Failure of sensing procedures in cellular networks

Abstract

In an example method, a receiver node receives, from a sensing server, configuration parameters of a sensing procedure. The configuration parameters may indicate a first duration for determining whether to stop or maintain a sensing measurement period. The receiver node may initiate the sensing procedure in response to the receiving of the configuration parameters. The receiver node may receive, from a transmitter node, a sensing signal during the sensing measurement period. The receiver node may stop or maintain the sensing measurement period based on whether a detected path, of the sensing signal, comprises a line-of-sight (LOS) path. The stopping of the sensing measurement period may be further based on determining, during a window of the first duration, that the detected path does not comprise a LOS path. The maintaining of the sensing measurement period may be based on the detected path comprising a LOS path.

Description

Docket No.: 24-1244PCTTITLEFailure of Sensing Procedures in Cellular NetworksCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 716,492, filed November5, 2024, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0002] Examples of several of the various embodiments of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to the drawings.

[0003] FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B illustrate example mobile communication networks in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented.

[0004] FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B respectively illustrate a New Radio (NR) user plane and control plane protocol stack.

[0005] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of services provided between protocol layers of the NR user plane protocol stack of FIG. 2A.

[0006] FIG. 4A illustrates an example downlink data flow through the NR user plane protocol stack of FIG. 2A.

[0007] FIG. 4B illustrates an example format of a MAC subheader in a MAC PDU.

[0008] FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B respectively illustrate a mapping between logical channels, transport channels, and physical channels for the downlink and uplink.

[0009] FIG. 6 is an example diagram showing RRC state transitions of a UE.

[0010] FIG. 7 illustrates an example configuration of an NR frame into which OFDM symbols are grouped.

[0011] FIG. 8 illustrates an example configuration of a slot in the time and frequency domain for an NR carrier.

[0012] FIG. 9 illustrates an example of bandwidth adaptation using three configured BWPs for an NR carrier.

[0013] FIG. 10A illustrates three carrier aggregation configurations with two component carriers.

[0014] FIG. 10B illustrates an example of how aggregated cells may be configured into one or morePUCCH groups.

[0015] FIG. 11A illustrates an example of an SS / PBCH block structure and location.

[0016] FIG. 11 B illustrates an example of CSI-RSs that are mapped in the time and frequency domains.

[0017] FIG. 12A and FIG. 12B respectively illustrate examples of three downlink and uplink beam management procedures.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0018] FIG. 13A, FIG. 13B, and FIG. 13C respectively illustrate a four-step contention-based random access procedure, a two-step contention-free random access procedure, and another two-step random access procedure.

[0019] FIG. 14A illustrates an example of CORESET configurations for a bandwidth part.

[0020] FIG. 14B illustrates an example of a CCE-to-REG mapping for DCI transmission on a CORESET and PDCCH processing.

[0021] FIG. 15 illustrates an example of a wireless device in communication with a base station.

[0022] FIG. 16A, FIG. 16B, FIG. 16C, and FIG. 16D illustrate example structures for uplink and downlink transmission.

[0023] FIG. 17 illustrates an example of a sensing / radar system in a wireless communication system.

[0024] FIG. 18A illustrates an example of mono-static sensing / radar systems / configurations.

[0025] FIG. 18B illustrates an example of bi-static sensing / radar systems / configurations.

[0026] FIG. 19A, FIG. 19B, and FIG. 19C illustrate examples of sensing systems in wireless communication.

[0027] FIG. 20A and FIG. 20B illustrate examples of sensing procedures in wireless communication.

[0028] FIG. 21A, FIG. 21 B, FIG. 21C, and FIG. 21D illustrate examples of monitoring sensing signals.

[0029] FIG. 22A and FIG. 22B illustrate examples of sensing procedures in wireless communication as per aspects of embodiments of present disclosure.

[0030] FIG. 23A, FIG. 23B, FIG. 23C, and FIG. 23D illustrate examples of radar cross section (RCS).

[0031] FIG. 24A, FIG. 24B, and FIG. 24C illustrate examples of sensing scenes per aspects of some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0032] FIG. 24D illustrates an example of sensing scenes of the second sensing scene type.

[0033] FIG. 25A illustrates an example of sensing procedure per aspects of some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0034] FIG. 25B and FIG. 25C illustrate examples of monitoring of the sensing signal for determining whether at least one first sensing event has occurred or not.

[0035] FIG. 26A and FIG. 26B illustrate examples of at least one path of the sensing signal.

[0036] FIG. 27A and FIG. 27B illustrate examples of at least one path of the sensing signal.

[0037] FIG. 28 illustrates examples of sensing procedure per aspects of some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0038] FIG. 29A and FIG. 29B illustrate examples of sensing procedure per aspects of some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0039] FIG. 30A and FIG. 30B illustrate examples of sensing procedure per aspects of some embodiments of the present disclosure.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0040] FIG. 31 A, FIG. 31 B, and FIG. 31 C illustrate examples of sensing procedure per aspects of some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0041] FIG. 32A, FIG. 32B, and FIG. 32C illustrate examples of sensing procedure per aspects of some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0042] FIG. 33A and FIG 33B illustrate examples of a sensing procedure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0043] FIG. 34A and FIG. 34B illustrate examples of a sensing procedure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0044] FIG. 35A, FIG. 35B, and FIG. 35C illustrate examples of a sensing procedure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0045] FIG. 36A, FIG. 36B, and FIG. 36C illustrate examples of a sensing procedure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0046] FIG. 37A, FIG. 37B, FIG. 37C, and FIG. 37D illustrate examples of a sensing procedure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0047] FIG. 38A, FIG. 38B, and FIG. 38C illustrate examples of a sensing procedure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0048] FIG. 39A, FIG. 39B, FIG. 39C, and FIG. 39D illustrate examples of a sensing procedure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0049] FIG. 40A, FIG. 40B, FIG. 40C, and FIG. 40D illustrate examples of a sensing procedure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0050] FIG. 41 A and FIG. 41 B illustrate examples of a sensing procedure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0051] In the present disclosure, various embodiments are presented as examples of how the disclosed techniques may be implemented and / or how the disclosed techniques may be practiced in environments and scenarios. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the scope. In fact, after reading the description, it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art how to implement alternative embodiments. The present embodiments should not be limited by any of the described exemplary embodiments. The embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Limitations, features, and / or elements from the disclosed example embodiments may be combined to create further embodiments within the scope of the disclosure. Any figures which highlight the functionality and advantages, are presented for example purposes only. The disclosed architecture is sufficiently flexible andDocket No.: 24-1244PCT configurable, such that it may be utilized in ways other than that shown. For example, the actions listed in any flowchart may be re-ordered or only optionally used in some embodiments.

[0052] Embodiments may be configured to operate as needed. The disclosed mechanism may be performed when certain criteria are met, for example, in a wireless device, a base station, a radio environment, a network, a combination of the above, and / or the like. Example criteria may be based, at least in part, on for example, wireless device or network node configurations, traffic load, initial system set up, packet sizes, traffic characteristics, a combination of the above, and / or the like. When the one or more criteria are met, various example embodiments may be applied. Therefore, it may be possible to implement example embodiments that selectively implement disclosed protocols.

[0053] A base station may communicate with a mix of wireless devices. Wireless devices and / or base stations may support multiple technologies, and / or multiple releases of the same technology. Wireless devices may have some specific capability(ies) depending on wireless device category and / or capability(ies). When this disclosure refers to a base station communicating with a plurality of wireless devices, this disclosure may refer to a subset of the total wireless devices in a coverage area. This disclosure may refer to, for example, a plurality of wireless devices of a given LTE or 5G release with a given capability and in a given sector of the base station. The plurality of wireless devices in this disclosure may refer to a selected plurality of wireless devices, and / or a subset of total wireless devices in a coverage area which perform according to disclosed methods, and / or the like. There may be a plurality of base stations or a plurality of wireless devices in a coverage area that may not comply with the disclosed methods, for example, those wireless devices or base stations may perform based on older releases of LTE or 5G technology.

[0054] In this disclosure, “a” and “an’’ and similar phrases are to be interpreted as “at least one” and “one or more.” Similarly, any term that ends with the suffix “(s)” is to be interpreted as “at least one” and “one or more.” In this disclosure, the term “may” is to be interpreted as “may, for example.” In other words, the term “may” is indicative that the phrase following the term “may” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities that may, or may not, be employed by one or more of the various embodiments. The terms “comprises” and “consists of’, as used herein, enumerate one or more components of the element being described. The term “comprises” is interchangeable with “includes” and does not exclude unenumerated components from being included in the element being described. By contrast, “consists of' provides a complete enumeration of the one or more components of the element being described. The term “based on”, as used herein, should be interpreted as “based at least in part on” rather than, for example, “based solely on”. The term “and / or” as used herein represents any possible combination of enumerated elements. For example, “A, B, and / or C” may represent A; B; C; A and B; A and C; B and C; or A, B, and C.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0055] If A and B are sets and every element of A is an element of B, A is called a subset of B. In this specification, only non-empty sets and subsets are considered. For example, possible subsets of B = {cell 1 , cell2} are: {celH }, {cell2}, and {celH , cell2}. The phrase “based on" (or equally “based at least on") is indicative that the phrase following the term “based on” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities that may, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments. The phrase “in response to” (or equally “in response at least to”) is indicative that the phrase following the phrase “in response to” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities that may, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments. The phrase “depending on” (or equally “depending at least to”) is indicative that the phrase following the phrase “depending on” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities that may, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments. The phrase “employing / using” (or equally “employing / using at least”) is indicative that the phrase following the phrase “employing / using" is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities that may, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments.

[0056] The term configured may relate to the capacity of a device whether the device is in an operational or non-operational state. Configured may refer to specific settings in a device that affect or implement the operational characteristics of the device whether the device is in an operational or non-operational state. In other words, the hardware, software, firmware, registers, memory values, and / or the like may be “configured” within a device, whether the device is in an operational or nonoperational state, to provide the device with specific characteristics. Terms such as “a control message to cause in a device” may mean that a control message has parameters that may be used to configure specific characteristics or may be used to implement certain actions in the device, whether the device is in an operational or non-operational state.

[0057] In this disclosure, parameters (or equally called, fields, or Information elements: lEs) may comprise one or more information objects, and an information object may comprise one or more other objects. For example, if parameter (IE) N comprises parameter (IE) M, and parameter (IE) M comprises parameter (IE) K, and parameter (IE) K comprises parameter (information element) J. Then, for example, N comprises K, and N comprises J. In an example embodiment, when one or more messages comprise a plurality of parameters, it implies that a parameter in the plurality of parameters is in at least one of the one or more messages, but does not have to be in each of the one or more messages.

[0058] Many features presented are described as being optional through the use of “may” or the use of parentheses. For the sake of brevity and legibility, the present disclosure does not explicitly recite each and every permutation that may be obtained by choosing from the set of optional features. The present disclosure is to be interpreted as explicitly disclosing all such permutations. For example, a system described as having three optional features may be embodied in seven ways, namely with just one of theDocket No.: 24-1244PCT three possible features, with any two of the three possible features or with three of the three possible features.

[0059] Many of the elements described in the disclosed embodiments may be implemented as modules. A module is defined here as an element that performs a defined function and has a defined interface to other elements. The modules described in this disclosure may be implemented in hardware, software in combination with hardware, firmware, wetware (e.g., hardware with a biological element) or a combination thereof, which may be behaviorally equivalent. For example, modules may be implemented as a software routine written in a computer language configured to be executed by a hardware machine (such as C, C++, Fortran, Java, Basic, MATLAB or the like) or a modeling / simulation program such as Simulink, Stateflow, GNU Octave, or LabVIEWMathScript. It may be possible to implement modules using physical hardware that incorporates discrete or programmable analog, digital and / or quantum hardware. Examples of programmable hardware comprise: computers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs); field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs); and complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs). Computers, microcontrollers and microprocessors are programmed using languages such as assembly, C, C++ or the like. FPGAs, ASICs and CPLDs are often programmed using hardware description languages (HDL) such as VHSIC hardware description language (VHDL) or Verilog that configure connections between internal hardware modules with lesser functionality on a programmable device. The mentioned technologies are often used in combination to achieve the result of a functional module.

[0060] FIG. 1 A illustrates an example of a mobile communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. The mobile communication network 100 may be, for example, a public land mobile network (PLMN) run by a network operator. As illustrated in FIG. 1A, the mobile communication network 100 includes a core network (CN) 102, a radio access network (RAN) 104, and a wireless device 106.

[0061] The CN 102 may provide the wireless device 106 with an interface to one or more data networks (DNs), such as public DNs (e.g., the Internet), private DNs, and / or intra-operator DNs. As part of the interface functionality, the CN 102 may set up end-to-end connections between the wireless device 106 and the one or more DNs, authenticate the wireless device 106, and provide charging functionality.

[0062] The RAN 104 may connect the CN 102 to the wireless device 106 through radio communications over an air interface. As part of the radio communications, the RAN 104 may provide scheduling, radio resource management, and retransmission protocols. The communication direction from the RAN 104 to the wireless device 106 over the air interface is known as the downlink and the communication direction from the wireless device 106 to the RAN 104 over the air interface is known as the uplink. DownlinkDocket No.: 24-1244PCT transmissions may be separated from uplink transmissions using frequency division duplexing (FDD), timedivision duplexing (TDD), and / or some combination of the two duplexing techniques.

[0063] The term wireless device may be used throughout this disclosure to refer to and encompass any mobile device or fixed (non-mobile) device for which wireless communication is needed or usable. For example, a wireless device may be a telephone, smart phone, tablet, computer, laptop, sensor, meter, wearable device, Internet of Things (loT) device, vehicle roadside unit (RSU), relay node, automobile, and / or any combination thereof. The term wireless device encompasses other terminology, including user equipment (UE), user terminal (UT), access terminal (AT), mobile station, handset, wireless transmit and receive unit (WTRU), and / or wireless communication device.

[0064] The RAN 104 may include one or more base stations (not shown). The term base station may be used throughout this disclosure to refer to and encompass a Node B (associated with UMTS and / or 3G standards), an Evolved Node B (eNB, associated with E-UTRA and / or 4G standards), a remote radio head (RRH), a baseband processing unit coupled to one or more RRHs, a repeater node or relay node used to extend the coverage area of a donor node, a Next Generation Evolved Node B (ng-eNB), a Generation Node B (gNB, associated with NR and / or 5G standards), an access point (AP, associated with, for example, Wi-Fi or any other suitable wireless communication standard), and / or any combination thereof. A base station may comprise at least one gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU) and at least one a gNB Distributed Unit (gNB-DU).

[0065] A base station included in the RAN 104 may include one or more sets of antennas for communicating with the wireless device 106 over the air interface. For example, one or more of the base stations may include three sets of antennas to respectively control three cells (or sectors). The size of a cell may be determined by a range at which a receiver (e.g., a base station receiver) can successfully receive the transmissions from a transmitter (e.g., a wireless device transmitter) operating in the cell. Together, the cells of the base stations may provide radio coverage to the wireless device 106 over a wide geographic area to support wireless device mobility.

[0066] In addition to three-sector sites, other implementations of base stations are possible. For example, one or more of the base stations in the RAN 104 may be implemented as a sectored site with more or less than three sectors. One or more of the base stations in the RAN 104 may be implemented as an access point, as a baseband processing unit coupled to several remote radio heads (RRHs), and / or as a repeater or relay node used to extend the coverage area of a donor node. A baseband processing unit coupled to RRHs may be part of a centralized or cloud RAN architecture, where the baseband processing unit may be either centralized in a pool of baseband processing units or virtualized. A repeater node may amplify and rebroadcast a radio signal received from a donor node. A relay node may perform the same / similarDocket No.: 24-1244PCT functions as a repeater node but may decode the radio signal received from the donor node to remove noise before amplifying and rebroadcasting the radio signal.

[0067] The RAN 104 may be deployed as a homogenous network of macrocell base stations that have similar antenna patterns and similar high-level transmit powers. The RAN 104 may be deployed as a heterogeneous network. In heterogeneous networks, small cell base stations may be used to provide small coverage areas, for example, coverage areas that overlap with the comparatively larger coverage areas provided by macrocell base stations. The small coverage areas may be provided in areas with high data traffic (or so-called “hotspots”) or in areas with weak macrocell coverage. Examples of small cell base stations include, in order of decreasing coverage area, microcell base stations, picocell base stations, and femtocell base stations or home base stations.

[0068] The Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) was formed in 1998 to provide global standardization of specifications for mobile communication networks similar to the mobile communication network 100 in FIG. 1A. To date, 3GPP has produced specifications for three generations of mobile networks: a third generation (3G) network known as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a fourth generation (4G) network known as Long-Term Evolution (LTE), and a fifth generation (5G) network known as 5G System (5GS). Embodiments of the present disclosure are described with reference to the RAN of a 3GPP 5G network, referred to as next-generation RAN (NG-RAN). Embodiments may be applicable to RANs of other mobile communication networks, such as the RAN 104 in FIG. 1A, the RANs of earlier 3G and 4G networks, and those of future networks yet to be specified (e.g., a 3GPP 6G network). NG-RAN implements 5G radio access technology known as New Radio (NR) and may be provisioned to implement 4G radio access technology or other radio access technologies, including non- 3GPP radio access technologies.

[0069] FIG. 1 B illustrates another example mobile communication network 150 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. Mobile communication network 150 may be, for example, a PLMN run by a network operator. As illustrated in FIG. 1 B, mobile communication network 150 includes a 5G core network (5G-CN) 152, an NG-RAN 154, and UEs 156A and 156B (collectively UEs 156). These components may be implemented and operate in the same or similar manner as corresponding components described with respect to FIG 1 A.

[0070] The 5G-CN 152 provides the UEs 156 with an interface to one or more DNs, such as public DNs (e.g., the Internet), private DNs, and / or intra-operator DNs. As part of the interface functionality, the 5G-CN 152 may set up end-to-end connections between the UEs 156 and the one or more DNs, authenticate the UEs 156, and provide charging functionality. Compared to the CN of a 3GPP 4G network, the basis of the 5G-CN 152 may be a service-based architecture. This means that the architecture of the nodes making up the 5G-CN 152 may be defined as network functions that offer services via interfaces to other networkDocket No.: 24-1244PCT functions. The network functions of the 5G-CN 152 may be implemented in several ways, including as network elements on dedicated or shared hardware, as software instances running on dedicated or shared hardware, or as virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud-based platform).

[0071] As illustrated in FIG. 1 B, the 5G-CN 152 includes an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 158A and a User Plane Function (UPF) 158B, which are shown as one component AMF / UPF 158 in FIG. 1 B for ease of illustration. The UPF 158B may serve as a gateway between the NG-RAN 154 and the one or more DNs. The UPF 158B may perform functions such as packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection and user plane policy rule enforcement, traffic usage reporting, uplink classification to support routing of traffic flows to the one or more DNs, quality of service (QoS) handling for the user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, uplink / downlink rate enforcement, and uplink traffic verification), downlink packet buffering, and downlink data notification triggering. The UPF 158B may serve as an anchor point for intra- / inter-Radio Access Technology (RAT) mobility, an external protocol (or packet) data unit (PDU) session point of interconnect to the one or more DNs, and / or a branching point to support a multi-homed PDU session. The UEs 156 may be configured to receive services through a PDU session, which is a logical connection between a UE and a DN

[0072] The AMF 158A may perform functions such as Non-Access Stratum (NAS) signaling termination, NAS signaling security, Access Stratum (AS) security control, inter-CN node signaling for mobility between 3GPP access networks, idle mode UE reachability (e.g., control and execution of paging retransmission), registration area management, intra-system and inter-system mobility support, access authentication, access authorization including checking of roaming rights, mobility management control (subscription and policies), network slicing support, and / or session management function (SMF) selection. NAS may refer to the functionality operating between a CN and a UE, and AS may refer to the functionality operating between the UE and a RAN.

[0073] The 5G-CN 152 may include one or more additional network functions that are not shown in FIG 1 B for the sake of clarity. For example, the 5G-CN 152 may include one or more of a Session Management Function (SMF), an NR Repository Function (NRF), a Policy Control Function (PCF), a Network Exposure Function (NEF), a Unified Data Management (UDM), an Application Function (AF), and / or an Authentication Server Function (AUSF).

[0074] The NG-RAN 154 may connect the 5G-CN 152 to the UEs 156 through radio communications over the air interface. The NG-RAN 154 may include one or more gNBs, illustrated as gNB 160A and gNB 160B (collectively gNBs 160) and / or one or more ng-eNBs, illustrated as ng-eNB 162A and ng-eNB 162B (collectively ng-eNBs 162). The gNBs 160 and ng-eNBs 162 may be more generically referred to as base stations. The gNBs 160 and ng-eNBs 162 may include one or more sets of antennas for communicating with the UEs 156 over an air interface. For example, one or more of the gNBs 160 and / or one or more ofDocket No.: 24-1244PCT the ng-eNBs 162 may include three sets of antennas to respectively control three cells (or sectors). Together, the cells of the gNBs 160 and the ng-eNBs 162 may provide radio coverage to the UEs 156 over a wide geographic area to support UE mobility.

[0075] As shown in FIG. 1 B, the gNBs 160 and / or the ng-eNBs 162 may be connected to the 5G-CN 152 by means of an NG interface and to other base stations by an Xn interface. The NG and Xn interfaces may be established using direct physical connections and / or indirect connections over an underlying transport network, such as an internet protocol (IP) transport network. The gNBs 160 and / or the ng-eNBs 162 may be connected to the UEs 156 by means of a Uu interface. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1 B, gNB 160A may be connected to the UE 156A by means of a Uu interface. The NG, Xn, and Uu interfaces are associated with a protocol stack. The protocol stacks associated with the interfaces may be used by the network elements in FIG. 1 B to exchange data and signaling messages and may include two planes: a user plane and a control plane. The user plane may handle data of interest to a user. The control plane may handle signaling messages of interest to the network elements.

[0076] The gNBs 160 and / or the ng-eNBs 162 may be connected to one or more AMF / UPF functions of the 5G-CN 152, such as the AMF / UPF 158, by means of one or more NG interfaces. For example, the gNB 160A may be connected to the UPF 158B of the AMF / UPF 158 by means of an NG-User plane (NG-U) interface. The NG-U interface may provide delivery (e.g., non-guaranteed delivery) of user plane PDUs between the gNB 160A and the UPF 158B. The gNB 160A may be connected to the AMF 158A by means of an NG-Control plane (NG-C) interface. The NG-C interface may provide, for example, NG interface management, UE context management, UE mobility management, transport of NAS messages, paging, PDU session management, and configuration transfer and / or warning message transmission.

[0077] The gNBs 160 may provide NR user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UEs 156 over the Uu interface. For example, the gNB 160A may provide NR user plane and control plane protocol terminations toward the UE 156A over a Uu interface associated with a first protocol stack. The ng- eNBs 162 may provide Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UEs 156 over a Uu interface, where E-UTRA refers to the 3GPP 4G radio-access technology. For example, the ng-eNB 162B may provide E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UE 156B over a Uu interface associated with a second protocol stack.

[0078] The 5G-CN 152 was described as being configured to handle NR and 4G radio accesses. It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that it may be possible for NR to connect to a 4G core network in a mode known as “non-standalone operation.” In non-standalone operation, a 4G core network is used to provide (or at least support) control-plane functionality (e.g., initial access, mobility, and paging). AlthoughDocket No.: 24-1244PCT only one AMF / UPF 158 is shown in FIG. 1 B, one gNB or ng-eNB may be connected to multiple AMF / UPF nodes to provide redundancy and / or to load share across the multiple AMF / UPF nodes.

[0079] As discussed, an interface (e.g., Uu, Xn, and NG interfaces) between the network elements in FIG. 1 B may be associated with a protocol stack that the network elements use to exchange data and signaling messages. A protocol stack may include two planes: a user plane and a control plane. The user plane may handle data of interest to a user, and the control plane may handle signaling messages of interest to the network elements.

[0080] FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B respectively illustrate examples of NR user plane and NR control plane protocol stacks for the Uu interface that lies between a UE 210 and a gNB 220. The protocol stacks illustrated in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B may be the same or similar to those used for the Uu interface between, for example, the UE 156A and the gNB 160A shown in FIG. 1 B.

[0081] FIG. 2A illustrates a NR user plane protocol stack comprising five layers implemented in the UE 210 and the gNB 220. At the bottom of the protocol stack, physical layers (PHYs) 211 and 221 may provide transport services to the higher layers of the protocol stack and may correspond to layer 1 of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. The next four protocols above PHYs 211 and 221 comprise media access control layers (MACs) 212 and 222, radio link control layers (RLCs) 213 and 223, packet data convergence protocol layers (PDCPs) 214 and 224, and service data application protocol layers (SDAPs) 215 and 225. Together, these four protocols may make up layer 2, or the data link layer, of the OSI model.

[0082] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of services provided between protocol layers of the NR user plane protocol stack. Starting from the top of FIG. 2A and FIG. 3, the SDAPs 215 and 225 may perform QoS flow handling. The UE 210 may receive services through a PDU session, which may be a logical connection between the UE 210 and a DN. The PDU session may have one or more QoS flows. A UPF of a CN (e.g., the UPF 158B) may map IP packets to the one or more QoS flows of the PDU session based on QoS requirements (e.g., in terms of delay, data rate, and / or error rate). The SDAPs 215 and 225 may perform mapping / de-mapping between the one or more QoS flows and one or more data radio bearers. The mapping / de-mapping between the QoS flows and the data radio bearers may be determined by the SDAP 225 at the gNB 220. The SDAP 215 at the UE 210 may be informed of the mapping between the QoS flows and the data radio bearers through reflective mapping or control signaling received from the gNB 220. For reflective mapping, the SDAP 225 at the gNB 220 may mark the downlink packets with a QoS flow indicator (QFI), which may be observed by the SDAP 215 at the UE 210 to determine the mapping / de-mapping between the QoS flows and the data radio bearers.

[0083] The PDCPs 214 and 224 may perform header compression / decompression to reduce the amount of data that needs to be transmitted over the air interface, ciphering / deciphering to prevent unauthorized decoding of data transmitted over the air interface, and integrity protection (to ensure control messagesDocket No.: 24-1244PCT originate from intended sources The PDCPs 214 and 224 may perform retransmissions of undelivered packets, in-sequence delivery and reordering of packets, and removal of packets received in duplicate due to, for example, an intra-g NB handover. The PDCPs 214 and 224 may perform packet duplication to improve the likelihood of the packet being received and, at the receiver, remove any duplicate packets. Packet duplication may be useful for services that require high reliability.

[0084] Although not shown in FIG. 3, PDCPs 214 and 224 may perform mapping / de-mapping between a split radio bearer and RLC channels in a dual connectivity scenario. Dual connectivity is a technique that allows a UE to connect to two cells or, more generally, two cell groups: a master cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG). A split bearer is when a single radio bearer, such as one of the radio bearers provided by the PDCPs 214 and 224 as a service to the SDAPs 215 and 225, is handled by cell groups in dual connectivity. The PDCPs 214 and 224 may map / de-map the split radio bearer between RLC channels belonging to cell groups.

[0085] The RLCs 213 and 223 may perform segmentation, retransmission through Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ), and removal of duplicate data units received from MACs 212 and 222, respectively. The RLCs 213 and 223 may support three transmission modes: transparent mode (TM); unacknowledged mode (UM); and acknowledged mode (AM). Based on the transmission mode an RLC is operating, the RLC may perform one or more of the noted functions. The RLC configuration may be per logical channel with no dependency on numerologies and / or Transmission Time Interval (TTI) durations. As shown in FIG. 3, the RLCs 213 and 223 may provide RLC channels as a service to PDCPs 214 and 224, respectively.

[0086] The MACs 212 and 222 may perform multiplexing / demultiplexing of logical channels and / or mapping between logical channels and transport channels. The multiplexing / demultiplexing may include multiplexing / demultiplexing of data units, belonging to the one or more logical channels, into / from Transport Blocks (TBs) delivered to / from the PHYs 211 and 221 . The MAC 222 may be configured to perform scheduling, scheduling information reporting, and priority handling between UEs by means of dynamic scheduling. Scheduling may be performed in the gNB 220 (at the MAC 222) for downlink and uplink. The MACs 212 and 222 may be configured to perform error correction through Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) (e.g., one HARQ entity per carrier in case of Carrier Aggregation (CA)), priority handling between logical channels of the UE 210 by means of logical channel prioritization, and / or padding. The MACs 212 and 222 may support one or more numerologies and / or transmission timings. In an example, mapping restrictions in a logical channel prioritization may control which numerology and / or transmission timing a logical channel may use. As shown in FIG. 3, the MACs 212 and 222 may provide logical channels as a service to the RLCs 213 and 223.

[0087] The PHYs 211 and 221 may perform mapping of transport channels to physical channels and digital and analog signal processing functions for sending and receiving information over the air interface.Docket No.: 24-1244PCTThese digital and analog signal processing functions may include, for example, coding / decoding and modulation / demodulation. The PHYs 211 and 221 may perform multi-antenna mapping. As shown in FIG. 3, the PHYs 211 and 221 may provide one or more transport channels as a service to the MACs 212 and 222.

[0088] FIG. 4A illustrates an example downlink data flow through the NR user plane protocol stack. FIG. 4A illustrates a downlink data flow of three IP packets (n, n+1 , and m) through the NR user plane protocol stack to generate two TBs at the gNB 220. An uplink data flow through the NR user plane protocol stack may be similar to the downlink data flow depicted in FIG. 4A.

[0089] The downlink data flow of FIG. 4A begins when SDAP 225 receives the three IP packets from one or more QoS flows and maps the three packets to radio bearers In FIG. 4A, the SDAP 225 maps IP packets n and n+1 to a first radio bearer 402 and maps IP packet m to a second radio bearer 404. An SDAP header (labeled with an “H” in FIG. 4A) is added to an IP packet. The data unit from / to a higher protocol layer is referred to as a service data unit (SDU) of the lower protocol layer and the data unit to / from a lower protocol layer is referred to as a protocol data unit (PDU) of the higher protocol layer. As shown in FIG 4A, the data unit from the SDAP 225 is an SDU of lower protocol layer PDCP 224 and is a PDU of the SDAP 225.

[0090] The remaining protocol layers in FIG. 4A may perform their associated functionality (e.g., with respect to FIG. 3), add corresponding headers, and forward their respective outputs to the next lower layer. For example, the PDCP 224 may perform IP-header compression and ciphering and forward its output to the RLC 223. The RLC 223 may optionally perform segmentation (e.g., as shown for IP packet m in FIG. 4A) and forward its output to the MAC 222. The MAC 222 may multiplex a number of RLC PDUs and may attach a MAC subheader to an RLC PDU to form a transport block. In NR, the MAC subheaders may be distributed across the MAC PDU, as illustrated in FIG. 4A. In LTE, the MAC subheaders may be entirely located at the beginning of the MAC PDU. The NR MAC PDU structure may reduce processing time and associated latency because the MAC PDU subheaders may be computed before the full MAC PDU is assembled.

