the third network node 113 may be used. In NR, for example, this may mean channel estimates obtained from sounding reference signals, potentially also from Channel State Information (CSI) reports. The wireless channel from the second network node 112, that is, the sensing transmitter, to the protected receivers in neighboring cells may be obtained by listening to uplink reference signals from these devices and / or inter-cell coordination, e.g., with the radio network node 114, in the non-limiting example of Figure 1. The channel to protected users that may not be communication receivers, but may be receivers with a known location, such as adjacent sensing receivers, may be obtained through geometrical calculations. For a stationary receiver with a fixed installation, such as the radio network node 114, e.g., a base station, that location information may be shared throughout the network a priori.

[0094] In other examples, obtaining may comprise receiving the calculation of the channel estimates from a different node, e.g., from each receiver in the set of receivers 130 or from the one or more third network nodes 113. This may apply, for example, in the case where the second network node 112, that is, the sensing transmitter and the one or more third network nodes 113, that is, the communication transmitter(s) may be different nodes. In some examples, the obtaining in this Action 202 may be performed by receiving the estimates of the respective channels between set of receivers 130 and the second network node 112 from the second network node 112, and the respective channels between the set of receivers 130 and the one or more third network nodes 113, from the one or more third network nodes 113. In some embodiments, the first network node 111 may obtain the channel vectors by receiving all the estimates of the channels from the at least one of the one or more third network nodes 113. That is, the third network node 113 may estimate the channels hi,hsifrom the one or more third network nodes 113, that is, the communication transmitter(s), and the second network node 112, that is, the sensing transmitter, to receiver i, for all i e ffprotect. In such examples, the obtaining of the channel vectors of the set of receivers 130 in this Action 202 may comprise receiving an indication, referred to herein as a “further indication”, from at least one of the one or more third network nodes 113. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the channel vectors may be indicated by a further indication received from at least one of the one or more third network nodes 113 operating in the wireless communications network 100.

[0095] The at least one third network node 113, that is, the at least one communication transmitter, may receive the estimate of the sensing transmitter channel to the set of receivers 130 by the network scheduling reference signal transmission and reception among the second network node 112 and the set of receivers 130, e.g., UEs. The first network node 111 may instruct the second network node 112 to send a reference signal (RS). At the same time it may instruct the one or more third network nodes 113 to inform the receivers to listen to this RS. The receiver may then measure on the RS and feed its measurement back to the one or more third network nodes 113, which may convey it to the first network node 111.The second network node 112 may transmit known reference signals, and the set of receivers 130 may listen, estimate the wireless channel from the second network node 112 to itself, and feedback to the at least one third network node 113. For neighboring cell receivers, such as the third receiver 133, and the fourth receiver 134 in the example of Figure 1 , e.g., UEs, the at least one third network node 113 may take into consideration the spatial location(s) and dominant transmit paths between the second network node 112 and the neighboring cell receivers, e.g., UEs, to protect from sensing transmissions. In the special case that the sensing transmitter and sensing receiver may manage the same logical node, the network, e.g., a communication receiver of the cell that a UE may belong to, may also schedule the sensing receiver to listen to the communication reference signals originating at the UE, or the radio network node 114, to estimate the wireless channel.

[0096] In examples wherein the protected receivers may have multiple antennae, the channel vectors hsimay have to include the effect of the receiver side beamforming. By obtaining the channel vectors in this Action 202, the first network node 111 may then be enabled to estimate the level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment in the first set of time-frequency resources on the set of receivers 130, as will be described later, in Action 204.

[0097] Action 203

[0098] In this Action 203, the first network node 111 may obtain a respective interference threshold for each receiver in the set of receivers 130.

[0099] In some examples, obtaining may comprise determining, e.g., calculating itself. The first network node 111 may, for example, calculate the respective interference thresholds itself in embodiments wherein the first network node 111 may be co-localized or be the same network node as any of the second network node 112 or the one or more third network nodes 113.

[0100] In other examples, obtaining may comprise receiving the calculation of the respective interference thresholds from a different node, e.g., from the one or more third network nodes 113. In such examples, the obtaining of the respective interference thresholds in this Action 203 may comprise receiving an indication, referred to herein as an “additional indication”, from the at least one of one or more third network nodes 113, e.g., the communication transmitter(s). Accordingly, in some embodiments, the respective interference threshold may be indicated by an additional indication received from at least one of the one or more third network nodes 113 operating in the wireless communications network 100.

[0101] The interference threshold may be calculated by estimating the maximum interference level that a receiver may tolerate and still obtain a desired communication performance. The interference threshold as well as the desired communication performance may be receiverspecific, that is, different receivers may have different thresholds and communication requirements. The tolerable interference level may be estimated based on coordination among neighboring cells, for receivers in neighboring cells, and by factoring in the desired Quality of Service (QoS). This may include, for instance, the target block error rate and the specifics of the communication transmission for receivers in the same cell. The specifics of the communication transmission towards the receivers in the same cell may comprise at least one of: the MCS applied, Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) scheme, Bandwidth (BW), the power control policy and the communication precoder and beam for communication.

[0102] The first network node 111 may estimate the maximum tolerable interference It that the sensing signal may be allowed to create at receiver i, for all the set of receivers 130, e.g., all i e ^protect- The maximum tolerable interference It may be estimated from a minimum acceptable Signal to Interference Noise Ratio (SINR) value and estimates of the useful receive power, noise power and the power of other interference sources. When the interference thresholds may be non-zero, but small, the sensing transmission may be understood to be in the approximate null-space of the channel vectors. When it may not be allowed to create any, or only very small, interference, the sensing transmission channel, including. TX beam weights, e.g., precodes or beam, may have to be, almost, in the null space of the channel between the one or more third network nodes 113 and the set of receivers 130. Both channels may be described as vectors, and null space may ensure transmissions happening in each channel may be, almost, orthogonal to each other.

[0103] By obtaining the respective interference thresholds in this Action 203, the first network node 111 may then be enabled to determine which configuration to transmit the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment the second network node 112 may need to use to ensure that the generated interference level at the set of receivers 130 may be guaranteed to be below the respective threshold for each of the receivers in the set of receivers 130.

[0104] Action 204

[0105] A plurality of configurations may be available to the second network node 112, that is, the sensing transmitter, for transmitting the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment. Any of the configurations in the plurality of configurations may be understood to be a sensing configuration. Any of the configurations in the plurality of configurations may comprise at least one of: a set of time-frequency resources, a sensing transmit power, a sensing sequence, one or more beam characteristics, one or more precoder selections, and one or more spatial areas to sense in.

[0106] The sensing sequence may be, e.g., a specific sequence of complex symbols transmitted on a selected set of subcarriers and Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols.

[0107] The one or more beam characteristics may be understood to comprise a set of precoding vectors, which may be the complex weights of the subcarriers and the antennas that may be applied to the sensing sequence, to direct the sensing signal in space. As an example, the sensing configuration may be captured by a series of beamforming vectors that may be all parameterized by their azimuth and zenith angles 6[n], <p[n] , Here n may be understood to denote the index of the nthbeam in the sensing beam sweeping.

[0108] A precoder selection may be understood as selecting one of the precodes. Each precoder may be understood to cover a different sensing area but may be understood to also create different interference towards the protected set of receivers 130.

[0109] Embodiments herein may be understood to aim at the first network node 111 being able to determine, out of the plurality of configurations available to the second network node 112, one or more first configurations to be used by the second network node 112 for transmitting the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment in the wireless communications network 100.

[0110] In this Action 204, the first network node 111 may obtain the estimate of the level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal. In some embodiments, the obtaining in this Action 204 of the estimate may comprise obtaining a first respective estimate of a respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with a respective configuration out of the plurality of configurations, for all the configurations in the plurality.

[0111] In some examples, obtaining may comprise determining, e.g., calculating itself. The first network node 111 may, for example, calculate the estimate of the level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal itself in embodiments wherein the first network node 111 may be co-localized or be the same network node as any of the second network node 112 or the one or more third network nodes 113. For example, in this Action 204, the first network node 111 , e.g., the sensing transmitter, may determine the impact of the sensing interference on the set of receivers 130, for all sensing configurations s e ^configurations ■

[0112] For example, denote the beamforming vector b(0[n], < [n]). The interference seen by receiver i e ffprotect may be given by the following inner product:

[0113] |< / >(e[n], <p[n]), hsi)\2, where the inner product between two vectors x,y may be denoted as {x,y).

