Electronic device and method for providing angle of arrival in wireless communication system

Abstract

This electronic device may comprise: a memory for storing instructions; a transceiver; and a processor. The instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, may cause the electronic device to: acquire a first angle of arrival for a first dimension of a plurality of antennas and a second AoA for a second dimension of the plurality of antennas; identify, on the basis of a first interval between the antennas in the first dimension, one or more first candidate AOAs associated with the first AoA; determine, for each of the one or more first candidate AoAs, a correction angle for the second AoA according to the first AoA and the first candidate AoAs; identify, on the basis of the correction angle and a second interval between the antennas in the second dimension, one or more second candidate AoAs associated with the second AoA; and transmit, to a location management server via the at least one transceiver, a measurement message including the first AoA, the one or more first candidate AoAs, the second AoA, and the one or more second candidate AoAs.

Description

Electronic device and method for providing angle of arrival in a wireless communication system

[0001] The following descriptions relate to electronic devices and methods for providing angle of arrival in a wireless communication system.

[0002] In a wireless communication environment, a user equipment (UE) can move. To determine the location of a moving UE, wireless signals can be used. A network node can measure the angle at which wireless signals arrive (hereinafter, "the angle of arrival") via multiple antennas. Based on the angle of arrival of the UE's wireless signal, the UE's location can be determined.

[0003] The above information may be provided as background art to aid in understanding the present disclosure. No claim or determination is made as to whether any of the above-described matters constitute prior art related to the present disclosure.

[0004] In embodiments, an electronic device of a digital unit (DU) is provided. The electronic device may include a memory for storing instructions, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor. The instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, may cause the electronic device to obtain a first angle of arrival (AoA) for a first dimension of the plurality of antennas and a second AoA for a second dimension of the plurality of antennas, identify at least one first candidate AoA associated with the first AoA based on a first spacing between antennas in the first dimension, determine a correction angle for the second AoA based on the first AoA and the first candidate AoA for each of the at least one first candidate AoA, identify at least one second candidate AoA associated with the second AoA based on the correction angle and the second spacing between antennas in the second dimension, and transmit, via the at least one transceiver, a measurement message comprising the first AoA, the at least one first candidate AoA, the second AoA, and the at least one second candidate AoA to a location management server.

[0005] In embodiments, an electronic device of a digital unit (DU) is provided. The electronic device may include at least one transceiver including at least one communication circuit and at least one processor including at least one processing circuit. The at least one processor may be configured to obtain a first angle of arrival (AoA) for a first dimension of the plurality of antennas and a second AoA for a second dimension of the plurality of antennas, identify at least one first candidate AoA associated with the first AoA based on a first spacing between antennas in the first dimension, determine a correction angle for the second AoA according to the first AoA and the first candidate AoA for each of the at least one first candidate AoA, identify at least one second candidate AoA associated with the second AoA based on the correction angle and the second spacing between antennas in the second dimension, and transmit, via the at least one transceiver, a measurement message including the first AoA, the at least one first candidate AoA, the second AoA, and the at least one second candidate AoA to a location management server.

[0006] In embodiments, a method performed by a digital unit (DU) is provided. The method may include obtaining a first angle of arrival (AoA) for a first dimension of a plurality of antennas and a second AoA for a second dimension of the plurality of antennas, and identifying at least one first candidate AoA associated with the first AoA based on a first spacing between antennas in the first dimension. The method may include determining, for each of the at least one first candidate AoA, a correction angle for the second AoA based on the first AoA and the first candidate AoA, and identifying at least one second candidate AoA associated with the second AoA based on the correction angle and the second spacing between antennas in the second dimension. The method may include transmitting a measurement message including the first AoA, the at least one first candidate AoA, the second AoA, and the at least one second candidate AoA to a location management server.

[0007] In embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is provided. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, when executed by a processor of a digital unit (DU), comprises instructions for causing the DU to obtain a first angle of arrival (AoA) for a first dimension of a plurality of antennas and a second AoA for a second dimension of the plurality of antennas, identifying at least one first candidate AoA associated with the first AoA based on a first spacing between antennas in the first dimension, determining, for each of the at least one first candidate AoA, a correction angle for the second AoA according to the first AoA and the first candidate AoA, identifying at least one second candidate AoA associated with the second AoA based on the correction angle and the second spacing between antennas in the second dimension, and positioning a measurement message including the first AoA, the at least one first candidate AoA, the second AoA, and the at least one second candidate AoA. It can store instructions that cause actions to be performed, including actions that are transmitted to a server.

[0008] Figure 1 shows a wireless communication system.

[0009] Figure 2 shows an example of a base station.

[0010] Figure 3a shows an example of measurement information transmission.

[0011] Figure 3b shows another example of measurement information transmission.

[0012] Figure 4a shows an example of angle of arrival (AoA) measurement using multiple antennas.

[0013] Figure 4b shows an example of a two-dimensional (2D) antenna array.

[0014] Figure 4c shows an example of a three-dimensional coordinate system.

[0015] Figure 4d shows an example of a steering vector in a three-dimensional coordinate system.

[0016] Figure 5 shows an example of a measurement information transmission procedure.

[0017] Figure 6 shows an example of a procedure for constructing an AoA set based on the spacing between antennas.

[0018] Figure 7 shows an example of dimension compensation for determining an AoA set.

[0019] Figure 8 illustrates the operational flow of an electronic device for determining an AoA set using dimensional compensation.

[0020] Figure 9 shows the correlation between steering vectors according to the first AoA and the second AoA.

[0021] Figure 10a shows an example of components of a DU (digital unit).

[0022] Figure 10b shows an example of components of a RU (radio unit).

[0023] The terms used in this disclosure are used only to describe specific embodiments and may not be intended to limit the scope of other embodiments. The singular expression may include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, may have the same meaning as commonly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art described in this disclosure. Terms defined in general dictionaries among the terms used in this disclosure may be interpreted as having the same or similar meaning in the context of the relevant technology, and shall not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless explicitly defined in this disclosure. In some cases, even if a term is defined in this disclosure, it cannot be interpreted to exclude embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0024] The various embodiments of the present disclosure described below illustrate a hardware-based approach as an example. However, since the various embodiments of the present disclosure include techniques utilizing both hardware and software, the various embodiments of the present disclosure do not exclude a software-based approach.

[0025] In the following description, terms referring to signals (e.g., signal, information, message, signaling), terms referring to resources (e.g., symbol, slot, subframe, radio frame, subcarrier, RE (resource element), RB (resource block), BWP (bandwidth part), occasion), terms for operational states (e.g., step, operation, procedure), terms referring to data (e.g., packet, user stream, information, bit, symbol, codeword), terms referring to radiators of electronic devices (e.g., antenna, antenna element, antenna port), terms referring to network entities (e.g., RU (radio unit), DU (distributed unit), DU (digital unit), CU (central unit)), terms referring to device components, etc. are examples for convenience of explanation. Therefore, the present disclosure is not limited to the terms described below, and other terms having equivalent technical meanings may be used. In addition, terms such as "...bu," "...gi," "...mul," and "...che" used below may mean at least one shape structure or a unit that processes a function.

[0026] In addition, in the present disclosure, expressions such as "more than" or "less than" may be used to determine whether a specific condition is satisfied or fulfilled, but this is merely a description for expressing an example and does not exclude descriptions such as "more than" or "less than." A condition described as "more than" may be replaced with "more than," a condition described as "less than" may be replaced with "less than," and a condition described as "more than and less than" may be replaced with "more than and less than." In addition, hereinafter, "A" to "B" mean at least one of elements from A (including A) to B (including B). hereinafter, "C" and / or "D" mean at least one of "C" or "D," that is, including {"C", "D", "C" and "D"}.

[0027] Although the present disclosure describes various embodiments using terms used in some communication standards (e.g., 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), extensible radio access network (xRAN), open-radio access network (O-RAN), etc.), these are merely examples for explanation. The various embodiments of the present disclosure can be easily modified and applied to other communication systems.

[0028] In the present disclosure, a measurement signal may refer to a signal measured by a terminal to obtain signal quality to be used for mobility, admission control, or radio resource management (RRM). For example, the measurement signal may be at least one of a synchronization signal (SS) (e.g., an SS block), a beam reference signal (BRS), a beam refinement reference signal (BRRS), a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS), and a demodulation-reference signal (DM-RS). According to embodiments, a base station may transmit not only one type of measurement signal, but also two or more types of measurement signals.

[0029] In the present disclosure, the signal quality may be, for example, at least one of RSRP (reference signal received power), BRSRP (beam reference signal received power), RSRQ (reference signal received quality), RSSI (received signal strength indicator), SINR (signal to interference and noise ratio), CINR (carrier to interference and noise ratio), SNR (signal to noise ratio), EVM (error vector magnitude), BER (bit error rate), and BLER (block error rate). In addition to the examples described above, it goes without saying that other terms having equivalent technical meanings or other metrics indicating channel quality may be used. Hereinafter, in the present disclosure, high signal quality means a case where a signal quality value related to a signal size is large or a signal quality value related to an error rate is small. A higher signal quality may mean that a smooth wireless communication environment is guaranteed. In addition, an optimal beam may mean a beam with the highest signal quality among beams.

[0030] Figure 1 shows a wireless communication system.

[0031] Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 illustrates a base station (110) and a terminal (120) as some of the nodes utilizing a wireless channel in a wireless communication system. Although FIG. 1 illustrates only one base station, the wireless communication system may further include other base stations identical or similar to the base station (110).

[0032] The base station (110) is a network infrastructure that provides wireless access to the terminal (120). The base station (110) has coverage defined based on the distance at which a signal can be transmitted. In addition to the base station, the base station (110) may be referred to as an 'access point (AP)', a RAN (radio access network) node, a NG (new generation)-RAN node', an eNodeB (eNB)', a 5G node (5th generation node)', a 'next generation nodeB (gNB)', a 'wireless point', a 'transmission / reception point (TRP)', or other terms having an equivalent technical meaning.

[0033] The terminal (120) is a device used by a user and communicates with the base station (110) via a wireless channel. The link from the base station (110) to the terminal (120) is referred to as a downlink (DL), and the link from the terminal (120) to the base station (110) is referred to as an uplink (UL). In addition, although not shown in FIG. 1, the terminal (120) and another terminal may communicate with each other via a wireless channel. In this case, the link between the terminal (120) and another terminal (device-to-device link, D2D) is referred to as a sidelink, and the sidelink may be used interchangeably with the PC5 interface. In some other embodiments, the terminal (120) may be operated without the involvement of a user. In one embodiment, the terminal (120) is a device that performs machine type communication (MTC) and may not be carried by the user. Additionally, according to one embodiment, the terminal (120) may be an MTC UE or an NB (narrowband)-IoT (internet of things) device.