[0091] FIG. 4B illustrates an example format of a MAC subheader in a MAC PDU. The MAC subheader includes: an SDU length field for indicating the length (e.g., in bytes) of the MAC SDU to which the MAC subheader corresponds; a logical channel identifier (LCID) field for identifying the logical channel from which the MAC SDU originated to aid in the demultiplexing process; a flag (F) for indicating the size of the SDU length field; and a reserved bit (R) field for future use.

[0092] FIG. 4B further illustrates MAC control elements (CEs) inserted into the MAC PDU by a MAC, such as MAC 223 or MAC 222 For example, FIG. 4B illustrates two MAC CEs inserted into the MAC PDU. MAC CEs may be inserted at the beginning of a MAC PDU for downlink transmissions (as shown in FIG. 4B) andDocket No.: 24-1244PCT at the end of a MAC PDU for uplink transmissions. MAC CEs may be used for in-band control signaling. Example MAC CEs include: scheduling-related MAC CEs, such as buffer status reports and power headroom reports; activation / deactivation MAC CEs, such as those for activation / deactivation of PDCP duplication detection, channel state information (CSI) reporting, sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, and prior configured components; discontinuous reception (DRX) related MAC CEs; timing advance MAC CEs; and random access related MAC CEs. A MAC CE may be preceded by a MAC subheader with a similar format as described for MAC SDUs and may be identified with a reserved value in the LCID field that indicates the type of control information included in the MAC CE.

[0093] Before describing the NR control plane protocol stack, logical channels, transport channels, and physical channels are first described as well as a mapping between the channel types. One or more of the channels may be used to carry out functions associated with the NR control plane protocol stack described later below.

[0094] FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B illustrate, for downlink and uplink respectively, a mapping between logical channels, transport channels, and physical channels. Information is passed through channels between the RLC, the MAC, and the PHY of the NR protocol stack. A logical channel may be used between the RLC and the MAC and may be classified as a control channel that carries control and configuration information in the NR control plane or as a traffic channel that carries data in the NR user plane. A logical channel may be classified as a dedicated logical channel that is dedicated to a specific UE or as a common logical channel that may be used by more than one UE. A logical channel may also be defined by the type of information it carries. The set of logical channels defined by NR include, for example:

[0095] - a paging control channel (PCCH) for carrying paging messages used to page a UE whose location is not known to the network on a cell level;

[0096] - a broadcast control channel (BCCH) for carrying system information messages in the form of a master information block (MIB) and several system information blocks (SIBs), wherein the system information messages may be used by the UEs to obtain information about how a cell is configured and how to operate within the cell;

[0097] - a common control channel (CCCH) for carrying control messages together with random access;

[0098] - a dedicated control channel (DCCH) for carrying control messages to / from a specific the UE to configure the UE; and

[0099] - a dedicated traffic channel (DTCH) for carrying user data to / from a specific the UE.

[0100] Transport channels are used between the MAC and PHY layers and may be defined by how the information they carry is transmitted over the air interface. The set of transport channels defined by NR include, for example:

[0101] - a paging channel (PCH) for carrying paging messages that originated from the PCCH;Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0102] - a broadcast channel (BCH) for carrying the M IB from the BCCH;

[0103] - a downlink shared channel (DL-SCH) for carrying downlink data and signaling messages, including the SIBs from the BCCH;

[0104] - an uplink shared channel (UL-SCH) for carrying uplink data and signaling messages; and

[0105] - a random access channel (RACH) for allowing a UE to contact the network without any prior scheduling.

[0106] The PHY may use physical channels to pass information between processing levels of the PHY. A physical channel may have an associated set of time-frequency resources for carrying the information of one or more transport channels. The PHY may generate control information to support the low-level operation of the PHY and provide the control information to the lower levels of the PHY via physical control channels, known as L1 / L2 control channels. The set of physical channels and physical control channels defined by NR include, for example:

[0107] - a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) for carrying the MIB from the BCH;

[0108] - a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) for carrying downlink data and signaling messages from the DL-SCH, as well as paging messages from the PCH;

[0109] - a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for carrying downlink control information (DCI), which may include downlink scheduling commands, uplink scheduling grants, and uplink power control commands;

[0110] - a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) for carrying uplink data and signaling messages from the UL-SCH and in some instances uplink control information (UCI) as described below;

[0111] - a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) for carrying UCI, which may include HARQ acknowledgments, channel quality indicators (CQI), pre-coding matrix indicators (PM I), rank indicators (Rl), and scheduling requests (SR); and

[0112] - a physical random access channel (PRACH) for random access.

[0113] Similar to the physical control channels, the physical layer generates physical signals to support the low-level operation of the physical layer. As shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, the physical layer signals defined by NR include: primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), demodulation reference signals (DMRS), sounding reference signals (SRS), and phase-tracking reference signals (PT-RS). These physical layer signals will be described in greater detail below.

[0114] FIG. 2B illustrates an example NR control plane protocol stack. As shown in FIG. 2B, the NR control plane protocol stack may use the same / similar first four protocol layers as the example NR user plane protocol stack. These four protocol layers include the PHYs 211 and 221 , the MACs 212 and 222, the RLCs 213 and 223, and the PDCPs 214 and 224. Instead of having the SDAPs 215 and 225 at the top ofDocket No.: 24-1244PCT the stack as in the NR user plane protocol stack, the NR control plane stack has radio resource controls (RRCs) 216 and 226 and NAS protocols 217 and 237 at the top of the NR control plane protocol stack.

[0115] The NAS protocols 217 and 237 may provide control plane functionality between the UE 210 and the AMF 230 (e.g., the AMF 158A) or, more generally, between the UE 210 and the CN. The NAS protocols 217 and 237 may provide control plane functionality between the UE 210 and the AMF 230 via signaling messages, referred to as NAS messages. There is no direct path between the UE 210 and the AMF 230 through which the NAS messages can be transported. The NAS messages may be transported using the AS of the Uu and NG interfaces. NAS protocols 217 and 237 may provide control plane functionality such as authentication, security, connection setup, mobility management, and session management.

[0116] The RRCs 216 and 226 may provide control plane functionality between the UE 210 and the gNB 220 or, more generally, between the UE 210 and the RAN. The RRCs 216 and 226 may provide control plane functionality between the UE 210 and the gNB 220 via signaling messages, referred to as RRC messages. RRC messages may be transmitted between the UE 210 and the RAN using signaling radio bearers and the same / similar PDCP, RLC, MAC, and PHY protocol layers. The MAC may multiplex controlplane and user-plane data into the same transport block (TB). The RRCs 216 and 226 may provide control plane functionality such as: broadcast of system information related to AS and NAS; paging initiated by the CN or the RAN; establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE 210 and the RAN; security functions including key management; establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of signaling radio bearers and data radio bearers; mobility functions; QoS management functions; the UE measurement reporting and control of the reporting; detection of and recovery from radio link failure (RLF); and / or NAS message transfer. As part of establishing an RRC connection, RRCs 216 and 226 may establish an RRC context, which may involve configuring parameters for communication between the UE 210 and the RAN .

[0117] FIG. 6 is an example diagram showing RRC state transitions of a UE. The UE may be the same or similar to the wireless device 106 depicted in FIG. 1A, the UE 210 depicted in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, or any other wireless device described in the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 6, a UE may be in at least one of three RRC states: RRC connected 602 (e.g., RRC_CONNECTED), RRC idle 604 (e.g., RRC_I DEE), and RRC inactive 606 (e.g., RRCJNACTIVE).

[0118] In RRC connected 602, the UE has an established RRC context and may have at least one RRC connection with a base station. The base station may be similar to one of the one or more base stations included in the RAN 104 depicted in FIG. 1A, one of the gNBs 160 or ng-eNBs 162 depicted in FIG. 1 B, the gNB 220 depicted in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, or any other base station described in the present disclosure. The base station with which the UE is connected may have the RRC context for the UE. The RRC context, referred to as the UE context, may comprise parameters for communication between the UE and the baseDocket No.: 24-1244PCT station. These parameters may include, for example: one or more AS contexts; one or more radio link configuration parameters; bearer configuration information (e.g., relating to a data radio bearer, signaling radio bearer, logical channel, QoS flow, and / or PDU session); security information; and / or PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, and / or SDAP layer configuration information. While in RRC connected 602, mobility of the UE may be managed by the RAN (e.g., the RAN 104 or the NG-RAN 154). The UE may measure the signal levels (e.g., reference signal levels) from a serving cell and neighboring cells and report these measurements to the base station currently serving the UE. The UE's serving base station may request a handover to a cell of one of the neighboring base stations based on the reported measurements. The RRC state may transition from RRC connected 602 to RRC idle 604 through a connection release procedure 608 or to RRC inactive 606 through a connection inactivation procedure 610.

[0119] In RRC idle 604, an RRC context may not be established for the UE. In RRC idle 604, the UE may not have an RRC connection with the base station. While in RRC idle 604, the UE may be in a sleep state for the majority of the time (e.g., to conserve battery power). The UE may wake up periodically (e.g., once in every discontinuous reception cycle) to monitor for paging messages from the RAN. Mobility of the UE may be managed by the UE through a procedure known as cell reselection. The RRC state may transition from RRC idle 604 to RRC connected 602 through a connection establishment procedure 612, which may involve a random access procedure as discussed in greater detail below.

[0120] In RRC inactive 606, the RRC context previously established is maintained in the UE and the base station. This allows for a fast transition to RRC connected 602 with reduced signaling overhead as compared to the transition from RRC idle 604 to RRC connected 602. While in RRC inactive 606, the UE may be in a sleep state and mobility of the UE may be managed by the UE through cell reselection. The RRC state may transition from RRC inactive 606 to RRC connected 602 through a connection resume procedure 614 or to RRC idle 604 though a connection release procedure 616 that may be the same as or similar to connection release procedure 608.

[0121] An RRC state may be associated with a mobility management mechanism. In RRC idle 604 and RRC inactive 606, mobility is managed by the UE through cell reselection. The purpose of mobility management in RRC idle 604 and RRC inactive 606 is to allow the network to be able to notify the UE of an event via a paging message without having to broadcast the paging message over the entire mobile communications network. The mobility management mechanism used in RRC idle 604 and RRC inactive 606 may allow the network to track the UE on a cell-group level so that the paging message may be broadcast over the cells of the cell group that the UE currently resides within instead of the entire mobile communication network. The mobility management mechanisms for RRC idle 604 and RRC inactive 606 track the UE on a cell-group level. They may do so using different granularities of grouping. For example, there may be three levels of cell-grouping granularity: individual cells; cells within a RAN area identified byDocket No.: 24-1244PCT a RAN area identifier (RAI); and cells within a group of RAN areas, referred to as a tracking area and identified by a tracking area identifier (TAI).

[0122] Tracking areas may be used to track the UE at the CN level. The CN (e.g., the CN 102 or the 5G-CN 152) may provide the UE with a list of TAIs associated with a UE registration area. If the UE moves, through cell reselection, to a cell associated with a TAI not included in the list of TAIs associated with the UE registration area, the UE may perform a registration update with the CN to allow the CN to update the UE's location and provide the UE with a new the UE registration area.

[0123] RAN areas may be used to track the UE at the RAN level. For a UE in RRC inactive 606 state, the UE may be assigned a RAN notification area. A RAN notification area may comprise one or more cell identities, a list of RAIs, or a list of TAIs. In an example, a base station may belong to one or more RAN notification areas. In an example, a cell may belong to one or more RAN notification areas. If the UE moves, through cell reselection, to a cell not included in the RAN notification area assigned to the UE, the UE may perform a notification area update with the RAN to update the UE’s RAN notification area.

[0124] A base station storing an RRC context for a UE or a last serving base station of the UE may be referred to as an anchor base station. An anchor base station may maintain an RRC context for the UE at least during a period of time that the UE stays in a RAN notification area of the anchor base station and / or during a period of time that the UE stays in RRC inactive 606.

[0125] A g N B, such as gNBs 160 in FIG. 1 B, may be split into two parts: a central unit (gNB-CU), and one or more distributed units (gNB-DU). A gNB-CU may be coupled to one or more gNB-DUs using an F1 interface. The gNB-CU may comprise the RRC, the PDCP, and the SDAP. A gNB-DU may comprise the RLC, the MAC, and the PHY.

[0126] In NR, the physical signals and physical channels (discussed with respect to FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B) may be mapped onto orthogonal frequency divisional multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. OFDM is a multicarrier communication scheme that transmits data over F orthogonal subcarriers (or tones). Before transmission, the data may be mapped to a series of complex symbols (e.g., M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M- QAM) or M-phase shift keying (M-PSK) symbols), referred to as source symbols, and divided into F parallel symbol streams. The F parallel symbol streams may be treated as though they are in the frequency domain and used as inputs to an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) block that transforms them into the time domain. The IFFT block may take in F source symbols at a time, one from each of the F parallel symbol streams, and use each source symbol to modulate the amplitude and phase of one of F sinusoidal basis functions that correspond to the F orthogonal subcarriers. The output of the IFFT block may be F timedomain samples that represent the summation of the F orthogonal subcarriers. The F time-domain samples may form a single OFDM symbol. After some processing (e.g., addition of a cyclic prefix) and up- conversion, an OFDM symbol provided by the IFFT block may be transmitted over the air interface on aDocket No.: 24-1244PCT carrier frequency. The F parallel symbol streams may be mixed using an FFT block before being processed by the IFFT block. This operation produces Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)-precoded OFDM symbols and may be used by UEs in the uplink to reduce the peak to average power ratio (PAPR). Inverse processing may be performed on the OFDM symbol at a receiver using an FFT block to recover the data mapped to the source symbols.

[0127] FIG. 7 illustrates an example configuration of an NR frame into which OFDM symbols are grouped. An NR frame may be identified by a system frame number (SFN). The SFN may repeat with a period of 1024 frames. As illustrated, one NR frame may be 10 milliseconds (ms) in duration and may include 10 subframes that are 1 ms in duration. A subframe may be divided into slots that include, for example, 14 OFDM symbols per slot.

[0128] The duration of a slot may depend on the numerology used for the OFDM symbols of the slot. In NR, a flexible numerology is supported to accommodate different cell deployments (e.g., cells with carrier frequencies below 1 GHz up to cells with carrier frequencies in the mm-wave range). A numerology may be defined in terms of subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix duration. For a numerology in NR, subcarrier spacings may be scaled up by powers of two from a baseline subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, and cyclic prefix durations may be scaled down by powers of two from a baseline cyclic prefix duration of 4.7 ps. For example, NR defines numerologies with the following subcarrier spacing / cyclic prefix duration combinations: 15 kHz / 4.7 ps; 30 kHz / 2.3 ps; 60 kHz / 1.2 ps; 120 kHz / 0.59 ps; and 240 kHz / 0.29 ps.

[0129] A slot may have a fixed number of OFDM symbols (e.g., 14 OFDM symbols). A numerology with a higher subcarrier spacing has a shorter slot duration and, correspondingly, more slots per subframe. FIG. 7 illustrates this numerology-dependent slot duration and slots-per-subframe transmission structure (the numerology with a subcarrier spacing of 240 kHz is not shown in FIG. 7 for ease of illustration). A subframe in NR may be used as a numerology-independent time reference, while a slot may be used as the unit upon which uplink and downlink transmissions are scheduled. To support low latency, scheduling in NR may be decoupled from the slot duration and start at any OFDM symbol and last for as many symbols as needed for a transmission. These partial slot transmissions may be referred to as mini-slot or subslot transmissions.

[0130] FIG. 8 illustrates an example configuration of a slot in the time and frequency domain for an NR carrier. The slot includes resource elements (REs) and resource blocks (RBs). An RE is the smallest physical resource in NR. An RE spans one OFDM symbol in the time domain by one subcarrier in the frequency domain as shown in FIG. 8. An RB spans twelve consecutive REs in the frequency domain as shown in FIG. 8. An NR carrier may be limited to a width of 275 RBs or 275x12 = 3300 subcarriers. Such a limitation, if used, may limit the NR carrier to 50, 100, 200, and 400 MHz for subcarrier spacingsDocket No.: 24-1244PCT of 15, 30, 60, and 120 kHz, respectively, where the 400 MHz bandwidth may be set based on a 400 MHz per carrier bandwidth limit.

[0131] FIG. 8 illustrates a single numerology being used across the entire bandwidth of the NR carrier. In other example configurations, multiple numerologies may be supported on the same carrier.

[0132] NR may support wide carrier bandwidths (e.g., up to 400 MHz for a subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz). Not all UEs may be able to receive the full carrier bandwidth (e.g., due to hardware limitations). Also, receiving the full carrier bandwidth may be prohibitive in terms of UE power consumption. In an example, to reduce power consumption and / or for other purposes, a UE may adapt the size of the UE’s receive bandwidth based on the amount of traffic the UE is scheduled to receive. This is referred to as bandwidth adaptation.

[0133] NR defines bandwidth parts (BWPs) to support UEs not capable of receiving the full carrier bandwidth and to support bandwidth adaptation. In an example, a BWP may be defined by a subset of contiguous RBs on a carrier. A UE may be configured (e.g., via RRC layer) with one or more downlink BWPs and one or more uplink BWPs per serving cell (e.g., up to four downlink BWPs and up to four uplink BWPs per serving cell). At a given time, one or more of the configured BWPs for a serving cell may be active. These one or more BWPs may be referred to as active BWPs of the serving cell. When a serving cell is configured with a secondary uplink carrier, the serving cell may have one or more first active BWPs in the uplink carrier and one or more second active BWPs in the secondary uplink carrier.

[0134] For unpaired spectra, a downlink BWP from a set of configured downlink BWPs may be linked with an uplink BWP from a set of configured uplink BWPs if a downlink BWP index of the downlink BWP and an uplink BWP index of the uplink BWP are the same. For unpaired spectra, a UE may expect that a center frequency for a downlink BWP is the same as a center frequency for an uplink BWP.

[0135] For a downlink BWP in a set of configured downlink BWPs on a primary cell (PCell), a base station may configure a UE with one or more control resource sets (CORESETs) for at least one search space. A search space is a set of locations in the time and frequency domains where the UE may find control information. The search space may be a UE-specific search space or a common search space (potentially usable by a plurality of UEs). For example, a base station may configure a UE with a common search space, on a PCell or on a primary secondary cell (PSCell), in an active downlink BWP.

[0136] For an uplink BWP in a set of configured uplink BWPs, a BS may configure a UE with one or more resource sets for one or more PUCCH transmissions. A UE may receive downlink receptions (e.g., PDCCH or PDSCH) in a downlink BWP according to a configured numerology (e.g., subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix duration) for the downlink BWP. The UE may transmit uplink transmissions (e.g., PUCCH or PUSCH) in an uplink BWP according to a configured numerology (e.g., subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix length for the uplink BWP).Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0137] One or more BWP indicator fields may be provided in Downlink Control Information (DCI). A value of a BWP indicator field may indicate which BWP in a set of configured BWPs is an active downlink BWP for one or more downlink receptions. The value of the one or more BWP indicator fields may indicate an active uplink BWP for one or more uplink transmissions.

[0138] A base station may semi-statically configure a UE with a default downlink BWP within a set of configured downlink BWPs associated with a PCell. If the base station does not provide the default downlink BWP to the UE, the default downlink BWP may be an initial active downlink BWP. The UE may determine which BWP is the initial active downlink BWP based on a CORESET configuration obtained using the PBCH.

[0139] A base station may configure a UE with a BWP inactivity timer value for a PCell. The UE may start or restart a BWP inactivity timer at any appropriate time. For example, the UE may start or restart the BWP inactivity timer (a) when the UE detects a DCI indicating an active downlink BWP other than a default downlink BWP for a paired spectra operation; or (b) when a UE detects a DCI indicating an active downlink BWP or active uplink BWP other than a default downlink BWP or uplink BWP for an unpaired spectra operation. If the UE does not detect DCI during an interval of time (e.g., 1 ms or 0.5 ms), the UE may run the BWP inactivity timer toward expiration (for example, increment from zero to the BWP inactivity timer value, or decrement from the BWP inactivity timer value to zero). When the BWP inactivity timer expires, the UE may switch from the active downlink BWP to the default downlink BWP.

[0140] In an example, a base station may semi-statically configure a UE with one or more BWPs. A UE may switch an active BWP from a first BWP to a second BWP in response to receiving a DCI indicating the second BWP as an active BWP and / or in response to an expiry of the BWP inactivity timer (e.g., if the second BWP is the default BWP).

[0141] Downlink and uplink BWP switching (where BWP switching refers to switching from a currently active BWP to a not currently active BWP) may be performed independently in paired spectra. In unpaired spectra, downlink and uplink BWP switching may be performed simultaneously. Switching between configured BWPs may occur based on RRC signaling, DCI, expiration of a BWP inactivity timer, and / or an initiation of random access.

[0142] FIG. 9 illustrates an example of bandwidth adaptation using three configured BWPs for an NR carrier. A UE configured with the three BWPs may switch from one BWP to another BWP at a switching point. In the example illustrated in FIG. 9, the BWPs include: a BWP 902 with a bandwidth of 40 MHz and a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz; a BWP 904 with a bandwidth of 10 MHz and a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz; and a BWP 906 with a bandwidth of 20 MHz and a subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz. The BWP 902 may be an initial active BWP, and the BWP 904 may be a default BWP. The UE may switch between BWPs at switching points. In the example of FIG. 9, the UE may switch from the BWP 902 to the BWP 904 at aDocket No.: 24-1244PCT switching point 908. The switching at the switching point 908 may occur for any suitable reason, for example, in response to an expiry of a BWP inactivity timer (indicating switching to the default BWP) and / or in response to receiving a DCI indicating BWP 904 as the active BWP. The UE may switch at a switching point 910 from active BWP 904 to BWP 906 in response to receiving a DCI indicating BWP 906 as the active BWP. The UE may switch at a switching point 912 from active BWP 906 to BWP 904 in response to an expiry of a BWP inactivity timer and / or in response to receiving a DCI indicating BWP 904 as the active BWP. The UE may switch at a switching point 914 from active BWP 904 to BWP 902 in response to receiving a DCI indicating BWP 902 as the active BWP.

[0143] If a UE is configured for a secondary cell with a default downlink BWP in a set of configured downlink BWPs and a timer value, UE procedures for switching BWPs on a secondary cell may be the same / similar as those on a primary cell. For example, the UE may use the timer value and the default downlink BWP for the secondary cell in the same / similar manner as the UE would use these values for a primary cell.

[0144] To provide for greater data rates, two or more carriers can be aggregated and simultaneously transmitted to / from the same UE using carrier aggregation (CA). The aggregated carriers in CA may be referred to as component carriers (CCs). When CA is used, there are a number of serving cells for the UE, one for a CC. The CCs may have three configurations in the frequency domain.

[0145] FIG. 10A illustrates the three CA configurations with two CCs. In the intraband, contiguous configuration 1002, the two CCs are aggregated in the same frequency band (frequency band A) and are located directly adjacent to each other within the frequency band. In the intraband, non-contiguous configuration 1004, the two CCs are aggregated in the same frequency band (frequency band A) and are separated in the frequency band by a gap. In the interband configuration 1006, the two CCs are located in frequency bands (frequency band A and frequency band B).

[0146] In an example, up to 32 CCs may be aggregated. The aggregated CCs may have the same or different bandwidths, subcarrier spacing, and / or duplexing schemes (TDD or FDD). A serving cell for a UE using CA may have a downlink CC. For FDD, one or more uplink CCs may be optionally configured for a serving cell. The ability to aggregate more downlink carriers than uplink carriers may be useful, for example, when the UE has more data traffic in the downlink than in the uplink.

[0147] When CA is used, one of the aggregated cells for a UE may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell). The PCell may be the serving cell that the UE initially connects to at RRC connection establishment, reestablishment, and / or handover. The PCell may provide the UE with NAS mobility information and the security input. UEs may have different PCells. In the downlink, the carrier corresponding to the PCell may be referred to as the downlink primary CC (DL PCC). In the uplink, the carrier corresponding to the PCell may be referred to as the uplink primary CC (UL PCC). The otherDocket No.: 24-1244PCT aggregated cells for the UE may be referred to as secondary cells (SCells). In an example, the SCells may be configured after the PCell is configured for the UE. For example, an SCell may be configured through an RRC Connection Reconfiguration procedure. In the downlink, the carrier corresponding to an SCell may be referred to as a downlink secondary CC (DL SCC). In the uplink, the carrier corresponding to the SCell may be referred to as the uplink secondary CC (UL SCC).

[0148] Configured SCells for a UE may be activated and deactivated based on, for example, traffic and channel conditions. Deactivation of an SCell may mean that PDCCH and PDSCH reception on the SCell is stopped and PUSCH, SRS, and CQI transmissions on the SCell are stopped. Configured SCells may be activated and deactivated using a MAC CE with respect to FIG. 4B. For example, a MAC CE may use a bitmap (e.g., one bit per SCell) to indicate which SCells (e.g., in a subset of configured SCells) for the UE are activated or deactivated. Configured SCells may be deactivated in response to an expiration of an SCell deactivation timer (e.g., one SCell deactivation timer per SCell).

[0149] Downlink control information, such as scheduling assignments and scheduling grants, for a cell may be transmitted on the cell corresponding to the assignments and grants, which is known as selfscheduling. The DCI for the cell may be transmitted on another cell, which is known as cross-carrier scheduling. Uplink control information (e.g., HARQ acknowledgments and channel state feedback, such as CQI, PMI, and / or Rl) for aggregated cells may be transmitted on the PUCCH of the PCell. For a larger number of aggregated downlink CCs, the PUCCH of the PCell may become overloaded. Cells may be divided into multiple PUCCH groups.

[0150] FIG. 10B illustrates an example of how aggregated cells may be configured into one or more PUCCH groups. A PUCCH group 1010 and a PUCCH group 1050 may include one or more downlink CCs, respectively. In the example of FIG. 10B, the PUCCH group 1010 includes three downlink CCs: a PCell 1011 , an SCell 1012, and an SCell 1013. The PUCCH group 1050 includes three downlink CCs in the present example: a PCell 1051 , an SCell 1052, and an SCell 1053. One or more uplink CCs may be configured as a PCell 1021 , an SCell 1022, and an SCell 1023. One or more other uplink CCs may be configured as a primary SCell (PSCell) 1061 , an SCell 1062, and an SCell 1063. Uplink control information (UCI) related to the downlink CCs of the PUCCH group 1010, shown as UC1 1031 , UC1 1032, and UCI 1033, may be transmitted in the uplink of the PCell 1021 . Uplink control information (UCI) related to the downlink CCs of the PUCCH group 1050, shown as UCI 1071 , UC1 1072, and UCI 1073, may be transmitted in the uplink of the PSCell 1061 . In an example, if the aggregated cells depicted in FIG. 10B were not divided into the PUCCH group 1010 and the PUCCH group 1050, a single uplink PCell to transmit UCI relating to the downlink CCs, and the PCell may become overloaded. By dividing transmissions of UCI between the PCell 1021 and the PSCell 1061 , overloading may be prevented.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0151] A cell, comprising a downlink carrier and optionally an uplink carrier, may be assigned with a physical cell ID and a cell index. The physical cell ID or the cell index may identify a downlink carrier and / or an uplink carrier of the cell, for example, depending on the context in which the physical cell ID is used. A physical cell ID may be determined using a synchronization signal transmitted on a downlink component carrier. A cell index may be determined using RRC messages. In the disclosure, a physical cell ID may be referred to as a carrier ID, and a cell index may be referred to as a carrier index. For example, when the disclosure refers to a first physical cell ID for a first downlink carrier, the disclosure may mean the first physical cell ID is for a cell comprising the first downlink carrier. The same / similar concept may apply to, for example, a carrier activation. When the disclosure indicates that a first carrier is activated, the specification may mean that a cell comprising the first carrier is activated

[0152] In CA, a multi-carrier nature of a PHY may be exposed to a MAC. In an example, a HARQ entity may operate on a serving cell. A transport block may be generated per assignment / grant per serving cell. A transport block and potential HARQ retransmissions of the transport block may be mapped to a serving cell.

[0153] In the downlink, a base station may transmit (e.g., unicast, multicast, and / or broadcast) one or more Reference Signals (RSs) to a UE (e.g., PSS, SSS, CSI-RS, DMRS, and / or PT-RS, as shown in FIG. 5A). In the uplink, the UE may transmit one or more RSs to the base station (e.g., DMRS, PT-RS, and / or SRS, as shown in FIG. 5B). The PSS and the SSS may be transmitted by the base station and used by the UE to synchronize the UE to the base station. The PSS and the SSS may be provided in a synchronization signal (SS) / physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block that includes the PSS, the SSS, and the PBCH. The base station may periodically transmit a burst of SS / PBCH blocks.

[0154] FIG. 11A illustrates an example of an SS / PBCH block's structure and location. A burst of SS / PBCH blocks may include one or more SS / PBCH blocks (e.g., 4 SS / PBCH blocks, as shown in FIG. 11A). Bursts may be transmitted periodically (e g., every 2 frames or 20 ms). A burst may be restricted to a half-frame (e.g., a first half-frame having a duration of 5 ms). It will be understood that FIG. 11A is an example, and that these parameters (number of SS / PBCH blocks per burst, periodicity of bursts, position of burst within the frame) may be configured based on, for example: a carrier frequency of a cell in which the SS / PBCH block is transmitted; a numerology or subcarrier spacing of the cell; a configuration by the network (e.g., using RRC signaling); or any other suitable factor. In an example, the UE may assume a subcarrier spacing for the SS / PBCH block based on the carrier frequency being monitored, unless the radio network configured the UE to assume a different subcarrier spacing.

[0155] The SS / PBCH block may span one or more OFDM symbols in the time domain (e.g., 4 OFDM symbols, as shown in the example of FIG. 11 A) and may span one or more subcarriers in the frequency domain (e.g., 240 contiguous subcarriers). The PSS, the SSS, and the PBCH may have a common centerDocket No.: 24-1244PCT frequency. The PSS may be transmitted first and may span, for example, 1 OFDM symbol and 127 subcarriers. The SSS may be transmitted after the PSS (e.g., two symbols later) and may span 1 OFDM symbol and 127 subcarriers. The PBCH may be transmitted after the PSS (e.g., across the next 3 OFDM symbols) and may span 240 subcarriers.

[0156] The location of the SS / PBCH block in the time and frequency domains may not be known to the UE (e.g., if the UE is searching for the cell). To find and select the cell, the UE may monitor a carrier for the PSS. For example, the UE may monitor a frequency location within the carrier. If the PSS is not found after a certain duration (e.g., 20 ms), the UE may search for the PSS at a different frequency location within the carrier, as indicated by a synchronization raster. If the PSS is found at a location in the time and frequency domains, the UE may determine, based on a known structure of the SS / PBCH block, the locations of the SSS and the PBCH, respectively. The SS / PBCH block may be a cell-defining SS block (CD-SSB). In an example, a primary cell may be associated with a CD-SSB. The CD-SSB may be located on a synchronization raster. In an example, a cell selection / search and / or reselection may be based on the CD- SSB.