[0114] In other examples, obtaining may comprise receiving the calculation of the estimate of the level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal from a different node, e.g., from the one or more third network nodes 113. In such examples, the obtaining of the estimate of the level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal in this Action 204 may comprise receiving a respective indication of the estimate of the level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal, from the one or more third network nodes 113, which may be referred to herein as “yet another indication”.

[0115] In some embodiments, the estimated level of interference may be based on the obtained channel vectors of the set of receivers 130 obtained in Action 202. For example, using the estimate of the wireless channel between the sensing transmitter and the set of receivers 130, the first network node 111 , or at least one of the one or more third network nodes 113, e.g., the communication transmitter(s), may now compute an estimate of the impacting interference that a sensing configuration may generate at the set of receivers 130.

[0116] In some embodiments, the obtaining in this Action 204 may further comprise arranging the respective configurations in the plurality of configurations into groups having the respective level of interference within a respective range. That is, the first network node 111 , which in some examples may be the second network node 112, e.g., the sensing transmitter, may arrange the sensing configurations s e 5configurationsinto groups {G51, GS2, ... , GS., - , GSM], where Gs.c^configurations. such that all the sensing configurations in the same group may have similar performance impact on the communication system. Technically, this means that a communication performance metric, e.g., the interference levels observed by the communication system, throughput, SINR, etc., may be the same or similar, for a defined fidelity criterion, for all sensing configurations s e Gs.. The grouping of sensing configurations may be based on a performance metric determined using the channel estimates.

[0117] To facilitate the determination of the groups any of the first network node 111 , the second network node 112 and the third network node 113, e.g., the sensing and communication system, may exchange information by signalling the following information: a) the sensing configurations s e ^configurations that the second network node 112 may use, b) the channel vectors of the set of receivers 130, c) the interference thresholds from the communication system, from which the first network node 111 may then determine which sensing groups the second network node 112 may use to ensure that the generated interference level may be guaranteed to be below a certain threshold and d) the level of the generated interference estimated, e.g., by the sensing system, based upon which the one or more third network nodes 113 may then select an appropriate MCS for their respective receiver UEs out of the set of receivers 130, e.g., the one or more one or more first receivers 136.

[0118] By obtaining the estimate of the level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal for all the configurations in the plurality in this Action 204, the first network node 111 then be enabled to determine which may be the one or more first configurations to be used by the second network node 112 for transmitting the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment in the wireless communications network 100, so that transmission of the signal may generate interference that may be less than or equal to the maximum tolerable interference level at the set of receivers 130, as will be explained in Action 207. This may in turn enable the first network node 111 to ensure that the interference caused by the second network node 112 operating in the same time-frequency resource as a communication network may be kept under control, enabling the sensing to transparently take place in a resource otherwise dedicated to communication, and enabling sensing to coexist in the same timefrequency resources with neighboring base stations.

[0119] Action 205

[0120] In this Action 205, the first network node 111 may send a first indication of the groups to the one or more third network nodes 113 operating in the wireless communications network 100 expected to communicate with the set of receivers 130 in the first set of time-frequency resources. By sending the first indication of the groups in this Action 205, the first network node 111 may enable that the one or more third network nodes 113 may optionally select, and then signal back to the first network node 111 a respective group to use for transmitting the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment. By sending the first indication of the groups in this Action 205, the first network node 111 may also enable that the one or more third network nodes 113 may calculate effective interference and then select a suitable MCS.

[0121] Action 206

[0122] In this Action 206, the first network node 111 may receive a respective second indication from at least one respective third network node 113, of the one or more third network nodes 113. The respective second indication may indicate at least one of: i) a respective group selected by the respective third network node 113 out of the groups indicated in the first indication, to use for transmitting the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment and ii) a second respective estimate, as determined by the respective third network node 113, of a respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with selected respective configurations for one or more of the groups.

[0123] The second respective estimate of the respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal may be understood as another respective estimate of the respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal as calculated by the third network node 113. The second respective estimate may be understood as an additional, more refined estimate of the respective level of interference, determined, that is, calculated, by the third network node 113, e.g., on each of the groups indicated in the first indication, and or / on each of the configurations in each of the groups indicated in the first indication.

[0124] In some examples of embodiments wherein the first network node 111 may, in this Action 206, receive from the at least one respective third network node 113 the respective second indication indicating the second respective estimate of a respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal, the first network node 111 may then select itself, a respective group, out of the groups indicated in the first indication, to use for transmitting the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment, based on the second respective estimate of a respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal, as indicated in the respective second indication.

[0125] By receiving the respective second indication in this Action 206, the first network node 111 may be enabled to then determine the one or more first configurations to be used by the second network node 112 to transmit the signal in the next Action 207, based on the received respective second indication. Action 207

[0126] In this Action 207, the first network node 111 determines one or more first configurations to be used by the second network node 112 for transmitting the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment in the wireless communications network 100. The one or more first configurations are determined out of the plurality of configurations available to the second network node 112 for transmitting the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment. With the proviso transmission of the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment with the one or more first configurations in the first set of time-frequency resources is estimated, based on a calculated estimate, to cause a level of interference at the set of receivers 130 in the wireless communications network 100, expected to communicate in the first set of time-frequency resources with the one or more third network nodes 113, lower than an interference threshold, the one or more first configurations are determined as the configuration or configurations, out of the plurality of configurations, resulting in a level of transmitted energy, by the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment in a desired direction, above an energy threshold. In other words, in this Action 207, the first network node 111 may be enabled to choose a sensing configuration such that the performance degradation seen by the users in the set of protected users may be limited to below a given threshold. Sensing configuration, that is, any of the plurality of configurations available to the second network node 112 for transmitting the signal, may be understood to refer to the set of parameters that may define the sensing transmission.

[0127] Calculated estimate may be understood to mean that the estimate has been calculated, and not based on an assumption on statistics, e.g., historical values.

[0128] To sense the object 116 or the environment in the wireless communications network 100, may be understood to mean to sense the object 116 or the environment in a coverage area of the wireless communications network 100.

[0129] In some embodiments, the one or more first configurations may comprise and at least one of: the first set of time-frequency resources, a power of transmission of the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment, a sensing sequence, one or more beam characteristics, one or more precoder selections, and one or more spatial areas wherein the signal is to be transmitted.

[0130] In some embodiments, the interference threshold may be based on the obtained respective interference thresholds in Action 203. Based on may be understood to mean calculated using, or selected from.

[0131] In some embodiments, in Action 204, the first network node 111 may have obtained the estimate of the level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with the one or more first configurations in the first set of time-frequency resources on the set of receivers 130. In some embodiments, the determining in this Action 207 may comprise maximizing a modulus of an inner product between a beamforming vector and a desired beamforming vector to be used to transmit the signal in the desired direction. In the desired beamforming vector, the level of interference at the set of receivers 130 may be understood to not have been considered.

[0132] The first network node 111 , which in some embodiments may be one of the one or more third network nodes 113, that is, a communication transmitter, may estimate the nthsensing precoder b*(e[n], < [n]) as a solution to an optimization routine, subject to a set of constraints on the interference observed at the receivers in the set of receivers 130, e.g., ffprotect. For example, the following choice of beamformer for the nthtime instant may maximize the energy transmitted in the desired direction 0[n], (p[n] by making the inner product between the beamforming vector and the steering vector / i(e[n], < [n]) in the desired direction. This may also be seen as the channel of the second network node 112 in the direction given by e[n], < [n]) as large as possible: where the set of admissible beamforming vectors may be given by all vectors that may limit the interference to below It’.

[0133] It may be noted that the special case, where = 0 for all i e ffprotect, the set of admissible beamforming vectors may consist of the null-space of the channel vectors hsiof the set of receivers 130, that is, the protected users. In that case, the sensing transmission may only be done in that null-space. When the interference thresholds may be non-zero, but small, the sensing transmission may be in the approximate null-space of the channel vectors.