[0034] The terminal (120) may be referred to as a terminal, or other terms such as 'user equipment (UE),' 'customer premises equipment (CPE),' 'mobile station,' 'subscriber station,' 'remote terminal,' 'wireless terminal,' 'electronic device,' or 'user device,' or other terms having equivalent technical meanings.

[0035] The base station (110) and the terminal (120) can perform beamforming. The base station (110) and the terminal (120) can transmit and receive wireless signals in a relatively low frequency band (e.g., FR 1 (frequency range 1) of NR). In addition, the base station (110) and the terminal (120) can transmit and receive wireless signals in a relatively high frequency band (e.g., FR 2 (or, FR 2-1, FR 2-2, FR 2-3), FR 3 of NR), millimeter wave (mmWave) band (e.g., 28 GHz, 30 GHz, 38 GHz, 60 GHz)). To improve channel gain, the base station (110) and the terminal (120) can perform beamforming. Here, the beamforming can include transmission beamforming and reception beamforming. The base station (110) and the terminal (120) can impart directionality to the transmitted or received signal. To this end, the base station (110) and the terminal (120) can select serving beams through a beam search or beam management procedure. After the serving beams are selected, subsequent communication can be performed through resources that have a QCL relationship with the resource that transmitted the serving beams.

[0036] If large-scale characteristics of a channel carrying a symbol on a first antenna port can be inferred from a channel carrying a symbol on a second antenna port, the first antenna port and the second antenna port can be evaluated to have a QCL relationship. For example, the large-scale characteristics may include at least one of delay spread, Doppler spread, Doppler shift, average gain, average delay, and a spatial receiver parameter.

[0037] Although both the base station (110) and the terminal (120) are described as performing beamforming in FIG. 1, the embodiments of the present disclosure are not necessarily limited thereto. In some embodiments, the terminal may or may not perform beamforming. Furthermore, the base station may or may not perform beamforming. That is, either only one of the base station and the terminal may perform beamforming, or neither the base station nor the terminal may perform beamforming.

[0038] In the present disclosure, a beam refers to a spatial flow of a signal in a wireless channel, and is formed by one or more antennas (or antenna elements), and this forming process may be referred to as beamforming. Beamforming may include at least one of analog beamforming and digital beamforming (e.g., precoding). Reference signals transmitted based on beamforming may include, for example, a demodulation-reference signal (DM-RS), a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS), a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (SS / PBCH), and a sounding reference signal (SRS). In addition, as a configuration for each reference signal, an IE such as a CSI-RS resource or an SRS-resource may be used, and this configuration may include information associated with the beam. Information associated with a beam may mean whether the configuration (e.g., a CSI-RS resource) uses the same spatial domain filter as another configuration (e.g., another CSI-RS resource within the same CSI-RS resource set) or a different spatial domain filter, or whether it is quasi-co-located (QCL) with a reference signal, and if so, what type it is (e.g., QCL type A, B, C, D).

[0039] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a base station. In FIG. 2, a digital unit (DU) (or distributed unit (DU)) and a radio unit (RU) are described, in which the functions of the base station (110) are implemented by being divided by different entities. A fronthaul interface may be used for communication between the DU and the RU. Unlike the backhaul between the core network and the base station (110), the fronthaul refers to the entity between the wireless LAN and the base station. Although FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a fronthaul structure between a DU and an RU (220), this is merely for convenience of explanation, and the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. In other words, the embodiments of the present disclosure can also be applied to a fronthaul structure between one DU and multiple RUs. For example, the embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to a fronthaul structure between one DU and two RUs. For example, embodiments of the present disclosure can also be applied to a fronthaul structure between one DU and three or more RUs.

[0040] Referring to FIG. 2, the base station (110) may include a DU (210) and a RU (220). The front hole (215) between the DU (210) and the RU (220) is F xIt can be operated through an interface. For the operation of the fronthaul (215), for example, an interface such as eCPRI (enhanced common public radio interface) and ROE (radio over ethernet) can be used. Depending on the implementation example, in addition to the DU (digital unit), the DU (210) may be referred to as a baseband unit (BBU), a digital BBU, a baseband digital unit, a digital processing unit, a digital processing circuit, a baseband processing circuit, a baseband processing unit, and / or equivalent technical terms thereof. Depending on the implementation example, in addition to the RU (radio unit), the RU (220) may be referred to as a remote unit, a radio demote head (RRH), a radio processing circuit, a radio processing unit, an antenna integrated radio, an air radio device, an air scale communication device, a radio device, and / or equivalent technical terms thereof.

[0041] As communication technology develops, mobile data traffic increases, and accordingly, the bandwidth demand in the fronthaul between the digital unit and the wireless unit has increased significantly. In a deployment such as a C-RAN (centralized / cloud radio access network), the DU (210) performs functions for PDCP (packet data convergence protocol) (which may be omitted depending on the implementation method), RLC (radio link control), MAC (media access control), and PHY (physical), and the RU (220) may be implemented to perform more functions for the PHY layer in addition to the RF (radio frequency) function. The DU (210) may be responsible for upper layer functions of the wireless network. For example, the DU (210) may perform functions of the MAC layer and part of the PHY layer. Here, a part of the PHY layer refers to a function performed at a higher level among the functions of the PHY layer, and may include, for example, channel encoding (or channel decoding), scrambling (or descrambling), modulation (or demodulation), and layer mapping (or layer demapping). According to an embodiment, if the DU (210) complies with the O-RAN standard, it may be referred to as an O-DU (O-RAN DU). The DU (210) may be replaced with a first network entity for a base station (e.g., gNB) in the embodiments of the present disclosure as needed. The RU (220) may be responsible for a lower layer function of a wireless network. For example, the RU (220) may perform a part of the PHY layer, an RF function. Here, a part of the PHY layer refers to a function of the PHY layer that is performed at a relatively lower level than the DU (210), and may include, for example, iFFT transformation (or FFT transformation), CP insertion (CP removal), and digital beamforming.The RU (220) may be referred to as an 'access unit (AU)', an 'access point (AP)', a 'transmission / reception point (TRP)', a 'remote radio head (RRH)', a 'radio unit (RU)', or other terms having equivalent technical meanings. In one embodiment, if the RU (220) complies with the O-RAN standard, it may be referred to as an O-RU (O-RAN RU). The RU (220) may be represented as a second network entity for a base station (e.g., gNB) in embodiments of the present disclosure, if necessary.

[0042] In FIG. 2, the base station (110) is described as including a DU (210) and a RU (220), but the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. The base station according to the embodiments may be implemented in a distributed deployment according to a centralized unit (CU) configured to perform functions of upper layers of an access network (e.g., packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), radio resource control (RRC)) and a distributed unit (DU) configured to perform functions of lower layers. For example, the digital unit (DU) (210) may be implemented by being separated into the CU and the DU. Between a core (e.g., 5GC (5G core) or NGC (next generation core)) network and a radio network (RAN), the base station may be implemented in a structure in which the CU, DU, and RU are arranged in that order. The interface between the CU and the distributed unit (DU) may be referred to as an F1 interface.

[0043] A centralized unit (CU) can be connected to one or more DUs and can be responsible for functions at a higher layer than the DU. For example, the CU can be responsible for functions at the RRC (radio resource control) and PDCP (packet data convergence protocol) layers, while the DU and RU can be responsible for functions at lower layers. The DU can perform some functions (high PHY) of the RLC (radio link control), MAC (media access control), and PHY (physical) layers, while the RU can be responsible for the remaining functions (low PHY) of the PHY layer. In addition, for example, a digital unit (DU) can be included in a distributed unit (DU) depending on the implementation of a distributed deployment of the base station. Hereinafter, unless otherwise defined, the operations of DU (digital unit) and RU are described, but various embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to both a base station arrangement including a CU and an arrangement in which a DU is directly connected to a core network (i.e., a base station in which the CU and DU are integrated into a single entity (e.g., an NG-RAN node)).

[0044] The base station (110) (or DU (210)) can communicate with a location management server (230). The location management server (230) may be a network entity responsible for a location management function (LMF). Hereinafter, the operation of the LMF may be understood as the operation of a network entity (e.g., the location management server (230)) in which the LMF function is implemented. For example, the location management server (230) may receive measurement information and support information from the base station (110) and the terminal (120) through the access and management function (AMF), and may calculate the location of the terminal (120) based on the received information. In addition, for example, a new location confirmation protocol, NRPPa, may be defined to transmit location information or measurement information between the base station (110) and the location management server (230). The protocol may provide a framework for positioning in 5G. In addition, a framework for positioning between a terminal (120) and a location management server (230) based on the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) may be provided. The location management server (230) may support various location services for the terminal (120). The location management server (230) may obtain the results of location measurement of the terminal (120) based on uplink measurements and downlink measurements. To obtain the location of the terminal (120), the location management server (230) may determine a positioning method. The location management server (230) may support the base station (110) based on the positioning method.

[0045] The present disclosure relates to a device and method for obtaining a location of a terminal (120) based on wireless signals in a wireless communication system (e.g., an LTE communication system, a NR communication system). Specifically, the present disclosure describes a technique for determining an angle of arrival (AoA) (or direction of arrival) of signals based on reference signals (e.g., a demodulation (DM)-reference signal (RS), a sounding reference signal (SRS), a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block, a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS)) and antennas used in the wireless communication system. The AoA can be used to obtain location information of the terminal (120). In order to determine the location of the terminal (120), multiple AoAs can be provided to a location management server (230). Examples of signaling for transmitting multiple AoAs to the location management server (230) are described below in FIGS. 3A and 3B .

[0046] Fig. 3a illustrates an example of measurement information transmission. The measurement information transmission may be performed by an NG-RAN node (e.g., base station (110), DU (210)) and an LMF (e.g., location management server (230)). The operations of the electronic device (e.g., base station (110), DU (210)) in Fig. 3a are exemplary and are not to be construed as limiting the operations of the electronic device (e.g., base station (110), DU (210)) according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, not all of the information described below in Fig. 3a is necessarily transmitted to the corresponding LMF, and at least some of the information described below may be transmitted via a message.

[0047] Referring to FIG. 3A, in operation (311), the LMF (230) may transmit a measurement request message to the NG-RAN node (110). The NG-RAN node (110) may receive the measurement request message from the LMF (230). In the measurement procedure, the LMF (230) may request one or more TRPs in the NG-RAN node (110) to perform and report positioning measurements. The LMF (230) may provide information about one or more TRPs for which measurements are requested through the measurement request message.