[0157] The SS / PBCH block may be used by the UE to determine one or more parameters of the cell. For example, the UE may determine a physical cell identifier (PCI) of the cell based on the sequences of the PSS and the SSS, respectively. The UE may determine a location of a frame boundary of the cell based on the location of the SS / PBCH block. For example, the SS / PBCH block may indicate that it has been transmitted in accordance with a transmission pattern, wherein a SS / PBCH block in the transmission pattern is a known distance from the frame boundary.

[0158] The PBCH may use a QPSK modulation and may use forward error correction (FEC). The FEC may use polar coding. One or more symbols spanned by the PBCH may carry one or more DMRSs for demodulation of the PBCH. The PBCH may include an indication of a current system frame number (SFN) of the cell and / or a SS / PBCH block timing index. These parameters may facilitate time synchronization of the UE to the base station. The PBCH may include a master information block (MIB) used to provide the UE with one or more parameters. The MIB may be used by the UE to locate remaining minimum system information (RMSI) associated with the cell. The RMSI may include a System Information Block Type 1 (SIB1). The SIB1 may contain information needed by the UE to access the cell. The UE may use one or more parameters of the MIB to monitor PDCCH, which may be used to schedule PDSCH. The PDSCH may include the SIB1 . The SIB1 may be decoded using parameters provided in the MIB. The PBCH may indicate an absence of SIB1 . Based on the PBCH indicating the absence of SIB1 , the UE may be pointed to a frequency. The UE may search for an SS / PBCH block at the frequency to which the UE is pointed.

[0159] The UE may assume that one or more SS / PBCH blocks transmitted with a same SS / PBCH block index are quasi co-located (QCLed) (e.g., having the same / similar Doppler spread, Doppler shift, averageDocket No.: 24-1244PCT gain, average delay, and / or spatial Rx parameters). The UE may not assume QCL for SS / PBCH block transmissions having different SS / PBCH block indices.

[0160] SS / PBCH blocks (e.g., those within a half-frame) may be transmitted in spatial directions (e.g., using different beams that span a coverage area of the cell). In an example, a first SS / PBCH block may be transmitted in a first spatial direction using a first beam, and a second SS / PBCH block may be transmitted in a second spatial direction using a second beam.

[0161] In an example, within a frequency span of a carrier, a base station may transmit a plurality of SS / PBCH blocks. In an example, a first PCI of a first SS / PBCH block of the plurality of SS / PBCH blocks may be different from a second PCI of a second SS / PBCH block of the plurality of SS / PBCH blocks. The PCIs of SS / PBCH blocks transmitted in different frequency locations may be different or the same.

[0162] The CSI-RS may be transmitted by the base station and used by the UE to acquire channel state information (CSI). The base station may configure the UE with one or more CSI-RSs for channel estimation or any other suitable purpose. The base station may configure a UE with one or more of the same / similar CSI-RSs. The UE may measure the one or more CSI-RSs. The UE may estimate a downlink channel state and / or generate a CSI report based on the measuring of the one or more downlink CSI-RSs. The UE may provide the CSI report to the base station. The base station may use feedback provided by the UE (e.g., the estimated downlink channel state) to perform link adaptation.

[0163] The base station may semi-statically configure the UE with one or more CSI-RS resource sets. A CSI-RS resource may be associated with a location in the time and frequency domains and a periodicity. The base station may selectively activate and / or deactivate a CSI-RS resource. The base station may indicate to the UE that a CSI-RS resource in the CSI-RS resource set is activated and / or deactivated.

[0164] The base station may configure the UE to report CSI measurements. The base station may configure the UE to provide CSI reports periodically, aperiodically, or semi-persistently. For periodic CSI reporting, the UE may be configured with a timing and / or periodicity of a plurality of CSI reports. For aperiodic CSI reporting, the base station may request a CSI report. For example, the base station may command the UE to measure a configured CSI-RS resource and provide a CSI report relating to the measurements. For semi-persistent CSI reporting, the base station may configure the UE to transmit periodically, and selectively activate or deactivate the periodic reporting. The base station may configure the UE with a CSI-RS resource set and CSI reports using RRC signaling.

[0165] The CSI-RS configuration may comprise one or more parameters indicating, for example, up to 32 antenna ports. The UE may be configured to employ the same OFDM symbols for a downlink CSI-RS and a control resource set (CORESET) when the downlink CSI-RS and CORESET are spatially QCLed and resource elements associated with the downlink CSI-RS are outside of the physical resource blocks (PRBs) configured for the CORESET. The UE may be configured to employ the same OFDM symbols for downlinkDocket No.: 24-1244PCTCSI-RS and SS / PBCH blocks when the downlink CSI-RS and SS / PBCH blocks are spatially QCLed and resource elements associated with the downlink CSI-RS are outside of PRBs configured for the SS / PBCH blocks.

[0166] Downlink DMRSs may be transmitted by a base station and used by a UE for channel estimation. For example, the downlink DMRS may be used for coherent demodulation of one or more downlink physical channels (e.g. , PDSCH). An NR network may support one or more variable and / or configurable DMRS patterns for data demodulation. At least one downlink DMRS configuration may support a front- loaded DMRS pattern. A front-loaded DMRS may be mapped over one or more OFDM symbols (e.g., one or two adjacent OFDM symbols). A base station may semi-statically configure the UE with a number (e.g., a maximum number) of front-loaded DMRS symbols for PDSCH. A DMRS configuration may support one or more DMRS ports. For example, for single user-MIMO, a DMRS configuration may support up to eight orthogonal downlink DMRS ports per UE. For multiuser-MIMO, a DMRS configuration may support up to 4 orthogonal downlink DMRS ports per UE. A radio network may support (e.g., at least for CP-OFDM) a common DMRS structure for downlink and uplink, wherein a DMRS location, a DMRS pattern, and / or a scrambling sequence may be the same or different. The base station may transmit a downlink DMRS and a corresponding PDSCH using the same precoding matrix. The UE may use the one or more downlink DMRSs for coherent demodulation / channel estimation of the PDSCH.

[0167] In an example, a transmitter (e.g., a base station) may use a precoder matrices for a part of a transmission bandwidth. For example, the transmitter may use a first precoder matrix for a first bandwidth and a second precoder matrix for a second bandwidth. The first precoder matrix and the second precoder matrix may be different based on the first bandwidth being different from the second bandwidth. The UE may assume that a same precoding matrix is used across a set of PRBs. The set of PRBs may be denoted as a precoding resource block group (PRG).

[0168] A PDSCH may comprise one or more layers. The UE may assume that at least one symbol with DMRS is present on a layer of the one or more layers of the PDSCH. A higher layer may configure up to 3 DMRSs for the PDSCH.

[0169] Downlink PT-RS may be transmitted by a base station and used by a UE for phase-noise compensation. Whether a downlink PT-RS is present or not may depend on an RRC configuration The presence and / or pattern of the downlink PT-RS may be configured on a UE-specific basis using a combination of RRC signaling and / or an association with one or more parameters employed for other purposes (e.g., modulation and coding scheme (MCS)), which may be indicated by DCI. When configured, a dynamic presence of a downlink PT-RS may be associated with one or more DCI parameters comprising at least MCS. An NR network may support a plurality of PT-RS densities defined in the time and / or frequency domains. When present, a frequency domain density may be associated with at least oneDocket No.: 24-1244PCT configuration of a scheduled bandwidth. The UE may assume a same precoding for a DMRS port and a PT-RS port. A number of PT-RS ports may be fewer than a number of DMRS ports in a scheduled resource. Downlink PT-RS may be confined in the scheduled time / frequency duration for the UE. Downlink PT-RS may be transmitted on symbols to facilitate phase tracking at the receiver.

[0170] The UE may transmit an uplink DMRS to a base station for channel estimation. For example, the base station may use the uplink DMRS for coherent demodulation of one or more uplink physical channels. For example, the UE may transmit an uplink DMRS with a PUSCH and / or a PUCCH. The uplink DM-RS may span a range of frequencies that is similar to a range of frequencies associated with the corresponding physical channel. The base station may configure the UE with one or more uplink DMRS configurations. At least one DMRS configuration may support a front-loaded DMRS pattern. The front-loaded DMRS may be mapped over one or more OFDM symbols (e.g., one or two adjacent OFDM symbols). One or more uplink DMRSs may be configured to transmit at one or more symbols of a PUSCH and / or a PUCCH. The base station may semi-statically configure the UE with a number (e.g., maximum number) of front-loaded DMRS symbols for the PUSCH and / or the PUCCH, which the UE may use to schedule a single-symbol DMRS and / or a double-symbol DMRS. An NR network may support (e.g., for cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM)) a common DMRS structure for downlink and uplink, wherein a DMRS location, a DMRS pattern, and / or a scrambling sequence for the DMRS may be the same or different.

[0171] A PUSCH may comprise one or more layers, and the UE may transmit at least one symbol with DMRS present on a layer of the one or more layers of the PUSCH. In an example, a higher layer may configure up to three DMRSs for the PUSCH.

[0172] Uplink PT-RS (which may be used by a base station for phase tracking and / or phase-noise compensation) may or may not be present depending on an RRC configuration of the UE. The presence and / or pattern of uplink PT-RS may be configured on a UE-specific basis by a combination of RRC signaling and / or one or more parameters employed for other purposes (e.g., Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS)), which may be indicated by DCI. When configured, a dynamic presence of uplink PT-RS may be associated with one or more DCI parameters comprising at least MCS. A radio network may support a plurality of uplink PT-RS densities defined in time / frequency domain. When present, a frequency domain density may be associated with at least one configuration of a scheduled bandwidth The UE may assume a same precoding for a DMRS port and a PT-RS port. A number of PT-RS ports may be fewer than a number of DMRS ports in a scheduled resource. For example, uplink PT-RS may be confined in the scheduled time / frequency duration for the UE.

[0173] SRS may be transmitted by a UE to a base station for channel state estimation to support uplink channel dependent scheduling and / or link adaptation SRS transmitted by the UE may allow a base station to estimate an uplink channel state at one or more frequencies. A scheduler at the base station mayDocket No.: 24-1244PCT employ the estimated uplink channel state to assign one or more resource blocks for an uplink PUSCH transmission from the UE. The base station may semi-statically configure the UE with one or more SRS resource sets. For an SRS resource set, the base station may configure the UE with one or more SRS resources. An SRS resource set applicability may be configured by a higher layer (e.g., RRC) parameter. For example, when a higher layer parameter indicates beam management, an SRS resource in an SRS resource set of the one or more SRS resource sets (e.g., with the same / similar time domain behavior, periodic, aperiodic, and / or the like) may be transmitted at a time instant (e.g., simultaneously). The UE may transmit one or more SRS resources in SRS resource sets. An NR network may support aperiodic, periodic, and / or semi-persistent SRS transmissions. The UE may transmit SRS resources based on one or more trigger types, wherein the one or more trigger types may comprise higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC) and / or one or more DCI formats. In an example, at least one DCI format may be employed for the UE to select at least one of one or more configured SRS resource sets. An SRS trigger type 0 may refer to an SRS triggered based on a higher layer signaling. An SRS trigger type 1 may refer to an SRS triggered based on one or more DCI formats. In an example, when PUSCH and SRS are transmitted in a same slot, the UE may be configured to transmit SRS after a transmission of a PUSCH and a corresponding uplink DMRS.

[0174] The base station may semi-statically configure the UE with one or more SRS configuration parameters indicating at least one of following: a SRS resource configuration identifier; a number of SRS ports; time domain behavior of an SRS resource configuration (e.g., an indication of periodic, semi- persistent, or aperiodic SRS); slot, mini-slot, and / or subframe level periodicity; offset for a periodic and / or an aperiodic SRS resource; a number of OFDM symbols in an SRS resource; a starting OFDM symbol of an SRS resource; an SRS bandwidth; a frequency hopping bandwidth; a cyclic shift; and / or an SRS sequence ID.

[0175] An antenna port is defined such that the channel over which a symbol on the antenna port is conveyed can be inferred from the channel over which another symbol on the same antenna port is conveyed. If a first symbol and a second symbol are transmitted on the same antenna port, the receiver may infer the channel (e.g., fading gain, multipath delay, and / or the like) for conveying the second symbol on the antenna port, from the channel for conveying the first symbol on the antenna port. A first antenna port and a second antenna port may be referred to as quasi co-located (QCLed) if one or more large-scale properties of the channel over which a first symbol on the first antenna port is conveyed may be inferred from the channel over which a second symbol on a second antenna port is conveyed. The one or more large-scale properties may comprise at least one of: a delay spread; a Doppler spread; a Doppler shift; an average gain; an average delay; and / or spatial Receiving (Rx) parameters.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0176] Channels that use beamforming require beam management. Beam management may comprise beam measurement, beam selection, and beam indication. A beam may be associated with one or more reference signals. For example, a beam may be identified by one or more beamformed reference signals. The UE may perform downlink beam measurement based on downlink reference signals (e.g., a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)) and generate a beam measurement report. The UE may perform the downlink beam measurement procedure after an RRC connection is set up with a base station.

[0177] FIG. 11 B illustrates an example of channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) that are mapped in the time and frequency domains. A square shown in FIG. 11 B may span a resource block (RB) within a bandwidth of a cell. A base station may transmit one or more RRC messages comprising CSI-RS resource configuration parameters indicating one or more CSI-RSs. One or more of the following parameters may be configured by higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC and / or MAC signaling) for a CSI-RS resource configuration: a CSI-RS resource configuration identity, a number of CSI-RS ports, a CSI-RS configuration (e.g., symbol and resource element (RE) locations in a subframe), a CSI-RS subframe configuration (e.g., subframe location, offset, and periodicity in a radio frame), a CSI-RS power parameter, a CSI-RS sequence parameter, a code division multiplexing (CDM) type parameter, a frequency density, a transmission comb, quasi co-location (QCL) parameters (e.g., QCL-scramblingidentity, crs-portscount, mbsfn-subframeconfiglist, csi-rs-configZPid, qcl-csi-rs-configNZPid), and / or other radio resource parameters.

[0178] The three beams illustrated in FIG. 11 B may be configured for a UE in a UE-specific configuration. Three beams are illustrated in FIG. 11 B (beam #1 , beam #2, and beam #3), more or fewer beams may be configured. Beam #1 may be allocated with CSI-RS 1101 that may be transmitted in one or more subcarriers in an RB of a first symbol. Beam #2 may be allocated with CSI-RS 1102 that may be transmitted in one or more subcarriers in an RB of a second symbol. Beam #3 may be allocated with CSI- RS 1103 that may be transmitted in one or more subcarriers in an RB of a third symbol. By using frequency division multiplexing (FDM), a base station may use other subcarriers in a same RB (for example, those that are not used to transmit CSI-RS 1101) to transmit another CSI-RS associated with a beam for another UE. By using time domain multiplexing (TDM), beams used for the UE may be configured such that beams for the UE use symbols from beams of other UEs.

[0179] CSI-RSs such as those illustrated in FIG. 11 B (e.g., CSI-RS 1101 , 1102, 1103) may be transmitted by the base station and used by the UE for one or more measurements. For example, the UE may measure a reference signal received power (RSRP) of configured CSI-RS resources. The base station may configure the UE with a reporting configuration and the UE may report the RSRP measurements to a network (for example, via one or more base stations) based on the reporting configuration. In an example, the base station may determine, based on the reported measurement results, one or more transmissionDocket No.: 24-1244PCT configuration indication (TCI) states comprising a number of reference signals. In an example, the base station may indicate one or more TCI states to the UE (e.g., via RRC signaling, a MAC CE, and / or a DCI). The UE may receive a downlink transmission with a receive (Rx) beam determined based on the one or more TCI states. In an example, the UE may or may not have a capability of beam correspondence. If the UE has the capability of beam correspondence, the UE may determine a spatial domain filter of a transmit (Tx) beam based on a spatial domain filter of the corresponding Rx beam. If the UE does not have the capability of beam correspondence, the UE may perform an uplink beam selection procedure to determine the spatial domain filter of the Tx beam. The UE may perform the uplink beam selection procedure based on one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resources configured to the UE by the base station. The base station may select and indicate uplink beams for the UE based on measurements of the one or more SRS resources transmitted by the UE.

[0180] In a beam management procedure, a UE may assess (e.g., measure) a channel quality of one or more beam pair links, a beam pair link comprising a transmitting beam transmitted by a base station and a receiving beam received by the UE. Based on the assessment, the UE may transmit a beam measurement report indicating one or more beam pair quality parameters comprising, e.g., one or more beam identifications (e.g., a beam index, a reference signal index, or the like), RSRP, a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a channel quality indicator (CQI), and / or a rank indicator (Rl).

[0181] FIG. 12A illustrates examples of three downlink beam management procedures: P1 , P2, and P3. Procedure P1 may enable a UE measurement on transmit (Tx) beams of a transmission reception point (TRP) (or multiple TRPs), e.g., to support a selection of one or more base station Tx beams and / or UE Rx beams (shown as ovals in the top row and bottom row, respectively, of P1). Beamforming at a TRP may comprise a Tx beam sweep for a set of beams (shown, in the top rows of P1 and P2, as ovals rotated in a counterclockwise direction indicated by the dashed arrow). Beamforming at a UE may comprise an Rx beam sweep for a set of beams (shown, in the bottom rows of P1 and P3, as ovals rotated in a clockwise direction indicated by the dashed arrow). Procedure P2 may be used to enable a UE measurement on Tx beams of a TRP (shown, in the top row of P2, as ovals rotated in a counterclockwise direction indicated by the dashed arrow). The UE and / or the base station may perform procedure P2 using a smaller set of beams than is used in procedure P1 , or using narrower beams than the beams used in procedure P1 . This may be referred to as beam refinement. The UE may perform procedure P3 for Rx beam determination by using the same Tx beam at the base station and sweeping an Rx beam at the UE.

[0182] FIG. 12B illustrates examples of three uplink beam management procedures: U1 , U2, and U3. Procedure U1 may be used to enable a base station to perform a measurement on Tx beams of a UE, e.g., to support a selection of one or more UE Tx beams and / or base station Rx beams (shown as ovals in the top row and bottom row, respectively, of U1). Beamforming at the UE may include, e.g., a Tx beam sweepDocket No.: 24-1244PCT from a set of beams (shown in the bottom rows of U1 and U3 as ovals rotated in a clockwise direction indicated by the dashed arrow). Beamforming at the base station may include, e.g., an Rx beam sweep from a set of beams (shown, in the top rows of U1 and U2, as ovals rotated in a counterclockwise direction indicated by the dashed arrow). Procedure U2 may be used to enable the base station to adjust its Rx beam when the UE uses a fixed Tx beam. The UE and / or the base station may perform procedure U2 using a smaller set of beams than is used in procedure P1 , or using narrower beams than the beams used in procedure P1 . This may be referred to as beam refinement The UE may perform procedure U3 to adjust its Tx beam when the base station uses a fixed Rx beam.

[0183] A UE may initiate a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure based on detecting a beam failure. The UE may transmit a BFR request (e.g., a preamble, a UCI, an SR, a MAC CE, and / or the like) based on the initiating of the BFR procedure. The UE may detect the beam failure based on a determination that a quality of beam pair link(s) of an associated control channel is unsatisfactory (e.g., having an error rate higher than an error rate threshold, a received signal power lower than a received signal power threshold, an expiration of a timer, and / or the like).

[0184] The UE may measure a quality of a beam pair link using one or more reference signals (RSs) comprising one or more SS / PBCH blocks, one or more CSI-RS resources, and / or one or more demodulation reference signals (DMRSs). A quality of the beam pair link may be based on one or more of a block error rate (BLER), an RSRP value, a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) value, a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) value, and / or a CSI value measured on RS resources The base station may indicate that an RS resource is quasi co-located (QCLed) with one or more DM-RSs of a channel (e.g., a control channel, a shared data channel, and / or the like). The RS resource and the one or more DMRSs of the channel may be QCLed when the channel characteristics (e.g., Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread, spatial Rx parameter, fading, and / or the like) from a transmission via the RS resource to the UE are similar or the same as the channel characteristics from a transmission via the channel to the UE.

[0185] A network (e.g., a gNB and / or an ng-eNB of a network) and / or the UE may initiate a random access procedure. A UE in an RRCJDLE state and / or an RRCJNACTIVE state may initiate the random access procedure to request a connection setup to a network. The UE may initiate the random access procedure from an RRC_CONNECTED state. The UE may initiate the random access procedure to request uplink resources (e.g., for uplink transmission of an SR when there is no PUCCH resource available) and / or acquire uplink timing (e.g., when uplink synchronization status is non-synchronized). The UE may initiate the random access procedure to request one or more system information blocks (SIBs) (e.g., other system information such as SIB2, SIB3, and / or the like). The UE may initiate the random access procedure for aDocket No.: 24-1244PCT beam failure recovery request. A network may initiate a random access procedure for a handover and / or for establishing time alignment for an SCell addition.

[0186] FIG. 13A illustrates a four-step contention-based random access procedure. Prior to initiation of the procedure, a base station may transmit a configuration message 1310 to the UE. The procedure illustrated in FIG. 13A comprises transmission of four messages: a Msg 1 1311 , a Msg 2 1312, a Msg 3 1313, and a Msg 4 1314. The Msg 1 1311 may include and / or be referred to as a preamble (or a random access preamble). The Msg 2 1312 may include and / or be referred to as a random access response (RAR).

[0187] The configuration message 1310 may be transmitted, for example, using one or more RRC messages. The one or more RRC messages may indicate one or more random access channel (RACH) parameters to the UE. The one or more RACH parameters may comprise at least one of following: general parameters for one or more random access procedures (e.g., RACH-configGeneral)', cell-specific parameters (e.g., RACH-ConfigCommon),’ and / or dedicated parameters (e.g., RACH-configDedicated). The base station may broadcast or multicast the one or more RRC messages to one or more UEs. The one or more RRC messages may be UE-specific (e.g., dedicated RRC messages transmitted to a UE in an RRC_CONNECTED state and / or in an RRCJNACTIVE state). The UE may determine, based on the one or more RACH parameters, a time-frequency resource and / or an uplink transmit power for transmission of the Msg 1 1311 and / or the Msg 3 1313. Based on the one or more RACH parameters, the UE may determine a reception timing and a downlink channel for receiving the Msg 2 1312 and the Msg 4 1314.

[0188] The one or more RACH parameters provided in the configuration message 1310 may indicate one or more Physical RACH (PRACH) occasions available for transmission of the Msg 1 1311. The one or more PRACH occasions may be predefined. The one or more RACH parameters may indicate one or more available sets of one or more PRACH occasions (e.g., prach-Configlndex). The one or more RACH parameters may indicate an association between (a) one or more PRACH occasions and (b) one or more reference signals. The one or more RACH parameters may indicate an association between (a) one or more preambles and (b) one or more reference signals. The one or more reference signals may be SS / PBCH blocks and / or CSI-RSs. For example, the one or more RACH parameters may indicate a number of SS / PBCH blocks mapped to a PRACH occasion and / or a number of preambles mapped to a SS / PBCH blocks.

[0189] The one or more RACH parameters provided in the configuration message 1310 may be used to determine an uplink transmit power of Msg 1 1311 and / or Msg 3 1313. For example, the one or more RACH parameters may indicate a reference power for a preamble transmission (e.g., a received target power and / or an initial power of the preamble transmission). There may be one or more power offsets indicated by the one or more RACH parameters. For example, the one or more RACH parameters may indicate: a power ramping step; a power offset between SSB and CSI-RS; a power offset betweenDocket No.: 24-1244PCT transmissions of the Msg 1 1311 and the Msg 3 1313; and / or a power offset value between preamble groups. The one or more RACH parameters may indicate one or more thresholds based on which the UE may determine at least one reference signal (e.g., an SSB and / or CSI-RS) and / or an uplink carrier (e.g., a normal uplink (NUL) carrier and / or a supplemental uplink (SUL) carrier).

[0190] The Msg 1 1311 may include one or more preamble transmissions (e.g., a preamble transmission and one or more preamble retransmissions). An RRC message may be used to configure one or more preamble groups (e.g., group A and / or group B). A preamble group may comprise one or more preambles. The UE may determine the preamble group based on a pathloss measurement and / or a size of the Msg 3 1313. The UE may measure an RSRP of one or more reference signals (e.g., SSBs and / or CSI-RSs) and determine at least one reference signal having an RSRP above an RSRP threshold (e.g., rsrp- ThresholdSSB and / or rsrp-ThresholdCSI-RS). The UE may select at least one preamble associated with the one or more reference signals and / or a selected preamble group, for example, if the association between the one or more preambles and the at least one reference signal is configured by an RRC message.

[0191] The UE may determine the preamble based on the one or more RACH parameters provided in the configuration message 1310. For example, the UE may determine the preamble based on a pathloss measurement, an RSRP measurement, and / or a size of the Msg 3 1313. As another example, the one or more RACH parameters may indicate: a preamble format; a maximum number of preamble transmissions; and / or one or more thresholds for determining one or more preamble groups (e.g., group A and group B). A base station may use the one or more RACH parameters to configure the UE with an association between one or more preambles and one or more reference signals (e.g., SSBs and / or CSI-RSs). If the association is configured, the UE may determine the preamble to include in Msg 1 1311 based on the association. The Msg 1 1311 may be transmitted to the base station via one or more PRACH occasions. The UE may use one or more reference signals (e.g., SSBs and / or CSI-RSs) for selection of the preamble and for determining of the PRACH occasion. One or more RACH parameters (e.g., ra-ssb-OccasionMsklndex and / or ra-OccasionLisf) may indicate an association between the PRACH occasions and the one or more reference signals.

[0192] The UE may perform a preamble retransmission if no response is received following a preamble transmission. The UE may increase an uplink transmit power for the preamble retransmission. The UE may select an initial preamble transmit power based on a pathloss measurement and / or a target received preamble power configured by the network. The UE may determine to retransmit a preamble and may ramp up the uplink transmit power. The UE may receive one or more RACH parameters (e.g., PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_STEP) indicating a ramping step for the preamble retransmission The ramping step may be an amount of incremental increase in uplink transmit power for a retransmission. TheDocket No.: 24-1244PCTUE may ramp up the uplink transmit power if the UE determines a reference signal (e.g., SSB and / or CSI- RS) that is the same as a previous preamble transmission. The UE may count a number of preamble transmissions and / or retransmissions (e.g., PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER). The UE may determine that a random access procedure completed unsuccessfully, for example, if the number of preamble transmissions exceeds a threshold configured by the one or more RACH parameters (e.g., preambleTransMax) .

[0193] The Msg 2 1312 received by the UE may include an RAR. In some scenarios, the Msg 2 1312 may include multiple RARs corresponding to multiple UEs. The Msg 2 1312 may be received after or in response to the transmitting of the Msg 1 1311. The Msg 2 1312 may be scheduled on the DL-SCH and indicated on a PDCCH using a random access RNTI (RA-RNTI). The Msg 2 1312 may indicate that the Msg 1 1311 was received by the base station. The Msg 2 1312 may include a time-alignment command that may be used by the UE to adjust the UE’s transmission timing, a scheduling grant for transmission of the Msg 3 1313, and / or a Temporary Cell RNTI (TC-RNTI). After transmitting a preamble, the UE may start a time window (e.g., ra-Response'Window) to monitor a PDCCH for the Msg 2 1312. The UE may determine when to start the time window based on a PRACH occasion that the UE uses to transmit the preamble. For example, the UE may start the time window one or more symbols after a last symbol of the preamble (e.g., at a first PDCCH occasion from an end of a preamble transmission). The one or more symbols may be determined based on a numerology. The PDCCH may be in a common search space (e.g , a Typel-PDCCH common search space) configured by an RRC message. The UE may identify the RAR based on a Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI). RNTIs may be used depending on one or more events initiating the random access procedure. The UE may use random access RNTI (RA-RNTI). The RA-RNTI may be associated with PRACH occasions in which the UE transmits a preamble. For example, the UE may determine the RA-RNTI based on: an OFDM symbol index; a slot index; a frequency domain index; and / or a UL carrier indicator of the PRACH occasions. An example of RA-RNTI may be as follows:

[0194] RA-RNTI= 1 + s_id + 14 x t_id + 14 x 80 x fjd + 14 x 80 x 8 x ul_carrier_id , where s_id may be an index of a first OFDM symbol of the PRACH occasion (e.g., 0 < sjd < 14), t_id may be an index of a first slot of the PRACH occasion in a system frame (e.g , 0 < t_id < 80), f_id may be an index of the PRACH occasion in the frequency domain (e.g., 0 f_id < 8), and ul_carrier_id may be a UL carrier used for a preamble transmission (e.g., 0 for an NUL carrier, and 1 for an SUL carrier).

[0195] The UE may transmit the Msg 3 1313 in response to a successful reception of the Msg 2 1312 (e.g., using resources identified in the Msg 2 1312). The Msg 3 1313 may be used for contention resolution in, for example, the contention-based random access procedure illustrated in FIG. 13A. In some scenarios, a plurality of UEs may transmit a same preamble to a base station and the base station may provide anDocket No.: 24-1244PCTRAR that corresponds to a UE. Collisions may occur if the plurality of UEs interpret the RAR as corresponding to themselves. Contention resolution (e.g., using the Msg 3 1313 and the Msg 4 1314) may be used to increase the likelihood that the UE does not incorrectly use an identity of another the UE. To perform contention resolution, the UE may include a device identifier in the Msg 3 1313 (e.g., a C-RNTI if assigned, a TC-RNTI included in the Msg 2 1312, and / or any other suitable identifier).

[0196] The Msg 4 1314 may be received after or in response to the transmitting of the Msg 3 1313. If a C-RNTI was included in the Msg 3 1313, the base station will address the UE on the PDCCH using the C-RNTI. If the UE's unique C-RNTI is detected on the PDCCH, the random access procedure is determined to be successfully completed. If a TC-RNTI is included in the Msg 3 1313 (e.g., if the UE is in an RRCJDLE state or not otherwise connected to the base station), Msg 4 1314 will be received using a DL-SCH associated with the TC-RNTI. If a MAC PDU is successfully decoded and a MAC PDU comprises the UE contention resolution identity MAC CE that matches or otherwise corresponds with the CCCH SDU sent (e.g., transmitted) in Msg 3 1313, the UE may determine that the contention resolution is successful and / or the UE may determine that the random access procedure is successfully completed.

[0197] The UE may be configured with a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier and a normal uplink (NUL) carrier. An initial access (e.g., random access procedure) may be supported in an uplink carrier. For example, a base station may configure the UE with two separate RACH configurations: one for an SUL carrier and the other for an NUL carrier. For random access in a cell configured with an SUL carrier, the network may indicate which carrier to use (NUL or SUL). The UE may determine the SUL carrier, for example, if a measured quality of one or more reference signals is lower than a broadcast threshold. Uplink transmissions of the random access procedure (e.g., the Msg 1 1311 and / or the Msg 3 1313) may remain on the selected carrier. The UE may switch an uplink carrier during the random access procedure (e.g., between the Msg 1 1311 and the Msg 3 1313) in one or more cases. For example, the UE may determine and / or switch an uplink carrier for the Msg 1 1311 and / or the Msg 3 1313 based on a channel clear assessment (e.g., a listen-before-talk).