[0134] The beamforming vector 6*(0[n],<p[n]) may thus be understood to correspond to the selected sensing configuration that may ensure that interference caused to the set of receivers 130, that is, the protected receivers, may be limited.

[0135] As stated earlier, in examples wherein the set of receivers 130, that is, the protected receivers, may have multiple antennae, the channel vectors hsimay include the effect of the receiver side beamforming.

[0136] In some embodiments, the determined one or more first configurations may comprise a set of configurations comprised in one of the groups. For example, the first network node 111, e.g., the sensing transmitter, may decide to only use sensing configurations in Gs., for some i, during a co-scheduled communication transmission. That is, only sensing configurations from a single group may be used. The determining in this Action 207 of the one or more first configurations may be based on the received respective second indication in Action 206.

[0137] In some examples, the determining in this Action 207 may be based or comprise receiving an indication indicating the one or more first configurations from at least one of the one or more third network nodes 113. In other words, in some examples, the at least one of the one or more third network nodes 113 may signal the sensing transmitter the sensing configuration to use. The communicated sensing configuration to use may be understood to generate interference that may be less than or equal to maximum tolerable interference level at the set of receivers 130.

[0138] By determining the one or more first configurations to be used by the second network node 112 for transmitting the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment in this Action 206, so that the one or more first configurations may be estimated to cause a level of interference at the set of receivers 130 lower than the interference threshold, but that may result in a level of transmitted energy above the energy threshold, the first network node 111 may be enabled to choose a sensing configuration such that the performance degradation seen by the users in the set of protected users may be limited to below a given threshold, while enabling to meet the required sensing performance and communication performance. This may apply even, for example, in the case the environment may be dispersive and there may be multipath propagation. Furthermore, the first network node 111 may enable an efficient use of spectral resources by not necessarily requiring usage of orthogonal resources.

[0139] Action 208

[0140] In this Action 208, the first network node 111 may send at least one of: a) a third indication of the estimated level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with the one or more first configurations, and b) a fourth indication of the one or more first configurations, to the one or more third network nodes 113 expected to communicate with the set of receivers 130 in the first set of time-frequency resources.

[0141] The precoder selections and sensing sequence may be signalled in this Action 209 via indices of a predefined codebook.

[0142] By sending the third indication to the one or more third network nodes 113 in this Action 208, the first network node 111 may enable that the one or more third network nodes 113 manage the interference that may be caused to the receivers 130, both intra-cell and inter-cell, from the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment in the wireless communications network 100, that is, the sensing signal, in such a way that the negative impact of the interference may be reduced. In some examples, the action may comprise selecting an appropriate MCS for their respective receiver UEs out of the set of receivers 130, e.g., the one or more one or more first receivers 136. By sending the fourth indication to the one or more third network nodes 113 in this Action 208, the first network node 111 may enable that the sensing and communication systems may co-exist over the same, fully or partially overlapping, time-frequency resource. In some examples, the first network node 111, may be the sensing transmitter, and may signal to the one or more third network nodes 113, e.g., the communication transmitter(s), the sensing configurations.

[0143] Action 209

[0144] In this Action 209, the first network node 111 initiates transmission of the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment using the determined one or more first configurations during the first set of time-frequency resources.

[0145] Initiating transmission may be understood as starting the transmission itself, e.g., in embodiments wherein the first network node 111 may be the same node as the second network node 112, or triggering, enabling, or facilitating another node, e.g., the second network node 112, may to perform the transmission.

[0146] By initiating transmission of the signal using the determined one or more first configurations in this Action 209, the first network node 111 may be enabled to achieve the advantages described in relation to Action 207, and thereby enable that the sensing and communication systems may co-exist over the same, fully or partially overlapping, timefrequency resource.

[0147] Embodiments of a method, performed by one of the one or more third network nodes 113, referred to herein as the third network node 113, will now be described with reference to the flowchart depicted in Figure 3. It may be understood that a similar method may be performed by any of the other one or more third network nodes 113. The method may be understood to be computer-implemented. The method is for handling a configuration. The third network node 113 operates in the wireless communications network 100.

[0148] Several embodiments are comprised herein. In some embodiments all the actions may be performed. In some embodiments, some embodiments of the actions may be optional. It should be noted that the examples herein are not mutually exclusive. Components from one embodiment may be tacitly assumed to be present in another embodiment and it will be obvious to a person skilled in the art how those components may be used in the other exemplary embodiments. One or more embodiments may be combined, where applicable. All possible combinations are not described to simplify the description. The detailed description of some of the following corresponds to the same references provided above, in relation to the actions described for the first network node 111 , and will thus not be repeated here. For example, in some embodiments, the transmission of the signal may be performed using beamforming.

[0149] Action 301

[0150] In this Action 301 , the third network node 113 may determine the set of receivers 130. This may be performed in a similar manner as described in Action 201.

[0151] Action 302

[0152] In this Action 302, the third network node 113 may send the another indication of the determined set of receivers 130 to the first network node 111.

[0153] Action 303

[0154] In this Action 303, the third network node 113 may obtain the channel vectors of the set of receivers 130. This may be performed in a similar manner as described in Action 202.

[0155] Action 304

[0156] In this Action 304, the third network node 113 may send the further indication of the obtained channel vectors to the first network node 111.

[0157] Action 305

[0158] In this Action 305, the third network node 113 may obtain the respective interference threshold for each receiver in the set of receivers 130.

[0159] This may be performed in a similar manner as described in Action 203.

[0160] Action 306

[0161] In this Action 306, the third network node 113 may send the additional indication of the obtained respective interference threshold to the first network node 111.

[0162] Any of the following Action 307, Action 308 and / or Action 309 may be performed in some embodiments, wherein the first network node 111 may have obtained the first respective estimate of the respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with the respective configuration out of the plurality of configurations, for all the configurations in the plurality, and wherein the first network node 111 may have arranged the respective configurations in the plurality of configurations into groups having the respective level of interference within the respective range.

[0163] Any of the following Action 307, Action 308 and / or Action 309 may be performed in some embodiments, wherein, additionally, the one or more first configurations have been determined, by the first network node 111 , out of the plurality of configurations available to the second network node 112 for transmitting the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment.

[0164] Action 307

[0165] In this Action 307, the third network node 113 may receive, from the first network node 111 , the first indication of the groups.

[0166] Action 308

[0167] In this Action 308, the third network node 113 may select, the respective group, out of the groups indicated in the first indication, to use for transmitting the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment. The selecting in this Action 308 may be based on the second respective estimate of the respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with selected respective configurations for one or more of the groups.

[0168] The second respective estimate of the respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal may be understood as another respective estimate of the respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal as calculated by the third network node 113. The second respective estimate may be understood as an additional, more refined estimate of the respective level of interference, determined, that is, calculated, by the third network node 113, e.g., on each of the groups indicated in the first indication, and or / on each of the configurations in each of the groups indicated in the first indication.

[0169] Action 309

[0170] In this Action 309, the third network node 113 may send the respective second indication to the first network node 111. The respective second indication may indicate the at least one of: i) the selected respective group in Action 308, and ii) the second respective estimate of the respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with selected respective configurations for the one or more of the groups.

[0171] Action 310

[0172] In this Action 310, the third network node 113 obtains the third indication of the estimated level of interference at the set of receivers 130 in the wireless communications network 100. The interference is estimated to be caused by the transmission, by the second network node 112 operating in the wireless communications network 100, in the first set of time-frequency resources, of the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment in the wireless communications network 100 with the one or more first configurations. The third network node 113 is expected to communicate with the one or more first receivers 136 in the set of receivers 130 in the first set of time-frequency resources. The obtaining in this Action 310 may comprise any of calculating itself, or receiving the third indication from the first network node 111.

[0173] The calculation of the estimated level of interference at the set of receivers 130 to be caused by the transmission, by the second network node 112 in the first set of time-frequency resources, of the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment may be understood to be performed in a similar manner as described in Action 204.

[0174] In some embodiments, the third indication may be based on the set of receivers 130 indicated in the another indication.

[0175] In some embodiments, the estimated level of interference indicated in the third indication may be based on the obtained channel vectors of the set of receivers 130 indicated in the further indication.