[0048] The above measurement request message may include a message type, a transaction ID, an LMF measurement ID, and measurement request information to configure positioning measurement. The measurement request information may include information on a TRP corresponding to a measurement target (e.g., a TRP ID). According to one embodiment, the measurement request message may include information on a measurement quantity. The measurement quantity may indicate a type of a measurement parameter. For example, the type of the measurement parameter may indicate a receive-transmit time difference (RxTxTimeDiff), a SRS RSRP, a SRS RSRPP (reference signal received path power), a RTOA (relative time arrival), an uplink AoA, or multiple UL AoAs.

[0049] In operation (313), the NG-RAN node (110) may transmit a measurement response message to the LMF (230). The NG-RAN node (110) may transmit the measurement response message in response to the measurement request message. For example, if the reporting characteristic information in the measurement request message is set to 'on-demand', the NG-RAN node (110) may transmit a measurement response message including a measurement result to the LMF (230) and terminate the procedure. For another example, if the reporting characteristic information in the measurement request message is set to 'periodic', the NG-RAN node (110) may periodically transmit a measurement response message including a measurement result to the LMF (230) according to a reporting cycle.

[0050] The measurement response message may include a message type, a transaction ID, an LMF measurement ID, and a RAN measurement ID to report a measurement result of a terminal (e.g., terminal (120)) that is a target of positioning. The measurement response message may include a measurement result. For example, the measurement response message may include a measurement result for each TRP of one or more TRPs. The one or more TRPs may be indicated by a measurement request message of operation (311). The measurement response message may include a TRP ID and a measurement result for a TRP of the TRP ID. In addition, for example, the measurement report message may further include a cell ID. The cell ID may indicate a cell provided in the TRP of the TRP ID. As an example, the measurement response message may be transmitted in the following format.

[0051] IE / Group NamePresenceRangeIE type and referenceSemantics descriptionCriticalityAssigned CriticalityMessage TypeM9.2.3YESrejectNRPPa Transaction IDM9.2.4-LMF Measurement IDMINTEGER (1..65536, ...)YESrejectRAN Measurement IDMINTEGER (1..65536, ......)YESrejectTRP Measurement Response List0..1YESreject> TRP Measurement Response Item1.. <maxnoofmeastrps>EACHreject>>TRP IDM9.2.24->>TRP Measurement ResultM9.2.37->>Cell IDONR CGI9.2.9The Cell ID of the TRP identified by the TRP ID IE.YESignoreCriticality DiagnosticsO9.2.2YESignore

[0052] 'Message Type' indicates the message type (e.g., initiating message, successful outcome, unsuccessful outcome). 'NRPPa Transaction ID' indicates an identifier corresponding to the transaction ID and used to identify the procedure of the message(s). 'LMF Measurement ID' indicates an identifier corresponding to the LMF measurement ID and used to identify the measurement procedure of the LMF. 'RAN Measurement ID' indicates an identifier corresponding to the RAN measurement ID and used to identify the measurement procedure in the radio access network. 'TRP Measurement Result' indicates a measurement result for each TRP corresponding to the TRP ID. According to one embodiment, the measurement result may include a value according to the type of the measurement parameter. For example, the measurement result may include UL SRS-RSRP, UL RTOA, transmission and reception time difference (e.g., gNB Rx-TX Time difference), Z(zenith)-AoA, A(azimuth)-AoA, multiple UL AoAs, or UL SRS-RSRPP. As an example, the measurement result may be included in the measurement response message in the following format.

[0053] IE / Group NamePresenceRangeIE Type and ReferenceSemantics DescriptionCriticalityAssigned CriticalityMeasured Result Item1 .. <maxnoposmeas>>CHOICE Measured Results ValueM>>UL Angle of ArrivalM9.2.38->>UL SRS-RSRPMINTEGER (0..126)->>UL RTOAM9.2.39->>gNB Rx-Tx Time DifferenceM9.2.40->>Z-AoAM9.2.67YESreject>>Multiple UL-AoAM9.2.71YESreject>>UL SRS-RSRPPM9.2.72YESreject>Time StampM9.2.42->Measurement QualityO9.2.43->Measurement Beam InformationO9.2.57->SRS Resource typeO9.2.73YESignore>ARP IDO9.2.75YESignore>LoS / NLoS InformationO9.2.77YESignore

[0054] 'M' indicates that the corresponding IE in the message is mandatory, and 'O' indicates that the corresponding IE in the message is optional. 'Measured Result Item' indicates a value according to the type of the measurement result, and 'Time Stamp' indicates a time value. 'Measurement Quality' indicates the best estimate at the time of measurement. 'Measurement Beam Information' indicates the reception beam information when measuring through UL signals. 'SRS Resource type' indicates the type of SRS signals among UL signals, and may include SIS resource ID. 'ARP ID' indicates an identifier for identifying the ARP (antenna reference point) related to the TRP. 'LoS / NLoS Information' indicates whether it is LOS (line-of-sight) or NLOS (non-line of sight) in UL measurement, and is a soft value (expressed from 0 to 10, where '0' is NLOS and '1' is LOS).

[0055] Fig. 3b illustrates another example of measurement information transmission. The measurement information transmission may be performed by an NG-RAN node (e.g., base station (110)). The operations of the electronic devices (e.g., base station (110) and DU (210)) in Fig. 3b are exemplary and are not to be construed as limiting the operations of the electronic devices (e.g., base station (110) and DU (210)) according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, not all of the information described below in Fig. 3b is necessarily transmitted to the corresponding LMF, and at least some of the information described below may be transmitted via a message.

[0056] Referring to FIG. 3b, in operation (321), the NG-RAN node (110) may transmit a measurement report message to an LMF (e.g., a location management server (230)). The measurement report procedure allows the NG-RAN node (110) to report location measurements to the LMF (230). The NG-RAN node (110) may initiate the procedure by transmitting the measurement report message to the LMF (230). The measurement report message may include measurement results according to a related measurement configuration.

[0057] The above measurement report message may include a message type (e.g., 'Message Type' IE of [Table 1]), a transaction ID (e.g., 'NRPPa Transaction ID' IE of [Table 1]), an LMF measurement ID (e.g., 'LMF Measurement ID' IE of [Table 1]), and a RAN measurement ID (e.g., 'RAN Measurement ID' IE of [Table 1]) in order to report the measurement result of a terminal (e.g., terminal (120)) that is a target of positioning. The measurement report message may include a measurement result. For example, the measurement report message may include a measurement result for each TRP of one or more TRPs. The one or more TRPs may be indicated by a measurement request message of operation (311). The measurement report message may include a TRP ID and a measurement result for a TRP of the TRP ID. In addition, for example, the measurement report message may further include a cell ID. The cell ID may indicate a cell provided in a TRP of the TRP ID. As an example, the above measurement report message may be transmitted in the following format.

[0058] IE / Group NamePresenceRangeIE type and referenceSemantics descriptionCriticalityAssigned CriticalityMessage TypeM9.2.3YESrejectNRPPa Transaction IDM9.2.4-LMF Measurement IDMINTEGER (1..65536, ...)YESrejectRAN Measurement IDMINTEGER (1..65536, ...)YESrejectTRP Measurement Response List1YESreject>TRP Measurement Response Item1.. <maxnoofmeastrps>EACHreject>>TRP IDM9.2.24->>TRP Measurement ResultM9.2.37->>Cell IDONR CGI9.2.9The Cell ID of the TRP identified by the TRP ID IE.YESignore

[0059] For a description of each IE, reference may be made to the description of the IEs in [Table 1]. According to one embodiment, the measurement result (e.g., the 'TRP Measurement Result' IE in [Table 3]) may include a value according to the type of the measurement parameter. For example, the measurement result may include UL SRS-RSRP, UL RTOA, a transmission / reception time difference (e.g., gNB Rx-TX Time difference), Z(zenith)-AoA, A(azimuth)-AoA, multiple UL AoAs, or UL SRS-RSRPP. For example, the measurement result may be included in the measurement report message in the format of [Table 2]. In [Table 2], the table below may be referenced for the format for multiple UL AoAs.

[0060] IE / Group NamePresenceRangeIE Type and ReferenceSemantics DescriptionUL AoA List1>UL AoA item1.. <maxnoofulaoas>>>CHOICE AngleMeasurementM>>>UL Angle of Arrival>>>>UL Angle of ArrivalM9.2.38>>>UL Zenith Angle of Arrival>>>>UL Zenith Angle of ArrivalMZ-AoA9.2.67

[0061] 'M' indicates that the corresponding IE is mandatory within the message, and 'O' indicates that the corresponding IE is optional within the message. The 'UL Angle of Arrival' IE may include information about the angle (e.g., zenith angle) for the first dimension (e.g., vertical dimension) and the angle (e.g., azimuth angle) for the second dimension (e.g., horizontal dimension). For example, the table below may be referenced for the format of the 'UL Angle of Arrival' IE.

[0062] IE / Group NamePresenceRangeIE Type and ReferenceSemantics DescriptionAzimuth Angle of ArrivalMINTEGER(0..3599)TS 38.133

[0016] Zenith Angle of ArrivalOINTEGER(0..1799)TS 38.133

[0016] LCS to GCS TranslationO9.2.69If absent, the azimuth and zenith are provided in GCS.

[0063] 'M' indicates that the corresponding IE is mandatory within the message, and 'O' indicates that the corresponding IE is optional within the message.

[0064] FIG. 4A illustrates an example of measuring angle of arrival (AoA) using multiple antennas. An electronic device (e.g., a base station (110), an RU (220), a massive MIMO unit (MMU)) for obtaining AoA according to the present disclosure may include the multiple antennas. Each antenna of the multiple antennas may be referred to as an antenna element of an array antenna.

[0065] Referring to FIG. 4A, the electronic device may include a plurality of antennas (401-1, ..., 401-i, ..., 401-M-1, 401-M). For example, the electronic device may include M antennas (M is an integer greater than or equal to 2). The spacing between the antennas may be d.

[0066] An electronic device can estimate an AoA. The electronic device can receive signals through the plurality of antennas. The electronic device can receive a signal through each antenna of the plurality of antennas. For example, the electronic device can receive a reference signal through each antenna. The electronic device can obtain a phase from each antenna. The electronic device can calculate the magnitude of the phase difference between the antennas and determine the AoA based on the magnitude of the phase difference.

[0067]

[0068] Since the physical distance experienced by a signal varies, the phase of the signal received by each antenna may vary depending on the angle at which the signal is incident. An electronic device can estimate the AoA based on the phase difference between the antennas. A method for estimating the AoA using the phase difference between the antennas can use an algorithm based on a correlation operation. The electronic device can set an angular range to be searched for a terminal, which is an object whose position is to be measured. The electronic device can determine candidate angles based on the set angular range and determine a steering vector for each candidate angle. The steering vector represents a set of phase differences input to each antenna for a single directional signal. For example, the steering vector of a signal incident on each of M antennas can be expressed as follows.