[0198] FIG. 13B illustrates a two-step contention-free random access procedure. Similar to the four-step contention-based random access procedure illustrated in FIG. 13A, a base station may, prior to initiation of the procedure, transmit a configuration message 1320 to the UE. The configuration message 1320 may be analogous in some respects to the configuration message 1310. The procedure illustrated in FIG. 13B comprises transmission of two messages: a Msg 1 1321 and a Msg 2 1322. The Msg 1 1321 and the Msg 2 1322 may be analogous in some respects to the Msg 1 1311 and a Msg 2 1312 illustrated in FIG. 13A, respectively. As will be understood from FIGS. 13A and 13B, the contention-free random access procedure may not include messages analogous to the Msg 3 1313 and / or the Msg 4 1314.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0199] The contention-free random access procedure illustrated in FIG. 13B may be initiated for a beam failure recovery, other SI request, SCell addition, and / or handover. For example, a base station may indicate or assign to the UE the preamble to be used for the Msg 1 1321 . The UE may receive, from the base station via PDCCH and / or RRC, an indication of a preamble (e.g., ra-Preamblelndex).

[0200] After transmitting a preamble, the UE may start a time window (e.g., ra-ResponseWindow) to monitor a PDCCH for the RAR. In the event of a beam failure recovery request, the base station may configure the UE with a separate time window and / or a separate PDCCH in a search space indicated by an RRC message (e.g., recoverySearchSpaceld). The UE may monitor for a PDCCH transmission addressed to a Cell RNTI (C-RNTI) on the search space. In the con tention -free random access procedure illustrated in FIG 13B, the UE may determine that a random access procedure successfully completes after or in response to transmission of Msg 1 1321 and reception of a corresponding Msg 2 1322. The UE may determine that a random access procedure successfully completes, for example, if a PDCCH transmission is addressed to a C-RNTI. The UE may determine that a random access procedure successfully completes, for example, if the UE receives an RAR comprising a preamble identifier corresponding to a preamble transmitted by the UE and / or the RAR comprises a MAC sub-PDU with the preamble identifier. The UE may determine the response as an indication of an acknowledgement for an SI request.

[0201] FIG. 13C illustrates another two-step random access procedure. Similar to the random access procedures illustrated in FIGS. 13A and 13B, a base station may, prior to initiation of the procedure, transmit a configuration message 1330 to the UE. The configuration message 1330 may be analogous in some respects to the configuration message 1310 and / or the configuration message 1320. The procedure illustrated in FIG. 13C comprises transmission of two messages: a Msg A 1331 and a Msg B 1332.

[0202] Msg A 1331 may be transmitted in an uplink transmission by the UE. Msg A 1331 may comprise one or more transmissions of a preamble 1341 and / or one or more transmissions of a transport block 1342. The transport block 1342 may comprise contents that are similar and / or equivalent to the contents of the Msg 3 1313 illustrated in FIG. 13A. The transport block 1342 may comprise UCI (e.g., an SR, a HARQ ACK / NACK, and / or the like). The UE may receive the Msg B 1332 after or in response to transmitting the Msg A 1331 . The Msg B 1332 may comprise contents that are similar and / or equivalent to the contents of the Msg 2 1312 (e.g., an RAR) illustrated in FIGS. 13A and 13B and / or the Msg 4 1314 illustrated in FIG. 13A.

[0203] The UE may initiate the two-step random access procedure in FIG. 13C for licensed spectrum and / or unlicensed spectrum. The UE may determine, based on one or more factors, whether to initiate the two-step random access procedure. The one or more factors may be: a radio access technology in use (e.g , LTE, NR, and / or the like); whether the UE has valid TA or not; a cell size; the UE's RRC state; a type of spectrum (e.g., licensed vs. unlicensed); and / or any other suitable factors.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0204] The UE may determine, based on two-step RACH parameters included in the configuration message 1330, a radio resource and / or an uplink transmit power for the preamble 1341 and / or the transport block 1342 included in the Msg A 1331. The RACH parameters may indicate a modulation and coding schemes (MCS), a time-frequency resource, and / or a power control for the preamble 1341 and / or the transport block 1342. A time-frequency resource for transmission of the preamble 1341 (e.g., a PRACH) and a time-frequency resource for transmission of the transport block 1342 (e.g., a PUSCH) may be multiplexed using EDM, TDM, and / or CDM. The RACH parameters may enable the UE to determine a reception timing and a downlink channel for monitoring for and / or receiving Msg B 1332.

[0205] The transport block 1342 may comprise data (e.g., delay-sensitive data), an identifier of the UE, security information, and / or device information (e.g , an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)). The base station may transmit the Msg B 1332 as a response to the Msg A 1331 . The Msg B 1332 may comprise at least one of following: a preamble identifier; a timing advance command; a power control command; an uplink grant (e.g., a radio resource assignment and / or an MCS); a UE identifier for contention resolution; and / or an RNTI (e.g., a C-RNTI or a TC-RNTI). The UE may determine that the two-step random access procedure is successfully completed if: a preamble identifier in the Msg B 1332 is matched to a preamble transmitted by the UE; and / or the identifier of the UE in Msg B 1332 is matched to the identifier of the UE in the Msg A 1331 (e.g., the transport block 1342).

[0206] A UE and a base station may exchange control signaling. The control signaling may be referred to as L1 / L2 control signaling and may originate from the PHY layer (e.g., layer 1) and / or the MAC layer (e.g., layer 2). The control signaling may comprise downlink control signaling transmitted from the base station to the UE and / or uplink control signaling transmitted from the UE to the base station.

[0207] The downlink control signaling may comprise: a downlink scheduling assignment; an uplink scheduling grant indicating uplink radio resources and / or a transport format; a slot format information; a preemption indication; a power control command; and / or any other suitable signaling. The UE may receive the downlink control signaling in a payload transmitted by the base station on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). The payload transmitted on the PDCCH may be referred to as downlink control information (DCI). In some scenarios, the PDCCH may be a group common PDCCH (GC-PDCCH) that is common to a group of UEs.

[0208] A base station may attach one or more cyclic redundancy check (CRC) parity bits to a DCI in order to facilitate detection of transmission errors. When the DCI is intended for a UE (or a group of the UEs), the base station may scramble the CRC parity bits with an identifier of the UE (or an identifier of the group of the UEs). Scrambling the CRC parity bits with the identifier may comprise Modulo-2 addition (or an exclusive OR operation) of the identifier value and the CRC parity bits. The identifier may comprise a 16-bit value of a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI).Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0209] DCIs may be used for different purposes. A purpose may be indicated by the type of RNTI used to scramble the CRC parity bits. For example, a DCI having CRC parity bits scrambled with a paging RNTI (P- RNTI) may indicate paging information and / or a system information change notification. The P-RNTI may be predefined as “FFFE” in hexadecimal. A DCI having CRC parity bits scrambled with a system information RNTI (SI-RNTI) may indicate a broadcast transmission of the system information. The SI-RNTI may be predefined as "FFFF” in hexadecimal. A DCI having CRC parity bits scrambled with a random access RNTI (RA-RNTI) may indicate a random access response (RAR). A DCI having CRC parity bits scrambled with a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) may indicate a dynamically scheduled unicast transmission and / or a triggering of PDCCH-ordered random access. A DCI having CRC parity bits scrambled with a temporary cell RNTI (TC-RNTI) may indicate a contention resolution (e.g., a Msg 3 analogous to the Msg 3 1313 illustrated in FIG. 13A). Other RNTIs configured to the UE by a base station may comprise a Configured Scheduling RNTI (CS-RNTI), a Transmit Power Control-PUCCH RNTI (TPC-PUCCH-RNTI), a Transmit Power Control-PUSCH RNTI (TPC-PUSCH-RNTI), a Transmit Power Control-SRS RNTI (TPC-SRS-RNTI), an Interruption RNTI (INT-RNTI), a Slot Format Indication RNTI (SFI-RNTI), a Semi-Persistent CSI RNTI (SP-CSI-RNTI), a Modulation and Coding Scheme Cell RNTI (MCS-C-RNTI), and / or the like.

[0210] Depending on the purpose and / or content of a DCI, the base station may transmit the DCIs with one or more DCI formats. For example, DCI format 0_0 may be used for scheduling of PUSCH in a cell. DCI format 0_0 may be a fallback DCI format (e.g., with compact DCI payloads). DCI format 0_1 may be used for scheduling of PUSCH in a cell (e.g., with more DCI payloads than DCI format 0_0). DCI format 1_0 may be used for scheduling of PDSCH in a cell. DCI format 1_0 may be a fallback DCI format (e.g., with compact DCI payloads). DCI format 1_1 may be used for scheduling of PDSCH in a cell (e.g., with more DCI payloads than DCI format 1 _0) . DCI format 2_0 may be used for providing a slot format indication to a group of UEs. DCI format 2_1 may be used for notifying a group of UEs of a physical resource block and / or OFDM symbol where the UE may assume no transmission is intended to the UE. DCI format 2_2 may be used for transmission of a transmit power control (TPC) command for PUCCH or PUSCH. DCI format 2_3 may be used for transmission of a group of TPC commands for SRS transmissions by one or more UEs. DCI format(s) for new functions may be defined in future releases. DCI formats may have different DCI sizes, or may share the same DCI size.

[0211] After scrambling a DCI with a RNTI, the base station may process the DCI with channel coding (e.g., polar coding), rate matching, scrambling and / or QPSK modulation. A base station may map the coded and modulated DCI on resource elements used and / or configured for a PDCCH. Based on a payload size of the DCI and / or a coverage of the base station, the base station may transmit the DCI via a PDCCH occupying a number of contiguous control channel elements (CCEs). The number of the contiguous CCEs (referred to as aggregation level) may be 1 , 2, 4, 8, 16, and / or any other suitable number. A CCE mayDocket No.: 24-1244PCT comprise a number (e.g., 6) of resource-element groups (REGs). A REG may comprise a resource block in an OFDM symbol. The mapping of the coded and modulated DCI on the resource elements may be based on mapping of CCEs and REGs (e.g., CCE-to-REG mapping).

[0212] FIG. 14A illustrates an example of CORESET configurations for a bandwidth part. The base station may transmit a DCI via a PDCCH on one or more control resource sets (CORESETs). A CORESET may comprise a time-frequency resource in which the UE tries to decode a DCI using one or more search spaces. The base station may configure a CORESET in the time-frequency domain. In the example of FIG. 14A, a first CORESET 1401 and a second CORESET 1402 occur at the first symbol in a slot. The first CORESET 1401 overlaps with the second CORESET 1402 in the frequency domain. A third CORESET 1403 occurs at a third symbol in the slot. A fourth CORESET 1404 occurs at the seventh symbol in the slot CORESETs may have a different number of resource blocks in frequency domain.

[0213] FIG. 14B illustrates an example of a CCE-to-REG mapping for DCI transmission on a CORESET and PDCCH processing. The CCE-to-REG mapping may be an interleaved mapping (e.g., for the purpose of providing frequency diversity) or a non-interleaved mapping (e.g., for the purposes of facilitating interference coordination and / or frequency-selective transmission of control channels). The base station may perform different or same CCE-to-REG mapping on different CORESETs. A CORESET may be associated with a CCE-to-REG mapping by RRC configuration. A CORESET may be configured with an antenna port quasi co-location (QCL) parameter. The antenna port QCL parameter may indicate QCL information of a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for PDCCH reception in the CORESET.

[0214] The base station may transmit, to the UE, RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of one or more CORESETs and one or more search space sets. The configuration parameters may indicate an association between a search space set and a CORESET. A search space set may comprise a set of PDCCH candidates formed by CCEs at a given aggregation level. The configuration parameters may indicate: a number of PDCCH candidates to be monitored per aggregation level; a PDCCH monitoring periodicity and a PDCCH monitoring pattern; one or more DCI formats to be monitored by the UE; and / or whether a search space set is a common search space set or a UE-specific search space set. A set of CCEs in the common search space set may be predefined and known to the UE. A set of CCEs in the UE- specific search space set may be configured based on the UE’s identity (e.g., C-RNTI).

[0215] As shown in FIG. 14B, the UE may determine a time-frequency resource for a CORESET based on RRC messages. The UE may determine a CCE-to-REG mapping (e.g., interleaved or non-interleaved, and / or mapping parameters) for the CORESET based on configuration parameters of the CORESET. The UE may determine a number (e.g., at most 10) of search space sets configured on the CORESET based on the RRC messages. The UE may monitor a set of PDCCH candidates according to configuration parameters of a search space set. The UE may monitor a set of PDCCH candidates in one or moreDocket No.: 24-1244PCTCORESETs for detecting one or more DCIs. Monitoring may comprise decoding one or more PDCCH candidates of the set of the PDCCH candidates according to the monitored DCI formats. Monitoring may comprise decoding a DCI content of one or more PDCCH candidates with possible (or configured) PDCCH locations, possible (or configured) PDCCH formats (e.g . , number of CCEs, number of PDCCH candidates in common search spaces, and / or number of PDCCH candidates in the UE-specific search spaces) and possible (or configured) DCI formats. The decoding may be referred to as blind decoding. The UE may determine a DCI as valid for the UE, in response to CRC checking (e.g., scrambled bits for CRC parity bits of the DCI matching a RNTI value). The UE may process information contained in the DCI (e.g., a scheduling assignment, an uplink grant, power control, a slot format indication, a downlink preemption, and / or the like).

[0216] The UE may transmit uplink control signaling (e.g., uplink control information (UCI)) to a base station. The uplink control signaling may comprise hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgements for received DL-SCH transport blocks. The UE may transmit the HARQ acknowledgements after receiving a DL-SCH transport block. Uplink control signaling may comprise channel state information (CSI) indicating channel quality of a physical downlink channel. The UE may transmit the CSI to the base station. The base station, based on the received CSI, may determine transmission format parameters (e.g., comprising multi-antenna and beamforming schemes) for a downlink transmission. Uplink control signaling may comprise scheduling requests (SR). The UE may transmit an SR indicating that uplink data is available for transmission to the base station. The UE may transmit a UCI (e.g., HARQ acknowledgements (HARQ-ACK), CSI report, SR, and the like) via a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The UE may transmit the uplink control signaling via a PUCCH using one of several PUCCH formats.

[0217] There may be five PUCCH formats and the UE may determine a PUCCH format based on a size of the UCI (e.g., a number of uplink symbols of UCI transmission and a number of UCI bits). PUCCH format 0 may have a length of one or two OFDM symbols and may include two or fewer bits. The UE may transmit UCI in a PUCCH resource using PUCCH format 0 if the transmission is over one or two symbols and the number of HARQ-ACK information bits with positive or negative SR (HARQ-ACK / SR bits) is one or two. PUCCH format 1 may occupy a number between four and fourteen OFDM symbols and may include two or fewer bits. The UE may use PUCCH format 1 if the transmission is four or more symbols and the number of HARQ-ACK / SR bits is one or two. PUCCH format 2 may occupy one or two OFDM symbols and may include more than two bits. The UE may use PUCCH format 2 if the transmission is over one or two symbols and the number of UCI bits is two or more. PUCCH format 3 may occupy a number between four and fourteen OFDM symbols and may include more than two bits. The UE may use PUCCH format 3 if the transmission is four or more symbols, the number of UCI bits is two or more and PUCCH resource does notDocket No.: 24-1244PCT include an orthogonal cover code. PUCCH format 4 may occupy a number between four and fourteen OFDM symbols and may include more than two bits. The UE may use PUCCH format 4 if the transmission is four or more symbols, the number of UCI bits is two or more and the PUCCH resource includes an orthogonal cover code.

[0218] The base station may transmit configuration parameters to the UE for a plurality of PUCCH resource sets using, for example, an RRC message. The plurality of PUCCH resource sets (e.g., up to four sets) may be configured on an uplink BWP of a cell. A PUCCH resource set may be configured with a PUCCH resource set index, a plurality of PUCCH resources with a PUCCH resource being identified by a PUCCH resource identifier (e.g., pucch-Resourceid}, and / or a number (e.g. a maximum number) of UCI information bits the UE may transmit using one of the plurality of PUCCH resources in the PUCCH resource set. When configured with a plurality of PUCCH resource sets, the UE may select one of the plurality of PUCCH resource sets based on a total bit length of the UCI information bits (e.g., HARQ-ACK, SR, and / or CSI). If the total bit length of UCI information bits is two or fewer, the UE may select a first PUCCH resource set having a PUCCH resource set index equal to "0”. If the total bit length of UCI information bits is greater than two and less than or equal to a first configured value, the UE may select a second PUCCH resource set having a PUCCH resource set index equal to "1”. If the total bit length of UCI information bits is greater than the first configured value and less than or equal to a second configured value, the UE may select a third PUCCH resource set having a PUCCH resource set index equal to “2”. If the total bit length of UCI information bits is greater than the second configured value and less than or equal to a third value (e.g., 1406), the UE may select a fourth PUCCH resource set having a PUCCH resource set index equal to “3".

[0219] After determining a PUCCH resource set from a plurality of PUCCH resource sets, the UE may determine a PUCCH resource from the PUCCH resource set for UCI (HARQ-ACK, CSI, and / or SR) transmission. The UE may determine the PUCCH resource based on a PUCCH resource indicator in a DCI (e.g., with a DCI format 1_0 or DCI for 1_1) received on a PDCCH. A three-bit PUCCH resource indicator in the DCI may indicate one of eight PUCCH resources in the PUCCH resource set. Based on the PUCCH resource indicator, the UE may transmit the UCI (HARQ-ACK, CSI, and / or SR) using a PUCCH resource indicated by the PUCCH resource indicator in the DCI.

[0220] FIG. 15 illustrates an example of a wireless device 1502 in communication with a base station 1504 in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. The wireless device 1502 and base station 1504 may be part of a mobile communication network, such as the mobile communication network 100 illustrated in FIG. 1A, the mobile communication network 150 illustrated in FIG. 1 B, or any other communication network. Only one wireless device 1502 and one base station 1504 are illustrated in FIG.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT15, but it will be understood that a mobile communication network may include more than one UE and / or more than one base station, with the same or similar configuration as those shown in FIG. 15.

[0221] The base station 1504 may connect the wireless device 1502 to a core network (not shown) through radio communications over the air interface (or radio interface) 1506. The communication direction from the base station 1504 to the wireless device 1502 over the air interface 1506 is known as the downlink, and the communication direction from the wireless device 1502 to the base station 1504 over the air interface is known as the uplink. Downlink transmissions may be separated from uplink transmissions using FDD, TDD, and / or some combination of the two duplexing techniques.

[0222] In the downlink, data to be sent to the wireless device 1502 from the base station 1504 may be provided to the processing system 1508 of the base station 1504. The data may be provided to the processing system 1508 by, for example, a core network. In the uplink, data to be sent to the base station 1504 from the wireless device 1502 may be provided to the processing system 1518 of the wireless device 1502. The processing system 1508 and the processing system 1518 may implement layer 3 and layer 2 OSI functionality to process the data for transmission. Layer 2 may include an SDAP layer, a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, and a MAC layer, for example, with respect to FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B, FIG. 3, and FIG. 4A. Layer 3 may include an RRC layer as with respect to FIG. 2B.

[0223] After being processed by processing system 1508, the data to be sent to the wireless device 1502 may be provided to a transmission processing system 1510 of base station 1504. Similarly, after being processed by the processing system 1518, the data to be sent to base station 1504 may be provided to a transmission processing system 1520 of the wireless device 1502. The transmission processing system 1510 and the transmission processing system 1520 may implement layer 1 OSI functionality. Layer 1 may include a PHY layer with respect to FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B, FIG. 3, and FIG. 4A. For transmit processing, the PHY layer may perform, for example, forward error correction coding of transport channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping of transport channels to physical channels, modulation of physical channel, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) or multi-antenna processing, and / or the like.

[0224] At the base station 1504, a reception processing system 1512 may receive the uplink transmission from the wireless device 1502. At the wireless device 1502, a reception processing system 1522 may receive the downlink transmission from base station 1504. The reception processing system 1512 and the reception processing system 1522 may implement layer 1 OSI functionality. Layer 1 may include a PHY layer with respect to FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B, FIG. 3, and FIG. 4A. For receive processing, the PHY layer may perform, for example, error detection, forward error correction decoding, deinterleaving, demapping of transport channels to physical channels, demodulation of physical channels, MIMO or multi-antenna processing, and / or the like.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0225] As shown in FIG. 15, a wireless device 1502 and the base station 1504 may include multiple antennas. The multiple antennas may be used to perform one or more MIMO or multi-antenna techniques, such as spatial multiplexing (e.g., single-user MIMO or multi-user MIMO), transmit / receive diversity, and / or beamforming. In other examples, the wireless device 1502 and / or the base station 1504 may have a single antenna.

[0226] The processing system 1508 and the processing system 1518 maybe associated with a memory 1514 and a memory 1524, respectively. Memory 1514 and memory 1524 (e.g., one or more non-transitory computer readable mediums) may store computer program instructions or code that may be executed by the processing system 1508 and / or the processing system 1518 to carry out one or more of the functionalities discussed in the present application. Although not shown in FIG. 15, the transmission processing system 1510, the transmission processing system 1520, the reception processing system 1512, and / or the reception processing system 1522 may be coupled to a memory (e.g., one or more non- transitory computer readable mediums) storing computer program instructions or code that may be executed to carry out one or more of their respective functionalities.

[0227] The processing system 1508 and / or the processing system 1518 may comprise one or more controllers and / or one or more processors. The one or more controllers and / or one or more processors may comprise, for example, a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) and / or other programmable logic device, discrete gate and / or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, an onboard unit, or any combination thereof. The processing system 1508 and / or the processing system 1518 may perform at least one of signal coding / processing, data processing, power control, input / output processing, and / or any other functionality that may enable the wireless device 1502 and the base station 1504 to operate in a wireless environment.

[0228] The processing system 1508 and / or the processing system 1518 may be connected to one or more peripherals 1516 and one or more peripherals 1526, respectively. The one or more peripherals 1516 and the one or more peripherals 1526 may include software and / or hardware that provide features and / or functionalities, for example, a speaker, a microphone, a keypad, a display, a touchpad, a power source, a satellite transceiver, a universal serial bus (USB) port, a hands-free headset, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a media player, an Internet browser, an electronic control unit (e.g., for a motor vehicle), and / or one or more sensors (e.g., an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a temperature sensor, a radar sensor, a lidar sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a light sensor, a camera, and / or the like). The processing system 1508 and / or the processing system 1518 may receive user input data from and / or provide user output data to the one or more peripherals 1516 and / or the one or more peripherals 1526 The processing system 1518 in the wireless device 1502 may receive power from a power source and / or may be configured to distribute theDocket No.: 24-1244PCT power to the other components in the wireless device 1502. The power source may comprise one or more sources of power, for example, a battery, a solar cell, a fuel cell, or any combination thereof. The processing system 1508 and / or the processing system 1518 may be connected to a GPS chipset 1517 and a GPS chipset 1527, respectively. The GPS chipset 1517 and the GPS chipset 1527 may be configured to provide geographic location information of the wireless device 1502 and the base station 1504, respectively.

[0229] FIG. 16A illustrates an example structure for uplink transmission. A baseband signal representing a physical uplink shared channel may perform one or more functions. The one or more functions may comprise at least one of: scrambling; modulation of scrambled bits to generate complex-valued symbols; mapping of the complex-valued modulation symbols onto one or several transmission layers; transform precoding to generate complex-valued symbols; precoding of the complex-valued symbols; mapping of precoded complex-valued symbols to resource elements; generation of complex-valued time-domain Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) or CP-OFDM signal for an antenna port; and / or the like. In an example, when transform precoding is enabled, a SC-FDMA signal for uplink transmission may be generated. In an example, when transform precoding is not enabled, a CP-OFDM signal for uplink transmission may be generated by FIG. 16A. These functions are illustrated as examples and it is anticipated that other mechanisms may be implemented in various embodiments.

[0230] FIG. 16B illustrates an example structure for modulation and up-conversion of a baseband signal to a carrier frequency The baseband signal may be a complex-valued SC-FDMA or CP-OFDM baseband signal for an antenna port and / or a complex-valued Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) baseband signal. Filtering may be employed prior to transmission.

[0231] FIG. 16C illustrates an example structure for downlink transmissions. A baseband signal representing a physical downlink channel may perform one or more functions. The one or more functions may comprise: scrambling of coded bits in a codeword to be transmitted on a physical channel; modulation of scrambled bits to generate complex-valued modulation symbols; mapping of the complex-valued modulation symbols onto one or several transmission layers; precoding of the complex-valued modulation symbols on a layer for transmission on the antenna ports; mapping of complex-valued modulation symbols for an antenna port to resource elements; generation of complex-valued time-domain OFDM signal for an antenna port; and / or the like. These functions are illustrated as examples and it is anticipated that other mechanisms may be implemented in various embodiments.

[0232] FIG. 16D illustrates another example structure for modulation and up-conversion of a baseband signal to a carrier frequency. The baseband signal may be a complex-valued OFDM baseband signal for an antenna port. Filtering may be employed prior to transmission.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0233] A wireless device may receive from a base station one or more messages (e.g., RRC messages) comprising configuration parameters of a plurality of cells (e.g. primary cell, secondary cell). The wireless device may communicate with at least one base station (e.g., two or more base stations in dual connectivity) via the plurality of cells. The one or more messages (e.g., as a part of the configuration parameters) may comprise parameters of physical, MAC, RLC, PCDP, SDAP, RRC layers for configuring the wireless device. For example, the configuration parameters may comprise parameters for configuring physical and MAC layer channels, bearers, etc. For example, the configuration parameters may comprise parameters indicating values of timers for physical, MAC, RLC, PCDP, SDAP, RRC layers, and / or communication channels.

[0234] A timer may begin running once it is started and continue running until it is stopped or until it expires. A timer may be started if it is not running or restarted if it is running. A timer may be associated with a value (e.g., the timer may be started or restarted from a value or may be started from zero and expire once it reaches the value). The duration of a timer may not be updated until the timer is stopped or expires (e.g., due to BWP switching). A timer may be used to measure a time period / window for a process. When the specification refers to an implementation and procedure related to one or more timers, it will be understood that there are multiple ways to implement the one or more timers. For example, it will be understood that one or more of the multiple ways to implement a timer may be used to measure a time period / window for the procedure. For example, a random access response window timer may be used for measuring a window of time for receiving a random access response. In an example, instead of starting and expiry (or expiration) of a random access response window timer, the time difference between two time stamps may be used. When a timer is restarted, a process for measurement of time window may be restarted. Other example implementations may be provided to restart a measurement of a time window.

[0235] Sensing / radar function(s) / system(s) of the following embodiments may be implemented, e.g., by a radar functionality or a sensor functionality, in wireless communication involving one or more access devices (e.g., base stations (BSs) and / or TRPs and / or wireless devices and / or access points).

[0236] The one or more access devices may comprise one or more terminal devices (e.g., user equipment devices (UEs)).

[0237] The one or more access devices may comprise one or more radar transmitters and / or one or more radar receivers. A radar receiver may be a passive radar receiver (e.g., not transmitting radar / sensing signals). Alternatively, a radar receiver may be an active radar receiver (e.g., transmitting radar / sensing signals too).

[0238] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the transmitter and the receiver may operate over a configured / allocated radio frequency range / band (FR1 , FR2-1 , or RF2-2). The transmitter and / or the receiver may comprise RF / IF hardware(s) (subsystems) and signal processing algorithms to enable bothDocket No.: 24-1244PCT standard data / control communication, e.g., 5G data / signaling communications, and / or radar sensing, e.g , one or more sensing (or radar) tasks. The one or more sensing tasks may comprise identifying / extracting vital signs / features (of targets / objects); and / or object detection / identification and / or movement recognition of targets; and / or object / target tracking.

[0239] The sensing / radar system focused in this disclosure comprises an integrated sensing and communication configuration / setup / scenario. An integrated sensing and communication system may be a sensing / radar configuration (or setup or scenario or technique or technology) that enables the integration of (data) communications and radar / sensing into one system, sharing a single set of transmitted signals and a majority of hardware and network infrastructure. In an integrated sensing and communication system, time and / or frequency resources for UL / DL data / control communications (e.g., for PDSCH / PDCCH / CSI- RS / PRS / SSB receptions / transmission and / or PUSCH / PUCCH / SRS / PRACH transmissions / receptions) may be shared by time and / or frequency resources for radar / sensing signals / waveforms, e.g., in a time duplexed (e.g., TDD) fashion / method and / or a frequency duplexed (e.g., FDD) fashion / method and / or an integrated approach / configuration. The integrated approach / configuration may comprise repurposing / using (partially) time / frequency resources for transmissions / receptions of the PDSCH / PDCCH / CSI-RS / PRS / SSB / PUSCH / PUCCH / SRS / PRACH for sensing tasks / purposes.

[0240] FIG. 17 illustrates an example of a sensing / radar system in a wireless communication system. A radar (also referred to as a sensing system) may be an electromagnetic sensor for detections and / or locations of targets (e.g., reflecting / passive / non-cooperative objects). The radar may be stationary or non- stationary.

[0241] The radar may be a mono-static radar system. FIG. 18A shows an example of mono-static sensing / radar systems / configurations.

[0242] The radar may be a bi-static radar system. FIG. 18B shows an example of bi-static sensing / radar systems / configurations

[0243] The monostatic radar / sensing system and / or the bistatic radar / sensing system may be examples of different geometric configuration / setup of sensing transmitters and / or sensing receivers.

[0244] Although FIG. 17 shows a sensing scenario that the transmitter (e.g., the sensing / radar transmitter) and a receiver (e.g , a sensing / radar receiver) are collocated (at the same location), e.g , mono-static radar / sensing scenario / configuration / system (see FIG. 18A for examples), embodiment of FIG. 17 may equally be applicable for a bi-static sensing scenario / configuration / system (see FIG. 18B for examples).

[0245] In the present disclosure, targets may be non-cooperative targets (outside control of the radar / sensing system), e.g., estimating the location of the targets may not rely on using assistance information (e.g., TAG ID or active transmissions) from the targets.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0246] A transmitter of a radar / sensing system (e.g., a sensing transmitter or a radar transmitter) may transmit radar / sensing signals (or waveforms), e.g., RS_s, in time-frequency domain(s), e.g., to radiate (electromagnetic) energy from a transmission antenna. The radiated (electromagnetic) energy (e.g., the radar / sensing signals / waveforms) propagates in space and / or wireless medium.

[0247] In the example of FIG. 17 and / or FIG. 18A, the transmit (Tx) antenna(s) and receive (Rx) antenna(s) may be the same, e.g., using a duplexer or (passive / active) circulator (or the like) the antenna switches from a transmission mode (e.g., Tx antenna) to a reception mode (e.g., Rx antenna). Equally, the embodiment of FIG. 17 and / or FIG. 18A may be applicable for cases where the Tx antenna(s) and the Rx antenna(s) are (physically) different / disjoint.

[0248] As shown in FIG. 18A and / or FIG. 18B, the transmitter may be a wireless device (e.g., UE) and / or a base station (BS)Ztransmission reception point (TRP) and / or an access point. The receiver may be a wireless device and / or a base station (BS) / transmission reception point (TRP) and / or a passive bistatic receiver and / or an access point. Although FIG. 18A and / or FIG. 18B only shows one transmitter and / or one receiver, similar configuration / scenario is applicable for a sensing / radar system with at least two transmitters and / or at least two receivers (e.g., multi-static radar / sensing systems / configurations / operations).