[0176] In some embodiments, the estimated level of interference indicated in the third indication may be based on the obtained respective interference threshold indicated in the additional indication.

[0177] In some embodiments, the one or more first configurations may comprise and at least one of: the first set of time-frequency resources, the power of transmission of the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment, the sensing sequence, the one or more beam characteristics, the one or more precoder selections, and the one or more spatial areas wherein the signal is to be transmitted.

[0178] In some embodiments, the one or more first configurations determined by the first network node 111 to be used to transmit the signal and on which the estimated level of interference at the set of receivers 130 indicated by the third indication may be based, may be based on the sent respective second indication.

[0179] Action 311

[0180] In this Action 311, the third network node 113 receives, from the first network node 111 operating in the wireless communications network 100, the fourth indication of the one or more first configurations, determined by the first network node 111 for transmission of the signal. The fourth indication is based on the obtained third indication.

[0181] The one or more first configurations may comprise the set of configurations comprised in one group having the level of interference within the range.

[0182] Action 312

[0183] In this Action 312, the third network node 113 initiates performance of an action to handle the estimated level of interference for communicating with the one or more first receivers 136 in the first set of time-frequency resources. In some embodiments, the action to handle the estimated level of interference may comprise selecting the MCS for communicating with the one or more first receivers 136 on the first set of time-frequency resources.

[0184] The aim of embodiments herein may be understood to be to manage the interference that may be caused to the receivers 130, both intra-cell and inter-cell, from the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment in the wireless communications network 100, that is, the sensing signal, in such a way that the negative impact of the interference may be reduced. In some examples, the action may comprise that the beams of the beam sweeping that may cause excessive interference may be skipped or modified.

[0185] Example of beam forming in the null-space of the protected users

[0186] To illustrate the embodiments herein with a non-limiting example, the system in Figure 1 will be used as a reference. The third network node 113 may be the communication transmitter and may create the set of receivers 130 as a set ffprotectof protected receivers, both intra-cell and inter-cell, to limit the interference level that these receivers may observe from the second network node 112, that is, the sensing transmitter. The intra-cell users may be the communication receivers that may be receiving communication signals in the same time-frequency resources overlapping with sensing operation at the sensing transmitter.

[0187] First, the communication transmitter may estimate the channels hi, hsifrom the communication transmitter and the sensing transmitter to receiver i, for all i e ffprotect. The communication transmitter may estimate the maximum tolerable interference It that the sensing signal may be allowed to create at receiver i, for all i e ffprotect. The maximum tolerable interference It may be estimated from a minimum acceptable SI NR value and estimates of the useful receive power, noise power and the power of other interference sources.

[0188] The sensing configuration in this example may be captured by a series of beamforming vectors that may be all parameterized by their azimuth and zenith angles 6[n], <p[n], Here n may be understood to denote the index of the nthbeam in the sensing beam sweeping.

[0189] Denote the beamforming vector b(e[n], < [n]). The interference seen by receiver i e ^protect may be given by the following inner product:

[0190] |< / >(e[n], <p[n]), hsi)\2, where the inner product between two vectors x,y may be denoted as {x,y).

[0191] The communication transmitter may estimate the nthsensing precoder b*(e[n], < [n]) as a solution to the optimization routine subject to the set of constraints on the interference observed at the receivers in ffprotect. For example, the following choice of beamformer for the nthtime instant may maximize the energy transmitted in the desired direction 6[n], <p[n] by making the inner product between the beamforming vector and the steering vector / i(e[n], < [n]) in the desired direction. This may also be seen as the channel of the sensing transmitter in the direction given by e[n], < [n]) as large as possible: where the set of admissible beamforming vectors may be given by all vectors that limits the interference to below It’.

[0192] It may be noted that the special case, where = 0 for all i e ffprotect, the set of admissible beamforming vectors may consist of the null-space of the channel vectors hsiof the protected users. In that case, the sensing transmission may only be done in that nullspace. When the interference thresholds may be non-zero, but small, the sensing transmission may be in the approximate null-space of the channel vectors.

[0193] The beamforming vector 6*(0[n],<p[n]) may thus constitute the selected sensing configuration that may ensure that interference caused to the protected receivers may be limited.

[0194] To generalize this example to the case of protected receivers with multiple antennae, the channel vectors hsimay include the effect of the receiver side beamforming.

[0195] Certain embodiments herein may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). Embodiments herein may be understood to enable to ensure that the interference caused by a sensing system that may operate in the same time-frequency resource as a communication network may be kept under control. Embodiments herein may be understood to further enable the sensing to transparently take place in a resource otherwise dedicated to communication, and may enable the sensing to coexist in the same time-frequency resources with neighboring base stations.

[0196] Figure 4 depicts an example of the arrangement that the first network node 111 may comprise to perform the method described in Figure 2. The first network node 111 may be understood to be for handling the configuration. The first network node 111 is configured to operate in the wireless communications network 100.

[0197] Several embodiments are comprised herein. It should be noted that the examples herein are not mutually exclusive. One or more embodiments may be combined, where applicable. All possible combinations are not described to simplify the description. Components from one embodiment may be tacitly assumed to be present in another embodiment and it will be obvious to a person skilled in the art how those components may be used in the other exemplary embodiments. The detailed description of some of the following corresponds to the same references provided above, in relation to the actions described for the first network node 111 , and will thus not be repeated here. For example, the in some embodiments, the transmission of the signal may be configured to be performed using beamforming.

[0198] The first network node 111 is configured to determine the one or more first configurations to be used by the second network node 112 for transmitting the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment in the wireless communications network 100. The one or more first configurations are configured to be determined out of the plurality of configurations configured to be available to the second network node 112 for transmitting the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment. With the proviso transmission of the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment with the one or more first configurations in the first set of timefrequency resources is estimated, based on the calculated estimate, to cause the level of interference at the set of receivers 130 in the wireless communications network 100, expected to communicate in the first set of time-frequency resources with the one or more third network nodes 113, lower than the interference threshold, the one or more first configurations are configured to be determined as the configuration or configurations, out of the plurality of configurations, resulting in the level of transmitted energy, by the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment in a the desired direction, above the energy threshold.

[0199] The first network node 111 is also configured to initiate transmission of the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment using the one or more first configurations configured to be determined, during the first set of time-frequency resources.

[0200] In some embodiments, the determining may be configured to comprise maximizing the modulus of the inner product between the beamforming vector and the desired beamforming vector to be used to transmit the signal in the desired direction. In the desired beamforming vector, the level of interference at the set of receivers 130 may be understood to be configured to be not considered.

[0201] In some embodiments, the first network node 111 may be further configured to obtain the estimate of the level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with the one or more first configurations in the first set of time-frequency resources on the set of receivers 130.

[0202] In some embodiments, the obtaining of the estimate may be configured to comprise obtaining the first respective estimate of the respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with the respective configuration out of the plurality of configurations, for all the configurations in the plurality.

[0203] In some embodiments, the obtaining may be further configured to comprise arranging the respective configurations in the plurality of configurations into groups having the respective level of interference within the respective range, and the one or more first configurations configured to be determined may be configured to comprise the set of configurations comprised in one of the groups.

[0204] In some embodiments, the first network node 111 may be further configured with the following two configurations.

[0205] In some embodiments, the first network node 111 may be further configured to send the first indication of the groups to the one or more third network nodes 113 configured to operate in the wireless communications network 100 configured to be expected to communicate with the set of receivers 130 in the first set of time-frequency resources.

[0206] In some embodiments, the first network node 111 may be further configured to receive the respective second indication from at least one respective third network node 113, of the one or more third network nodes 113. The respective second indication may be configured to indicate at least one of: i) the respective group selected by the respective third network node 113 out of the groups configured to be indicated in the first indication, to use for transmitting the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment, and ii) the second respective estimate, as configured to be determined by the respective third network node 113, of the respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with selected respective configurations for one or more of the groups,. The determining of the one or more first configurations may be configured to be based on the respective second indication configured to be received.

[0207] In some embodiments, the first network node 111 may be further configured to send at least one of: a) the third indication of the estimated level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with the one or more first configurations, and b) the fourth indication of the one or more first configurations, to the one or more third network nodes 113 configured to be expected to communicate with the set of receivers 130 in the first set of time-frequency resources.