[0069]

[0070]

[0071] In Fig. 4a, a one-dimensional antenna array, i.e., a linear array, is illustrated. An electronic device can estimate an azimuth angle (horizontal / azimuth angle) or a vertical / zenith angle (vertical / zenith angle) according to the arrangement direction of the linear array including a plurality of antennas (401-1, ..., 401-i, ..., 401-M-1, 401-M). Meanwhile, AoA can be estimated not only in the linear array illustrated in Fig. 4a, but also in a two-dimensional (2D) antenna array. An electronic device equipped with the 2D antenna array can estimate both the azimuth angle and the zenith angle. Hereinafter, descriptions of an example of a 2D antenna array are described in Fig. 4b.

[0072] Figure 4b shows an example of a two-dimensional (2D) antenna array.

[0073] Referring to FIG. 4B, an electronic device (e.g., a base station (110), an RU (220), a massive MIMO unit (MMU)) may include a 2D antenna array (450). The 2D antenna array (450) may include a plurality of antennas within a 2-dimensional plane. For example, the x-axis of the 2-dimensional plane may be referred to as a first direction, a first dimension, a first domain, a horizontal dimension, or a horizontal domain. The y-axis of the 2-dimensional plane may be referred to as a second direction, a second dimension, a second domain, a vertical domain, or a vertical domain. Hereinafter, two dimensions in the 2-dimensional plane are composed of a first dimension and a second dimension, and for convenience of description, the first dimension is referred to as a vertical dimension and the second dimension is referred to as a horizontal dimension, but embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. For example, the first dimension may be a horizontal dimension and the second dimension may be a vertical dimension. If they are perpendicular to each other, the first dimension and the second dimension may be referred to by any name. The 2D antenna array (450) may support dual polarization. The first polarization and the second polarization of the dual polarization may be substantially perpendicular. For example, each antenna of the 2D antenna array (450) may support +45 degree polarization or -45 degree polarization. Also, for example, each antenna of the 2D antenna array (450) may support horizontal polarization or vertical polarization.

[0074] The position of an antenna within a two-dimensional plane of a 2D antenna array (450) may be represented by a horizontal index (h) and a vertical index (v). Two antennas having the same horizontal index and the same vertical index may have different polarizations. For example, the two antennas may be arranged in an X shape. The two antennas may be referred to as cross-pole (x-pol) antennas. The polarization may represent a pole. A specific polarization may be represented by an index '0'. A polarization substantially perpendicular to the specific polarization may be represented by an index '1'. Each antenna of the 2D antenna array (450) may be indicated by an index (v, h, pole). For convenience of explanation, when the polarization is omitted, the position of the antenna may also be represented by (m, n). 'm' may represent the antenna number in the vertical dimension, and 'n' may represent the antenna number in the horizontal dimension.

[0075] The antennas of the 2D antenna array (450) can be spaced apart from each other. Assuming a crosspole antenna, the distance between the intersection of two antennas of the crosspole antenna and the intersection between two other antennas can represent the separation distance between the antennas. In the horizontal domain, the distance between the antennas is the horizontal distance (451)(d H ) can be referred to as a horizontal distance (451)(d). For example, the distance between (2, 6, 0) and (2, 5, 0) is the horizontal distance (451)(d H ) can be. The distance between antennas in the vertical domain is the vertical distance (453)(d V ) can be referred to as a vertical distance (453)(d). For example, the distance between (3, 5, 0) and (2, 5, 0) is a vertical distance (453)(d V ) may be.

[0076] Figure 4c shows an example of a three-dimensional coordinate system.

[0077]

[0078] Figure 4d shows an example of a steering vector in a three-dimensional coordinate system.

[0079]

[0080]

[0081]

[0082]

[0083]

[0084]

[0085]

[0086]

[0087]

[0088]

[0089]

[0090]

[0091]

[0092] If the condition where ambiguity occurs is related to the steering vector, the following mathematical equation can be referenced.

[0093]

[0094]

[0095] In an array antenna equipped in an electronic device, the spacing between the antennas is If the angle is larger, angular ambiguity inevitably occurs. Since it is not known whether the estimated AoA is the actual incident angle of the terminal or the mirror angle due to ambiguity, it is difficult for the electronic device or the location management server (230) to estimate the exact location of the terminal (e.g., terminal (120)).

[0096] To solve the above-described problem, the electronic device according to the embodiments (e.g., base station (110), DU (210), hereinafter described based on base station (110)) may report multiple AoAs (e.g., 'multiple UL-AoA' IE of Table 2) to the location management server (230) (e.g., LMF) instead of simply reporting only the estimated AoA. The multiple AoAs may include the estimated AoA and a mirror AoA that takes angle ambiguity into account. For example, in the first example, the angle between the two signals may be a1, and in the second example, the angle between the two signals may be a2. However, the phase difference between the two signals in the first example may be the same as the phase difference between the two signals in the second example. Due to the periodic nature of the sinusoid, cases may occur where the same phase difference but different angles are present. In this way, an AoA value that has a different value than the estimated AoA but has the same phase difference characteristic can be referred to as a mirror AoA.

[0097] The base station (110) includes a plurality of AoA values ​​including at least one mirror AoA determined based on angular ambiguity. can be transmitted to the location management server (230). Since a plurality of AoA values ​​including mirror AoAs are provided to the location management server (230), the location management server (230) can estimate the location of the terminal (e.g., terminal (120)) more accurately based on the plurality of AoA values. In order to improve the positioning performance of the location management server (230), the base station (110) is required to estimate all mirror AoAs according to angular ambiguity and report the estimated AoAs and mirror AoAs to the location management server (230).

[0098] Figure 5 shows an example of a measurement information transmission procedure.

[0099] Referring to FIG. 5, in operation (501), a terminal (120) may transmit uplink signals to a base station (110). The base station (110) may include the NG-RAN node of FIGS. 3A to 3B. For example, the uplink signals may include SRSs. For example, the SRSs may be SRSs for uplink channel estimation or positioning SRSs specified for location estimation. The base station (110) may receive the uplink signals from the terminal (120). The base station (110) may receive the uplink signals via a plurality of antennas. The base station (110) may receive the uplink signal via each antenna of the plurality of antennas.

[0100] In operation (503), the base station (110) can identify an AoA set. The AoA set can include a plurality of AoAs. The base station (110) can determine the phase of an uplink signal obtained through each antenna of the plurality of antennas. The base station (110) can determine an AoA (hereinafter, referred to as a reference AoA) based on the phase difference between the antennas. The base station (110) can determine at least one mirror AoA related to the reference AoA. The base station (110) can determine an AoA set including the reference AoA and the at least one mirror AoA.

[0101] In operation (505), the base station (110) may transmit a measurement message to the location management server (230). The location management server (230) may include the LMF (230) of FIGS. 3A and 3B . For example, the measurement message may include a location measurement response message corresponding to the location measurement request message of FIG. 3A . Additionally, for example, the measurement message may include a location measurement report message of FIG. 3B . According to one embodiment, the measurement message may include an AoA set. For example, the measurement message may include a value according to a type of a measurement parameter. The type of the measurement parameter may indicate multiple UL AoAs (multiple UL-AoAs). The measurement message may include multiple AoAs of the AoA set.

[0102] In operation (507), the location management server (230) may perform location estimation of the terminal (120). The location management server (230) may perform location estimation of the terminal (120) based on the measurement message. The location management server (230) may perform location estimation of the terminal (120) based on the plurality of AoAs.

[0103] Although the operation of the base station (110) is described in FIG. 5, the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. In a distributed deployment scenario, the operations of the base station (110) may be separated into the operations of the DU (210) and the operations of the RU (220). For example, uplink signals of the terminal (120) may be received by the RU (220). The uplink signals may be transmitted from the RU (220) to the DU (210). For example, the RU (220) may provide the uplink signals to the DU (210) via a U-plane message on the fronthaul interface. The DU (210) may determine the AoA of the signals incident on the antennas of the RU (220) based on the amount of phase variation of the uplink signals. The DU (210) may transmit the determined AoA to the location management server (230). In addition, for another example, uplink signals of terminal (120) can be received by RU (220). RU (220) can obtain phase variation of the uplink signals. RU (220) can transmit information about the phase variation to DU (210). DU (210) can determine AoA of signals incident on antennas of RU (220) based on the phase variation. DU (210) can transmit the determined AoA to location management server (230).

[0104] In order to report multiple AoAs (e.g., up to eight AoAs), the base station (110) or DU (210) may determine candidate angles using the correlation-based AoA estimation algorithm described in [Mathematical Formula 1] to [Mathematical Formula 7]. For example, the base station (110) may select eight candidate angles having the largest squared L2 norm of the correlation. The base station (110) may report the eight selected candidate angles to the location management server (230). Meanwhile, in order to report multiple AoAs, the search range of the AoAs may be increased. In order to include all mirror angles caused by angle ambiguity, the search range may be set wider than the search range when estimating a single AoA. However, an angle estimation method using an excessively wide search range makes it difficult to distinguish signals from different terminals. It is required to distinguish whether the angle selected based on the correlation is a mirror angle for the terminal (120) or an angle for the signal of another terminal. As the spacing between antennas increases, the MIMO transmission and reception performance can increase. This is because as the spacing between antennas increases, the correlation of the signals received by each antenna decreases and the antenna diversity characteristic improves. Since the MMU or RU (220) for the modem of the base station (110) has fewer size restrictions than the terminal (120), the margin for the spacing between antennas is high for improving the MIMO transmission and reception performance. Therefore, the spacing between the antennas provided in the base station (110) or RU (220) Larger cases frequently exist. However, as the spacing between antennas increases, the range of angular positions that can be covered increases, so angular ambiguity may occur more frequently. The base station (110) may report multiple AoAs to the location management server (230) to resolve angular ambiguity and improve the positioning performance of the terminal (120). The base station (110) may expand the search range to obtain multiple AoAs. The expanded search range also increases the number of candidate angles. If the base station (110) calculates the correlation for all candidate angles, the amount of computation at the base station (110) increases. A high amount of computation may increase the implementation complexity of the algorithm. For example, to search the range [-60, 60] in the horizontal domain and the range [-30, 30] in the vertical domain in 0.1 degree increments, complex multiplication operations on the received RS signal are required for each of the total (1201 * 601) or (1201 + 601) steering vectors.

[0105] In the present disclosure, antenna array information (e.g., spacing between antenna elements, spacing between antenna elements in the horizontal domain (d) H ), the spacing between antenna elements in the vertical domain (d V )) can be used to set a search range that does not cause angle ambiguity. In addition, a method for more accurately deriving a mirror AoA from an AoA obtained through a search range is described. For example, in the first example, the angle between the two signals may be a1, and in the second example, the angle between the two signals may be a2. However, the phase difference between the two signals in the first example may be the same as the phase difference between the two signals in the second example. Due to the periodic nature of a sinusoid, cases may occur where the same phase difference exists but different angles exist. In this way, an AoA value that has a different value from the estimated AoA but has the same phase difference characteristic may be referred to as a mirror AoA.