[0249] Further, combination of the monostatic sensing / radar and / or the bistatic sensing / radar system may be possible. For example, one or more second TRPs / BSs / access points and / or one or more second UEs may transmit the sensing / radar signals. One or more first TRPs / BSs / access points and / or one or more first UEs may monitor the sensing signals. In one implementation, the one or more first TRP / BSs and / or the one or more second TRP / BSs may be disjoint / different. In another implementation, at least one TRP / BS of the one or more first TRPs / BSs may belong to the one or more second TRP / BSs. Similarly, the one or more first UEs and / or the one or more second UEs may be disjoint / different. Alternatively, at least one UE of the one or more first UEs may belong to the one or more second UEs.

[0250] In the examples of FIG. 17, FIG. 18A, and FIG. 18B, (some) sensing / radar signal(s) may be intercepted (or hit) by a target (e.g., a sensing target) and / or clutters (e.g., interfering targets / objects). Some intercepted energy by the target (e.g., when the target is a reflecting object) and / or clutters (e.g., reflective clutters) may be (re-)radiated, e.g., bounced off or returned back, (in space and / or the wireless medium) in many directions (including toward the Rx antenna(s)). Reflected / (re-)radiated energy by target(s) and clutter(s) may be referred to as echoes (echo signals or echo returns) or reflections (reflected signals). The echoes may be associated with (or in response to) the transmitted sensing signals (e.g., by the one or more second TRPs / UEs / BSs). The radar / sensing system (e.g., the Rx antenna of the receiver) monitors the sensing signals, e.g., echoes of the sensing signals.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0251] By monitoring the sensing signals, the receiver (or the one or more first TRPs / UEs / BSs) may monitor (or receive or measure) the echoes (of the sensing signals). Using / based on the monitored the sensing signals, the receiver may process (e.g., analyze) the echoes to perform the one or more sensing tasks. Processing / analyzing the echoes may comprise processing the monitored sensing signals (e.g., echoes) in order to, e.g., determine whether echoes comprise a target echo or not (e.g., clutter echo), e.g., to determine presence or absence of the target (e.g ., target detection); and / or to track target(s). The echoes associated with clutter may be referred to as clutter echoes.

[0252] FIG. 17 shows some examples of clutter, e.g., mountain and / or hills and / or vehicles (e.g., train). In the example of FIG. 17, the target is a motorist or a bicyclist. In the example of FIG. 17, the target may be non-stationary (e.g , mobile). Alternatively, the target may be stationery (non-moving or not mobile). Similarly, each clutter in surrounding environment of the radar system may be moving or stationary.

[0253] Depending on sensing / radar applications (e.g., sensing tasks), the target may be a pedestrian or animals or drones or vehicles or the like. A clutter may be the ground, sea, weather (e.g., rain, snow, fog, or the like), foliage, buildings, stationary vehicles or the like.

[0254] Depending on sensing / radar applications (e.g., sensing tasks), a clutter may be automobiles and / or people (pedestrian, cyclists, or the like), houses, buildings, or the like. The target may be animals or drones.

[0255] Depending on sensing / radar applications (e.g., sensing tasks), a clutter may comprise animals and / or birds and / or insects or the like. For example, when the sensing task is for detecting animals (livestock or squirrels) crossing roads, a target may be an animal, and a clutter may be infrastructure, vehicles, people, weather, and / or trees.

[0256] In another example, when the sensing task is for detecting / tracking moving cars in a parking lot, the target(s) may comprise moving cars and clutters may comprise stationary cars, stationary motorcycles, pedestrians, or the like.

[0257] Other examples are possible although not discussed here.

[0258] The radar / sensing system may comprise at least one of at least one transmitter subsystem (also known as radar exciter) comprising transmission parts / components and / or at least one receiver subsystem comprising reception parts / components. Depending on whether the radar / sensing system is the monostatic (e.g., FIG. 18A) or the bistatic (e.g., FIG. 18B), the transmitter subsystem and the receiver subsystem may be collocated (e.g., the monostatic configuration) or non-collocated (e.g., the bistatic configuration). In a case of MIMO radar / sensing system, the at least one transmitter subsystem and / or at least one receiver subsystem, may comprise MIMO transmitter / receiver components. In a case of radar / sensing systems with phased-array receivers (e.g., in mmWave sensing / radar systems), the at least one receiver subsystem may comprise the phased-array components / antennas.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0259] The transmitter subsystem may comprise at least one of: a waveform generator to generate radar signals / waveforms (e.g ., a train / burst of pulses or a continuous waveform (CW) and / or WiFi, 4G, 5G or 6G signals / channels) for transmission by the Tx antenna(s); and / or a power amplifier to boost / enhance a power of the generated signals. To use the same set of antennas for the transmissions and receptions (e.g., the monostatic radar / sensing configuration), the radar / sensing system may further comprise the d uplexer / ci rcul ator to switch between the transmission mode of the radar and the reception mode of the radar.

[0260] The receiver subsystem may comprise at least one of: a low noise amplifier (LNA); a mixer to transfer in frequency domain (and using a local oscillator (LO)) the echoes from an RF frequency to an IF frequency for further processing (e.g., analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) sampling and digital signal processing (DSP)). The IF part of the receiver subsystem may comprise IF amplifiers and filters (band-pass filters to remove signals / echoes below a minimal range and frequencies above a maximum frequency for the subsequent ADC) and / or IF limiters (to limit a power of the echoes, e.g., in order to reduce a possibility of echoes saturating the ADC).

[0261] In radar / sensing systems, the receiver subsystem may further comprise detector(s) for radar / sensing (digital) processing of the ADC output (e.g., I / Q samples). By processing the echoes (e.g., the l / Q samples of the digitized echoes), the radar system may measure range, velocity, and direction / orientation of objects / targets / clutters in a sensing scene. The radar / sensing processing algorithms (for performing sensing tasks) may comprise target detection, target tracking, doppler estimation / filter, clutter cancellation / suppression, and / or the like. For example, for detecting the target (sensing target), e.g., wanted / desired target in FIG. 17, (unwanted / undesired / environment) clutters (or clutter echoes) may interfere with a desired echo resulting in miss detection and / or false alarm. Using the radar / sensing processing algorithms, the radar / sensing system may enhance detection and / or tracking despite (interfering) clutters. Further, the radar / sensing processing further comprises measuring differences in phases / doppler shift (or offset or speed) of echoes across sensing monitoring occasions of the sensing signals (e.g., time / pulses), e.g., in order to estimate / determine motion / kinematic parameters (e.g., radial velocity and / or mobility direction) of non-stationary targets / clutters.

[0262] The radar / sensing processing algorithms (for performing sensing tasks) may further comprise a discrete Fourier transport / transform (DFT) (or discrete time Fourier transport / transform DTFT), inverse fast Fourier transform (FFT) and / or FFT, e.g., for processing sampled echoes across sensing signals (e.g., a burst of pulses). Radar / sensing processing algorithms may be for identifying / racking / detecting objects (e.g., targets / clutters) with almost the same range (e.g., when objects are moving at different / same velocities).

[0263] As shown in FIG. 18B, corresponding to the bi-static sensing (procedure) the transmitter may interfere with the receiver(s). Transmissions / receptions of sensing signals may be via multiple paths ofDocket No.: 24-1244PCT sensing signals. Propagation of signals (e.g., sensing signals) in radio environments may comprise multiple paths, comprising the direct paths and indirect paths (e.g., clutter echoes, target(s) echoes). Multiple paths of a sensing signals may comprise direct paths and clutter paths. For example, the direct paths of the transmitted sensing signals from the transmitter to the receiver(s) may interfere with echoes received from the targets and / or clutter(s) (e.g., clutter paths).

[0264] A path may comprise radio frequency signal path. The path may be a signal propagation path. The path may indicate a signal / electromagnetic passage in radio environment (and according to diffraction, reflection, or the like) of a transmitted signal (e.g., sensing signal) from the transmitter to the receiver. The path may be direct (e.g., a direct path) as shown in FIG. 19B and / or an indirect (e.g., echo), e.g., reflections / echoes from objects, environments, and target(s). The indirect paths may comprise reflections / echoes from objects / targets. The direct paths do not comprise indirect paths.

[0265] As also shown in FIG. 18B, the direct path may be between the sensing transmitter and the sensing receiver. An indirect path may be between the sensing receiver and clutters / objects / targets. The indirect path may cover reflected signal energy (of the sensing signals) emitted / reflected from clutters / objects / targets toward the sensing receiver The direct path may convey signal energy (of the sensing signals) emitted from the sensing transmitter toward the sensing receiver.

[0266] The direct path may be (or comprise) an LOS path.

[0267] The direct path may not comprise (or may not be) the LOS path, e.g., may be a NLOS path.

[0268] The direct path may be an earliest / starting / initial / first path (in time domain) in each monitoring occasion of the sensing signal(s). An indirect path may not be the earliest / starting / initial / first path (in time domain) in each monitoring occasion of the sensing signal(s). An indirect path may arrival at the sensing receiver (in time domain) after an arrival of the direct path (e.g., in each monitoring occasion).

[0269] FIG. 19A and FIG. 19B show examples of sensing systems in wireless communication. FIG. 19A and / or FIG. 19B further shows examples of transmissions / receptions of sensing messages. The sensing messages may interchangeably refer to as messages. A first node may communicate / exchange one or more sensing messages with a second node. Although one transmitter / sender (e.g., the second node) and / or one receiver (e.g., the first node) is shown in FIG. 19A and FIG. 19B, similar illustrations / embodiments comprising one or more first nodes (e.g., the one or more first TRPs / BSs / USs / access points) and / or one or more second nodes (e.g., the one or more second TRPs / BSs / USs / access points) are possible.

[0270] In the example of FIG. 19A and / or FIG. 19B, a first node may be a first wireless device (UE) and / or a first TRP / BS or a first access point.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0271] In one implementation, a second node may be a sensing server. Additionally or alternatively, a second node may be a second TRP / BS and / or a second wireless device / UE and / or a second access point. The first BS may be a DU-gNB. The second BS may be a CU-gNB.

[0272] The first node may receive at least one sensing message of the one or more sensing messages from the second node. For example, of the one or more sensing messages may be associated with at least one sensing procedure (or at least one sensing session). For example, the at least one sensing message may comprise one or more RRC messages (e.g., associated with / corresponding to the at least one sensing procedure / session). The at least one sensing message may comprise one or more NAS messages (e.g., associated with / corresponding to the at least one sensing procedure / session). For example, the at least one sensing message may comprise one or more UL / DL control information (e.g., MAC CEs / DCIs / PUCCHs) (e.g., associated with / corresponding to the at least one sensing procedure / session).

[0273] For example, the one or more sensing messages may comprise sensing protocol messages (e.g., associated with / corresponding to the at least one sensing procedure / session). The at least one sensing message may comprise one or more LPP messages (e.g., associated with / corresponding to the at least one sensing procedure / session and / or at least one positioning procedure / session). The sensing server may be a core network entity / device (e.g., LMF / AMF / SMF, e.g., or sensing / radar management function and / or a sensing service provider / function). In one example, transmissions of the sensing protocol messages (from the sensing sever to the first UE / TRP / access point (AP)) and / or receptions of the sensing protocol messages (by the sensing sever from the first UE / TRP / AP) may be via / through at least one TRP / BS / AP (e.g., the second TRP / BS / AP of the one or more second TRPs / BSs and / or a third TRP / BS / AP of the one or more second TRPs / BSs), e.g., in a transparent mode.

[0274] Optionally and / or additionally, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the first (and / or a second UE) may receive one or more configuration parameters (e.g., RRC configuration parameters) from the first / second TRP / BS. For example, the at least one RRC message may indicate / comprise the one or more configuration parameters. In another example, one or more UL / DL control information may comprise / indicate the one or more configuration parameters.

[0275] The one or more configuration parameters may comprise / indicate at least one of the following: BWP configuration parameters (BWP-DownlinkDedicatedl BWP-DownlinkCommon and / or BWP- UplinkDedicatedlBWP-UplinkCommon)', and / or cell configuration parameters (e.g., CellGroupConfig, and / or ServingCellConfig and / or ServingCellConfigCommon)', and / or CSI configuration parameters (e.g., CSI- MeasConfig, CSI-ReportConfig, and / or CSI-RescourceConfig) and / or DM-RS configuration parameters (e.g., DMRS-DonwIinkConfig and / or DMRS-UplinkConfig),' and / or measurement configuration parameters (e.g , MeasConfig)’, and / or SRS configuration parameters (e.g., SRS-Config)’, and / or DL PRS configuration parameters.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0276] The cell configuration parameters may configure / indicate one or more (serving) cells. The one or more (serving) cells may comprise a PCell and / or a SpCell. The one or more (serving) cells may comprise at least one secondary cell (SCell) . The cell configuration parameters may configure / indicate the one or more carrier components (CCs). At least one CC of the one or more CDs may belong to a secondary cell group (SCG). At least one CC of the one or more CCs may belong to a primary cell group (PCG).

[0277] At least one cell (e.g., a serving cell) of the one or more cells may belong to the SCS.

[0278] At least one cell (e.g., a serving cell) of the one or more cells may belong to the PCG.

[0279] The BWP configuration parameters may configure / indicate UL / DL BWPs (e.g., initial UL / DL BWP and / or a default UL / DL BWP and / or UL / DL active BWP) for UL / DL transmissions / receptions when the first / second UEs communicating UL / DL signals / channels with the first / second TRP / BS. The UL / DL BWPs may be associated with at least one cell of the one or more cells.

[0280] The one or more configuration parameters may configure / indicate transmissions / receptions (e.g., by the one or more first TRPs / BSs / UEs and / or the one or more second TRPs / BSs / UEs) of SSBs, CSI-RSs, DL PRSs, SRSs, or the like via the one or more cells and / or the one or more CCs and / or the UL / DL BWPs.

[0281] The CSI configuration parameters may configure one or more CSI-RS resource sets. At least one CSI-RS resource set of the one or more CSI-RS resource sets may correspond to a BWP of the UL / DL BWPs. Each CSI-RS resource set may comprise a plurality of CSI-RS resources. A CSI-RS resource set of the one or more CSI-RS resource sets (and / or a CSI-RS resource of the plurality of CSI-RS resources) may be for channel measurement, interference measurement, and / or beam report. A CSI-RS resource (set) may be aperiodic, periodic, or semi-persistent.

[0282] The CSI configuration parameters may configure / indicate one or more CSI reports (e.g., periodic / semi-persistent / aperiodic CSI report), e.g., on PUCCH / PUSCH. The CSI configuration parameters may configure / indicate an association between a CSI report of the one or more CSI reports and at least one CSI-RS resource (set) for determining contents of the one or more CSI reports.

[0283] The DL PRS configuration parameters may configure one or more DL PRS resource sets. At least one DL PRS resource set of the one or more DL PRS resource sets may correspond to at least one BWP of the UL / DL BWPs. Each DL PRS resource set may comprise a plurality of DL PRS resources. A DL PRS resource set of the one or more DL PRS resource sets (and / or a DL PRS resource of the plurality of DL PRS resources) may be for positioning.

[0284] The measurement configuration parameters (e.g., via MeasGapConfig) may configure / indicate one or more measurement gaps (e.g., gapToAddModList and / or PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList and / or SensingMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList and / or SensingGapToAddModList) for measuring CSI-RSs, SSBs, and / or DL PRSs (e.g., by the one or more first TRPs / BSs / UEs and / or the one or more second TRPs / BSs / UEs). To configure each measurement gap of the one or more measurement gaps, theDocket No.: 24-1244PCT measurement configuration parameters (e.g., MeasGapConfig) may configure / indicate at least one of the following: an ID / index / number indicating index / number / ID of a measurement gap (MG) of the one or more measurement gap; and / or gapOffset indicating an offset (from a start of a subframe / slot) for starting each measurement gap of the one or more measurement gap; and / or gml indicating a length of each measurement gap of the one or more measurement gap; and / or mgta indicating a periodicity (or repetition period) of each measurement gap of the one or more measurement gap; and / or an indication indicating an ID / number / index of a reference signal (e.g., SSB index, CSI-RS index, DL PRS index and / or sensing signal index of the sensing signals) for measurement during each MG of the one or more measurement gap.

[0285] The one or more measurement gaps may comprise at least one preconfigured measurement gap (e.g , PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList and / or SensingMeasGapPreConfigToAddModLisf), e.g., for measuring SSBs, CSI-RSs, DL PRSs or the like (e.g., by the one or more first TRPs / BSs / UEs and / or the one or more second TRPs / BSs / UEs). The one or more measurement gaps may comprise at least one positioning measurement gap (e.g., PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList) for measuring DL PRS resources / occasions (e.g., by the one or more first TRPs / BSs / UEs and / or the one or more second TRPs / BSs / UEs), e.g., for positioning.

[0286] According to an example embodiment, the one or more measurement gaps may comprise at least one sensing measurement gap (e.g., SensingMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList and / or SensingGapToAddModList). The at least one sensing measurement gap may not be one of the positioning measurement gap. The at least one measurement gap may be one of the MGs indicated by gapToAddModList. In another example, the at least one measurement gap may not be one of the MGs indicated by gapToAddModList.

[0287] Alternatively and / or additionally, the at least one sensing measurement gap may be one of the positioning measurement gap.

[0288] Alternatively and / or additionally, the at least one sensing measurement gap may be one of the MGs indicated by gapToAddModList.

[0289] Optionally, the at least one sensing measurement gap may be for monitoring the sensing signals (e.g., by the one or more first TRPs / BSs / UEs and / or the one or more second TRPs / BSs / UEs). In the present disclosure, monitoring the sensing signal during the at least one sensing MG may comprise monitoring the sensing signals during each (occurrence) of each sensing MG of the at least one sensing MG. By monitoring the sensing signals, the first node and / or the second TRP / UE / BS may monitor at least one sensing signal (of the sensing signals) during the at least one sensing MG indicted by the measurement configuration parameters. The at least one sensing measurement gap may be for measuring (e.g , by the one or more first TRPs / BSs / UEs and / or the one or more second TRPs / BSs / UEs) echo signals (echoes and / or clutters) of the sensing signals, e.g., outside of the active DL BWP of the BWPs.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0290] Additionally or alternatively, the measurement configuration parameters may further configure / indicate at least one sensing processing window (SPW) for monitoring / measuring sensing signals. For example, the first node and / or the second TRP / UE / BS may monitor the sensing signals during at least one SPW. In the present disclosure, monitoring the sensing signal during at least one SPW may comprise monitoring the sensing signals during each (occurrence) of each SPW of the at least one SPW. By monitoring the sensing signals, the first node and / or the second TRP / UE / BS may monitor at least one sensing signal (of the sensing signals) during the at least one SPW. The at least one SPW may be for measuring (e.g., by the one or more first TRPs / BSs / UEs and / or the one or more second TRPs / BSs / UEs) echo signals (echoes and / or clutters) of the sensing signals, e.g., inside of the active DL BWP of the BWPs.

[0291] In some cases, the measurement configuration parameters may further configure / indicate one or more PRS processing window (PPW) for monitoring / measuring DL PRSs configured / indicated by the DL PRS configuration parameters. In some implementations, the one or more PPW may comprise the at least one SPW. Additionally or alternatively, in other implementations, the one or more PPW may not comprise the at least one SPW.

[0292] According to an example embodiment, the measurement configuration parameters may indicate / configure the at least one PPW of the one or more PPWs for monitoring the sensing signals. Based on the measurement configuration parameters i nd icating / config uring the at least one PPW of the one or more PPWs for monitoring the sensing signals, the first node and / or the second TRP / UE / BS may monitor the sensing signals (and / or the DL PRSs) during (occurrences of) the at least one PPW in an active DL BWP of the DL BWPs. The first node and / or the second TRP / UE / BS may avoid monitoring (or not monitor) the sensing signals during a first PPW (in the active DL BWP of the DL BWPs) of the one or more PPWs, e.g., based on the at least one PPW not comprising the first PPW. Based on the at least one PPW not comprising the first PPW, the first node may measure DL PRS resources during the first PPW.

[0293] In the present disclosure, monitoring the sensing signal during the at least one SPW may comprise monitoring the sensing signals during each (occurrence) of each SPW of the at least one SPW. By monitoring the sensing signals, the first node and / or the second TRP / UE / BS may monitor at least one sensing signal (of the sensing signals) during the at least one SPW.

[0294] FIG. 19C, FIG. 20A, and FIG. 20B show examples of sensing procedures in wireless communication. FIG. 19C, FIG. 20A, and FIG. 20B may illustrate examples of performing the sensing procedures and / or one or more sensing configuration parameters. FIG. 19C, FIG. 20A, and FIG. 20B further illustrate examples of the one or more sensing message and / or one or more sensing measurements in the present disclosure. Embodiments of FIG. 19C, FIG. 20A, and FIG. 20B may demonstrate enhancements for sensing in wireless communications, e.g., configuration of sensing, performing sensing tasks (procedures).Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0295] Embodiments of FIG. 19C, FIG. 20A, and FIG. 20B may show examples of the bistatic sensing (procedure or setup / configuration) and / or the monostatic sensing (procedure or setup / configuration). Embodiments of FIG. 19C, FIG. 20A, and FIG. 20B may be further be applicable for the multi-static sensing setup / configuration.

[0296] FIG. 20A may show an example of a first sensing procedure of the at least one sensing procedure. For example, performing the at least one sensing procedure (as shown in FIG. 19C) may comprise performing the first sensing procedure (by the first node and / or the second TRP / UE / BS). The at least one sensing procedure may comprise the first sensing procedure.

[0297] FIG. 20B may show an example of a second sensing procedure of the at least one sensing procedure For example, performing the at least one sensing procedure (as shown in FIG. 19C) may comprise performing the second sensing procedure (by the first node and / or the second TRP / UE / BS). The at least one sensing procedure may comprise the second sensing procedure.

[0298] The one or more sensing messages may comprise a first sensing message (see FIG. 19C, FIG. 20A, and FIG. 20B for examples). As shown in FIG. 19C, FIG. 20A, and FIG. 20B, the first node (e.g. , the first wireless device and / or the first TRP / BS) may receive the first sensing message from the second node (e.g., the second TRP / BS and / or the sensing server). Corresponding to the monostatic sensing system / configuration, the first / second TRP / BS / UE may receive the first sensing message from the sensing server. Corresponding to the bistatic sensing system / configuration, the first TRP / BS / UE may receive the first sensing message from the sensing server and / or the second TRP / BS / UE.

[0299] The one or more sensing message may comprise / indicate the one or more configuration parameters.

[0300] The first sensing message may comprise / indicate one or more sensing configuration parameters. The one or more sensing configuration parameters may be associated with the at least one sensing p raced ure / sessi on. The first node and / or the second node may perform the at least one sensing procedure based on / using the one or more sensing configuration parameters.

[0301] In some implementations, the at least one sensing procedure may be associated with the bistatic sensing procedure and / or the monostatic sensing procedure. For example, a first sensing session of the at least one sensing session may be a monostatic sensing session (e.g., for performing the monostatic sensing). For example, a second sensing session of the at least one sensing session may be a bistatic sensing session (e.g., for performing the bistatic sensing).

[0302] Each sensing procedure of the at least one sensing procedure may be associated with (e.g., for performing / executing / conducting) at least one sensing task. The sensing task(s) (comprising the at least one sensing task) may comprise at least one of the following: detection (absence or presence) of targets (and / or clutters); and / or estimation / determination of location information (position) of targets (and / orDocket No.: 24-1244PCT clutters); and / or tracking targets (e.g., determination of at least one motion parameter of a target, e.g., speed and / or relative motion between objects / targets) and / or acceleration and / or (moving) direction of the target; and / or identification of targets (e.g., feature extraction e.g., shape, types, size, orientation, or the like) and / or identification of environment features / characteristics (e.g., rain, fog, snow, wind or the like). Embodiments of the present disclosure may not be limited to the listed sensing tasks, and other examples are also possible.

[0303] The one or more sensing configuration parameters may be for configuring sensing signals (e.g., associated with the at least one sensing p raced ure / sessi on); and / or a plurality of sensing reports (e.g., associated with the at least one sensing p raced ure / sessi on); and / or at least one sensing metric (e.g., associated with the at least one sensing p raced ure / sessi on); and / or a plurality of sensing measurements(e.g., associated with the at least one sensing procedure / session).

[0304] The one or more sensing configuration parameters may comprise / indicate one or more first configuration parameters (e.g., the one or more sensing signal (SS) configuration parameters) for configuring the sensing signals (e.g., for transmitting the sensing / radar signals (e.g., by the first node and / or the second node).

[0305] The one or more sensing configuration parameters may further configure the first node and / or the second node for monitoring the sensing signals (e.g., measuring the echoes of the transmitted sensing / radar signals).

[0306] The one or more sensing configuration parameters may comprise / indicate one or more second configuration parameters (e.g., one or more sensing measurement configuration parameters) for configuring / indicating the plurality of sensing measurements. Using the one or more sensing measurement configuration parameters and / or the one or more sensing signal configuration parameters the first node (and / or the second TRP / BS / UE) determine one or more sensing measurements of the plurality of sensing measurements. A sensing measurement may comprise a measurement metric (determined based on monitoring sensing signals). The measurement metric may be a sensing metric of at least one sensing metric.

[0307] Optionally and / or additionally, the one or more sensing configuration parameters may configure the first node (and / or the second TRP / BS / UE) for determining (by monitoring the sensing signals) the at least one sensing metric. The one or more third configuration parameters (e.g., one or more sensing report configuration parameters) may configure / indicate the at least one sensing metric. A sensing metric may also be referred to as the measurement metric or a sensing measurement metric. Using the one or more third configuration parameters and / or the one or more sensing measurements of the plurality of sensing measurements, the first node and / or the second node may determine the at least one sensing metric (e.g..,Docket No.: 24-1244PCT at least one measurement metric). As shown in FIG. 19B, the second sensing message may comprise the at least one sensing metric.

[0308] The one or more sensing configuration parameters may indicate / configure a plurality of linkages (or associations or correspondences). A first linkage of the plurality of linkages may indicate / configure a linkage / association (e.g., via a first indexing) between a first sensing signal (of the sensing signals) and at least one of the following: one or more sensing reports of the plurality of sensing reports; and / or a sensing metric of at least one sensing metric; and / or one or more sensing measurements of the plurality of sensing measurements. Based on the first linkage and by monitoring the first sensing signal, the first node (and / or the second node) may determine the sensing metric and / or the one or more sensing measurements. Based on the first linkage and by monitoring the first sensing signal, the first node (and / or the second node) may determine the one or more sensing reports. The one or more sensing reports may comprise the sensing metric and / or one or more sensing measurements. As shown in FIG. 19A, the first node may transmit to the second node a second sensing message (of the one or more sensing messages) comprising the one or more sensing reports.

[0309] Additionally or alternatively, a second linkage of the plurality of linkages may indicate / configure a linkage / association (e.g., via a second indexing) between a first sensing metric (of the at least one sensing metric) and at least one of the following: one or more sensing reports of the plurality of sensing reports; and / or one or more sensing measurements of the plurality of sensing measurements. Based on the second linkage and by monitoring the sensing signals, the first node (and / or the second node) may determine the first sensing metric and / or the one or more sensing measurements. Based on the second linkage and by monitoring the sensing signals, the first node (and / or the second node) may determine the one or more sensing reports. The one or more sensing reports may comprise the first sensing metric and / or one or more sensing measurements. As shown in FIG. 19A, the first node may transmit to the second node the second sensing message (of the one or more sensing messages) comprising the one or more sensing reports.

[0310] Additionally or alternatively, a third linkage of the plurality of linkages may indicate / configure a linkage / association (e.g., via a third indexing) between a first sensing measurement (of the plurality of sensing measurements) and one or more sensing reports of the plurality of sensing reports. Based on the third linkage and by monitoring the sensing signals, the first node (and / or the second node) may determine the at least one sensing metric and / or the first sensing measurement. Based on the third linkage and by monitoring the sensing signals, the first node (and / or the second node) may determine the one or more sensing reports. The one or more sensing reports may comprise the at least one sensing metric and / or first sensing measurement. As shown in FIG. 19A, the first node may transmit to the second node the second sensing message (of the one or more sensing messages) comprising the one or more sensing reports.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0311] FIG. 21 A, FIG. 21 B, and FIG. 21 C show examples of monitoring sensing signals. Performing the at least one sensing procedure in FIG. 19C, and / or FIG. 20A, and / or FIG. 20B (or other embodiments of the present disclosure) may be based on the monitoring sensing signals (e.g., by the first node and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) shown in FIG. 21 A, FIG. 21 B, and FIG. 21 C.

[0312] As shown in FIG. 21A, FIG. 21 B, and FIG. 21C, the first node and / or the second TRP / UE / BS may monitor the sensing signals during occurrences of the at least one sensing measurement gap and / or during occurrences of and / or the at least one SPW.

[0313] FIG. 21 A, FIG. 21 B, and FIG. 21 C further shows examples of determining the at least one sensing metric and / or one or more sensing measurements of the plurality of sensing measurements by monitoring the sensing signals during occurrences of the at least one sensing measurement gap. Although FIG. 21A, FIG. 21 B, and FIG. 21 C only shows examples of the at least one sensing MG, embodiments are equally applicable for the at least one SPW. Further, determining the one or more sensing measurements and / or the at least one sensing metric may further be based on the first / second / third linkage indicated / configured by the one or more sensing configuration parameters.

[0314] Optionally and / or additionally, the one or more sensing configuration parameters may configure (e.g., via the first / second / third linkage) the first node (and / or the second TRP / BS / UE) for reporting / transmitting one or more sensing reports (of the plurality of sensing reports) to the second node (e.g., the sensing server). The one or more sensing configuration parameters may comprise / indicate one or more third configuration parameters (e.g., one or more sensing report configuration parameters) for configuring the plurality of sensing reports. Using / based on the one or more third configuration parameters and / or one or more sensing measurements of the plurality sensing measurements, the first node and / or the second node may determine the one or more sensing reports of the plurality of sensing reports. As shown in FIG. 19C, FIG. 20A, and FIG. 20B, the first node may transmit (to the second node) the second sensing message of the one or more sensing messages comprising the one or more sensing measurements. Although FIG. 19C, FIG. 20A, and FIG. 20B show examples that the first node transmits a single (e.g., one shot and / or a-periodically) second sensing message, embodiments of FIG. 19C, FIG. 20A, and FIG. 20B are equally applicable for cases that the first node transmits (e.g., periodically and / or semi-persistently) multiple second sensing messages (comprising the one or more sensing measurements).

[0315] In some examples, the one or more sensing signal (SS) configuration parameters (e.g., the one or more first configuration parameters) may comprise / indicate one or more types of sensing signals.

