Timing advance for ai / ML positioning and sensing

Abstract

Aspects presented herein may improve the overall performance of artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) (AI / ML) positioning and sensing by promoting consistent signaling and alignment on timing advance (TA) configuration and settings between different AI / ML operations (e.g., between training and inferencing). For example, in one aspect of the present disclosure, a UE receives, from at least one network entity, a TA configuration for transmitting a set of reference signals (RSs) for at least one AI / ML operation. The UE transmits the set of RSs with TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation. In some examples, the UE also transmits, to the at least one network entity, a TA indicator that includes at least one parameter or value applied by the UE for transmitting the set of RSs based on the TA configuration.

Description

Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 1 / 93TIMING ADVANCE FOR AI / ML POSITIONING AND SENSINGCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims the benefit of Greece Patent Application No. 20250100182, entitled “TIMING ADVANCE FOR AI / ML POSITIONING AND SENSING” and filed on March 13, 2025, which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly, to wireless communication involving artificial intelligence (Al) or machine learning (ML) (AI / ML) positioning and sensing.INTRODUCTION

[0003] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

[0004] These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. An example telecommunication standard is 5G New Radio (NR). 5G NR is part of a continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability (e.g., with Internet of Things (IoT)), and other requirements. 5G NR includes services associated with enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type communications (mMTC), and ultra-reliable low latency129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 2 / 93communications (URLLC). Some aspects of 5G NR may be based on the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. There exists a need for further improvements in 5G NR technology. These improvements may also be applicable to other multi-access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies.

[0005] Some telecommunication standards also provide positioning protocols and techniques that enable mobile network operators to provide high-accuracy location services to their subscribers. For example, 5G NR include various standards for network-based positioning that use signals and features of the 5G network to perform or improve the positioning of a device. There also exists a need for further improvements in these positioning protocols and techniques.BRIEF SUMMARY

[0006] The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects. This summary neither identifies key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineates the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

[0007] In an aspect of the disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus receives, from at least one network entity, a timing advance (TA) configuration for transmitting a set of reference signals (RSs) for at least one artificial intelligence (Al) or machine learning (ML) (AI / ML) operation. The apparatus transmits the set of RSs with TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation.

[0008] In an aspect of the disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus transmits, to a user equipment (UE), a TA configuration for transmitting a set of RSs for at least one AI / ML operation. The apparatus receives, from the UE based on the TA configuration, the set of RSs with TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation.

[0009] In an aspect of the disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus transmits either: (1) a TA configuration to a UE for transmitting a set of RSs for atleast AI / ML operation, or (2) a requestto a first network entity for generating and transmitting the TA configuration to the UE for129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 3 / 93transmitting the set of RSs for the at least one AI / ML operation. The apparatus receives, from the UE or the first network entity based on the TA configuration or the request, at least one of: (1) a set of RS measurements based on the set of RSs, or (2) a TA indicator that includes at least one parameter or value applied by the UE for transmitting the set of RSs based on the TA configuration.

[0010] To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects may include the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] FIG. l is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communications system and an access network.

[0012] FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating an example of a first frame, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0013] FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating an example of downlink (DL) channels within a subframe, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0014] FIG. 2C is a diagram illustrating an example of a second frame, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0015] FIG. 2D is a diagram illustrating an example of uplink (UL) channels within a subframe, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0016] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a base station and user equipment (UE) in an access network.