[0208] In some embodiments, the first network node 111 may be further configured with at least one of the following three configurations.

[0209] In some embodiments, the first network node 111 may be further configured to determine the set of receivers 130.

[0210] In some embodiments, the first network node 111 may be further configured to obtain the channel vectors of the set of receivers 130. The estimated level of interference may be configured to be based on the channel vectors of the set of receivers 130 configured to be obtained.

[0211] In some embodiments, the first network node 111 may be further configured to obtain the respective interference threshold for each receiver in the set of receivers 130. The interference threshold may be configured to be based on the respective interference thresholds configured to be obtained. In some embodiments, at least one of the following may apply: a) the set of receivers 130 may be configured to be indicated by the another indication configured to be received from at least one of the one or more third network nodes 113 configured to operate in the wireless communications network 100, expected to communicate with the set of receivers 130 in the first set of time-frequency resources; b) the channel vectors may be configured to be indicated by the further indication configured to be received from at least one of the one or more third network nodes 113 configured to operate in the wireless communications network 100, and c) the respective interference threshold may be configured to be indicated by the additional indication configured to be received from at least one of the one or more third network nodes 113 configured to operate in the wireless communications network 100.

[0212] In some embodiments, at least one of the following may apply: a) the one or more first configurations may be configured to comprise and at least one of: the first set of timefrequency resources, the power of transmission of the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment, the sensing sequence, the one or more beam characteristics, the one or more precoder selections, and the one or more spatial areas wherein the signal may have to be transmitted, b) the first network node 111 may be configured to be the same as the second network node 112, and c) the second network node 112 may be configured to be the same as at least one of the one or more third network nodes 113.

[0213] The embodiments herein in the first network node 111 may be implemented through one or more processors, such as a processing circuitry 401 in the first network node 111 depicted in Figure 4, together with computer program code for performing the functions and actions of the embodiments herein. A processor, as used herein, may be understood to be a hardware component. The program code mentioned above may also be provided as a computer program product, for instance in the form of a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing the embodiments herein when being loaded into the first network node 111. One such carrier may be in the form of a CD ROM disc. It is however feasible with other data carriers such as a memory stick. The computer program code may furthermore be provided as pure program code on a server and downloaded to the first network node 111.

[0214] The first network node 111 may further comprise a memory 402 comprising one or more memory units. The memory 402 is arranged to be used to store obtained information, store data, configurations, schedulings, and applications etc. to perform the methods herein when being executed in the first network node 111.

[0215] In some embodiments, the first network node 111 may receive information from, e.g., the second network node 112, the third network node 113, the radio network node 114, any of the wireless devices or radio network nodes comprising the receivers in the set of receivers 130, and / or another structure in the wireless communications network 100, through a receiving port 403. In some embodiments, the receiving port 403 may be, for example, connected to one or more antennas in first network node 111. In other embodiments, the first network node 111 may receive information from another structure in the communications network 100 through the receiving port 403. Since the receiving port 403 may be in communication with the processing circuitry 401 , the receiving port 403 may then send the received information to the processing circuitry 401. The receiving port 403 may also be configured to receive other information.

[0216] The processing circuitry 401 in the first network node 111 may be further configured to transmit or send information to e.g., the second network node 112, the third network node 113, the radio network node 114, any of the wireless devices or radio network nodes comprising the receivers in the set of receivers 130, the set of receivers 130, and / or another structure in the wireless communications network 100, through a sending port 404, which may be in communication with the processing circuitry 401, and the memory 402.

[0217] Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the units comprised within the first network node 111 described above as being configured to perform different actions, may refer to a combination of analog and digital circuits, and / or one or more processors configured with software and / or firmware, e.g., stored in memory, that, when executed by the one or more processors such as the processing circuitry 401 , perform as described above. One or more of these processors, as well as the other digital hardware, may be included in a single Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or several processors and various digital hardware may be distributed among several separate components, whether individually packaged or assembled into a System-on-a-Chip (SoC).

[0218] The first network node 111 may be configured to perform any of the Actions described in relation to Figure 2, e.g., by means of the processing circuitry 401 within the first network node 111 , configured to perform any of such actions.

[0219] Also, in some embodiments, different units comprised within the first network node 111 may be configured to perform the different actions described above, implemented as one or more applications running on one or more processors such as the processing circuitry 401.

[0220] Thus, the methods according to the embodiments described herein for the first network node 111 may be respectively implemented by means of a computer program 405 product, comprising instructions, i.e., software code portions, which, when executed on at least one processing circuitry 401, cause the at least one processing circuitry 401 to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the first network node 111. The computer program 405 product may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium 406. The computer- readable storage medium 406, having stored thereon the computer program 405, may comprise instructions which, when executed on at least one processing circuitry 401, cause the at least one processing circuitry 401 to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the first network node 111. In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium 406 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, such as a CD ROM disc, or a memory stick. In other embodiments, the computer program 405 product may be stored on a carrier containing the computer program 405 just described, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or the computer-readable storage medium 406, as described above.

[0221] The first network node 111 may comprise a communication interface configured to facilitate, or an interface unit to facilitate, communications between the first network node 111 and other nodes or devices, e.g., the second network node 112, the third network node 113, the radio network node 114, any of the wireless devices or radio network nodes comprising the receivers in the set of receivers 130, the set of receivers 130, and / or another structure in the wireless communications network 100. The interface may, for example, include a transceiver configured to transmit and receive radio signals over an air interface in accordance with a suitable standard.

[0222] In other embodiments, the first network node 111 may comprise a radio circuitry 407, which may comprise e.g., the receiving port 403 and the sending port 404.

[0223] The radio circuitry 407 may be configured to set up and maintain at least a wireless connection with any of the devices in the plurality of first devices 110, such as the second network node 112, the third network node 113, the radio network node 114, any of the wireless devices or radio network nodes comprising the receivers in the set of receivers 130, the set of receivers 130, and / or another structure in the wireless communications network 100. Circuitry may be understood herein as a hardware component.

[0224] Hence, embodiments herein also relate to the first network node 111 operative to operate in the communications network 100. The first network node 111 may comprise the processing circuitry 401 and the memory 402, said memory 402 containing instructions executable by said processing circuitry 401 , whereby the first network node 111 is further operative to perform the actions described herein in relation to the first network node 111, e.g., in Figure 2.

[0225] Figure 5 depicts an example of the arrangement that the third network node 113 may comprise to perform the method described in Figure 3. The third network node 113 may be understood to be for handling the configuration. The third network node 113 is configured to operate in the wireless communications network 100.

[0226] Several embodiments are comprised herein. It should be noted that the examples herein are not mutually exclusive. One or more embodiments may be combined, where applicable. All possible combinations are not described to simplify the description. Components from one embodiment may be tacitly assumed to be present in another embodiment and it will be obvious to a person skilled in the art how those components may be used in the other exemplary embodiments. The detailed description of some of the following corresponds to the same references provided above, in relation to the actions described for the third network node 113, and will thus not be repeated here. For example, the in some embodiments, the transmission of the signal may be configured to be performed using beamforming.

[0227] The third network node 113 is configured to obtain the third indication of the estimated level of interference at the set of receivers 130 in the wireless communications network 100. The interference is configured to be estimated to be caused by transmission, by the second network node 112 configured to operate in the wireless communications network 100, in the first set of time-frequency resources, of the signal to sense an object 116 or the environment in the wireless communications network 100 with one or more first configurations. The third network node 113 is expected to communicate with one or more first receivers 136 in the set of receivers 130 in the first set of time-frequency resources.

[0228] The third network node 113 is also configured to receive, from the first network node 111 configured to operate in the wireless communications network 100, the fourth indication of the one or more first configurations, configured to be determined by the first network node 111 for transmission of the signal. The fourth indication is configured to be based on the third indication configured to be obtained.

[0229] The third network node 113 is further configured to initiate performance of the action to handle the estimated level of interference for communicating with the one or more first receivers 136 in the first set of time-frequency resources.

[0230] In some embodiments, the one or more first configurations may be configured to comprise the set of configurations configured to be comprised in one group configured to have the level of interference within the range.