[0316] The one or more types of sensing signals may comprise / indicate at least one of: a single pulse; and / or multiple pulses (e.g., multi-pulse / multiple-pulse burst and / or a pulse burst waveform or a burst of pulses); and / or a continuous wave (CW) (or an interrupted CW); and / or a frequency modulated CW; and / or a frequency modulated pulse (single pulse or the multi-pulse); and / or a phase modulated CW; and / or aDocket No.: 24-1244PCT phase modulated pulse (single pulse or the multi-pulse); an ultra-wide band (UWB) waveform / signal. FIG. 21 A also shows an example of burst of pulses.

[0317] In the present disclosure, a pulse may comprise a CW transmission / transmitted pulse. The pulse may be an envelope of the transmitted CW transmission.

[0318] The pulse may comprise a CW transmission with a fixed / constant frequency / phase (e.g ., constant frequency / phase during the pulse transmission / reception).

[0319] The pulse may comprise a CW transmission with variable / varying frequency / phase (e.g., varying frequency / phase during the pulse transmission / reception).

[0320] The pulse (in frequency domain) may comprise a first plurality of frequency resources (REs) for / during each symbol of the pulse. The frequency resources may also be referred to as physical frequency resources or physical frequency groups.

[0321] The pulse (in frequency domain) may comprise a first plurality of subcarriers for / during each symbol of the pulse.

[0322] Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, the one or more types of sensing signals may comprise / indicate at least one of: CSI-RS; and / or; SRS; and / or DL positioning RS (PRS); and / or DM-RS; and / or primary synchronization signal (PSS); and / or secondary synchronization signal (SSS); and / or SSB. The one or more types of sensing signals may indicate 5G / 6G signals / channels that are usable for sensing purposes / tasks.

[0323] In the present disclosure, a transmission / reception occasion of a sensing signal (e.g., the plurality of pulses) may comprise time / frequency resources for transmission / reception of the sensing signal in the transmission / reception occasion. The transmission / reception occasion of the sensing signal may be also referred to as a sensing transmission occasion and / or a sensing reception occasion. The sensing reception occasion may interchangeably be referred to as a sensing monitoring occasion or a monitoring occasion for the sensing signal or a monitoring occasion.

[0324] For example, receiving / measuring a plurality of pulses (e.g., the sensing signal) may comprise monitoring the sensing signal during a plurality of monitoring occasions (e.g., each monitoring occasion of the plurality of monitoring occasions is for measuring / receiving a pulse of the plurality of pulses). For example, measuring / receiving a bundle of pulses (of the plurality of pulses) may be during a bundle of monitoring occasions of the plurality of monitoring occasions.

[0325] For example, each occurrence of the coherent processing interval (with duration MT_p ms) may comprise M monitoring occasions for monitoring the sensing signals. Similarly, each occurrence of the first sensing measurement period (comprising the first number of CPIs) may comprise M*N monitoring occasions for monitoring the sensing signalsDocket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0326] In an example, a monitoring occasion may comprise / be a sensing window (see FIG 21 B for an example). For example, each occurrence of the sensing window may comprise a monitoring occasion of the plurality of monitoring occasions. In another example, each occurrence of the sensing window may comprise at least one monitoring occasion of the plurality of monitoring occasions. For example, the sensing window may comprise a time duration of a monitoring occasion (of the plurality of monitoring occasions).

[0327] Type / choice of sensing signal (waveform) may impact radar / sensing system performance metrics (e.g., false alarm, miss detection or the like). The radar / system performance metrics may indicate / measure accuracy / reliability and / or confidence of sensing tasks (e.g., for detection and / or tracking and / or identification). The radar / sensing system performance metrics (or performance metrics or sensing KPIs) may comprise at least one of the following: a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR); and / or a range resolution; and / or a doppler (velocity) resolution; and / or ambiguities in range and doppler; and / or range and doppler side lobes; and / or range-doppler coupling; and / or detection rate / probability, and / or false alarm rate / probability; and / or miss detection rate / probability; and / or error / inaccuracy (e.g., minimum mean square error (MMSE)) associated with motion / direction / orientation estimation.

[0328] In some examples, the at least one sensing metric may comprise one or more radar / sensing system performance metric. The first node and / or the second node may determine the at least one sensing metric based on monitoring the sensing signals (e.g., during the at least one sensing measurement gap and / or the at least one SPW).

[0329] For configuring the sensing signals and / or associated with the at least one sensing procedure, the one or more SS configuration parameters may comprise / indicate at least one of the following: frequency band / range (of the sensing signals); and / or at least one component carrier (CC) of the one or more CCs (e.g., configured by the one or more configuration parameters) and / or a CC combination (e.g., CC1 ,CC2, CC4) for transmission / receptions of sensing signals; and / or at least one BWP (UL or DL) of the UL / DL BWPs (e.g., configured / indicates by the one or more configuration parameters) for transmission / receptions of sensing signals; and / or at least one cell (e.g., a primary serving cell or a secondary service cell) of the one or more cells (e.g., configured / indicates by the one or more configuration parameters) for transmission / receptions of sensing signals; and / or a subcarrier spacing for transmission / receptions of sensing signals.

[0330] To achieve required sensing accuracy / efficiency (e.g., the performance metrics / sensing KPIs of the radar / sensing system) and corresponding to some types of the sensing signal (e.g., frequency modulated CW / pulse and / or pulse compression), bandwidth of the sensing signal may require to be large (e.g., more than 100 MHz, e g., 200 MHz or 600 MHz). The one or more SS configuration parameters may properlyDocket No.: 24-1244PCT configure / indicate the frequency band (or range) / CC (combination) / BWP / cell / subcarrier spacing for monitoring the sensing signals and / or performing the at least one sensing procedure.

[0331] A BWP of the at least one BWP may be a sensing UL / DL BWP. The first UE / BS / TRP and / or the second UL / BS / TRP may transmit the sensing signals via the sensing BWP. The first UE / BS / TRP and / or the second UL / BS / TRP may measure echoes of the sensing signals via the sensing BWP. The one or more SS configuration parameters may comprise / indicate a first subcarrier spacing for the sensing BWP. The transmissions / monitoring of the sensing signals may be based on the first subcarrier spacing (e.g., when an active DL / UL BWP is the sensing BWP) and / or the subcarrier spacing indicated by the one or more SS configuration parameters (e.g., when the active DL / UL BWP is not the sensing BWP).

[0332] In some implementations, the sensing BWP may be associated with a sensing procedure of the at least one sensing procedure. The sensing BWP may be exclusive / dedicated for sensing (e.g., the sensing procedure), e.g., the sensing BWP is not shared for communication purposes and / or other sensing tasks. For example, a first sensing procedure (e.g., tracking) may require dense sensing signals (e.g., shorter periodicity of multi-pulse bursts) which may be configured based on the sensing BWP. A second sensing procedure (e.g., detection) may be integrated with communications and / or other sensing procedures (e.g., the second sensing procedure may be conducted on a non-sensing BWP). For example, a required sensing KPI / performance of a first sensing procedure (of the at least one sensing procedure) may be higher than the required sensing KPI / performance metric of a second sensing procedure (of the at least one sensing procedure). Using the sensing BWP for the first sensing procedure, interference from UL / DL communications on monitored sensing signals may reduce, which may allow enhancing / improving the sensing KPI of the first sensing procedure.

[0333] Other solutions are also possible. For example, in a first option, the one or more SS configuration parameters comprise / indicate an association / relationship / linkage (e.g., via indexing) between at least one type of the one or more types and one or more frequency bands of the at least one frequency band. The one or more frequency bands may be used for sensing purposes based on the at least one type of the one or more types. The first option is suitable considering TDD / FDD bands and / or considering frequency ranges of the one or more frequency bands for the sensing purposes.

[0334] In a second option (alone or in combination with the first option), the one or more SS configuration parameters comprise / indicate an association / relationship / linkage (e.g., via indexing) between at least one type of the one or more types and one or more first CDs of the at least one CC. The second option may allow aggregation of sensing signals / measurements (e.g., to increase bandwidth of sensing signals) across the one or more first DCs, e.g., for reducing false alarms and / or miss detections, and / or enhancing accuracy of tracking (e.g., estimating motion parameters) of the targets.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0335] In a third option (alone or in combination with the second / first option(s)), the one or more SS configuration parameters comprise / indicate an association / relationship / linkage (e.g., via indexing) between at least one type of the one or more types and one or more first UL / DL BWPs (e.g., the sensing BWP) of the at least one BWP. The third option may config u re / ind icate a dedicated BWP for the sensing, which may reduce interference between communication transmissions / receptions and sensing transmissions / receptions. Particularly, when the sensing receivers have limited capabilities (e.g., not supporting interference suppression), reducing interference of communications on the sensing signals may enhance sensing KPI, e.g., enhancing detection probabilities and / or accuracy of tracking (e.g., estimating motion parameters) of the targets. The one or more first UL / DL BWPs may have higher frequency range compared to the initial / default BWP of the at least one BWP allowing increasing the bandwidth of the sensing signals (e.g., enhancing sensing performance / accuracy).

[0336] In a fourth option (alone or in combination with the second / first / third option(s)), the one or more SS configuration parameters comprise / indicate an association / relationship / linkage (e.g., via indexing) between at least one type of the one or more types and one or more first serving cells of the at least one serving cell. The fourth option may also improve / improve the sensing KPI / performance metrics (e.g., enhancing detection probability and / or reducing false alarm probability and / or enhancing accuracy of tracking) by limiting the one or more first serving cells for sensing tasks and / or the at least one type of sensing signals. For example, in an indoor (or alternatively an outdoor sensing environment), a type of sensing signal may be suitable for a particular sensing task. Using the fourth option, the type of sensing signal may be specified for the one or more first serving cells.

[0337] The one or more SS configuration parameters may comprise / indicate at least one SS configuration / resource set (e.g., the CSI-RS resource set and / or the DL PRS resource set or the like). For example, each SS resource set may be associated with the at least one type the one or more types.

[0338] Each SS configuration / resource set at least one SS configuration / resource set may indicate / configure a list (or a plurality) of SS resources (e.g., CSI-RS resources and / or DL PRS resources). For example, each SS resource (e.g., a first SS resource and / or a second SS resource) of the SS resources (of the list of SS resources) may be associated with the at least one type the one or more types.

[0339] Each SS resource (e.g., a first SS resource and / or a second SS resource) of the SS resources (of the list of SS resources) may comprise time and / or frequency resources (or occasions) associated with a sensing signal of the sensing signals. Each SS resource with an SS index / ID / number may indicate a sensing signal of the sensing signals. The index / ID / number of the SS resource may indicate an index / ID / number of the sensing signal.

[0340] A time indication / resource of an SS resource of the SS resource set may indicate a start time (of a pulse and / or a CW) and / or a width (e.g., a pulse duration of the pulse and / or a duration of the CW). A timeDocket No.: 24-1244PCT indication / resource of an SS resource of the SS resource set may indicate an (time domain) occasion (e.g., transmission occasion or reception occasion) of a sensing signal (of the sensing signals) using the SS resource. Frequency resource of an SS resource of the SS resource set may indicate a set of resource elements / blocks within a BWP (e.g., the sensing BWP) of the at least one BWP for transmission / reception of the SS signal using / via the SS resource.

[0341] The one or more SS configuration parameters may indicate a combination configuration (comb-2 or Comb-3 or Comb-4 or the like) for each SS resource in frequency domain associated with each symbol of the SS resource in time domain.

[0342] In an example, the first SS resource of the SS resources may indicate a first time (e.g., a first start time). The first time may be with respect to (e.g., a first offset after) a reference time / occasion / point. The reference time / occasion may be a start / beginning (or an end / ending) of a slot (in time domain) in a subframe. The reference time / occasion may be a start / beginning (or an end / ending) of a symbol (in time domain) in the slot. For example, the first SS resource may ind icate / config ure the first offset associated / corresponding to the first SS resource. The first time may be the first offset after / from the reference point, e.g., the first offset after / from a start / beginning of a symbol (e.g., a first / starting / earlier symbol) of the slot and / or the first time may be the first offset after a start / beginning of the slot. Alternatively, the first time may be the first offset before / from an end / ending the slot (or an end of a latest / final symbol of the slot).

[0343] According to an example embodiment, the second TRP / BS / UE and / or the first TRP / BS / UE may determine the first time based on the first offset and the reference time / occasion. The second TRP / BS / UE and / or the first TRP / BS / UE may transmit the sensing signal (associated with the first SS set) based on (e.g., starting from) the first time in the slot and / or during a first width duration associated / configured for the first SS resource.

[0344] Additionally or alternatively, according to an example embodiment, the second TRP / BS / UE and / or the first TRP / BS / UE may measure echoes / reflections of the transmitted sensing signal based on (e.g., starting from) the first time in the slot and / or during a first width / duration associated / configured for the first SS resource.

[0345] For the multi-pulse burst (using / associated with the first SS resource), the first time may indicate a time-domain resource corresponding to an initial (or a first / starting / earliest) pulse of the multi-pulse burst. A time-domain resource of a second pulse of the multi-pulse burst is determined based on the time-domain resource corresponding to the initial pulse and a PRI of the first SS resource (or the SS resources).

[0346] In one example, the one or more SS configuration parameters comprise / indicate: a first SS configuration / resource set of the at least one SS configuration / resource set being associated with a first type of the one or more types of sensing signals; and / or a second SS configuration / resource set of the atDocket No.: 24-1244PCT least one SS configuration / resource set being associated with a second type of the one or more types of sensing signals.

[0347] For example, the first type may correspond to a first sensing procedure of the at least one sensing procedure. The second type may correspond to a second sensing procedure of the at least one sensing procedure.

[0348] In another example, the one or more SS configuration parameters comprise / indicate: a first SS resources of the list of SS resources being associated with a third type of the one or more types of sensing signals; and / or a second SS resources of the list of SS resources being associated with a fourth type of the one or more types of sensing signals.

[0349] For example, the third type may correspond to a third sensing procedure of the at least one sensing procedure. The fourth type may correspond to a fourth sensing procedure of the at least one sensing procedure.

[0350] An SS resource of the SS resources may comprise / indicate a pulse duration / width of the pulsed waveform (e.g., a first type of the one or more types of the sensing signals), e.g., w microseconds / milliseconds / symbols / slots. The first type may be the CW and / or the single pulse and / or the multiple pulses.

[0351] For the multiple pulses, the first SS resource of the SS resources may comprise / indicate a size / cardinality of the burst of pulses (e.g., / W=1 , 2, 3, ...). In some cases, all pulses of the burst of pulses may be with the same pulse duration w. In some other cases, a first set of pulses of the burst of pulses may be with a first pulse duration w1 and a second set of pulses of the burst of pulses may be with a second pulse duration w2.

[0352] For the multiple pulses, the first SS resource of the SS resources (of the burst of pulses) may comprise / indicate a pulse repetition interval (PRI) T_p ms / symbols / slots or alternatively a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) F_p kHz where F _p=1 / T_p. The PRI (and / or PRF) may indicate a time distance / separation between (a start of or alternatively an end of) each two consecutive pulses of the burst of pulses. The PRI may indicate / or be a periodicity of the first SS resource of the SS resources (e.g., the periodicity of the pulses). The first SS resource of the SS resources (of the burst of pulses) may comprise / indicate a coherent processing interval (CPI) (and / or a dwell) indicating a total duration MT _p ms / symbols / slots.

[0353] The burst of pulses may comprise (or be) a bundle or pulses (e.g., the multiple pulses). Each pulse of the burst of pulses may be a pulse repetition. For example, the burst of pulses with M pulses may comprise M pulse repetitions (or M-1 pulse repetitions plus an initial pulse of the burst of pulses).Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0354] For example, the first node (and / or the second TRP / BS / UE) may measure a plurality of pulses during a first number of CPIs (e.g., N). Monitoring the sensing signals may comprise measuring the at least one sensing metric based on sampling the plurality of pulses during M*N*T _p ms.

[0355] In the present disclosure, the plurality of pulses may comprise a plurality of slots / subframes (e.g., for a subcarrier spacing, e.g., by the one or more sensing configuration parameters and / or associated with the active DL BWP and / or the sensing BWP). For example, each pulse of the plurality of pulses may correspond to a slot of the plurality of slots. In another example, each N pulses of the plurality of pulses (e.g., each CPI associated with each burst of pulses of the plurality of pulses) may correspond to at least one slot (e.g., 2 slots or one slot or 3 slots or the like) of the plurality of slots. In yet another example, a first burst of pulses (e.g., during the CPI) of the plurality of pulses may be transmitted / received (or monitored) during a first number of slots of the plurality of slots. A second burst of pulses (during the CPI) of the plurality of pulses may be transmitted / received (or monitored) during a second number of slots of the plurality of slots.

[0356] In the present disclosure, the plurality of pulses may comprise a plurality of subframes. For example, each pulse of the plurality of pulses may correspond to a subframe of the plurality of subframes. In another example, each N pulses of the plurality of pulses (e.g., each CPI associated with each burst of pulses of the plurality of pulses) may correspond to at least one subframe of the plurality of subframes. In yet another example, a first burst of pulses (e.g., during the CPI) of the plurality of pulses may be transmitted / received (or monitored) during a first number of subframes of the plurality of subframes. A second burst of pulses (during the CPI) of the plurality of pulses may be transmitted / received (or monitored) during a second number of subframes of the plurality of subframes.

[0357] Additionally or alternatively, each pulse of the plurality of pulses may correspond to at least one symbol (e.g. for a configured subcarrier spacing) of the plurality of symbols. For example, the plurality of symbols may comprise at least one slot / subframe.

[0358] For example, during a first sensing measurement period, the one or more sensing measurements / at least one sensing metric may be based on monitoring sensing signals during a second plurality of monitoring occasions of the plurality of monitoring occasions. The second plurality of monitoring occasions may correspond to the second number of slots / subframes. The first node and / or the second TRP / UE / BS may use measured sensing signals during a first plurality of monitoring occasions of the plurality of monitoring occasions (e.g., during the first sensing measurement period) to (re-)configure fil ters / recei ver subsystems or the like. The first node and / or the second TRP / UE / BS may exclude the monitored the sensing signals during the first plurality of monitoring occasions for determining the one or more sensing measurements / at least one sensing metric.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0359] FIG. 21C further shows an example of a first sensing measurement period. In some implementations, the one or more sensing configuration parameters may configure / indicate the first sensing measurement period (e.g., a length of the first sensing measurement period). In other implementations, the first node and / or the second node may determine (a length or duration of) the first sensing measurement period, e.g., based on the at least one sensing MG (e.g., the length of the at least one sensing MG) and / or the one or more SS configuration parameters (e.g., the plurality of pulses).

[0360] In the present disclosure, the first sensing measurement period may be a processing window (or alternatively a sensing / processing frame or a sensing / processing duration or sensing / processing gap or a sensing processing period or a sensing measurement period or a sensing measurement gap or the like). The one or more sensing measurements may comprise sensing measurements performed / conducted / obtained / measured (e.g., by the first node and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) during / in the first sensing measurement period may comprise, e.g., during each monitoring occasion in the first sensing measurement period.

[0361] In the present disclosure, the first sensing measurement period may comprise the plurality of pulses. For example, the length of the first sensing measurement period may be at least (e.g., equal to or larger than) M*N*T_p ms or M*N*Tjp*N1 ms. The one or more sensing configuration parameters may indicate N1 (e.g., 2, 3 or the like).

[0362] For example, the first node and / or the second node may measure the plurality of pulses during occurrences of the at least one sensing measurement gap (as also shown in FIG. 21 A, FIG. 21 B, and FIG. 21C). In the example of FIG. 21A, the first node and / or the second node may exclude (or avoid) measuring / receiving / monitoring / sampling a pulse of the plurality of pulses (e.g., the plurality of sensing occasions) based on the pulse not occurring (or being) during / within an occurrence of the at least one sensing measurement gap. The first node and / or the second node may exclude (or avoid) measuring / receiving / monitoring / sampling a burst of pulses of the plurality of pulses based on the burst of pulses (e.g., the plurality of sensing occasions) not occurring (or being) during / within an occurrence of the at least one sensing measurement gap. The first node and / or the second node may exclude monitoring sensing signals during at least one SS transmission / reception occasion occurring outside the at least one sensing measurement gap.

[0363] Alternatively, the first node and / or the second node may measure / receive / monitor / sample the second plurality of monitoring occasions of the plurality of monitoring occasions during / within occurrences of the at least one sensing measurement gap. The first node and / or the second node may determine the one or more sensing measurement based on obtained samples during the second plurality of monitoring occasions (e.g , a first plurality of sensing values / samples and / or one or more sensing images). The first node and / or the second node may determine the at least one sensing metric based on obtained samplesDocket No.: 24-1244PCT during the second plurality of monitoring occasions (e.g., the first plurality of sensing values / samples and / or the one or more sensing images).

[0364] For gap-based sensing measurements, using the sensing measurement gap (MG) to monitor the sensing signals may reduce consumed power of the first node and / or the second node for performing the at least one sensing procedure. Examples shown in FIG. 21A, FIG. 21 B, and FIG. 21C may provide examples of the gap-based sensing measurements.

[0365] Similar embodiments to FIG. 21 A, FIG. 21 B, and FIG. 21 C may be possible for gapless sensing measurements. Corresponding to the gap-less sensing measurements, the first node and / or the second node may measure the plurality of pulses during occurrences of the at least one SPW. In the example of FIG 21A, the first node and / or the second node may exclude (or avoid) measuring / receiving / monitoring / sampling a pulse of the plurality of pulses (e.g., the plurality of sensing occasions) based on the pulse not occurring (or being) during / within an occurrence of the at least one SPW. The first node and / or the second node may exclude (or avoid) measuring / receiving / monitoring / sampling a burst of pulses of the plurality of pulses based on the burst of pulses (e.g., the plurality of sensing occasions) not occurring (or being) during / within an occurrence of the at least one SPW. The first node and / or the second node may exclude monitoring sensing signals during at least one SS transmission / reception occasion occurring outside the at least one SPW.

[0366] The first node and / or the second node may measure / receive / monitor / sample the second plurality of monitoring occasions of the plurality of monitoring occasions during / within occurrences of the at least one SPW. The first node and / or the second node may determine the one or more sensing measurement based on obtained samples during the second plurality of monitoring occasions (e.g., the first plurality of sensing values / samples and / or the one or more sensing images). The first node and / or the second node may determine the at least one sensing metric based on obtained samples during the second plurality of monitoring occasions (e.g., the first plurality of sensing values / samples and / or the one or more sensing images).

[0367] FIG. 21 B (and / or FIG. 21 A) shows examples of the sensing window. Monitoring sensing signals may comprise sampling the sensing signals during occurrences of the sensing window within during occurrences of at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW). Each sensing window may comprise (or be associated with) a burst of pulses (e.g., at least one monitoring occasion of the plurality of monitoring occasions). Each sensing window may comprise (or be associated with) a pulse of the plurality of pulses (e.g., a monitoring occasion of the plurality of monitoring occasions).

[0368] As shown in FIG. 21 C, the first sensing measurement period may comprise at least one occurrence of the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW). Monitoring sensing signals mayDocket No.: 24-1244PCT comprise sampling the sensing signals during occurrences of at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW) during the first sensing measurement period.

[0369] Corresponding to the bistatic sensing system / configuration (and as shown in FIG. 19C and / or FIG. 20A and / or FIG. 20B), e.g., for performing the bistatic sensing procedure, the second TRP / BS / UE may transmit the sensing signals (e.g., using the first SS resource of the plurality of pulses) configured by the one or more sensing configuration parameters. The first node (e.g., the first TRP / BS / UE) may monitor the sensing signals, e.g., measure echoes / reflections of the transmitted sensing signals (and / or the sensing signals), to determine the at least one sensing metric / the one or more sensing measurements. The first node (e.g., the first TRP / BS / UE) may measure echoes during / in occurrences of the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW)). The first node (e.g., the first TRP / BS / UE) may measure echoes during / in occurrences of the at least one SPW). The first node (e.g., the first TRP / BS / UE) may determine the one or more sensing measurements based on the echoes / reflections of the transmitted sensing signals (e.g., based on the at least one sensing metric). Alternatively, the first (and / or the second) TRP and / or the first (and / or the second) UE may determine the at least one sensing metric based on the one or more sensing measurements. The one or more sensing reports may comprise the at least one sensing metric and / or the one or more sensing measurements. As shown in FIG. 19C and / or FIG. 20A and / or FIG. 20B, the first node may transmit to the second node the second sensing message (of the one or more sensing messages) comprising the one or more sensing reports.

[0370] Corresponding to the monostatic sensing system / configuration (e.g., for performing the monostatic sensing procedure), the second TRP / BS / UE and / or the first TRP / BS / UE may transmit the sensing signals (e.g., using the first SS resource of the plurality of pulses) configured by the one or more sensing configuration parameters. The second TRP / BS / UE and / or the first TRP / BS / UE may monitor the sensing signals occurring during an occurrence of the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW). The second TRP / BS / UE and / or the first TRP / BS / UE may (by monitoring the sensing signals) measure echoes / reflections of the transmitted sensing signals to determine the at least one sensing metric. The second TRP / BS / UE and / or the first TRP / BS / UE determine the one or more sensing measurements based on the echoes / reflections of the transmitted sensing signals (e.g., the at least one sensing metric). The second TRP / BS / UE and / or the first TRP / BS / UE may determine the at least one sensing metric based on the one or more sensing measurements. The one or more sensing reports may comprise the at least one sensing metric and / or the one or more sensing measurements. The second TRP / BS / UE and / or the first TRP / BS / UE may transmit to the second node (e.g., the sensing server) the second sensing message (of the one or more sensing messages) comprising the one or more sensing reports.

[0371] FIG. 20A and FIG. 20B may further show examples of sensing measurements. The one or more sensing measurements may comprise / indicate a first sensing measurement of the one or more sensingDocket No.: 24-1244PCT measurements (shown in FIG. 20A). The first sensing measurement may comprise the at least one sensing metric. As shown in FIG. 20A, the first node may determine the first sensing measurement (and / or the at least one sensing metric) based on monitoring the sensing signals, e.g., during occurrences of the at least one sensing measurement gap and / or during occurrences of the at least one SPW. The first sensing measurement may be periodic / semi-persistent / aperiodic.

[0372] In the example of FIG. 20B, the one or more sensing measurements may comprise a second sensing measurement of the one or more sensing measurements. As shown in FIG. 20B, the first node may determine the first sensing measurement (and / or the at least one sensing metric) based on monitoring the sensing signals, e.g., during occurrences of the at least one sensing measurement gap and / or during occurrences of the at least one SPW. The second sensing measurement may be periodic / semi- persistent / aperiodic.

[0373] According to example of FIG. 20A, the one or more sensing configuration parameters may comprise / indicate the first sensing measurement (e.g., of the one or more sensing measurements of the plurality of sensing measurements). A first sensing procedure of the at least one sensing procedure may comprise monitoring the sensing signals for determining the first sensing measurement. FIG. 21A and / or FIG. 21 B and / or FIG. 21 C shows examples of monitoring the sensing signals for determining the first sensing measurement. The first node may transmit to the second node the second sensing message (e.g., periodically, semi-persistently, or periodically) comprising the first sensing measurement.

[0374] To configure / indicate the first sensing measurement, the one or more sensing measurement configuration parameters may indicate / configure at least one of the following: a first number of sensing samples / values (e.g., cardinality of the first plurality of sensing values / samples, e.g., V) for determining the first sensing measurement; and / or whether each sensing value of the first plurality of sensing values is based on an ADC sample (of the sensing signals) or the at least one sensing metric of the ADC sample; and / or a first sampling rate for (oversampling, e.g., higher than a Nyquist rate of the sensing signals) sampling the sensing signals; and / or the first sensing measurement period for sampling the sensing signals; a second sampling rate for down sampling the ADC samples; a number of quantization bits (or levels) for quantizing the samples (e.g., a number of quantization digits); and / or at least one time indication for sampling (e.g., a sensing window).

[0375] As shown in FIG. 20A, sampling the sensing signals (according to embodiments of FIG. 21 B and / or FIG. 21 A and / or FIG. 21 C) may comprise determining ADC samples (e.g., for determining / obtaining the first plurality of samples / values). Each ADC sample of the ADC samples may be a voltage value / output of the ADC sample or a power value / output of the ADC sample.

[0376] In another example, the at least one sensing metric may be an l / Q value of each ADC sample. For example, each sample i=0, 1, of the first plurality of sensing samples may comprise l / Q componentsDocket No.: 24-1244PCT of the sample (e.g., an in-phase xj and a quadratic yj). The first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) may quantize xj and y_i for each sensing sample / based on the number of quantization bits.

[0377] In yet another example, associated with each sample / , the at least one sensing metric may be (or may produce) an absolute value of the l / Q sample, a root-squared value of the l / Q sample, an energy of the l / Q sample, a logarithm of the absolute value of the l / Q sample, or a matched filter output of the ADC sample, or a convolution operation / fu notion of the ADC sample or a correlation (e.g., auto correlation) operation / function of the ADC sample (e.g., with a delayed ADC sample), or the like.

[0378] For each the ADC sample (xj, yj) i—0, 1, V and for determining the correlation operation, a corresponding delayed ADC samples (x j, y J) where j=i+d may be determined wherein d may be delay value. The one or more sensing configuration parameters may configure the delay value. In some examples, the delay value may be preconfigured / predefined, e.g., d=3 or d=5 or the like.

[0379] Based on the one or more sensing configuration parameters indicating the ADC samples for the first sensing measurement, the first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) may determine the first plurality of sensing values based on the ADC samples of sensing signals according to embodiments of FIG. 21 B and / or FIG. 21A and / or FIG. 21 C.

[0380] Based on the one or more sensing configuration parameters indicating the at least one sensing metric for the first sensing measurement, the first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) may determine the first plurality of sensing values based on the ADC samples of sensing signals (according to embodiments of FIG 21 B and / or FIG. 21 A and / or FIG. 21 C) and the at least one sensing metric.

[0381] The at least one sensing metric may comprise a denoised version / output of the ADC samples. Using the at least one sensing metric for the first sensing measurement may reduce a size of the first sensing measurement (e.g., by half) compared to when the first sensing measurement comprises l / Q samples and / or ADC samples. However, the l / Q samples and / or the ADC samples may be more beneficial for phase analysis, e.g., doppler analysis and / or tracking, at the second node.

[0382] Optionally and / or additionally, as shown in FIG. 20A, the first node may transmit a first sensing report (comprising the first sensing measurement of the first plurality of the sensing samples / values) of the plurality of sensing reports to the second node.

[0383] Optionally and / or additionally, as shown in FIG. 20A, the first node and / or the second node may perform the at least one sensing procedure based on the first plurality of sensing values / samples. The at least one sensing procedure may comprise executing / performing one or more radar / sensing processing algorithms (or technique / method / scheme). For example, the second node may execute / perform the one or more radar / sensing processing algorithms based on the first sensing report (e.g., periodically, semi- persistently, or periodically) received from the first node.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0384] The second node may enhance the one or more radar / sensing processing algorithms that are executed at the second node by configuring the first sensing measurement. For example, the second node (e.g., fusion center) may use the first sensing measurement(s) received from the first node (and the one or more first / second TRPs / UEs / BSs) for collaborative (or multi-static) sensing purposes, a homogenous sensing measurements (configured by the one or more sensing measurement configuration parameters, e.g., format / quality of samples, number of samples during the sensing window and / or during the first sensing measurement period, or the like) across the first node and / or one or more first / second TRPs / UEs / BSs may enhance the sensing performance metric.