[0017] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a UE positioning based on reference signal measurements (which may also be referred to as "network -based positioning") in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0018] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example radio access technology (RAT)-dependent positioning in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating an example of direct artificial intelligence (Al) or machine learning (ML) (AI / ML) positioning in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 4 / 93

[0020] FIG. 6B is a diagram illustrating an example of AI / ML assisted positioning in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of UE-based positioning with a UE-side AI / ML model, direct AI / ML or AI / ML assisted positioning in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0022] FIG. 8 A is a diagram illustrating an example of UE-assisted / location management function (LMF)-based positioning with a UE-side AI / ML model, AI / ML assisted positioning in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0023] FIG. 8B is a diagram illustrating an example of UE-assisted / LMF-based positioning with an LMF-side AI / ML model, direct AI / ML positioning in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0024] FIG. 9A is a diagram illustrating an example of network node assisted positioning with a base station (gNB)-side AI / ML model, AI / ML assisted positioning in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0025] FIG. 9B is a diagram illustrating an example of network node assisted positioning with LMF-side AI / ML model, direct AI / ML positioning in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0026] FIG. 10A is a diagram 1000 A illustrating an example of sensing with co-located sensing receiver and sensing transmitter in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0027] FIG. 10B is a diagram 1000B illustrating an example of sensing with separated sensing receiver and sensing transmitter in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0028] FIG. 11 is a diagram 1100 illustrating an example sensing data signal processing flow from analog-to-digital converter (ADC) samples to progressively higher-level data representations associated with an integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0029] FIG. 12A is an example transmitter block diagram for cyclic prefix (CP)-orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) (CP-OFDM) with optional discrete Fourier transform (DFT)-spreading in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0030] FIG. 12B is a diagram illustrating an example uplink-downlink timing relation in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 5 / 93

[0031] FIG. 13 is a communication flow illustrating an example signaling for aligning a UE, a base station / transmission reception point (TRP), and a location / sensing server on timing advance (TA) settings for AI / ML positioning and / or AI / ML sensing in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0032] FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication.

[0033] FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an example apparatus and / or network entity.

[0034] FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication.

[0035] FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an example network entity.

[0036] FIG. 18 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication.

[0037] FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an example network entity.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0038] Aspects presented herein may improve the overall performance of artificial intelligence (Al) or machine learning (ML) (AI / ML) positioning and sensing by promoting consistent signalling and alignment on timing advance (TA) configuration and settings between different AI / ML operations (e.g., between AI / ML training data collection and inference stages, such as whether to apply TA or not, whether to apply single TA / timing advance group (TAG) or multiple TAs / TAGs towards transmission reception points (TRPs) considered for AI / ML positioning and sensing, etc.). Aspects presented herein provide signalling to align a location server (e.g., a location management function (LMF)), a user equipment (UE), and a base station (gNB) / TRP on TA settings for network-side AI / ML positioning. For example, aspects presented herein may include: signalling for TA capability support from UE and base station / TRP (from a UE or a base station / TRP to a location server), signalling for uplink (UL) reference signal (RS) transmission for UE when involving TA configurations for AI / ML (from a base station / TRP and / or a location server to a UE), signalling for UL RS measurement request / response when involving TA configurations for AI / ML (between a location server and a base station / TRP), ensuring consistency on TA between training and inference for AI / ML positioning / sensing (between location server, UE, and base station / TRP), and129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 6 / 93signalling for reporting TA information used for UL measurements for AI / ML positioning / sensing (From a UE / base station / TRP to a base station / LMF).

[0039] In TA, a UE may be configured to send UL signal early to compensate for propagation delay and ensure UL timing alignment at the serving cell(s). In other words, the UE may be configured to pre-compensate for propagation delays and ensure timing alignment for UL transmission(s) to one or more cells / TRPs. There may be TA group (TAG) in which same TA applied to multiple cells / TRPs. In principle, TA may affect positioning / sensing as it adds artificial offset (positive or negative) to actual travel time, affecting the accuracy of timing measurements and positioning / sensing accuracy. In addition, in AI / ML positioning, network-side AI / ML models may be affected by TA settings, especially if TA configurations and settings are different between AI / ML training and inference.