[0231] In some embodiments, the third network node 113 may be further configured with the following three configurations. These may be embodiments wherein the one or more first configurations may be configured to have been determined, by the first network node 111 , out of the plurality of configurations configured to be available to the second network node 112 for transmitting the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment. The first network node 111 may be configured to have obtained the first respective estimate of the respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with the respective configuration out of the plurality of configurations, for all the configurations in the plurality. The first network node 111 may be configured to have arranged the respective configurations in the plurality of configurations into groups configured to have the respective level of interference within the respective range.

[0232] The third network node 113 may be further configured to receive, from the first network node 111 , the first indication of the groups. The third network node 113 may be further configured to select, the respective group, out of the groups configured to be indicated in the first indication, to use for transmitting the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment. The selecting may be configured to be based on the second respective estimate of the respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with the selected respective configurations for the one or more of the groups.

[0233] The third network node 113 may be further configured to send the respective second indication to the first network node 111. The respective second indication may be configured to indicate at least one of: i) the selected respective group, and ii) the second respective estimate of the respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with selected respective configurations for the one or more of the groups. The one or more first configurations configured to be determined by the first network node 111 to be used to transmit the signal and on which the estimated level of interference at the set of receivers 130 configured to be indicated by the third indication may be based, may be configured to be based on the respective second indication configured to be sent.

[0234] In some embodiments, the third network node 113 may be further configured with the following six configurations.

[0235] The third network node 113 may be further configured to determine the set of receivers 130.

[0236] The third network node 113 may be further configured to send the another indication of the determined set of receivers 130 to the first network node 111. The third indication may be configured to be based on the set of receivers 130 configured to be indicated in the another indication.

[0237] The third network node 113 may be further configured to obtain the channel vectors of the set of receivers 130.

[0238] The third network node 113 may be further configured to send the further indication of the channel vectors configured to be obtained to the first network node 111. The estimated level of interference configured to be indicated in the third indication may be configured to be based on the obtained channel vectors of the set of receivers 130 configured to be indicated in the further indication.

[0239] The third network node 113 may be further configured to obtain the respective interference threshold for each receiver in the set of receivers 130.

[0240] The third network node 113 may be further configured to send the additional indication of the respective interference threshold configured to be obtained to the first network node 111. The estimated level of interference configured to be indicated in the third indication may be configured to be based on the obtained respective interference threshold configured to be indicated in the additional indication. In some embodiments, at least one of the following may apply: a) the one or more first configurations may be configured to comprise and at least one of: the first set of timefrequency resources, the power of transmission of the signal to sense the object 116 or the environment, the sensing sequence, the one or more beam characteristics, the one or more precoder selections, and the one or more spatial areas wherein the signal may have to be transmitted, b) the first network node 111 may be configured to be the same as the second network node 112, c) the second network node 112 may be configured to be the same as the third network node 113 and d) the action to handle the estimated level of interference may be configured to comprise selecting the MCS for communicating with the one or more first receivers 136 on the first set of time-frequency resources.

[0241] The embodiments herein in the third network node 113 may be implemented through one or more processors, such as a processing circuitry 501 in the third network node 113 depicted in Figure 5, together with computer program code for performing the functions and actions of the embodiments herein. A processor, as used herein, may be understood to be a hardware component. The program code mentioned above may also be provided as a computer program product, for instance in the form of a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing the embodiments herein when being loaded into the third network node 113. One such carrier may be in the form of a CD ROM disc. It is however feasible with other data carriers such as a memory stick. The computer program code may furthermore be provided as pure program code on a server and downloaded to the third network node 113.

[0242] The third network node 113 may further comprise a memory 502 comprising one or more memory units. The memory 502 is arranged to be used to store obtained information, store data, configurations, schedulings, and applications etc. to perform the methods herein when being executed in the third network node 113.

[0243] In some embodiments, the third network node 113 may receive information from, e.g., the first network node 111 , the second network node 112, the radio network node 114, any of the wireless devices or radio network nodes comprising the receivers in the set of receivers 130, and / or another structure in the wireless communications network 100, through a receiving port 503. In some embodiments, the receiving port 503 may be, for example, connected to one or more antennas in third network node 113. In other embodiments, the third network node 113 may receive information from another structure in the communications network 100 through the receiving port 503. Since the receiving port 503 may be in communication with the processing circuitry 501 , the receiving port 503 may then send the received information to the processing circuitry 501. The receiving port 503 may also be configured to receive other information. The processing circuitry 501 in the third network node 113 may be further configured to transmit or send information to e.g., the first network node 111, the second network node 112, the radio network node 114, any of the wireless devices or radio network nodes comprising the receivers in the set of receivers 130, the set of receivers 130, and / or another structure in the wireless communications network 100, through a sending port 504, which may be in communication with the processing circuitry 501, and the memory 502.

[0244] Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the units comprised within the third network node 113 described above as being configured to perform different actions, may refer to a combination of analog and digital circuits, and / or one or more processors configured with software and / or firmware, e.g., stored in memory, that, when executed by the one or more processors such as the processing circuitry 501 , perform as described above. One or more of these processors, as well as the other digital hardware, may be included in a single Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or several processors and various digital hardware may be distributed among several separate components, whether individually packaged or assembled into a System-on-a-Chip (SoC).

[0245] The third network node 113 may be configured to perform any of the Actions described in relation to Figure 3, e.g., by means of the processing circuitry 501 within the third network node 113, configured to perform any of such actions.

[0246] Also, in some embodiments, different units comprised within the third network node 113 may be configured to perform the different actions described above, implemented as one or more applications running on one or more processors such as the processing circuitry 501.

[0247] Thus, the methods according to the embodiments described herein for the third network node 113 may be respectively implemented by means of a computer program 505 product, comprising instructions, i.e., software code portions, which, when executed on at least one processing circuitry 501 , cause the at least one processing circuitry 501 to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the third network node 113. The computer program 505 product may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium 506. The computer- readable storage medium 506, having stored thereon the computer program 505, may comprise instructions which, when executed on at least one processing circuitry 501 , cause the at least one processing circuitry 501 to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the third network node 113. In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium 506 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, such as a CD ROM disc, or a memory stick. In other embodiments, the computer program 505 product may be stored on a carrier containing the computer program 505 just described, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or the computer-readable storage medium 506, as described above. The third network node 113 may comprise a communication interface configured to facilitate, or an interface unit to facilitate, communications between the third network node 113 and other nodes or devices, e.g., the first network node 111 , the second network node 112, the radio network node 114, any of the wireless devices or radio network nodes comprising the receivers in the set of receivers 130, the set of receivers 130, and / or another structure in the wireless communications network 100. The interface may, for example, include a transceiver configured to transmit and receive radio signals over an air interface in accordance with a suitable standard.

[0248] In other embodiments, the third network node 113 may comprise a radio circuitry 507, which may comprise e.g., the receiving port 503 and the sending port 504.

[0249] The radio circuitry 507 may be configured to set up and maintain at least a wireless connection with the first network node 111 , the second network node 112, the radio network node 114, any of the wireless devices or radio network nodes comprising the receivers in the set of receivers 130, the set of receivers 130, and / or another structure in the wireless communications network 100. Circuitry may be understood herein as a hardware component.

[0250] Hence, embodiments herein also relate to the third network node 113 operative to operate in the communications network 100. The third network node 113 may comprise the processing circuitry 501 and the memory 502, said memory 502 containing instructions executable by said processing circuitry 501, whereby the third network node 113 is further operative to perform the actions described herein in relation to the third network node 113, e.g., in Figure 3.

[0251] When using the word "comprise" or “comprising”, it shall be interpreted as non- limiting, i.e. , meaning "consist at least of".

[0252] The embodiments herein are not limited to the above-described preferred embodiments. Various alternatives, modifications and equivalents may be used. Therefore, the above embodiments should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention.

[0253] Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is clearly given and / or is implied from the context in which it is used. All references to a / an / the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methods disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following or preceding another step and / or where it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, wherever appropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may apply to any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from the following description.

[0254] As used herein, the expression “at least one of:” followed by a list of alternatives separated by commas, and wherein the last alternative is preceded by the “and” term, may be understood to mean that only one of the list of alternatives may apply, more than one of the list of alternatives may apply or all of the list of alternatives may apply. This expression may be understood to be equivalent to the expression “at least one of:” followed by a list of alternatives separated by commas, and wherein the last alternative is preceded by the “or” term.