[0385] Based on the one or more sensing configuration parameters indicating the first sensing measurement, the first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) monitor the sensing signals (according to embodiments of FIG. 21 B and / or FIG. 21 A and / or FIG. 21 C) for determining the first plurality of sensing values / samples. The first plurality of sensing values may comprise the first number of sensing values (e.g., V), e.g., the cardinality / size of the first plurality of sensing values may be V. The first plurality of sensing values / samples may comprise discrete sequence of ADC samples / values of the monitored sensing signals.

[0386] For example, based on the one or more sensing configuration parameters indicating the first sensing measurement, the first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) may determine the first plurality of sensing values comprising the ADC samples (or based on the ADC samples, e.g., the first sensing metric of the ADC samples) of the monitored sensing signals. The first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) may (by monitoring the sensing signals) sample the sensing signals by the first sampling rate (according to embodiments of FIG. 21 B and / or FIG. 21 A and / or FIG. 21 C).

[0387] Sampling the sensing signals may comprise sampling direct paths and / or echoes of the sensing signals, e.g., during each sensing window occurring during the occurrences of the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW) during the first sensing measurement period (as shown in FIG. 21 B and / or FIG 21A and / or FIG. 21 C).

[0388] Each sensing value of the first plurality of sensing values may be quantized (by the first node) based on the number of quantization bits indicated by the one or more sensing measurement configuration parameters.

[0389] For example, a length of the sensing window may be based on a transmission / reception duration (e.g., the pulse width) of each pulse of the plurality of pulses (e.g., w). The sensing window may start by a start of each pulse of the plurality of pulses. The sampling of sensing signals may be during each sensing window occurring during occurrences of the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW) during the first sensing measurement period.

[0390] In another example, the length of the sensing window may be based on a transmission / reception duration (e.g., the pulse width) of each burst of pulses of the plurality of pulses (e.g., w). The sensingDocket No.: 24-1244PCT window may start by a start of each burst of pulses of the plurality of pulses. The sampling of sensing signals may be during each sensing window occurring during occurrences of the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW) during the first sensing measurement period.

[0391] In one example, the at least one time indication may comprise a start time for sampling (or the start time for using the samples of) the sensing signals (e.g., during the first sensing measurement period). The start time may indicate a starting time for sampling (or using the samples for the first sensing measurement) associated with each pulse of the plurality of pulses. The start time may indicate a starting time with respect to a first / initial pulse of the plurality of pulses during / in the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW) during the first sensing measurement period. For a second pulse of the plurality of pulses in the first sensing measurement period, the first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) may determine the starting time for sampling (or star using the samples of the sensing signals) based on the indicated start time and the PRI of the burst of pulses. For example, the starting time for sampling (or for using the samples of the sensing signals) may be a summation of the start time and the PRI*n, where n=0, 1 , .... M*N1 indicates a pulse number (or order) of each pulse (of the plurality of pulses) in the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW) during the first sensing measurement period.

[0392] The start time may be an absolute value. The start time may be associated with the reference point. For example, the start time may be with response to the reference point of each burst of the plurality of pulses in the first sensing measurement period. The reference point may be a start time of a sensing MG of the at least one sensing MG. The reference point may be a start time of a SPW of the at least one SPW.

[0393] For example, the start time may be associated with a first / initial / starting / earliest sensing MG of the at least one sensing MG. In another example, the start time may be associated with a first / initial / starting / earliest SPW of the at least one SPW.

[0394] The start time may be associated with a start of the first sensing measurement period. Alternatively, the start time may indicate a start of the first sensing measurement period

[0395] Alternatively, the start time may indicate a starting time for using the samples of the sensing signals for determining the at least one sensing metric and / or the first sensing measurement. For example, the first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) may determine the first sensing measurement based on samples that are received / taken after the start time and during the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW) during the first sensing measurement period. For example, an initial sample i=0 of the first number of sensing samples / values may be after (or at) the start time.

[0396] In another example, the at least one time indication may comprise an end time (or stop time) for sampling the sensing signals (e.g., during the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW) during the first sensing measurement period). The starting time for sampling or using the samples (associated with each pulse of the plurality of pulses during the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at leastDocket No.: 24-1244PCT one SPW) during the first sensing measurement period) may be determined based on the reference point and / or a start of the first sensing measurement period. The first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) may determine an ending time for sampling or using the samples (of the sensing signals and associated with each pulse of the plurality of pulses during the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW) during the first sensing measurement period) based on the end time. For example, for a second pulse of the plurality of pulses during the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW) during the first sensing measurement period, the first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) may determine the associated ending time for ending sampling (or ending using the samples of the sensing signals) based on the end time indicated by the at least one time indication and the PRI of the burst of pulses. For example, the ending time for ending (or stopping) sampling (or for stopping / ending using the samples of the sensing signals) may be a summation of the end time and the PRI*n, where n=0, 1, M*N (or n=0, 1,indicates a pulse number (or order) of each pulse (of the plurality of pulses) during the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW) during the first sensing measurement period.

[0397] The end time may be an absolute value. The end time may be associated with the reference point (of the burst of pulses). The end time may be associated with (or be) an end of the first sensing measurement period. In another example, the end time may be associated with (or be) an end of a sensing MG of the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW).

[0398] Alternatively, the end time may indicate an end of the first sensing measurement period. For example, the end time may indicate an ending time for using the samples of the sensing signals for the first sensing measurement. For example, the first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) may determine the first sensing measurement based on samples that are received / taken prior to (or no later than) the end time indicated by the at least one time indication. For example, a final / ending sample (i=V-1) of the first number of sensing samples / values may be before (or no later than) the end time.

[0399] In another example, the at least one time indication may comprise the sensing window (e.g., the length of the sensing window and / or a start of the sensing window and / or an end of the sensing window). The sensing window may be associated with each pulse of the plurality of pulses during the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW) during the first sensing measurement period. The sensing window may start from the start time (e.g., the start of the sensing window). The sensing window may end (stop) at the end time (e.g., the end of the sensing window). During each sensing window, the first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) may sample the sensing signals. Each sensing window may be associated with each pulse during the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW) during the first sensing measurement period. Periodicity of the sensing window may be based on the PRI of the pulse.

[0400] By configuring the at least time indication, the first node (and / or the second node) may be able to determine when to start sampling the sensing signals (and / or when to start using the sampled sensingDocket No.: 24-1244PCT signals). This allows to properly sample sensing signals for the one or more radar / sensing processing algorithms, e.g., to reduce negative effect(s) ofjitter(s) (e.g., in pulse transmissions and / or ADC sampling) and / or asynchronous clocks between the transmitter / receiver.

[0401] Based on the received first sensing measurement via the second message, the second node may (to perform the at least one sensing procedure) process (using / according to the one or more radar / sensing processing techniques / schemes / methods) the first plurality of sensing values / samples. The one or more radar / sensing processing techniques / schemes / methods may comprise determining range-doppler image and / or cell-averaging constant false alarm rate (CA-CFAR), and / or Moving target indicator / detector (MTI / MTD), FFT, target tracking (e.g., tracking speed of targets and / or direction of targets and / or orientation of targets) or the like. In some cases, the second node may combine the first plurality of sensing values / samples received from the first node and sensing measurements received from other sensing receivers.

[0402] A summation (or an integration) (and / or other processing) of the first number of sensing samples (by the second node) during occurrences of the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW) during the first sensing measurement period may improve signal to noise ratio (SNR) for a (required) false alarm ratio / probability (and / or miss detection ratio / probability). As in the bistatic sensing, the reflections (of the sensing signals) from targets / clutter may have substantially much lower intensity / power (e.g., 60 dB less power) compared to the direct paths of the sensing signals and / or clutter echoes, a length of the first sensing measurement period may need to be long enough to obtain a required SNR for a minimum required false alarm rate / probability (e.g., less than 5%) and / or a minimum required detection probability / rate (e.g., more than 90%).

[0403] On the other hand, increasing the length of the first sensing measurement period (e.g., and / or increasing V for the nomi nal / defau It sampling rate) may result in less frequent transmission of the first sensing measurement (but with larger payload size). This may increase a delay in processing the first sensing measurement at the second node.

[0404] As an advantage, the first sensing measurement may enhance flexibility of the second node for processing the received first sensing measurements (from the first node and / or the third nodes), e.g., for low false-alarm detections, and / or accurate tracking of targets. The second node may process (e.g., via the one or more radar / sensing processing algorithms) the received first sensing measurements (from the first node and / or the one or more first / second TRPs / UEs / BSs) for sensing tasks / procedures.

[0405] As shown in FIG. 20B, the one or more sensing configuration parameters may comprise / indicate the second sensing measurement (of the plurality of sensing measurements). The second sensing procedure may comprise monitoring the sensing signals (as shown in FIG. 21 B and / or FIG. 21 A and / or FIG. 21 C) for determining the second sensing measurement. Optionally and / or additionally, as shown inDocket No.: 24-1244PCTFIG 20B, the first node may transmit to the second node the second sensing message (e g., periodically, semi-persistently, or periodically) comprising the second sensing measurement. Performing the at least one sensing procedure (at the first node and / or the second node) may be based on the second sensing measurement.

[0406] In some examples, performing the second sensing procedure may comprise performing (some aspects / features of) the first sensing procedure. For example, performing the second sensing procedure may comprise determining the first plurality of sensing values / samples. Performing the second sensing procedure further comprise post-processing the first plurality of sensing values / samples according to / using at least one radar / sensing processing algorithm of the one or more radar / sensing processing algorithms. For example, performing the second sensing procedure may comprise determining one or more sensing images by monitoring the sensing signals (e.g., using the first plurality of sensing values).

[0407] FIG. 21 D shows an example of sensing images per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0408] Performing the second sensing procedure may comprise at least one of the following: determining the one or more sensing images; and / or transmitting the second sensing message comprising the second sensing measurement; and / or executing / performing (e.g., at the first node and / or the second node) the at least one radar / sensing processing algorithm based on the one or more sensing images. The second sensing measurement may comprise the one or more sensing images.

[0409] In another example, the second sensing measurement may comprise at least one sensing image of the one or more sensing images. Performing the second sensing procedure may further comprise determining the at least one sensing image based on the one or more sensing images. Performing the second sensing procedure may further comprise executing / performing (e.g., at the first node and / or the second node) the at least one radar / sensing processing algorithm based on the at least one sensing image.

[0410] The one or more sensing measurement configuration parameters may configure / indicate the second sensing measurement. For example, to configure / indicate the second sensing measurement, the one or more sensing measurement configuration parameters may indicate / configure at least one of the following: sensing image configuration, e.g., for determining the one or more sensing images S_i(L,P), 1=0, 1, N2-1 (as also shown in FIG. 21 D); and / or the second sensing measurement period for determining the second sensing measurement; and / or the at least one time indication.

[0411] As shown in FIG. 21 D, the at least one time indication may indicate the sensing window wj associated with each sensing image / . As also discussed above, the sensing window may be indicated (or be determined) based on the at least one time indication.

[0412] The first sensing measurement period may correspond to N2 sensing images i=0, 1, N2-1. In some examples, the first node and / or the second node may determine the N2 (e.g., the number of sensingDocket No.: 24-1244PCT images of the one or more sensing images) based on the first sensing measurement period and / or the sensing window (and / or the burst of pulses associated with the sensing window and / or the pulse associated with the sensing window).

[0413] In another example, the one or more sensing measurement configuration parameters may configure / indicate N2. The first node and / or the second node may determine the first sensing measurement period based on the indicated N2 and / or the sensing window (and / or the burst of pulses associated with the sensing window and / or the pulse associated with the sensing window).

[0414] The second node may configure the first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) to transmit (via the second sensing measurement) all the one or more sensing images. This may enhance accuracy of sensing at the second node, while may increase payload size of the second sensing measurement.

[0415] In another example, the first node may transmit at least one sensing image SS J(L,P),j=0, 1, ..., N3 to the second node. The first node and / or the second node may determine each SS J(LP) of the at least one sensing image by (post-)processing / combining (e.g., integrating) a third number (e.g., q) of sensing images of the one or more sensing images. For example, SS_0(L,P) may be determined based on (a component-wise maximum, a component-wise minimum, a component-wise average, or the like) S_0(L,P), S_1(L,P),..., S_(q-1)(L,P) where q=ceil(N2 / N3) or q=floor(N2 / N3). SS_1(L,P) may be determined based on (a component-wise maximum, a component-wise minimum, a component-wise average, or the like) S_q (L,P), S_(q+1)(L,P), .,., S_(2q-1)(L,P).

[0416] Each sensing image of the at least one sensing image is determined based on (post- )processing / combining (e.g., integrating) q=ceil(N2 / N3) or q=floor(N2 / N3) sensing images.

[0417] For example, SS_1(L,P) may be determined based on (a component-wise maximum, a component-wise minimum, a component-wise average, or the like) S_1 (L,P), S_2(L,P), ..., S_q(L,P) and SS_2(L,P) may be determined based on (a component-wise maximum, a component-wise minimum, a component-wise average, or the like) S_2 (L,P), S_3(L,P),..., S_(q+1)(L,P).

[0418] For example, determining SS _J(L,P),j=0, 1, ..., N3) (e.g., by component-wise averaging of q=ceil(N2 / N3) or q-floor(N2 / N3) sensing images) may be for a cell-averaging process / algorithm (for constant false alarm rate detection) and / or extracting clutter information.

[0419] For example, determining SS J(L,P),j=0, 1, ..., N3) (e g., by component-wise minimum q=ceil(N2 / N3) or q=floor(N2 / N3) sensing images) may be for a determining doppler shifts of weak targets. This allows the sensing node to determine a number doppler bins / gates around zero doppler bin of each sensing image for identifying weak clutters / targets.

[0420] For example, determining SS J(L,P),j=0, 1, ..., N3) (e.g., by component-wise maximum of q=ceil(N2 / N3) or q=floor(N2 / N3) sensing images) may be for a determining doppler shifts of strong clutters.Docket No.: 24-1244PCTThis allows the sensing node to determine a number doppler bins / gates around zero doppler bin of each sensing image for cancelling / removing strong clutters.

[0421] The sensing image configuration may indicate a first value L (corresponding to a first dimension of a sensing image SJ(L,P), i=0, 1, ..., N2). As shown in FIG. 21D, the first value may indicate a number of range bins / gates (or equivalently a number of delay bins / gates). The first value may indicate a range / delay resolution of each sensing image. The first value may be based on an IFFT resolution / size (e.g., 2048 or 4096), e.g., range IFFT. Index of each range bin / gate of the L number of range bins / gates may be 1=0, 1, 2,

[0422] The first value may be based on a bistatic range (e.g., between the first node and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) and / or a sensing coverage of the first node. The first value may be based on a maximum distance between the first node and a potential target in a sensing scene / geography.

[0423] The first value may be based on the ADC assistance information (e.g., the nominal sampling rate of the ADC). The first dimension of each sensing image SJ(L,P) may correspond to the first plurality of samples (e.g., the ADC samples and / or l / Q samples) of the sampled sensing signals (e.g., according to FIG 20A, and / or FIG. 21 B, and / or FIG. 21 D) during the sensing window wj.

[0424] The first value may be based on the first sampling rate and / or the second sampling rate. A range / delay bin / gate may be a time difference / distance between two consecutive samples of the first plurality of samples. In some cases, each range / delay bin / gate may comprise one or more samples (of the first plurality of samples) during the sensing window, e.g., the range / delay bin / gate may be a time difference / distance between each r 1 consecutive samples of the first plurality of samples.

[0425] The first value may be based on the first number of sensing samples / values during the occurrences of the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW) during the first processing window. For example, the first node may determine the first value by down-sampling the first number of sensing samples. The down-sampling may be based on a ratio of the first sensing measurement period and the sensing window.

[0426] Each sensing window wj may be associated with each pulse (or each burst of pulses) of the plurality of pulses during the second sensing measurement period and / or the at least one sensing MG (and / or the at least one SPW).

[0427] As also shown in FIG. 21 D, the sensing image configuration may indicate a second value P (corresponding to a second dimension of a sensing image SJ(L,P), i=0, 1, N2). The second value may be a doppler FFT. The second value may indicate a number of doppler bins / gates (or equivalently a number of velocity bins / gates). The second value may indicate a doppler / velocity resolution of each sensing image Index of each doppler bin / gate of the P number of doppler bins / gates may be 1=0, 1, 2, ...L- 1.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0428] For example, S_i(l, p) of an i-th sensing image S_i(L,P) may be (I ,p)-th entry / cell (or component) of the i-th sensing image. The (l,p)-th entry / cell of the i-th sensing image may indicate a second sensing metric (of the at least one sensing metric) corresponding to a target echo corresponding to a range / delay with index I (e.g., delay l*T_s or range l*c*R_s) and / or doppler shift (frequency shift) with index p. T_s may be the sampling rate used for sampling the echo signals during each sensing window. R_s may be (time / range) distance / difference between each to samples with sampling rate T_s. The second sensing metric of the (I ,p)-th entry / cell is determined based on samples (in range / delay and doppler) in the corresponding (l.p)-th entry / cell.

[0429] The sensing image configuration may indicate / configure the second sensing metric (or measure or quantity). The second sensing metric may be at least one of the following: average clutter power; average echo power; SNR; CNR; a correlation value; or the like. For example, the (l,p)-th entry / cell of the i-th sensing image with value r[l,p] may indicate the second sensing metric associated with a range resolution of l*R_s*c (in meters) between a potential target at distance R-B from the first node and a doppler resolution p. c may be speed of light / sensing signals (e.g., 3*10A8 m / s). B (e.g., in meters) may be a distance between the first node and the sensing transmitter (e.g , the second node, e.g., the second TRP / UE / BS). R may be a distance between the potential target or clutter (associated with the echoes associated with the cell (l,p)-th and the first node).

[0430] The correlation value with value r[l,p] may be calculated / determined based on a correlation function for a range resolution associated with sample I-th and doppler shift p-th, e.g., the (l,p)-th entry / cell of the i-th sensing image. The correlation function may be a convolution operation and / or a matched filter operation.

[0431] A sensing image of the one or more sensing image may be at least one of the following: a clutter image; and / or a range-doppler image (or doppler-range image); and / or a delay-doppler image (or doppler- delay image); and / or a range-velocity image (or velocity-range image); and / or a delay-velocity image (or velocity-delay image); and / or a fast-time-slow-time image; and / or an FFT.

[0432] Additionally and / or optionally, the sensing image configuration may indicate / configure a reference signal for determining one or more cross-correlation functions (e.g., delay-doppler cross-correlation functions / metrics). Each cross-correlation function (of the one or more cross-correlation functions) may be associated with each sensing window wj and / or a sensing image S_i(L,P). Each cross-correlation function may be an implementation of a matched filter. The first node / second node may determine an i-th crosscorrelation function by correlating L1 samples of the reference signal and the first number of samples determined by sampling the echoes of the monitored sensing signals during the sensing window wj. The first node / second node may further determine S_i(L,P) based on the determined i-th cross-correlation function.

[0433] For example, L1 may be equal to L.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0434] In another example, L1 may be L+L3. The sensing image configuration may configure / indicate L3. L3 may be extra samples of the reference signal.

[0435] In another example, L1 may be L-L3.

[0436] The reference signal may be a sensing signal of the sensing signals. When the sensing image configuration does not indicate the sensing signal, the first node may use a default sensing signal (e.g., SSB or CSI-RS or DM-RS or DL PRS) as the sensing signal. The one or more SS configuration parameters may configure / indicate the default sensing signal.

[0437] In the present disclosure, transmitting the one or more sensing reports may comprise transmit the one or more sensing reports via a single (e.g., a-periodically) transmission of the second sensing message and / or multiple (e.g., periodically and / or semi-persistently) transmissions of the second sensing message.

[0438] For example, the one or more sensing report configuration parameters may indicate whether a sensing report of the plurality of sensing reports is periodic or semi-persistent or aperiodic.

[0439] For example, the one or more sensing report configuration parameters may indicate a first sensing report of the plurality of sensing reports is periodic. The one or more sensing report configuration parameters may further indicate first periodicity / repetition of the first sensing report. For example, the one or more sensing report configuration parameters may indicate a first resource / UL grant (e.g., PUCCH resource or PUSCH resource) for transmission of the first sensing report. The first node may, in response to receiving the first sensing message indicating / configuring the first sensing message, transmit the first sensing report with the indicated first periodicity and via the indicated first resource / UL grant. The first periodicity / repetition may be the periodicity / repetition of the first resource / UL grant. For example, the plurality of linkages (e.g., the first linkage and / or the second linkage and / or the third linkage) may indicate association(s) between the first sensing report and at least one of: a first sensing signal of the sensing signals and / or a first sensing metric of the at least one sensing metric and / or a first sensing measurement. By monitoring the first sensing signal, the first node may determine (content) of the first sensing report, e g., the first sensing report may comprise the first sensing metric and / or the first sensing measurement.

[0440] For example, the one or more sensing report configuration parameters may indicate a second sensing report of the plurality of sensing reports is semi-persistent. The one or more sensing report configuration parameters may further indicate a second periodicity / repetition of the second sensing report. For example, the one or more sensing report configuration parameters may indicate a second resource / UL grant (e.g., PUCCH resource or PUSCH resource) for transmission of the second sensing report. The first node may, in response to receiving an activation command (e.g., a first DCI / MAC CE) indicating an activation of (or activating) the second sensing message, transmit the second sensing report with the indicated second periodicity and via the indicated second resource / UL grant. The second periodicity / repetition may be the periodicity / repetition of the second resource / UL grant. The first node may,Docket No.: 24-1244PCT until receiving a deactivation command (e.g., a second DCI / MAC CE) indicating a deactivation of (e.g., or deactivating) the second sensing message, transmit the second sensing report with the indicated second periodicity and via the indicated second resource / UL grant. The first node may receive the activation command and / or the deactivation command from the second TRP / UE / BS and / or the second node. The activation / deactivation command may indicate the second sensing report (of the plurality of sensing reports). For example, the plurality of linkages (e.g., the first linkage and / or the second linkage and / or the third linkage) may indicate association(s) between the second sensing report and at least one of: a second sensing signal of the sensing signals and / or a second sensing metric of the at least one sensing metric and / or a second sensing measurement. By monitoring the second sensing signal, the first node may determine (content) of the second sensing report, e.g., the second sensing report may comprise the second sensing metric and / or the second sensing measurement.

[0441] For example, the one or more sensing report configuration parameters may indicate a third sensing report (of the plurality of sensing report s) is aperiodic. The first node may, in response to receiving a DL message (e.g., a request, e.g., a DCI, MAC CE, a sensing message, an RRC message, an LPP message) indicating / requesting a transmission of the second sensing message (comprising the third sensing report), transmit the second sensing message comprising the third sensing report. For example, the plurality of linkages (e.g., the first linkage and / or the second linkage and / or the third linkage) may indicate association(s) between the third sensing report and at least one of: a third sensing signal of the sensing signals and / or a third sensing metric of the at least one sensing metric and / or a third sensing measurement. By monitoring the third sensing signal, the first node may determine (content) of the third sensing report, e.g., the third sensing report may comprise the third sensing metric and / or the third sensing measurement.

[0442] FIG. 22A and FIG. 22B show examples of sensing procedures in wireless communication as per aspects of embodiments of present disclosure. Optionally and / or additionally, performing the at least one sensing procedure discussed in relation with FIG 19C, FIG. 20A, FIG. 20B above may comprise one or more aspects / features of embodiments of FIG. 22A. Alternatively and / or optionally, some aspects / features of the embodiments of FIG. 22A may be combined with embodiments of FIG. 19C, FIG. 20A, FIG. 20B and / or FIG. 21 A, FIG. 21 B, FIG. 21 C, and / or FIG. 21 D.

[0443] As shown in FIG. 20A, the second node may transmit the first sensing message to the first node. The first sensing message may comprise the one or more sensing configuration parameters (e.g., the one or more SS configuration parameters and / or the one or more sensing report configuration parameters and / or the one or more sensing measurement configuration parameters).

[0444] As shown in FIG. 20A, the first node and / or (and / or the second TRP / BS / UE) may initiate / start the at least one sensing procedure based on the first sensing message. For example, the first node and / or theDocket No.: 24-1244PCT second node (e.g., the second TRP / BS / UE) may initiate / start the at least one sensing procedure based on receiving the first sensing message from the second node.

[0445] In some implementations, the first sensing message may comprise a first command (or order or trigger) for initiating / starting / activating the at least one sensing procedure. Based on the first sensing message comprising the first command for initiating / starting / activating the at least one sensing procedure, the first node and / or the second node (e.g., the second TRP / BS / UE) may initiate / start / activate the at least one sensing procedure.

[0446] The first node and / or the second node may perform the at least one sensing procedure (as also discussed in embodiment of FIG. 19C, FIG. 20A, FIG. 20B above) in response to the receiving the first sensing message (e.g., comprising / indicating the first command). When the at least one sensing procedure is ongoing / initiated (or until the at least one sensing procedure is not cancelled / terminated / aborted / deactivated), the first node and / or the second node may perform the at least one sensing procedure (e.g., as discussed in embodiment of FIG. 19C, FIG. 20A, FIG. 20B above).

[0447] The first node and / or the second node may perform monitor the sensing signals (e.g., as discussed in embodiment of FIG. 21 A, FIG. 21 B, FIG 21 C above) in response to the receiving the first sensing message (e.g., comprising / indicating the first command). When the at least one sensing procedure is ongoing / initiated (or until the at least one sensing procedure is not cancelled / termi nated / aborted / deactivated), the first node and / or the second node may monitor the sensing signals (e.g., as discussed in embodiment of FIG. 21A, FIG. 21 B, FIG. 21 C above), e.g., to determine the one or more sensing measurements and / or the at least one sensing metric.

[0448] The first node and / or the second node may determine a sensing procedure of the at least one sensing procedure being ongoing until receiving a third sensing message of the one or more sensing messages (from the second node) indicating aborting the sensing procedure. In response to receiving the third sensing message indicating aborting the sensing procedure, the first node and / or the second node may abort the second sensing procedure (e.g., determine the second sensing procedure not being ongoing or being terminated). The sensing procedure may be the first sensing procedure (see also FIG. 20A) or the second sensing procedure (see also FIG. 20B).

[0449] For example, until the at least one sensing procedure is not cancelled / terminated / aborted / deactivated, the first node may transmit the one or more sensing measurements via the one or more sensing reports (e.g., periodically, semi-persistent, and / or periodically) to the second node.

[0450] In response to the at least one sensing procedure being cancelled / terminated / aborted / deactivated, the first node may not transmit the one or more sensing measurements (e.g., via the one or more sensing reports) to the second node.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0451] As shown in FIG. 22A, the first node and / or the second node may start at least one sensing session / window / timer / duration. A sensing session (or window / timer / duration) may correspond to the at least one sensing procedure. For example, while the sensing session / window / timer / duration is running (is not stopped / expired), the first node may determine the at least one sensing procedure is ongoing.

[0452] The first node and / or (and / or the second TRP / BS / UE) may start the at least one sensing session / window / timer / duration based on the one or more sensing messages. For example, the first node and / or the second node (e.g., the second TRP / BS / UE) may start the at least one sensing session / window / timer / duration based on receiving the one or more sensing messages from the second node. In some implementations, based on the first sensing message comprising the first command for initiating / starting / activating the at least one sensing procedure, the first node and / or the second node (e.g., the second TRP / BS / UE) may start the at least one sensing session / window / timer / duration.

[0453] In response to receiving the third sensing message indicating aborting the sensing procedure, the first node may stop a sensing session / window / timer / duration associated with the second sensing procedure. The third sensing message may indicate an error indication corresponding to the at least one sensing procedure.

[0454] Although FIG. 22A shows an example that the third sensing message is transmitted by the second node and receives by the first node, embodiments of FIG. 22A are equally applicable for a case that the first node aborts (or cancels / deactivates / stops) performing the sensing procedure (as some embodiments of the present disclosure shows in the following) and transmits the third sensing message to the second node (indicating the second sensing procedure is cancelled / aborted / stopped / deactivated by the first node).

[0455] In embodiments of present disclosure, sensing tasks may comprise at least one of detection tasks and / or tracking tasks.

[0456] Optionally and / or additionally, embodiments of FIG. 19C and / or FIG. 22A and / or FIG. 22B may be for performing the detection tasks (e.g , sensing tasks). For example, the at least one sensing procedure may comprise the one or more second sensing procedures for performing the detection tasks. The one or more second sensing procedure may be associated with a second sensing session of the at least one sensing session. The one or more second sensing procedures may be for performing the sensing tasks (e.g , detection tasks). For example, the one or more second sensing procedures may comprise detecting one or more second targets, e.g., determining absence or presence of one or more second targets. Detecting a target (of the one or more second targets) may comprise detecting a corresponding (target) echo among echoes of the monitored sensing signals (e.g., according to embodiments of FIG. 21 A, FIG. 21 B, or FIG. 21 C). Detecting the target of the one or more second targets may further comprise discrimination / identification of the target against clutter and / or interferers (one or more third UEs / TRPs / BSs transmissions of signals / channels and / or direct paths).Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0457] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, each target of the one or more second targets may have an associated target ID / index / number. In the present disclosure, the first node and / or the second node may identify a target by the associated target ID.

[0458] The one or more second sensing procedures may interchangeably be used for the detection tasks. In one example, each sensing procedure of the one or more first sensing procedures may comprise (or use for performing) a sensing task of the sensing tasks. In another example, each sensing procedure of the one or more second sensing procedures may comprise (or use for performing) one or more sensing tasks of the sensing tasks.

[0459] In the present disclosure, the detection tasks may comprise at least one of the following: a first detection task for determining absence / presence of targets (e.g., target detection); and / or a second detection task for identifying (detected) targets (e.g., target identification); and / or a third detection task for extracting assistance information of (detected) targets (e.g., feature extraction). Identifying (or detecting) targets may comprise determining an identity (or index or number or an indicator or an ID) of each target of the targets.

[0460] Performing the one or more second sensing procedures may comprise performing at least one of the first detection task; and / or the second detection task; and / or the third detection task.

[0461] For example, the first sensing message may indicate at least one detection task. The at least one detection task may comprise at least one of the following: the first detection task; and / or the second detection task; and / or the third detection task. Based on the first sensing message indicating the at least one detection task, performing the one or more second sensing procedures may comprise performing the at least one detection task.

[0462] Identifying targes (e.g., the one or more second targets) may comprise determining at least one of the following: whether a detected target (e.g., of the one or more second targets) is human or nonhuman; and / or whether a detected human is an authorized human / person or an unauthorized human / person (e.g., an intruder); whether a detected target is vehicle or cyclist / motorcyclist; and / or whether the detected target is a drone (or is a bird or a bat); whether a detected target is an adult or not; and / or whether the detected target is an elderly person or not; and / or whether the detected target is in a hazardous condition (e.g., fallen or slipping or trembling; or laying down and motionless (e.g., not breathing) or coughing severely (e.g., due to smoke or asthma); or moves in an abnormal way / fashion, e.g., crawling (or chest) or struggling to walk / standup; and / or the like.