[0040] The detailed description set forth below in connection with the drawings describes various configurations and does not represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of various concepts. However, these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

[0041] Several aspects of telecommunication systems are presented with referenceto various apparatus and methods. These apparatus and methods are described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as “elements”). These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0042] By way of example, an element, or any portion of an element, or any combination of elements may be implemented as a “processing system” that includes one or more processors. When multiple processors are implemented, the multiple processors may perform the functions individually or in combination. Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), application processors, digital signal processors (DSPs),129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 7 / 93reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, systems on a chip (SoC), baseband processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functionality described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system may execute software. Software, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise, shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software components, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, or any combination thereof.

[0043] Accordingly, in one or more example aspects, implementations, and / or use cases, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or encoded as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes computer storage media. Storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, such computer-readable media can include a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of the types of computer- readable media, or any other medium that can be used to store computer executable code in the form of instructions or data structures that can be accessed by a computer.

[0044] While aspects, implementations, and / or use cases are describedin this application by illustration to some examples, additional or different aspects, implementations and / or use cases may come about in many different arrangements and scenarios. Aspects, implementations, and / oruse cases described herein may be implemented across many differingplatform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, and packaging arrangements. For example, aspects, implementations, and / or use cases may come about via integrated chip implementations and other non-module-component based devices (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communication devices, computing devices, industrial equipment, retail / purchasing devices, medical devices, artificial intelligence (Al)-enabled devices, etc.). While some examples may or may not be specifically directed to use cases or applications, a wide assortment of applicability129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 8 / 93of described examples may occur. Aspects, implementations, and / or use cases may range a spectrum from chip-level or modular components to non-modular, non-chip- level implementations and further to aggregate, distributed, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) devices or systems incorp oratingone or more techniques herein. In some practical settings, devices incorporating described aspects and features may also include additional components and features for implementation and practice of claimed and described aspect. For example, transmission and reception of wireless signals necessarily includes a number of components for analog and digital purposes (e.g., hardware components including antenna, RF-chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffer, processor(s), interleaver, adders / summers, etc.). Techniques described herein may be practiced in a wide variety of devices, chip-level components, systems, distributed arrangements, aggregated or disaggregated components, end-user devices, etc. of varying sizes, shapes, and constitution.

[0045] Deployment of communication systems, such as 5GNR systems, may be arranged in multiple manners with various components or constituent parts. In a 5G NR system, or network, a network node, a network entity, a mobility element of a network, a radio access network (RAN) node, a core network node, a network element, or a network equipment, such as a base station (BS), or one or more units (or one or more components) performing base station functionality, may be implemented in an aggregated or disaggregated architecture. For example, a BS (such as a Node B (NB), evolved NB (eNB), NR BS, 5GNB, access point (AP), a transmission reception point (TRP), or a cell, etc.) may be implemented as an aggregated base station (also known as a standalone BS or a monolithic BS) or a disaggregated base station.

[0046] An aggregated base station may be configured to utilize a radio protocol stack that is physically or logically integrated within a single RAN node. A disaggregated base station may be configured to utilize a protocol stack that is physically or logically distributed among two or more units (such as one or more central or centralized units (CUs), one or more distributed units (DUs), or one or more radio units (RUs)). In some aspects, a CU may be implemented within a RAN node, and one or more DUs may be co-located with the CU, or alternatively, may be geographically or virtually distributed throughout one or multiple other RAN nodes. The DUs may be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs. Each of the CU, DU and RU129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 9 / 93can be implemented as virtual units, i.e., a virtual central unit (VCU), a virtual distributed unit (VDU), or a virtual radio unit (VRU).

[0047] Base station operation or network design may consider aggregation characteristics of base station functionality. For example, disaggregated base stations may be utilized in an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open radio access network (O- RAN (such as the network configuration sponsored by the 0-RAN Alliance)), or a virtualized radio access network (vRAN, also known as a cloud radio access network (C-RAN)). Disaggregation may include distributing functionality across two or more units at various physical locations, as well as distributing functionality for at least one unit virtually, which can enable flexibility in network design. The various units of the disaggregated base station, or disaggregated RAN architecture, can be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit.