[0106] Nodes (e.g., base station (110), DU (210)) according to embodiments of the present disclosure can estimate AoAs with low complexity by limiting the search range of AoAs to a range where mirror AoAs do not occur before performing correlation calculations of steering vectors. By deriving mirror AoAs based on the estimated AoAs and the periodic characteristics of sinusoids, the correlation calculation procedure for obtaining mirror AoAs can be omitted. In addition, the estimation error rate that may occur through correlation calculations can be reduced.

[0107]

[0108] Referring to FIG. 6, the procedure for constructing an AoA set may include setting a search range (601), acquiring an AoA (603), and identifying a candidate AoA (605). Hereinafter, the procedure for constructing an AoA set is described as operations by the base station (110) for reporting multiple AoAs, but embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. In a distributed deployment scenario, the operations of the base station (110) described below may be separated into operations of the DU (210) and operations of the RU (220). For example, the operation of receiving an uplink signal (e.g., SRS, positioning SRS) from the terminal (120) at the base station (110) may be performed at the RU (220). In addition, for example, the operation of transmitting multiple AoA values ​​from the base station (110) to the location management server (230) may be performed at the DU (210).

[0109] 1. Setting the search range (601)

[0110] The base station (110) can obtain antenna array information of the base station (110). The antenna array information can include the spacing between antennas of the array antenna. For example, the antenna array information can include the spacing (d) of the horizontal domain of the 2D antenna array. H ) and the spacing of the vertical domain (d V ) may be included. For example, the spacing (d) of the horizontal domain H ) and the spacing of the vertical domains (d V ) can be expressed as a single parameter (d).

[0111]

[0112] 2. Acquire AoA

[0113]

[0114]

[0115]

[0116]

[0117] If we divide both sides of [Equation 8] and [Equation 9] by 2π, we get the following.

[0118]

[0119]

[0120] Suppose g and k are real numbers, not integers.

[0121]

[0122]

[0123] (1) AoA of the vertical dimension (hereinafter, first AoA) (e.g., zenith angle)

[0124]

[0125]

[0126]

[0127] Considering the characteristics and constants of trigonometric functions, [Equation 13] can be expressed as the following mathematical equations.

[0128]

[0129]

[0130]

[0131] The base station (110) may determine a first AoA based on a correlation operation. The first AoA may represent an AoA in a first dimension (e.g., a vertical dimension). For example, the first AoA may be referred to as a reference zenith angle. For example, the base station (110) may determine the first AoA based on the following mathematical equations.

[0132]

[0133]

[0134]

[0135]

[0136] (2) AoA of horizontal dimension (hereinafter, second AoA) (e.g. azimuth)

[0137]

[0138]

[0139]

[0140]

[0141]

[0142]

[0143] The search range for can be determined based on [Mathematical Formula 20] and [Mathematical Formula 21]. The base station (110) can determine the second AoA based on the correlation operation. The second AoA can represent the AoA in the second dimension (e.g., the horizontal dimension). For example, the second AoA can be referred to as the reference azimuth. For example, the base station (110) can determine the second AoA based on the following mathematical formulas.

[0144]

[0145]

[0146]

[0147]

[0148] The base station (110) can determine a search range for estimating a first AoA (hereinafter, referred to as a first search range). The base station (110) can determine a search range for estimating a second AoA (hereinafter, referred to as a second search range). The base station (110) can acquire AoAs based on the first search range and the second search range. The base station (110) can acquire the first AoA based on the first search range. The first AoA may be referred to as a first reference AoA or a reference zenith angle as a reference value for configuring an AoA set in a first dimension (e.g., a vertical domain). The base station (110) can acquire the second AoA based on the second search range. The second AoA may be referred to as a second reference AoA or a reference azimuth angle as a reference value for configuring an AoA set in a second dimension (e.g., a horizontal domain).

[0149]

[0150]

[0151]

[0152]

[0153] The base station (110) can obtain the first AoA through a correlation operation. The base station (110) can obtain the second AoA through a correlation operation. The base station (110) can estimate the first AoA in a first search range where no angular ambiguity occurs in the vertical domain, and can estimate the second AoA in a second search range where no angular ambiguity occurs in the horizontal domain.

[0154] 3. Identification of candidate AoAs (605)

[0155] Since the possibility of phase differences that may occur superimposedly depending on the characteristics of the sine wave is reduced by limiting the search range, the base station (110) can determine mirror AoAs through calculations based on angle ambiguity rather than correlation calculations with the steering vector. The base station (110) can identify at least one first candidate AoA based on the first AoA (e.g., the reference zenith angle). For example, the at least one first candidate AoA can include the first AoA and a mirror AoA derived according to [Mathematical Formula 11]. The base station (110) can identify at least one second candidate AoA based on the second AoA. For example, the at least one second candidate AoA can include the second AoA and a mirror AoA derived according to [Mathematical Formula 10].

[0156] The base station (110) can determine at least one first candidate AoA based on the first AoA. The base station (110) can determine the first AoA and the first spacing (i.e., in the vertical domain, the spacing between antennas (d v )), at least one first candidate AoA can be determined. For example, the base station (110) can determine at least one first candidate AoA based on the following mathematical equation.

[0157]

[0158]

[0159]

[0160]

[0161]

[0162] The base station (110) can identify at least one first candidate AoA through an integer k. Meanwhile, since the inverse function of cosine is defined only when the input variable is in the range [-1, 1], the range of k can be determined according to the mathematical equation below.

[0163]

[0164]

[0165]

[0166] The base station (110) can identify at least one first candidate AoA based on the first AoA and the first interval, as described through [Mathematical Formulas 29] to [Mathematical Formulas 32]. The base station (110) can transmit a measurement message including the first AoA and the at least one first candidate AoA to a location management server (e.g., LMF (230)). Meanwhile, a number of AoA values ​​greater than the maximum number of AoA values ​​allowed in the measurement message (e.g., 8) can be obtained. The base station (110) can identify one or more of the derived at least one first candidate AoA. As a non-limiting example, according to one embodiment, the base station (110) can exclude from the AoA set values ​​that are far from the center angle (e.g., 90 degrees), i.e., angles that are closest to the lower limit angle (e.g., 0 degrees) or the upper limit angle (e.g., 180 degrees) of the search range. The first AoA and at least one first candidate AoA to be reported to the location management server (230) may be referred to as a first AoA set.

[0167]

[0168] According to embodiments, the base station (110) (or DU (210)) can correct a second AoA (e.g., a reference azimuth) for each AoA of the first AoA set for a first dimension (e.g., a vertical dimension). Since the second AoA is a value derived based on the first AoA, if a first candidate AoA of the first AoA set, which is different from the first AoA, is assumed in the first dimension, it is required to correct the difference between the first AoA and the first candidate AoA. The base station (110) (or DU (210)) can determine a ratio of a sine value of the first candidate AoA to a sine value of the first AoA to correct for the effect due to the difference between the first AoA and the first candidate AoA. The base station (110) (or DU (210)) can determine a correction angle for the second AoA based on the above ratio. For example, the base station (110) (or DU (210)) can determine a correction angle for the second AoA based on the following mathematical equation.

[0169]

[0170]

[0171] The base station (110) (or DU (210)) can determine, for each AoA of a first AoA set for a first dimension (e.g., a vertical dimension), at least one second candidate AoA in a second dimension (e.g., a horizontal dimension). The base station (110) (or DU (210)) can determine the at least one second candidate AoA based on a correction angle for the first candidate AoA, the first candidate AoA, and a second spacing between antennas in the second dimension. For example, the first AoA set represents a set of zenith angles. The at least one second candidate AoA is included in a second AoA set, and the second AoA set represents a set of azimuth angles. For example, the base station (110) can determine the at least one second candidate AoA based on the following mathematical equation:

[0172]

[0173]

[0174]

[0175]

[0176]

[0177] The base station (110) (or DU (210)) can identify at least one second candidate AoA through an integer g. Meanwhile, since the inverse function of a sine is defined only when the input variable is in the range [-1, 1], the range of g can be determined according to the mathematical equation below.

[0178]

[0179]

[0180]

[0181] The base station (110) can identify at least one second candidate AoA by compensating for the effect due to the mirror angle difference in the first dimension, as described through [Mathematical Formulas 33] to [Mathematical Formulas 39]. The base station (110) can transmit a measurement message including the second AoA and the at least one second candidate AoA to a location management server (e.g., LMF (230)). Meanwhile, a number of AoA values ​​greater than the maximum number of AoA values ​​allowed in the measurement message (e.g., 8) can be obtained. The base station (110) can identify one or more of the derived at least one second candidate AoA. As a non-limiting example, according to one embodiment, the base station (110) can exclude from the AoA set values ​​that are far from the center angle (e.g., 90 degrees), i.e., angles that are closest to the lower limit angle (e.g., 0 degrees) or the upper limit angle (e.g., 180 degrees) of the search range. The second AoA and at least one second candidate AoA to be reported to the location management server (230) may be referred to as a second AoA set.

[0182] The location management server (230) can estimate the location of the terminal (120) based on the first AoA set and the second AoA set. By using multiple AoA values, including mirror AOAs, rather than simply using a single AoA value for each specific domain (e.g., horizontal domain, vertical domain), the positioning performance of the location management server (230) can be improved.

[0183] Although FIG. 6 describes determining a first AoA set for the vertical domain and then determining a second AoA set for the horizontal domain, the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. In one embodiment, the second AoA set for the horizontal domain may be determined before the first AoA set for the vertical domain is determined. Furthermore, the order in the sequential estimation method may also be such that the steering vector for the horizontal domain is generated before the steering vector for the vertical domain is generated.

[0184] Figure 7 shows an example of dimension compensation for determining an AoA set.

[0185] Referring to FIG. 7, a first vector (701) represents a vector according to a first AoA (711) and a second AoA (721c). A second vector (703) represents a vector according to a first candidate AoA (713) and a second AoA (731c). The second AoA (721c) may correspond to the second AoA (731c). For example, assuming the first vector (701), the electronic device may identify at least one second candidate AOA (e.g., the second candidate AoA (721a), the second candidate AoA (721b), and the second candidate AoA (721d)) that is in a mirror AoA relationship with respect to the second AoA (721c). For example, the electronic device can identify at least one second candidate AoA (e.g., the second candidate AoA (731a), the second candidate AoA (731b), and the second candidate AoA (731d)) that is in a mirror AoA relationship with respect to the second AoA (731c), assuming a second vector (703). As illustrated in FIG. 7, even if the same second AoA is assumed in the horizontal dimension, if the assumed first AoA in the vertical dimension is different, results of different mirror AoAs can be derived. This is because the first AoA (711) and the first candidate AoA (713) have different influences on the second AoA (721c) (= the second AoA (731c)). Therefore, when the electronic device (e.g., base station (110), DU (210)) according to the embodiments determines candidate AoAs in the horizontal dimension using the second AoA (721c) (= second AoA (731c)), it is required to reflect the influence of the difference between the first AoA (711) and the first candidate AoA (713) on the horizontal dimension.