[0463] For example, the one or more sensing configuration parameters may indicate a plurality of identification indications (e.g., a dictionary of identification indexes / values). The plurality of identification indications may comprise a list of (identifiable) types of targets / objects, e.g , human; non-human; animal; bird; drone (UAV); walking robot; industrial robot; vehicle; cyclist / motorcyclist; trucks; tree; or the like. TheDocket No.: 24-1244PCT plurality of identification indications may comprise a list of (identifiable) hazardous conditions, e.g., fallen or slipping or trembling; or laying down and motionless (e.g., not breathing) or coughing severely (e.g., due to smoke or asthma). The plurality of identification indications may comprise a list of (identifiable) unusual gestures, e.g., laying down and motionless (e.g., not breathing) or coughing severely (e.g., due to smoke or asthma); or moving in an abnormal way / fashion, e.g., crawling (or chest) or struggling to walk / standup.

[0464] The first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) by monitoring the sensing signals may determine at least one identification indication of the plurality of identification indications. For example, the at least one identification indication comprises: drone. In another example, the at least one identification indication comprises: bird. The examples provided for the plurality of identification indications are not meant to be exhaustive and embodiments of the present disclosure may not be limited to these examples; other examples may be possible.

[0465] The first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) by monitoring the sensing signals may determine at least one identification indication of the plurality of identification indications. For example, the at least one identification indication comprises: drone. In another example, the at least one identification indication comprises: bird. The examples provided for the plurality of identification indications are not meant to be exhaustive and embodiments of the present disclosure may not be limited to these examples; other examples may be possible.

[0466] Corresponding to / associated with the second detection task, the at least one sensing metric may comprise the identity of the detected target; and / or the type (e.g , identification indications) of the target.

[0467] Determining assistance information of (detected) targets (e.g., the one or more second targets) may comprise determining at least one of the following: (an estimate) of size of a detected target; and / or determining (an estimate) of a shape of a detected target; and / or determining (an estimate) a radio cross section (RCS) of a detected target or the like. Determining size of a target may comprise determine the target is large or small or tiny or the like, e.g., determining whether the size (e.g., length / area / volume) of the target larger / smaller than a first value, e.g., 10 m, or 10 square meter, 10 cubic meter). Determining shape of a target may comprise determine whether the target is circular (ball-shaped) or cylindrical or triangular / pyramid-shaped; and / or whether the target is a drone-shaped target or a vehicular-shaped target or trailer-shaped target or a bird-shaped target or a bicycle-shaped target or a bus-shaped target or the like.

[0468] For example, the one or more sensing configuration parameters may indicate a plurality of target sizes and / or a plurality of target shapes. The plurality of target sizes may comprise a list of (identifiable) sizes of targets / objects. In one example the plurality of target sizes may comprise: “very large”, “large”, “medium”, “small”, “tiny". Determining a size of a detected target may comprise determining which of the indicated plurality of target sizes more accurately / closely (e.g., with higher probability / likelihood) explains / fits an actual size of the target. The assistance information of a detected target may comprise atDocket No.: 24-1244PCT least one target size of the plurality of target sizes. By monitoring the sensing signals, the first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) may determine the at least one target size as an estimate of the size of the target.

[0469] In another example, the plurality of target sizes comprises a list of thresholds. The list of thresholds may be a list of length, area, volume thresholds. Determining a size of a detected target may comprise determining at least two thresholds of the list of thresholds, wherein a first threshold (of the at least two thresholds) is smaller than a length / area / volume of the target and a second threshold (of the at least two thresholds) is larger than the length / area / volume of the target. The assistance information of the target may comprise the at least two thresholds. By monitoring the sensing signals, the first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) may determine the at least two thresholds as an estimate of the size of the target.

[0470] The plurality of target shapes may comprise a circular (ball-shaped) or a cylindrical or a triangular / pyramid-shaped; and / or a drone-shaped target; and / or a vehicular-shaped; and / or trailer-shaped’ a bird-shaped; a bicycle-shaped or a bus-shaped; or the like. Determining a shape of a detected target may comprise determining which of the indicated plurality of target shapes accurately / closely (e.g., with higher probability / likelihood) explains / fits an actual shape of the target. The assistance information of the detected target may comprise at least one target shape of the plurality of target shapes. By monitoring the sensing signals, the first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) may determine the at least one target shape as an estimate of the shape of the target.

[0471] Corresponding to / associated with the third detection task, the at least one sensing metric may comprise the identity of the detected target; and / or the size of the target; and / or the shape of the target.

[0472] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, for performing the one or more second sensing procedures, the one or more sensing reports may indicate / comprise whether a target of the one or more second targets being detected or not. For example, when the first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) detects at least one target of the one or more second targets, the first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) may transmit a sensing report (of the one or more sensing reports) indicating the at least one target being detect and / or a rest of the one or more targets not being detected (e.g., via a bit map).

[0473] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, for each detected target of the one or more second targets (e.g., for each target of the at least one target), the sensing report may further indicate / comprise a corresponding identification information (e.g., identification indications of the plurality of identification indications) of each target of the at least one target and / or corresponding assistance information of each target of the at least one target.

[0474] Based on the first message indicating the first detection task, the sensing report (e.g., the sensing message comprising the sensing report) may indicate the at least one target being detected.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0475] Based on the first message indicating the second detection task, the sensing report (e.g., the sensing message comprising the sensing report) may indicate the identification information (e.g., identification indications of the plurality of identification indications) of each target of the at least one target.

[0476] Based on the first message indicating the third detection task, the sensing report (e.g., the sensing message comprising the sensing report) may indicate the assistance information of each target of the at least one target.

[0477] Based on the first message indicating the second detection task and the third detection task, the sensing report (e.g., the sensing message comprising the sensing report) may indicate the identification information (e.g., identification indications of the plurality of identification indications) of each target of the at least one target and / or the assistance information of each target of the at least one target.

[0478] The first node may determine the identification information of a target of the at least one target based on the identifying the target. For example, similar to discussions above, the identification information of the target may comprise at least one of the following: whether the target is human or nonhuman; and / or whether the target is vehicle or cyclist / motorcycl ist; and / or whether the target is a drone or not; and / or whether the target is intruder or not; whether the target is adult or not; and / or whether the target is an elderly or not; and / or the like.

[0479] Optionally and / or additionally, embodiments of FIG. 19C and / or FIG. 22A and / or FIG. 22B may be for performing the tracking tasks. Performing (or conducting) tracking targets may further comprise performing tracking tasks The one or more first sensing procedures may interchangeably use for the tracking tasks. In one example, each sensing procedure of the one or more first sensing procedures may comprise (or use for performing) a sensing task of the sensing tasks. In another example, each sensing procedure of the one or more first sensing procedures may comprise (or use for performing) one or more sensing tasks of the sensing tasks.

[0480] The at least one sensing procedure may comprise the one or more first procedures (for performing the tracking tasks). The one or more first procedures may be associated with a first sensing session of the at least one sensing session. The one or more first procedures may be for tracking the one or more first targets.

[0481] The second sensing session may be the same as the first sensing session. The second sensing session may be different than the first sensing session.

[0482] The one or more second targets may comprise the one or more first targets. For example, each target of the one or more first targets may be a detected target of the one or more second targets (by performing the one or more second sensing procedures).Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0483] In another example, the one or more first targets are indicated / configured by the one or more sensing configuration parameters, e.g ., corresponding to the first sensing session and / or the one or more first sensing procedures.

[0484] For example, each target of the one or more first targets may have an associated target ID / index / number. In the present disclosure, the first node and / or the second node may identify a target by the associated target ID.

[0485] Tracking targets may comprise determining location information / data (or position) of the one or more first targets (e.g., performing the one or more first sensing procedures) in a one-dimensional plane (e.g., absolute distance / range to the first node or with respect to a reference location) in a 2-dimentional plane (e g., x-axis and y-axis, e.g., with respect to the reference location) and / or a 3-dimentional plane (e.g., in x-axis and y-axis and z-axis, e.g., with respect to the reference location). The one or more first sensing procedure may comprise tracking range (e.g., determining trajectory) of the one or more first targets.

[0486] Tracking the range of the one or more first targets may further comprise determining the velocity / speed / acceleration in a one-dimensional plane (e.g., absolute velocity / speed / acceleration or radial velocity / speed / acceleration) of the one or more first targets. The one or more first sensing procedure may comprise determining variation of the range (in time) of the one or more first targets.

[0487] Tracking targets (e.g., one or more first targets) may comprise determining (or measuring / estimating) motion parameters (e g., location / speed / velocity / acceleration or direction) of one or more first targets. Determining the motion parameters may comprise determining (e.g., by performing the one or more first sensing procedures) direction (or moving direction or orientation) of (each target of) the one or more first targets. Determining the direction of a target may comprise determining an azimuth angle and / or an elevation angle corresponding to movement and / or orientation (e.g., with respect to a reference direction) of the target. Determining the direction (or orientation) of a target (of the one or more first targets) may be with respect to a reference direction / orientation. Optionally and / or additionally, determining the motion parameters may comprise (e.g., the second sensing procedure of the one or more first sensing procedures) determining the velocity / speed / acceleration in a 2-dimentional plane (e.g., x-axis and y-axis) and / or a 3-dimentional plane (e.g., in x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis).

[0488] The motion parameters of the target may comprise the direction / orientation of the target. The direction of the target may comprise moving direction of the target. Determining direction of the one or more first targets may be with respect to a reference direction. Additionally and / or alternatively, the motion parameters of the target may comprise at least one of the following: a radial (or absolute) velocity / speed / acceleration of the target; and / or the 2-dimentional velocity / speed / acceleration of the target; and / or the 3-dimentional velocity / speed / acceleration of the target.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0489] In the present disclosure, the direction of a target may comprise azimuth angle and / or elevation angle (e.g., with respect to the reference point), e.g., indicating movement direction or orientation of the target. In some implementations, the direction may comprise at least one of: UP; and / or DOWN; and / or RIGHT; and / or LEFT. In some implementations, the direction may comprise at least one of: SOUTH; and / or NORTH; and / or EAST; and / or WEST.

[0490] In the present disclosure, the orientation of the target may be the direction of the target.

[0491] In one example, the one or more sensing configuration parameters may indicate at least one the reference direction / orientation and / or the reference location (e.g., a reference point). The reference direction may comprise at least one of the following: a reference azimuth angle and / or a reference elevation angle.

[0492] In the present disclosure, the tracking tasks may be / comprise at least one of the following: tracking ranges of targets (a first tracking task); and / or tracking location of targets in 2-D space (a second tracking task); and / or tracking location of targets in 3-D space (a third tracking task); and / or tracking (radial) velocity of targets (a fourth tracking task); and / or tracking velocity of targets in 2-D space (a fifth tracking task); and / or tracking velocity of targets in the 3-D space (a sixth tracking task); and / or tracking acceleration of targets (a seventh tracking task); and / or tracking acceleration of targets in 2-D space (an eighth tracking task); and / or tracking acceleration of targets in the 3-D space (a ninth tracking task); and / or tracking direction / orientation of targets (a tenth tracking task). In the present disclosure, tracking ranges of targets in 1-D / 2-D / 3-D dimensions may comprise determining / estimating / obtaining / tracking trajectories of targets in the 1-D / 2-D / 3-D dimensions, respectively.

[0493] Performing the one or more first sensing procedures may comprise performing at least one of the first tracking task; and / or the second tracking task; and / or the third tracking task; and / or the fourth tracking task; and / or the fifth tracking task; and / or the sixth tracking task; and / or the seventh tracking task; and / or the eighth tracking task; and / or the ninth tracking task; and / or the tenth tracking task.

[0494] For example, the first sensing message may indicate at least one tracking task. The at least one detection task may comprise at least one of the following: the first tracking task; and / or the second tracking task; and / or the third tracking task; and / or the fourth tracking task; and / or the fifth tracking task; and / or the sixth tracking task; and / or the seventh tracking task; and / or the eighth tracking task; and / or the ninth tracking task; and / or the tenth tracking task. Based on the first sensing message indicating the at least one tracking task, performing the one or more first sensing procedures may comprise performing the at least one tracking task.

[0495] Performing the one or more second sensing procedures may comprise determining the one or more sensing measurements / the at least one sensing metric for the one or more sensing reports. Corresponding to one or more second sensing procedures the one or more sensing reports may compriseDocket No.: 24-1244PCT a plurality of tracking information (or tracking data or tracking parameters or tracking values or tracking records or track files). Each tracking information of the plurality of tracking information may be associated with a target of the one or more first targets. Each tracking information may comprise the at least one sensing metric associated / corresponding to the target (of the one or more first targets). Each tracking information of the plurality of tracking information may be associated with the reference direction / orientation and / or the reference point / location.

[0496] Each tracking information of the plurality of tracking information may comprise location information (or position or range) of each target (of the one or more first targets); and / or motion parameters of each target (of the one or more first targets). The one or more sensing measurements may further provide an association / linkage (e.g., via indexing) between each target (of the one or more first targets) and / or each tracking information (of the plurality of tracking information). The one or more sensing measurements may further provide an association / linkage (e.g., via indexing) between each tracking information (of the plurality of tracking information) and / or each tracking task of the tracking tasks.

[0497] Additionally and / or alternatively, each tracking information of the plurality of tracking information may comprise a list of time instances / stamps. Each time instance / stamp of a first tracking information (of the plurality of tracking information) may be associated with a location information / range of a first target (of the one or more first targets that is associated with the first tracking information) and / or motion parameters of the first target. For example, each time instance / stamp may indicate a timing information that the first tracking information is determined / produced by the first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS). The time instance / stamp may be an absolute time (UTC time) and / or GNSS time (e.g., gnss-TOD-msec and / or gnss- TimelD) and / or a 4G / 5G / 6G time (e.g., comprising a physical cell ID and / or an ARFCN value / indication and / or a cell global ID / identification / index and / or SFN and / or slot number and / or symbol number and / or the like). The 5G time may be an nrTime. The 4G time may be e-utraTime. The time instance / stamp may be a network time. Using the time instance / stamp allows the second node to properly use / interpret the tracking information.

[0498] The first node (and / or the second TRP / UE / BS) may determine a first tracking information (of the plurality of tracking information) that is associated with a first target (of the one or more first targets) by processing the echoes (e g., as discussed in embodiments of FIG. 20A, FIG. 20B, FIG. 21 D) of the sensing signals, e.g., performing the one or more radar / sensing processing algorithms. For example, performing the one or more first sensing procedures may comprise performing the one or more radar / sensing processing algorithms by first node (and / or the second node). For example, the first tracking information may further comprise / indicate whether the first target is stationary or non-stationary and / or the motion parameters (e.g., moving speed and / or direction of movement of the first target) of the first targetDocket No.: 24-1244PCT

[0499] The first tracking task may comprise tracking distance between the reference point / location of targets (the one or more first targets). The distance between the reference point / location and each target (of the targets) may be a range of each target (of the targets). The range of a target (of the one or more first targets) may comprise a (separation) distance between the target and the reference location / point. Corresponding to the first tracking task, the at least one sensing metric / one or more sensing measurements may comprise (tracked) range of each target (of the one or more first targets). Performing the first sensing task may comprise determining (and / or transmitting via the second sensing message) the plurality of tracking information (e.g., determining the at least one sensing metric / one or more sensing measurements). Each tracking information of the plurality of tracking information may comprise at least one of the following: (tracked) range of each target (of the one or more first targets); and / or associated / corresponding target of the tracking information; and / or time instance / stamp of the indicated range of each target. Each tracking information may be associated with each target. Each tracking information may comprise a plurality of ranges (of the corresponding target), wherein each range of the plurality of ranges is associated with each time instance / stamp (indicated by the tracking information).

[0500] The second tracking task may comprise determining / tracking the position / location of each target (of the one or more first targets) in a 2-dimentional space (X-Y plane / space). Corresponding to the second tracking task, the at least one sensing metric / one or more sensing measurements may comprise (tracked) position / location of each target (of the one or more first targets) in the 2-dimentional space. Performing the second tracking task may further comprise determining (and / or transmitting via the second sensing message) the plurality of tracking information (e.g., determining the at least one sensing metric / one or more sensing measurements). Each tracking information of the plurality of tracking information may comprise at least one of the following: (tracked) location / position of each target (of the one or more first targets) in a 2- dimentional space; and / or associated / corresponding target of the tracking information; and / or time instance / stamp of the indicated range of each target. The location / position of a target (of the one or more first targets) in a 2-dimentional space may comprise (x, y) coordinates (2-D locations / positions) of the target. Each tracking information may be associated with each target. Each tracking information may comprise a plurality of 2-D locations / positions (of the corresponding target), wherein each 2-D location / position of the plurality of 2-D locations / positions is associated with each time instance / stamp (indicated by the tracking information). The (x, y) coordinates may comprise Cartesian coordinates or radial coordinates.

[0501] The third tracking task may comprise determining / tracking the position of each target (of the one or more first targets) in a 3-dimentional space (X-Y-Z plane / space). Corresponding to the third tracking task, the at least one sensing metric / one or more sensing measurements may comprise (tracked) position / location of each target (of the one or more first targets) in the 3-dimentional space. Performing theDocket No.: 24-1244PCT third tracking task may further comprise determining (and / or transmitting via the second sensing message) the plurality of tracking information. Each tracking information of the plurality of tracking information may comprise at least one of the following: (tracked) location / position of each target (of the one or more first targets) in a 3-dimentional space; and / or associated / corresponding target of the tracking information; and / or time instance / stamp of the indicated range of each target. The location / position of a target (of the one or more first targets) in a 3-dimentional space may comprise (x, y, z) coordinates (3-D locations / positions) of the target. Each tracking information may be associated with each target. Each tracking information may comprise a plurality of 3-D locations / positions (of the corresponding target), wherein each 3-D location / position of the plurality of 3-D locations / positions is associated with each time instance / stamp (indicated by the tracking information). The (x, y, z) coordinates may comprise Cartesian coordinates or radial / polar coordinates.

[0502] The fourth tracking task may comprise determining / tracking (1-D velocity / speed) speed (or velocity) of targets (e.g., determining / tracking radial speed / velocity of targets). The (1-D) velocity / speed of a target (of the one or more first targets) may comprise an absolute or a radial speed of the target. Corresponding to the fourth tracking task, the at least one sensing metric / one or more sensing measurements may comprise (tracked) (1-D) velocity / speed of each target (of the one or more first targets). Performing the fourth sensing task may comprise determining (and / or transmitting via the second sensing message) the plurality of tracking information. Each tracking information of the plurality of tracking information may comprise at least one of the following: (tracked) absolute / radial (1-D) speed / velocity of each target (of the one or more first targets); and / or associated / corresponding target of the tracking information; and / or time instance / stamp of the indicated speed / velocity of each target. Each tracking information may be associated with each target. Each tracking information may comprise a plurality of speeds / velocities (of the corresponding target), wherein each speed / velocity of the plurality of ranges is associated with each time instance / stamp (indicated by the tracking information).

[0503] The fifth tracking task may comprise determining / tracking the velocity / speed of each target (of the one or more first targets) in a 2-dimentional space (X-Y plane / space). Corresponding to the fifth tracking task, the at least one sensing metric / one or more sensing measurements may comprise (tracked) velocity / speed of each target (of the one or more first targets) in the 2-dimentional space. Performing the fifth tracking task may comprise determining (and / or transmitting via the second sensing message) the plurality of tracking information. Each tracking information of the plurality of tracking information may comprise at least one of the following: (tracked) speed / velocity of each target (of the one or more first targets) in a 2-dimentional space; and / or associated / corresponding target of the tracking information; and / or time instance / stamp of the indicated range of each target. The speed / velocity of a target (of the one or more first targets) in a 2-dimentional space may comprise speed / velocity in (x, y) coordinates (2-DDocket No.: 24-1244PCT velocity / speed) of the target. Each tracking information may be associated with each target. Each tracking information may comprise a plurality of 2-D speed / velocity (of the corresponding target), wherein each 2-D speed / velocity of the plurality of 2-D speeds / velocities is associated with each time instance / stamp (indicated by the tracking information).

[0504] The sixth tracking task may comprise determining / tracking the velocity / speed of each target (of the one or more first targets) in a 3-dimentional space (X-Y-Z plane / space). Corresponding to the sixth tracking task, the at least one sensing metric / one or more sensing measurements may comprise (tracked) velocity / speed of each target (of the one or more first targets) in the 3-dimentional space. Performing the sixth tracking task may comprise determining (and / or transmitting via the second sensing message) the plurality of tracking information. Each tracking information of the plurality of tracking information may comprise (tracked) speed / velocity of each target (of the one or more first targets) in a 3-dimentional space; and / or associated / corresponding target of the tracking information; and / or time instance / stamp of the indicated range of each target. The speed / velocity of a target (of the one or more first targets) in a 3- dimentional space may comprise speed / velocity in (x, y, z) coordinates (3-D velocity / speed) of the target. Each tracking information may be associated with each target Each tracking information may comprise a plurality of 3-D speed / velocity (of the corresponding target), wherein each 3-D speed / velocity of the plurality of 3-D speeds / velocities is associated with each time instance / stamp (indicated by the tracking information).

[0505] The seventh tracking task may comprise determining / tracking 1 -dimentional (1-D) acceleration (or speed / velocity variation) of targets (the one or more first targets). The (1-D) acceleration of a target may comprise an absolute or a radial acceleration of the target. Corresponding to the seventh tracking task, the at least one sensing metric / one or more sensing measurements may comprise (tracked) (1-D) acceleration of each target (of the one or more first targets). Performing the seventh sensing task may comprise determining (and / or transmitting via the second sensing message) the plurality of tracking information. Each tracking information of the plurality of tracking information may comprise (tracked) absolute / radial acceleration (e.g., 1-D acceleration) of each target (of the one or more first targets); and / or associated / corresponding target of the tracking information; and / or time instance / stamp of the indicated acceleration of each target. Each tracking information may be associated with each target. Each tracking information may comprise a plurality of (1-D) accelerations (of the corresponding target), wherein each (1- D) acceleration of the plurality of accelerations is associated with each time instance / stamp (indicated by the tracking information).

[0506] The eighth tracking task may comprise determining / tracking the acceleration of each target (the one or more first targets) in a 2-dimentional space (X-Y plane / space). Corresponding to the eighth tracking task, the at least one sensing metric / one or more sensing measurements may comprise (tracked)Docket No.: 24-1244PCT acceleration of each target (of the one or more first targets) in the 2-di mention al space. Performing the eighth tracking task may comprise determining (and / or transmitting via the second sensing message) the plurality of tracking information. Each tracking information of the plurality of tracking information may comprise (tracked) acceleration of each target (of the one or more first targets) in a 2-di men tion al space; and / or associated / corresponding target of the tracking information; and / or time instance / stamp of the indicated range of each target. The acceleration of a target (of the one or more first targets) in a 2- dimentional space may comprise acceleration in (x, y) coordinates (2-D acceleration) of the target. Each tracking information may be associated with each target. Each tracking information may comprise a plurality of 2-D acceleration (of the corresponding target), wherein each 2-D acceleration of the plurality of2-D acceleration is associated with each time instance / stamp (indicated by the tracking information).

[0507] The ninth tracking task may comprise determining / tracking the acceleration of each target (the one or more first targets) in a 3-dimentional space (X-Y-Z plane / space). Corresponding to the ninth tracking task, the at least one sensing metric / one or more sensing measurements may comprise (tracked) acceleration of each target (of the one or more first targets) in the 3-dimentional space. Performing the ninth tracking task may comprise determining (and / or transmitting via the second sensing message) the plurality of tracking information. Each tracking information of the plurality of tracking information may comprise (tracked) acceleration of each target (of the one or more first targets) in a 3-dimentional space; and / or associated / corresponding target of the tracking information; and / or time instance / stamp of the indicated range of each target. The acceleration of a target (of the one or more first targets) in a 3- dimentional space may comprise acceleration in (x, y, z) coordinates (3-D acceleration) of the target. Each tracking information may be associated with each target. Each tracking information may comprise a plurality of 3-D acceleration (of the corresponding target), wherein each 3-D acceleration of the plurality of3-D accelerations is associated with each time instance / stamp (indicated by the tracking information).

[0508] The tenth tracking task may be determining / tracking direction / orientation of targets (the one or more first targets). Corresponding to the ninth tracking task, the at least one sensing metric / one or more sensing measurements may comprise (tracked) direction / orientation of each target (of the one or more first targets). Performing the tenth tracking task may comprise determining (and / or transmitting the corresponding sensing report via the second sensing message) the plurality of tracking information. Each tracking information of the plurality of tracking information may comprise at least one of the following: an azimuth angel of movement / orientation of each target (of the one or more first targets); and / or an elevation angle of movement / orientation of each target (of the one or more first targets); and / or at least one d...

Claims

Docket No.: 24-1244PCTCLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A method comprising: receiving, by a receiver node from a sensing server, configuration parameters of a sensing procedure, wherein the configuration parameters indicate a first duration for determining whether to stop or maintain a sensing measurement period; initiating the sensing procedure in response to the receiving of the configuration parameters, wherein the initiating of the sensing procedure comprises starting the sensing measurement period; receiving, from a transmitter node, a sensing signal during the sensing measurement period; and stopping or maintaining the sensing measurement period based on whether a detected path, of the sensing signal, comprises a line-of-sight (LOS) path, wherein: the stopping of the sensing measurement period is further based on determining, during a window of the first duration, that the detected path does not comprise a LOS path; and the maintaining of the sensing measurement period is based on the detected path comprising a LOS path.

2. A method comprising: receiving, by a receiver node from a transmitter node, a sensing signal during a sensing measurement period; and stopping or maintaining the sensing measurement period based on whether a detected path, of the sensing signal, comprises a line-of-sight (LOS) path.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the detected path is determined based on at least one measurement of the sensing signal.

4. The method of any one of claims 2 to 3, wherein the receiver node is a wireless device.

5. The method of any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the transmitter node is a base station.

6. The method of any one of claims 2 to 5, further comprising receiving configuration parameters of a sensing procedure.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the receiving of the configuration parameters is from a sensing server.

8. The method of any one of claims 6 to 7, wherein the configuration parameters are for a sensing procedure for integrated sensing and communication (ISAC).

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the receiver node communicates with the transmitter node while performing the sensing procedure for the ISAC.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the performing of the sensing procedure for the ISAC comprises the receiving the sensing signal from the transmitter node.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT1 1 . The method of any one of claims 6 to 10, wherein the sensing procedure is for detecting one or more targets.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the detecting of the one or more targets is based on the receiving of the sensing signal.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the detecting of the one or more targets is based on the at least one measurement of the sensing signal.

14. The method of any one of claims 6 to 13, wherein the sensing procedure is for tracking one or more targets.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the tracking of the one or more targets is based on the receiving of the sensing signal.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the tracking of the one or more targets is based on the at least one measurement of the sensing signal.

17. The method of any one of claims 6 to 16, wherein the configuration parameters indicate a first duration for determining whether to stop or maintain the sensing measurement period.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the stopping of the sensing measurement period is further based on determining, during a window of the first duration, that the detected path does not comprise a LOS path.

19. The method of any one of claims 6 to 18, wherein the configuration parameters further indicate a first measurement threshold for determining whether to stop or maintain the sensing measurement period.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising determining whether a first measurement, of the detected path, is greater than the first measurement threshold, in response to the detected path comprising a LOS path.21 . The method of claim 20, wherein the stopping of the sensing measurement period is further based on the first measurement of the detected path being smaller than the first measurement threshold.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the maintaining of the sensing measurement period is further based on the first measurement of the detected path being greater than the first measurement threshold.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the stopping of the sensing measurement period is further based on the first measurement of a LOS path being smaller than the first measurement threshold during a window of the first duration.

24. The method of any one of claims 19 to 23, wherein: the first measurement threshold comprises a first reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold; and the first measurement of the detected path is determined based on a received power of the detected path.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT25. The method of any one of claims 2 to 16, further comprising starting the sensing measurement period26. The method of claim 25, further comprising detecting one or more paths of the sensing signal during the sensing measurement period.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the detecting of the one or more paths, of the sensing signal, comprises monitoring the sensing signal.

28. The method of any one of claims 25 to 27, further comprising monitoring the sensing signal during the sensing measurement period.

29. The method of any one of claims 2 to 28, wherein the stopping of the sensing measurement period is based on the detected path not comprising a LOS path.

30. The method of any one of claims 2 to 29, wherein the detected path is a non-LOS (NLOS) path31 . The method of any one of claims 2 to 28, wherein the maintaining of the sensing measurement period is based on the detected path comprising a LOS path.

32. The method of any one of claims 30 to 31 , further comprising determining whether one or more paths comprise a stationary indirect path between the receiver node and the transmitter node, in response to the detected path not comprising a LOS path.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the stopping of the sensing measurement period is further based on the one or more paths not comprising the stationary indirect path between the receiver node and the transmitter node.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the stopping of the sensing measurement period is further based on the one or more paths not comprising the stationary indirect path during a window of the first duration.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the maintaining of the sensing measurement period is further based on the one or more paths comprising the stationary indirect path between the receiver node and the transmitter node.

36. The method of any one of claims 6 to 35, wherein the configuration parameters further indicate a second measurement threshold for determining whether to stop or maintain the sensing measurement period.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising determining whether a second measurement of the stationary indirect path is greater than the second measurement threshold, in response to the one or more paths comprising the stationary indirect path.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the stopping of the sensing measurement period is further based on the second measurement of the stationary indirect path being smaller than the second measurement threshold.Docket No.: 24-1244PCT39. The method of any one of claims 37 to 38, wherein the stopping of the sensing measurement period is further based on the second measurement, of the stationary indirect path, being smaller than the second measurement threshold during a window of the first duration.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein the maintaining of the sensing measurement period is further based on the second measurement of the stationary indirect path being larger than or equal to the second measurement threshold.41 . The method of any one of claims 36 to 40, wherein: the second measurement threshold comprises a second reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold; and the second measurement of the stationary indirect path is determined based on a received power of the stationary indirect path.

42. The method of any one of claims 2 to 41 , further comprising transmitting an indication of a sensing failure or a sensing error, in response to the stopping of the sensing measurement period.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the transmitting of the indication of the sensing failure or the sensing error is to at least one of: the sensing server; or the transmitter node.

44. The method of any one of claims 42 to 43, wherein: the sensing failure indicates a sensing failure of the sensing procedure; or the sensing error indicates a sensing error of the sensing procedure.

45. The method of any one of claims 6 to 44, further comprising initiating the sensing procedure in response to the receiving of the configuration parameters.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the initiating of the sensing procedure comprises starting the sensing measurement period.

47. The method of any one of claims 6 to 46, wherein the stopping the sensing measurement period comprises at least one of: suspending performing the sensing procedure; or cancelling performing the sensing procedure.

48. The method of any one of claims 6 to 47, wherein the sensing procedure comprises at least one of: a bistatic sensing procedure; or a monostatic sensing procedure.

49. An apparatus comprising: one or more processors; andDocket No.: 24-1244PCT memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 48.

50. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 48.

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