[0255] Any of the terms processor and circuitry may be understood herein as a hardware component.

[0256] As used herein, the expression “in some embodiments” has been used to indicate that the features of the embodiment described may be combined with any other embodiment or example disclosed herein.

[0257] As used herein, the expression “in some examples” has been used to indicate that the features of the example described may be combined with any other embodiment or example disclosed herein.

[0258] REFERENCES

[0259] 1. Bayesteh et al., Integrated Sensing and Communication (I SAC) — From Concept to Practice, Huawei 6G Research Team, 2022. https: / / www.huawei.com / en / huaweitech / future-technoloqies / inteqrated-sensinq- communication-concept-practice.

[0260] 2. WO2022169266A1 SENSING IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM https: / / worldwide.espacenet.com / patent / search?q=pn%3DWO2022169266A1.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method for handling a configuration, performed by a first network node (111) operating in a wireless communications network (100), the method comprising:- determining (207) one or more first configurations to be used by a second network node (112) for transmitting a signal to sense an object (116) or an environment in the wireless communications network (100), the one or more first configurations being determined out of a plurality of configurations available to the second network node (112) for transmitting the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment, wherein: a. with the proviso transmission of the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment with the one or more first configurations in a first set of time-frequency resources is estimated, based on a calculated estimate, to cause a level of interference at a set of receivers (130) in the wireless communications network (100), expected to communicate in the first set of time-frequency resources with one or more third network nodes (113), lower than an interference threshold, b. the one or more first configurations are determined as the configuration, or configurations, out of the plurality of configurations, resulting in a level of transmitted energy, by the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment in a desired direction, above an energy threshold, and- initiating transmission (209) of the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment using the determined one or more first configurations during the first set of time-frequency resources.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining (207) comprises maximizing a modulus of an inner product between a beamforming vector and a desired beamforming vector to be used to transmit the signal in the desired direction, wherein the level of interference at the set of receivers (130) is not considered.

3. The method according to any of claims 1-2, further comprising:- obtaining (204) the estimate of the level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with the one or more first configurations in the first set of timefrequency resources on the set of receivers (130).

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the obtaining (204) of the estimate comprises obtaining a first respective estimate of a respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with a respective configuration out of the plurality of configurations, for all the configurations in the plurality.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the obtaining (204) further comprises arranging the respective configurations in the plurality of configurations into groups having the respective level of interference within a respective range, and wherein the determined one or more first configurations comprise a set of configurations comprised in one of the groups.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:- sending (205) a first indication of the groups to the one or more third network nodes (113) operating in the wireless communications network (100) expected to communicate with the set of receivers (130) in the first set of time-frequency resources, and- receiving (206) a respective second indication from at least one respective third network node (113), of the one or more third network nodes (113), the respective second indication indicating at least one of: i. a respective group selected by the respective third network node (113) out of the groups indicated in the first indication, to use for transmitting the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment, and ii. a second respective estimate, as determined by the respective third network node (113), of a respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with selected respective configurations for one or more of the groups, and wherein the determining (207) of the one or more first configurations is based on the received respective second indication.

7. The method according to any of claims 3-6, further comprising:- sending (208) at least one of: a) a third indication of the estimated level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with the one or more first configurations, and b) a fourth indication of the one or more first configurations, to the one or more third network nodes (113) expected to communicate with the set of receivers (130) in the first set of time-frequency resources.

8. The method according to any of claims 1-7, further comprising at least one of:- determining (201) the set of receivers (130),- obtaining (202) channel vectors of the set of receivers (130), and wherein the estimated level of interference is based on the obtained channel vectors of the set of receivers (130), and- obtaining (203) a respective interference threshold for each receiver in the set of receivers (130), and wherein the interference threshold is based on the obtained respective interference thresholds.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising at least one of: a. the set of receivers (130) is indicated by another indication received from at least one of the one or more third network nodes (113) operating in the wireless communications network (100) expected to communicate with the set of receivers (130) in the first set of time-frequency resources, b. the channel vectors are indicated by a further indication received from at least one of the one or more third network nodes (113) operating in the wireless communications network (100), and c. the respective interference threshold is indicated by an additional indication received from at least one of the one or more third network nodes (113) operating in the wireless communications network (100).

10. The method according to any of claims 1-9, wherein at least one of: a. the one or more first configurations comprise and at least one of: i. the first set of time-frequency resources, ii. a power of transmission of the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment, iii. a sensing sequence, iv. one or more beam characteristics, v. one or more precoder selections, and vi. one or more spatial areas wherein the signal is to be transmitted, b. the first network node (111) is the same as the second network node (112), and c. the second network node (112) is the same as at least one of the one or more third network nodes (113).

11. A method for handling a configuration, performed by a third network node (113) operating in a wireless communications network (100), the method comprising:- obtaining (310) a third indication of an estimated level of interference at a set of receivers (130) in the wireless communications network (100), wherein theinterference is estimated to be caused by transmission, by a second network node (112) operating in the wireless communications network (100), in a first set of timefrequency resources, of a signal to sense an object (116) or an environment in the wireless communications network (100) with one or more first configurations, wherein the third network node (113) is expected to communicate with one or more first receivers (136) in the set of receivers (130) in the first set of time-frequency resources, and- receiving (311), from a first network node (111) operating in the wireless communications network (100), a fourth indication of the one or more first configurations, determined by the first network node (111) for transmission of the signal, the fourth indication being based on the obtained third indication, and- initiating (312) performance of an action to handle the estimated level of interference for communicating with the one or more first receivers (136) in the first set of time-frequency resources.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the one or more first configurations comprise a set of configurations comprised in one group having a level of interference within a range.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the one or more first configurations have been determined, by the first network node (111), out of a plurality of configurations available to the second network node (112) for transmitting the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment, wherein the first network node (111) has obtained a first respective estimate of a respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with a respective configuration out of the plurality of configurations, for all the configurations in the plurality, wherein the first network node (111) has arranged the respective configurations in the plurality of configurations into groups having a respective level of interference within a respective range, and wherein the method further comprises:- receiving (307), from the first network node 111 , a first indication of the groups,- selecting (308), a respective group, out of the groups indicated in the first indication, to use for transmitting the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment, the selecting (308) being based on a second respective estimate of a respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with selected respective configurations for one or more of the groups, and- sending (309) a respective second indication to the first network node (111), the respective second indication indicating at least one of: i. the selected respective group, and ii. the second respective estimate of the respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with selected respective configurations for the one or more of the groups, and wherein the one or more first configurations determined by the first network node (111) to be used to transmit the signal and on which the estimated level of interference at the set of receivers (130) indicated by the third indication is based, is based on the sent respective second indication.

14. The method according to any of claims 11-13, further comprising at least one of:- determining (301) the set of receivers (130),- sending (302) another indication of the determined set of receivers (130) to the first network node (111), and wherein the third indication is based on the set of receivers (130) indicated in the another indication,- obtaining (303) channel vectors of the set of receivers (130),- sending (304) a further indication of the obtained channel vectors to the first network node (111), and wherein the estimated level of interference indicated in the third indication is based on the obtained channel vectors of the set of receivers (130) indicated in the further indication,- obtaining (305) a respective interference threshold for each receiver in the set of receivers (130), and- sending (306) an additional indication of the obtained respective interference threshold to the first network node (111), and wherein the estimated level of interference indicated in the third indication is based on the obtained respective interference threshold indicated in the additional indication.

15. The method according to any of claims 11-14, wherein at least one of: a. the one or more first configurations comprise at least one of: i. the first set of time-frequency resources, ii. a power of transmission of the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment, iii. a sensing sequence, iv. one or more beam characteristics, v. one or more precoder selections, andvi. one or more spatial areas wherein the signal is to be transmitted, b. the first network node (111) is the same as the second network node (112), c. the second network node (112) is the same as the third network node (113), and d. the action to handle the estimated level of interference comprises selecting a Modulation Coding Scheme for communicating with the one or more first receivers (136) on the first set of time-frequency resources.