[0186] FIG. 8 illustrates an operation flow of an electronic device (e.g., base station (110), DU (210)) for determining an AoA set using dimensional compensation.

[0187] Referring to FIG. 8, in operation (801), an electronic device (e.g., base station (110), DU (210)) may obtain a first AoA for a first dimension (e.g., vertical dimension) and a second AoA for a second dimension (e.g., horizontal dimension). The electronic device may obtain AoAs for uplink signals from a terminal (e.g., terminal (120)). For example, the uplink signals may be SRSs (e.g., SRSs for uplink channel estimation or positioning SRSs specified for location estimation). As another example, the uplink signals may be DMRSs. The uplink signals may be received via a plurality of antennas. The incident angles based on the plurality of antennas may be divided according to the dimensions. For example, the angles may be specified as an angle for the first dimension (e.g., zenith angle, elevation angle) and an angle for the first dimension (e.g., azimuth angle). The plurality of antennas may correspond to antenna elements of a two-dimensional array antenna. Depending on the implementation example, the plurality of antennas may be provided in the electronic device (e.g., base station (110), MMU) or in a separate device (e.g., RU (220)) connected to the electronic device. If a separate device receives uplink signals, the separate device may provide the received uplink signals to the electronic device.

[0188] The electronic device can identify a first spacing between antennas in a first direction (e.g., a vertical domain). For example, the first direction means one of two mutually perpendicular directions of a two-dimensional antenna array. A direction perpendicular to the first direction corresponds to a second direction (e.g., a horizontal domain). The electronic device can determine a first search range based on the first spacing and angular ambiguity. The electronic device can determine the first search range based on whether the first spacing is greater than a half-wavelength of a received signal. For example, when the first spacing is less than or equal to the half-wavelength, the electronic device can determine the first search range as the entire range searchable in the vertical domain (e.g., from 0 degrees to 180 degrees). When the first spacing is greater than the half-wavelength, the electronic device can determine the upper and lower ranges determined based on the first spacing and the wavelength as the first search range. For example, the sum of the upper limit and the lower limit may be 180 degrees. As an example, the first search range may be determined based on [Mathematical Formula 15]. The electronic device may obtain the first AoA through a correlation operation of the received signal within the first search range. As an example, the first AoA may be obtained through [Mathematical Formula 16] to [Mathematical Formula 18]. The first AoA may be referred to as a first reference AoA, a reference zenith angle, a first reference angle, a reference candidate AoA, a reserve AoA, a first reserve AoA, and / or equivalent technical terms in that it is an angle that is fixed in advance to find a mirror angle according to angle ambiguity.

[0189] The electronic device can identify a second spacing between antennas in a second direction (e.g., a horizontal domain). For example, the second direction refers to one of two mutually perpendicular directions of a two-dimensional antenna array. The electronic device can determine a second search range based on the second spacing and angular ambiguity. The electronic device can determine the second search range based on whether the first spacing is greater than a half-wavelength of a received signal. According to one embodiment, the electronic device can determine the second search range based on a first AoA estimated in the first search range. For example, the second search range can be determined based on [Mathematical Equation 21]. The electronic device can obtain a second AoA through a correlation operation of a received signal within the second search range. For example, the second AoA can be obtained through [Mathematical Equations 22] to [Mathematical Equations 24]. The above second AoA may be referred to as a second reference AoA, a reference azimuth, a second reference angle, a reference candidate AoA, a reserve AoA, a second reserve AoA, and / or equivalent technical terms in that it is an angle that is fixed in advance to find a mirror angle according to angle ambiguity.

[0190] In operation (803), the electronic device (e.g., base station (110), DU (210)) can identify at least one first candidate AoA based on a first spacing between antennas in a first dimension. The electronic device (e.g., base station (110), DU (210)) can identify at least one value in a mirror AoA relationship with the first AoA. Here, the mirror AoA relationship is a periodic characteristic of a sinusoid. Even though the phase difference is the same, the actual angular difference signifies the relationship between different values. Instead of performing a correlation operation on each of the possible candidate values ​​(e.g., zenith angle candidates) in a possible first dimension (e.g., vertical dimension), the electronic device (e.g., base station (110), DU (210)) can identify at least one first candidate AoA in a mirror AoA relationship based on a designated operation with respect to the first AoA. For example, to identify the at least one first candidate AoA, [Equation 27] to [Equation 32] can be referred to.

[0191] In operation (805), the electronic device (e.g., base station (110), DU (210)) can determine a correction angle for the second AoA based on the first AoA and the first candidate AoA. The first AoA derived in operation (801) and one of the at least one first candidate AoA derived in operation (803) actually have different influences on the second AoA. Therefore, instead of directly using the second AoA, a component according to the difference between the first AoA and one of the at least one first candidate AoA (hereinafter, referred to as the first candidate AoA) can be applied to the second AoA. The correction angle for the second AoA can be derived by applying a component according to the difference between the first AoA and the first candidate AoA to the second AoA. For example, [Mathematical Formula 33] can be referred to to determine the correction angle.

[0192] In operation (807), the electronic device (e.g., base station (110), DU (210)) can identify at least one second candidate AoA based on the correction angle and the second spacing between the antennas in the second dimension. The electronic device (e.g., base station (110), DU (210)) can identify at least one value that is in a mirror AoA relationship with the second AoA. Instead of performing a correlation operation on each of the possible candidate values ​​in the possible second dimension (e.g., horizontal dimension), the electronic device (e.g., base station (110), DU (210)) can identify at least one second candidate AoA that is in a mirror AoA relationship with the second AoA based on a designated operation based on the correction angle. For example, to identify the at least one second candidate AoA, [Equations 34] to [Equations 39] can be referred to.

[0193] Figure 9 illustrates the correlation between steering vectors according to the first AoA and the second AoA. In Figure 9, the results of AoA measurements using a 2D antenna array (e.g., 64 antenna elements) in which four antennas are arranged in the vertical dimension and 16 antennas are arranged in the horizontal dimension are described. It is assumed that the actual angle of arrival (or direction of arrival) is approximately 60 degrees in the horizontal domain and approximately 30 degrees in the vertical domain (hereinafter, [60, 30]).

[0194] Referring to Fig. 9, the graph (900) represents points according to the vertical angle and horizontal angle of the steering vector of the signal. The horizontal axis of the graph (900) represents the azimuth angle within the range of about -90 degrees to about 90 degrees, and the vertical axis of the graph (900) represents the zenith angle within the range of about 0 degrees to about 180 degrees. In the graph (900), as described through Figs. 6 to 8, 'O' represents a correction angle for the second AoA (e.g., [Mathematical Formula 33]) to reflect the influence of the mirror angle in the vertical dimension. (hereinafter, the first method), and 'X' represents the estimation result simply using the second AoA (hereinafter, the second method) without the procedure for deriving the correction angle.

[0195] Within the first search range according to the vertical dimension, a first AoA (e.g., a reference zenith angle) may be determined, and within the second search range according to the horizontal dimension, a second AoA may be determined. Angle (905a) represents the first AoA and the second AoA according to the first method. Angle (905b) represents the first AoA and the second AoA according to the second method. Since the second AoA is derived in a state where the first AoA is assumed during the derivation process, It can be confirmed that there is almost no difference between angles (905a) and (905b). In the graph (900), the rectangular area where angles (905a) and (905b) are located (e.g., horizontal angle of about 0 degrees and vertical angle of about 90 degrees) may represent an area where no angle ambiguity occurs. The difference between the first method and the second method is to reflect the influence of the difference between the first AoA and the first candidate AoA in the vertical dimension on the horizontal dimension. Therefore, assuming the same first AoA, the second candidate AoA in a mirror relationship with the second AoA may not have a large difference in results between the first method and the second method. For example, angles (904a) and (906a) represent mirror angles with respect to angle (905a). Angles (904b) and (906b) represent mirror angles with respect to angle (905b). As shown in graph (900), it can be confirmed that there is almost no difference between angle (904a) and angle (904b). It can be confirmed that there is almost no difference between angle (906a) and angle (906b).

[0196] However, if the reference angle in the vertical dimension becomes different from the first AoA, the estimation error may increase. The electronic device (e.g., base station (110), DU (210)) can identify mirror angles (e.g., angle (911a), angle (919a), angle (921a), angle (940a), angle (950a)) for angle (905a) according to the first method. The electronic device (e.g., base station (110), DU (210)) can identify mirror angles (e.g., angle (911b), angle (919b), angle (921b), angle (940b)) for angle (905a) according to the second method. For example, it is confirmed that the difference between angles (920a) and (920b) is greater than the difference between angles (905a) and (950b). For example, it is confirmed that the difference between angles (930a) and (930b) is greater than the difference between angles (905a) and (950b). It is confirmed that the difference becomes greater the further away from the point corresponding to angle (905a) corresponding to the first AoA and the second AoA. In short, in the graph (900), the difference between candidate AoAs according to the first method and candidate AoAs according to the second method can be confirmed. In addition, in the second method, the angle [60, 30], which is the actual arrival angle, is not displayed, but in the first method, the angle (950a) corresponding to the actual arrival angle is confirmed. In the second method, without calculation due to the correction angle, Because only , the above-described error occurs.

[0197] Fig. 10a illustrates an example of components of a DU (e.g., DU (210)). The components of Fig. 10a can be understood as a configuration of DU (210) of Fig. 10a as a part of a base station (e.g., base station (110)). Terms such as "...unit" and "...unit" used hereinafter mean a unit that processes at least one function or operation, and this can be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software.

[0198] Referring to FIG. 10a, DU (210) includes a transceiver (1010), memory (1020), and processor (1030).

[0199] The transceiver (1010) can perform functions for transmitting and receiving signals in a wired communication environment. The transceiver (1010) can include a wired interface for controlling direct connections between devices via a transmission medium (e.g., copper wire, optical fiber). For example, the transceiver (1010) can transmit electrical signals to other devices via copper wire, or perform conversion between electrical signals and optical signals. The DU (210) can communicate with the RU (radio unit) via the transceiver (1010).

[0200] The transceiver (1010) may perform functions for transmitting and receiving signals in a wireless communication environment. For example, the transceiver (1010) may perform a conversion function between baseband signals and bit streams according to the physical layer specifications of the system. For example, when transmitting data, the transceiver (1010) encodes and modulates the transmitted bit stream to generate complex symbols. Furthermore, when receiving data, the transceiver (1010) demodulates and decodes the baseband signal to restore the received bit stream. Furthermore, the transceiver (1010) may include multiple transmission and reception paths.