16. A first network node (111) for handling a configuration, the first network node (111) being configured to operate in a wireless communications network (100), the first network node (111) being further configured to:- determine one or more first configurations to be used by a second network node (112) for transmitting a signal to sense an object (116) or an environment in the wireless communications network (100), the one or more first configurations being configured to be determined out of a plurality of configurations configured to be available to the second network node (112) for transmitting the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment, wherein: a. with the proviso transmission of the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment with the one or more first configurations in a first set of time-frequency resources is estimated, based on a calculated estimate, to cause a level of interference at a set of receivers (130) in the wireless communications network (100), expected to communicate in the first set of time-frequency resources with one or more third network nodes (113), lower than an interference threshold, b. the one or more first configurations are configured to be determined as the configuration or configurations, out of the plurality of configurations, resulting in a level of transmitted energy, by the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment in a desired direction, above an energy threshold, and- initiate transmission of the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment using the one or more first configurations configured to be determined, during the first set of time-frequency resources.

17. The first network node (111) according to claim 16, wherein the determining is configured to comprise maximizing a modulus of an inner product between a beamforming vector and a desired beamforming vector to be used to transmit the signalin the desired direction, wherein the level of interference at the set of receivers (130) is configured to be not considered.

18. The first network node (111) according to any of claims 16-17, being further configured to:- obtain the estimate of the level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with the one or more first configurations in the first set of time-frequency resources on the set of receivers (130).

19. The first network node (111) according to claim 18, wherein the obtaining of the estimate is configured to comprise obtaining a first respective estimate of a respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with a respective configuration out of the plurality of configurations, for all the configurations in the plurality.

20. The first network node (111) according to claim 19, wherein the obtaining is further configured to comprise arranging the respective configurations in the plurality of configurations into groups having the respective level of interference within a respective range, and wherein the one or more first configurations configured to be determined are configured to comprise a set of configurations comprised in one of the groups.

21. The first network node (111) according to claim 20, being further configured to:- send a first indication of the groups to the one or more third network nodes (113) configured to operate in the wireless communications network (100) configured to be expected to communicate with the set of receivers (130) in the first set of timefrequency resources, and- receive a respective second indication from at least one respective third network node (113), of the one or more third network nodes (113), the respective second indication being configured to indicate at least one of: i. a respective group selected by the respective third network node (113) out of the groups configured to be indicated in the first indication, to use for transmitting the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment, and ii. a second respective estimate, as configured to be determined by the respective third network node (113), of a respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with selected respective configurations for one or more of the groups,and wherein the determining of the one or more first configurations is configured to be based on the respective second indication configured to be received.

22. The first network node (111) according to any of claims 18-21, being further configured to:- send at least one of: a) a third indication of the estimated level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with the one or more first configurations, and b) a fourth indication of the one or more first configurations, to the one or more third network nodes (113) configured to be expected to communicate with the set of receivers (130) in the first set of time-frequency resources.

23. The first network node (111) according to any of claims 16-22, being further configured to at least one of:- determine the set of receivers (130),- obtain channel vectors of the set of receivers (130), and wherein the estimated level of interference is configured to be based on the channel vectors of the set of receivers (130) configured to be obtained, and- obtain a respective interference threshold for each receiver in the set of receivers (130), and wherein the interference threshold is configured to be based on the respective interference thresholds configured to be obtained.

24. The first network node (111) according to claim 23, wherein at least one of: a. the set of receivers (130) is configured to be indicated by another indication configured to be received from at least one of the one or more third network nodes (113) configured to operate in the wireless communications network (100) expected to communicate with the set of receivers (130) in the first set of time-frequency resources, b. the channel vectors are configured to be indicated by a further indication configured to be received from at least one of the one or more third network nodes (113) configured to operate in the wireless communications network (100), and c. the respective interference threshold is configured to be indicated by an additional indication configured to be received from at least one of the one or more third network nodes (113) configured to operate in the wireless communications network (100).

25. The first network node (111) according to any of claims 16-24, wherein at least one of: a. the one or more first configurations are configured to comprise and at least one of: i. the first set of time-frequency resources, ii. a power of transmission of the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment, iii. a sensing sequence, iv. one or more beam characteristics, v. one or more precoder selections, and vi. one or more spatial areas wherein the signal is to be transmitted, b. the first network node (111) is configured to be the same as the second network node (112), and c. the second network node (112) is configured to be the same as at least one of the one or more third network nodes (113).

26. A third network node (113) for handling a configuration, the third network node (113) being configured to operate in a wireless communications network (100), the third network node (113) being further configured to:- obtain a third indication of an estimated level of interference at a set of receivers (130) in the wireless communications network (100), wherein the interference is configured to be estimated to be caused by transmission, by a second network node (112) configured to operate in the wireless communications network (100), in a first set of time-frequency resources, of a signal to sense an object (116) or an environment in the wireless communications network (100) with one or more first configurations, wherein the third network node (113) is expected to communicate with one or more first receivers (136) in the set of receivers (130) in the first set of time-frequency resources, and- receive, from a first network node (111) configured to operate in the wireless communications network (100), a fourth indication of the one or more first configurations, configured to be determined by the first network node (111) for transmission of the signal, the fourth indication being configured to be based on the third indication configured to be obtained, and- initiate performance of an action to handle the estimated level of interference for communicating with the one or more first receivers (136) in the first set of timefrequency resources.

27. The third network node (113) according to claim 26, wherein the one or more first configurations are configured to comprise a set of configurations configured to be comprised in one group configured to have a level of interference within a range.

28. The third network node (113) according to claim 27, wherein the one or more first configurations are configured to have been determined, by the first network node (111), out of a plurality of configurations configured to be available to the second network node (112) for transmitting the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment, wherein the first network node (111) is configured to have obtained a first respective estimate of a respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with a respective configuration out of the plurality of configurations, for all the configurations in the plurality, wherein the first network node (111) is configured to have arranged the respective configurations in the plurality of configurations into groups configured to have a respective level of interference within a respective range, and wherein the third network node (113) is further configured to:- receive, from the first network node 111 , a first indication of the groups,- select, a respective group, out of the groups configured to be indicated in the first indication, to use for transmitting the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment, the selecting being configured to be based on a second respective estimate of a respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with selected respective configurations for one or more of the groups, and- send a respective second indication to the first network node (111), the respective second indication being configured to indicate at least one of: i. the selected respective group, and ii. the second respective estimate of the respective level of interference caused by the transmission of the signal with selected respective configurations for the one or more of the groups, and wherein the one or more first configurations configured to be determined by the first network node (111) to be used to transmit the signal and on which the estimated level of interference at the set of receivers (130) configured to be indicated by the third indication is based, is configured to be based on the respective second indication configured to be sent.

29. The third network node (113) according to any of claims 26-28, being further configured to at least one of:- determine the set of receivers (130),- send another indication of the determined set of receivers (130) to the first network node (111), and wherein the third indication is configured to be based on the set of receivers (130) configured to be indicated in the another indication,- obtain channel vectors of the set of receivers (130),- send a further indication of the channel vectors configured to be obtained to the first network node (111), and wherein the estimated level of interference configured to be indicated in the third indication is configured to be based on the obtained channel vectors of the set of receivers (130) configured to be indicated in the further indication,- obtain a respective interference threshold for each receiver in the set of receivers (130), and- send an additional indication of the respective interference threshold configured to be obtained to the first network node (111), and wherein the estimated level of interference configured to be indicated in the third indication is configured to be based on the obtained respective interference threshold configured to be indicated in the additional indication.

30. The third network node (113) according to any of claims 26-29, wherein at least one of: a. the one or more first configurations are configured to comprise at least one of: i. the first set of time-frequency resources, ii. a power of transmission of the signal to sense the object (116) or the environment, iii. a sensing sequence, iv. one or more beam characteristics, v. one or more precoder selections, and vi. one or more spatial areas wherein the signal is to be transmitted, b. the first network node (111) is configured to be the same as the second network node (112), c. the second network node (112) is configured to be the same as the third network node (113), and d. the action to handle the estimated level of interference is configured to comprise selecting a Modulation Coding Scheme for communicating with the one or more first receivers (136) on the first set of time-frequency resources.

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