[0201] The transceiver (1010) can transmit and receive signals. For example, the transceiver (1010) can transmit a management plane (M-plane) message. For example, the transceiver (1010) can transmit a management plane (S-plane) message. For example, the transceiver (1010) can transmit a control plane (C-plane) message. For example, the transceiver (1010) can transmit a user plane (U-plane) message. For example, the transceiver (1010) can receive a user plane message. Although only the transceiver (1010) is illustrated in FIG. 10A, in other implementations, the DU (210) may include two or more transceivers.

[0202] The transceiver (1010) transmits and receives signals as described above. Accordingly, all or part of the transceiver (1010) may be referred to as a "communication unit," a "transmitter," a "receiver," or a "transmitter-receiver unit." Furthermore, in the following description, the term "transmission and reception" performed via a wireless channel is used to mean that the transceiver (1010) performs the processing described above.

[0203] Although not illustrated in FIG. 10A, the transceiver (1010) may further include a backhaul transceiver for connection to the core network or other base stations. The backhaul transceiver may provide an interface for communicating with other nodes within the network. That is, the backhaul transceiver converts a bit stream transmitted from the base station to other nodes, such as other access nodes, other base stations, upper nodes, the core network, etc., into a physical signal, and converts a physical signal received from other nodes into a bit stream.

[0204] The memory (1020) stores data such as basic programs, application programs, and setting information for the operation of the DU (210). The memory (1020) may be referred to as a storage unit. The memory (1020) may be composed of volatile memory, non-volatile memory, or a combination of volatile memory and non-volatile memory. In addition, the memory (1020) may provide stored data upon request from the processor (1030).

[0205] The processor (1030) controls the overall operations of the DU (210). The processor (1080) may be referred to as a control unit. For example, the processor (1030) transmits and receives signals through the transceiver (1010) (or through the backhaul communication unit). In addition, the processor (1030) writes and reads data to and from the memory (1020). In addition, the processor (1030) may perform functions of a protocol stack required by a communication standard. Although only the processor (1030) is illustrated in FIG. 10A, the DU (210) may include two or more processors according to other implementation examples.

[0206] The configuration of DU (210) illustrated in FIG. 10a is merely an example, and examples of DUs performing embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the configuration illustrated in FIG. 10a. In some embodiments, some configurations may be added, deleted, or changed.

[0207] Fig. 10b illustrates examples of components of an RU (e.g., RU (220)). The components of Fig. 10b can be understood as a configuration of RU (220) of Fig. 2 as a part of a base station (e.g., base station (110)). Terms such as "... unit" and "... unit" used hereinafter mean a unit that processes at least one function or operation, and this can be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software.

[0208] Referring to FIG. 10b, the RU (220) includes an RF transceiver (1060), a fronthaul transceiver (1065), a memory (1070), and a processor (1080).

[0209] The RF transceiver (1060) performs functions for transmitting and receiving signals via a wireless channel. For example, the RF transceiver (1060) upconverts a baseband signal into an RF band signal and transmits the upconverted signal via an antenna, and downconverts an RF band signal received via the antenna into a baseband signal. For example, the RF transceiver (1060) may include a transmit filter, a receive filter, an amplifier, a mixer, an oscillator, a DAC, an ADC, and the like.

[0210] The RF transceiver (1060) may include multiple transmission and reception paths. Furthermore, the RF transceiver (1060) may include an antenna unit. The RF transceiver (1060) may include at least one antenna array composed of multiple antenna elements. In terms of hardware, the RF transceiver (1060) may be composed of digital circuits and analog circuits (e.g., a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC)). Here, the digital circuits and analog circuits may be implemented in a single package. In addition, the RF transceiver (1060) may include multiple RF chains. The RF transceiver (1060) may perform beamforming. The RF transceiver (1060) may apply beamforming weights to a signal to be transmitted and received in order to impart directionality to the signal according to the settings of the processor (1080). According to one embodiment, the RF transceiver (1060) may be equipped with multiple antennas.

[0211] In one embodiment, the RF transceiver (1060) may transmit and receive signals over a radio access network. For example, the RF transceiver (1060) may transmit a downlink signal. The downlink signal may include a synchronization signal (SS), a reference signal (RS) (e.g., a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a demodulation (DM)-RS), system information (e.g., a MIB, a SIB, remaining system information (RMSI), other system information (OSI)), a configuration message, control information, or downlink data. In addition, for example, the RF transceiver (1060) may receive an uplink signal. For example, the uplink signal may include an SRS or a DM-RS. In one embodiment, the RF transceiver (1060) may receive SRSs via a plurality of antennas provided in the RF transceiver (1060). Although only the RF transceiver (1060) is shown in FIG. 10b, according to other implementation examples, the RU (220) may include two or more RF transceivers.

[0212] The fronthaul transceiver (1065) can transmit and receive signals. According to one embodiment, the fronthaul transceiver (1065) can transmit and receive signals on the fronthaul interface. For example, the fronthaul transceiver (1065) can receive a management plane (M-plane) message. For example, the fronthaul transceiver (1065) can receive a management plane (S-plane) message. For example, the fronthaul transceiver (1065) can receive a control plane (C-plane) message. For example, the fronthaul transceiver (1065) can transmit a user plane (U-plane) message. For example, the fronthaul transceiver (1065) can receive a user plane message. Although only the fronthaul transceiver (1065) is shown in FIG. 10b, in other implementation examples, the RU (220) may include two or more fronthaul transceivers.

[0213] The RF transceiver (1060) and the fronthaul transceiver (1065) transmit and receive signals as described above. Accordingly, all or part of the RF transceiver (1060) and the fronthaul transceiver (1065) may be referred to as a 'communication unit', a 'transmitter unit', a 'receiver unit', or a 'transmitter-receiver unit'. In addition, in the following description, transmission and reception performed through a wireless channel are used to mean that the processing described above is performed by the RF transceiver (1060). In the following description, transmission and reception performed through a wireless channel are used to mean that the processing described above is performed by the RF transceiver (1060).

[0214] The memory (1070) stores data such as basic programs, application programs, and setting information for the operation of the RU (220). The memory (1070) may be referred to as a storage unit. The memory (1070) may be composed of volatile memory, non-volatile memory, or a combination of volatile memory and non-volatile memory. In addition, the memory (1070) may provide stored data upon request from the processor (1080).

[0215] The processor (1080) controls the overall operations of the RU (220). The processor (1080) may be referred to as a control unit. For example, the processor (1080) transmits and receives signals through the RF transceiver (1060) or the fronthaul transceiver (1065). In addition, the processor (1080) writes and reads data to and from the memory (1070). In addition, the processor (1080) may perform functions of a protocol stack required by a communication standard. Although only the processor (1080) is illustrated in FIG. 10b, the RU (220) may include two or more processors according to other implementation examples. The processor (1080) may be a set of instructions or codes stored in the memory (1070), or may be a storage space storing instructions / codes or instructions / codes that are temporarily residing in the processor (1080), or may be a part of the circuitry constituting the processor (1080). In addition, the processor (1080) may include various modules for performing communication. The processor (1080) may control the RU (220) to perform operations according to the embodiments described below.

[0216] The configuration of RU (220) illustrated in FIG. 10b is merely an example, and examples of RUs performing embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the configuration illustrated in FIG. 10b. In some embodiments, some configurations may be added, deleted, or changed.

[0217] In the present disclosure, a method is described for determining the angle of arrival of a signal by selecting a search range (e.g., a first search range, a second search range) in which no angular ambiguity occurs based on antenna array information, and searching for an angle where the correlation value is maximized through a sequential search instead of performing a full search within the search range. An antenna shape specialized for MIMO performance (e.g., the spacing between antennas in each dimension) At low complexity (greater than the wavelength of the signal), possible candidate AoAs (i.e., including actual AoAs and mirror-related AoAs) can be explored. In addition to reducing complexity by exploiting angular ambiguity, more accurate angles of arrival can be estimated by reflecting the influence between different dimensions (e.g., vertical dimension, horizontal dimension).

[0218] The effects that can be obtained from the present disclosure are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects that are not mentioned can be clearly understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure belongs from the description below.

[0219] In embodiments, an electronic device of a digital unit (DU) is provided. The electronic device may include a memory for storing instructions, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor. The instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, may cause the electronic device to obtain a first angle of arrival (AoA) for a first dimension of the plurality of antennas and a second AoA for a second dimension of the plurality of antennas, identify at least one first candidate AoA associated with the first AoA based on a first spacing between antennas in the first dimension, determine a correction angle for the second AoA based on the first AoA and the first candidate AoA for each of the at least one first candidate AoA, identify at least one second candidate AoA associated with the second AoA based on the correction angle and the second spacing between antennas in the second dimension, and transmit, via the at least one transceiver, a measurement message comprising the first AoA, the at least one first candidate AoA, the second AoA, and the at least one second candidate AoA to a location management server.

[0220] For example, the correction angle may be determined based on a ratio of a sine value of the first candidate AoA to a sine value of the first AoA.

[0221] For example, the above correction angle can be determined based on the mathematical formula below.

[0222]

[0223]

[0224] For example, the difference between the sine value of the second candidate AoA of the at least one second candidate AoA and the sine value of the correction angle may correspond to an integer multiple of the ratio of the wavelength to the product of the sine value of the first candidate AoA and the second interval.

[0225] For example, the second candidate AoA can be determined based on the following mathematical formula.

[0226]

[0227]

[0228] For example, the above g is an integer that satisfies the mathematical formula below,

[0229]

[0230]

[0231] For example, the first AoA may be obtained within a first search range for the first dimension, which is determined based on the first interval. The second AoA may be obtained within a second search range for the second dimension, which is determined based on the second interval.

[0232] For example, the first AoA may be identified among the first values ​​of the first search range based on a correlation operation using the received signals. The second AoA may be identified among the second values ​​of the second search range based on a correlation operation using the received signals.

[0233] For example, the first AoA and the at least one first candidate AoA may correspond to zenith AoAs of the measurement message. The second AoA and the at least one second candidate AoA may correspond to azimuth AoAs of the measurement message. The plurality of antennas may correspond to antenna elements of a two-dimensional (2D) array antenna arranged in the first dimension and the second dimension.

[0234] For example, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, may cause the electronic device to receive a measurement request message from the location management server via the at least one transceiver, the measurement type information indicating a plurality of uplink (UL)-AoAs, and to transmit the measurement message to the location management server via the at least one transceiver in response to the measurement request message.

[0235] For example, the first AoA, the at least one first candidate AoA, the second AoA, and the at least one second candidate AoA may be measured based on uplink signals from the terminal. The uplink signals may include a sounding reference signal (SRS) or positioning SRSs.

[0236] For example, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, may cause the electronic device to identify at least another second candidate AoA associated with the second AoA based on the first AoA, the second AoA, and the second interval. The measurement message may further include the at least another second candidate AoA.

[0237] For example, the electronic device may include a DU (digital unit). The plurality of antennas may be connected to a RU (radio unit) that is connected to the DU through a fronthaul interface.

[0238] For example, the plurality of antennas may be mounted on the electronic device.

[0239] In embodiments, a method performed by a digital unit (DU) is provided. The method may include obtaining a first angle of arrival (AoA) for a first dimension of a plurality of antennas and a second AoA for a second dimension of the plurality of antennas, and identifying at least one first candidate AoA associated with the first AoA based on a first spacing between antennas in the first dimension. The method may include determining, for each of the at least one first candidate AoA, a correction angle for the second AoA based on the first AoA and the first candidate AoA, and identifying at least one second candidate AoA associated with the second AoA based on the correction angle and the second spacing between antennas in the second dimension. The method may include transmitting a measurement message including the first AoA, the at least one first candidate AoA, the second AoA, and the at least one second candidate AoA to a location management server.

[0240] For example, the correction angle may be determined based on a ratio of a sine value of the first candidate AoA to a sine value of the first AoA.

[0241] For example, the above correction angle is determined based on the mathematical formula below,

[0242]

[0243]

[0244] For example, the difference between the sine value of the second candidate AoA of the at least one second candidate AoA and the sine value of the correction angle may correspond to an integer multiple of the ratio of the wavelength to the product of the sine value of the first candidate AoA and the second interval.

[0245] For example, the first AoA and the at least one first candidate AoA may correspond to zenith AoAs of the measurement message. The second AoA and the at least one second candidate AoA may correspond to azimuth AoAs of the measurement message. The plurality of antennas may correspond to antenna elements of a two-dimensional (2D) array antenna configured based on the first dimension and the second dimension.

[0246] In embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is provided. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, when executed by a processor of a digital unit (DU), comprises instructions for causing the DU to obtain a first angle of arrival (AoA) for a first dimension of a plurality of antennas and a second AoA for a second dimension of the plurality of antennas, identifying at least one first candidate AoA associated with the first AoA based on a first spacing between antennas in the first dimension, determining, for each of the at least one first candidate AoA, a correction angle for the second AoA according to the first AoA and the first candidate AoA, identifying at least one second candidate AoA associated with the second AoA based on the correction angle and the second spacing between antennas in the second dimension, and positioning a measurement message including the first AoA, the at least one first candidate AoA, the second AoA, and the at least one second candidate AoA. It can store instructions that cause actions to be performed, including actions that are transmitted to a server.

[0247] In embodiments, an electronic device of a digital unit (DU) is provided. The electronic device may include at least one transceiver including at least one communication circuit and at least one processor including at least one processing circuit. The at least one processor may be configured to obtain a first angle of arrival (AoA) for a first dimension of the plurality of antennas and a second AoA for a second dimension of the plurality of antennas, identify at least one first candidate AoA associated with the first AoA based on a first spacing between antennas in the first dimension, determine a correction angle for the second AoA according to the first AoA and the first candidate AoA for each of the at least one first candidate AoA, identify at least one second candidate AoA associated with the second AoA based on the correction angle and the second spacing between antennas in the second dimension, and transmit, via the at least one transceiver, a measurement message including the first AoA, the at least one first candidate AoA, the second AoA, and the at least one second candidate AoA to a location management server.

[0248] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components described in one or more of the preceding drawings may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and / or methods as described herein. For example, a processor (e.g., a baseband processor) described herein with respect to one or more of the preceding drawings may be configured to operate according to one or more examples described herein. For another example, circuitry associated with a user equipment (UE), a base station, a network element, and the like, as described above with respect to one or more of the preceding drawings, may be configured to operate according to one or more examples described herein.

[0249] Any of the embodiments described above may be combined with any other embodiment (or combination of embodiments) unless explicitly stated otherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides examples and descriptions, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be learned from practicing various embodiments.

[0250] The methods according to the embodiments described in the claims or specification of the present disclosure may be implemented in the form of hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software.

[0251] When implemented in software, a computer-readable storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium) storing one or more programs (software modules) may be provided. The one or more programs stored in the computer-readable storage medium are configured for execution by one or more processors within an electronic device. The one or more programs include instructions that cause the electronic device to execute methods according to embodiments described in the claims or specification of the present disclosure. The one or more programs may be provided as a computer program product. The computer program product may be traded between a seller and a buyer as a commodity. The computer program product may be distributed in the form of a machine-readable storage medium (e.g., a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM)), or may be distributed online (e.g., downloaded or uploaded) via an application store (e.g., Play Store™) or directly between two user devices (e.g., smart phones). In the case of online distribution, at least a portion of the computer program product may be temporarily stored or temporarily created in a device-readable storage medium, such as the memory of a manufacturer's server, an application store's server, or an intermediary server.

[0252] These programs (software modules, software) may be stored in random access memory, non-volatile memory including flash memory, read only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disc storage devices, compact disc-ROM (CD-ROM), digital versatile discs (DVDs) or other forms of optical storage devices, magnetic cassettes, or may be stored in memories formed by a combination of some or all of these. In addition, each configuration memory may include multiple copies.

[0253] Additionally, the program may be stored on an attachable storage device that is accessible via a communication network, such as the Internet, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a storage area network (SAN), or a combination thereof. Such a storage device may be connected to a device implementing an embodiment of the present disclosure via an external port. Additionally, a separate storage device on the communication network may be connected to a device implementing an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0254] In the specific embodiments of the present disclosure described above, components included in the disclosure are expressed singularly or plurally, depending on the specific embodiment presented. However, the singular or plural expressions are selected to suit the presented situation for convenience of explanation, and the present disclosure is not limited to singular or plural components. Components expressed in plural may be composed of singular elements, or components expressed in singular may be composed of plural elements.

[0255] According to embodiments, one or more of the components or operations of the aforementioned components may be omitted, or one or more other components or operations may be added. Alternatively or additionally, a plurality of components (e.g., modules or programs) may be integrated into a single component. In such a case, the integrated component may perform one or more functions of each of the plurality of components identically or similarly to those performed by the corresponding component among the plurality of components prior to the integration. According to embodiments, the operations performed by a module, program, or other component may be executed sequentially, in parallel, iteratively, or heuristically, or one or more of the operations may be executed in a different order, omitted, or one or more other operations may be added.

[0256] Meanwhile, although the detailed description of the present disclosure has described specific embodiments, it is obvious that various modifications are possible within the scope of the present disclosure.< / maxnoofulaoas> < / maxnoofmeastrps> < / maxnoposmeas> < / maxnoofmeastrps>

Claims

1. In the electronic device of DU (digital unit), Memory that stores instructions; at least one transceiver; and comprising at least one processor, The above instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to: Obtain a first angle of arrival (AoA) for a first dimension of the plurality of antennas and a second AoA for a second dimension of the plurality of antennas, Based on the first spacing between the antennas in the first dimension, at least one first candidate AoA associated with the first AoA is identified, For each of the above at least one first candidate AoA, Determine the correction angle for the second AoA based on the first AoA and the first candidate AoA, Based on the above compensation angle and the second spacing between the antennas in the second dimension, at least one second candidate AoA associated with the second AoA is identified, Causing a measurement message, including the first AoA, the at least one first candidate AoA, the second AoA, and the at least one second candidate AoA, to be transmitted to a location management server via the at least one transceiver; Electronic devices.

2. In claim 1, The above correction angle is determined according to the ratio of the sine value of the first candidate AoA to the sine value of the first AoA. Electronic devices.

3. In claim 2, The above correction angle is determined based on the mathematical formula below, Electronic devices.

4. In claim 1, The difference between the sine value of the second candidate AoA of the at least one second candidate AoA and the sine value of the correction angle corresponds to an integer multiple of the ratio of the wavelength to the product of the sine value of the first candidate AoA and the second interval. Electronic devices.

5. In claim 4, The above second candidate AoA is determined based on the following mathematical formula:

6. In claim 5, The above g is an integer that satisfies the mathematical formula below, 7. In claim 1, The first AoA is obtained within a first search range for the first dimension, which is determined based on the first interval, The second AoA is obtained within a second search range for the second dimension, which is determined based on the second interval. Electronic devices.

8. In claim 7, The above first AoA is identified among the first values ​​of the first search range based on a correlation operation using the received signals, The second AoA is identified among the second values ​​of the second search range based on a correlation operation using the received signals. Electronic devices.

9. In claim 1, The first AoA and the at least one first candidate AoA correspond to zenith AoAs of the measurement message, The second AoA and the at least one second candidate AoA correspond to the azimuth AoAs of the measurement message, The above plurality of antennas correspond to antenna elements of a two-dimensional (2D) array antenna, which are arranged in the first dimension and the second dimension. Electronic devices.

10. In claim 1, The above instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to: Receiving a measurement request message including measurement type information indicating a plurality of UL (uplink)-AoAs from the location management server through at least one transceiver, In response to said measurement request message, causing said measurement message to be transmitted to said location management server via said at least one transceiver, Electronic devices.

11. In claim 1, The first AoA, the at least one first candidate AoA, the second AoA, and the at least one second candidate AoA are measured based on uplink signals from the terminal, The above uplink signals include SRS (sounding reference signal) or positioning SRS. Electronic devices.

12. In claim 1, The above instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to: Based on the first AoA, the second AoA, and the second interval, cause at least another second candidate AoA to be identified that is associated with the second AoA; The above measurement message further comprises at least another second candidate AoA, Electronic devices.

13. In claim 1, The above electronic device includes a DU (digital unit), The above multiple antennas are connected to a RU (radio unit) which is connected to the DU through a fronthaul interface. Electronic devices.

14. In claim 1, The above plurality of antennas are mounted on the electronic device, Electronic devices. In a method performed by 15.DU (digital unit), An operation of obtaining a first angle of arrival (AoA) for a first dimension of a plurality of antennas and a second AoA for a second dimension of the plurality of antennas; An operation of identifying at least one first candidate AoA associated with the first AoA based on a first spacing between antennas in the first dimension; For each of the above at least one first candidate AoA, An operation of determining a correction angle for the second AoA according to the first AoA and the first candidate AoA; An operation of identifying at least one second candidate AoA associated with the second AoA based on the compensation angle and the second spacing between the antennas in the second dimension; An operation of transmitting a measurement message including the first AoA, the at least one first candidate AoA, the second AoA, and the at least one second candidate AoA to a location management server, method.

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