[0048] FIG. 1 is a diagram 100 illustrating an example of a wireless communications system and an access network. The illustrated wireless communications system includes a disaggregated base station architecture. The disaggregated base station architecture may include one or more CUs 110 that can communicate directly with a core network 120 via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 120 through one or more disaggregated base station units (such as a Near-Real Time (Near-RT) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) 125 via an E2 link, or a Non-Real Time (Non-RT)RIC 115 associated with a Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) Framework 105, or both). A CU 110 may communicate with one or more DUs 130 via respective midhaul links, such as an Fl interface. The DUs 130 may communicate with one or more RUs 140 via respective fronthaul links. The RUs 140 may communicate with respective UEs 104 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, theUE 104 may be simultaneously served by multiple RUs 140.

[0049] Each of the units, i.e., the CUs 110, the DUs 130, the RUs 140, as well as the Near- RT RIC s 125, the Non-RT RICs 115, and the SMO Framework 105, may include one or more interfaces or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or to transmit signals, data, or information (collectively, signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of the units, or an associated processor or controller providing instructions to the communication interfaces of the units, can be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via the transmission medium. For example, the units can include a wired interface configured to receive or to transmit129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 10 / 93signals over a wired transmission medium to one or more of the other units. Additionally, the units can include a wireless interface, which may include a receiver, a transmitter, or a transceiver (such as an RF transceiver), configured to receive or to transmit signals, or both, over a wireless transmission medium to one or more of the other units.

[0050] In some aspects, the CU 110 may host one or more higher layer control functions.Such control functions can include radio resource control (RRC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), or the like. Each control function can be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by the CU 110. The CU 110 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (i.e., Central Unit - User Plane (CU-UP)), control plane functionality (i.e., Central Unit - Control Plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some implementations, theCU 110 can be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. The CU-UP unit can communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP unit via an interface, such as an El interface when implemented in an 0-RAN configuration. The CU 110 can be implemented to communicate with the DU 130, as necessary, for network control and signaling.

[0051] The DU 130 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions to control the operation of one or more RUs 140. In some aspects, the DU 130 may host one or more of a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and one or more high physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation, demodulation, or the like) depending, at least in part, on a functional split, such as those defined by 3 GPP. In some aspects, the DU 130 may further host one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (or module) can be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by the DU 130, or with the control functions hosted by the CU 110.

[0052] Lower-layer functionality can be implemented by one or more RUs 140. In some deployments, an RU 140, controlled by a DU 130, may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions, or low-PHY layer functions (such as performing fast Fourier transform (FFT), inverse FFT (iFFT), digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, or the like), or both, based129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 11 / 93at least in part on the functional split, such as a lower layer functional split. In such an architecture, the RU(s) 140 can be implemented to handle over the air (OTA) communication with one or more UEs 104. In some implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control and user plane communication with the RU(s) 140 can be controlled by the corresponding DU 130. In some scenarios, this configuration can enable the DU(s) 130 and the CU 110 to be implemented in a cloud-based RAN architecture, such as a vRAN architecture.

[0053] The SMO Framework 105 may be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of non-virtualizedandvirtualizednetwork elements. Fornon-virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 105 may be configured to support the deployment of dedicatedphysical resources for RAN coverage requirements that may be managed via an operations and maintenance interface (such as an 01 interface). For virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 105 may be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) 190) to perform network element life cycle management (such as to instantiate virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as an 02 interface). Such virtualized network elements can include, but are not limited to, CUs 110, DUs 130, RUs 140 andNear-RTRICs 125. In some implementations, the SMO Framework 105 can communicate with a hardware aspect of a 4G RAN, such as an open eNB (O- eNB) 111, via an 01 interface. Additionally, in some implementations, the SMO Framework 105 can communicate directly with one or more RUs 140 via an 01 interface. The SMO Framework 105 also may include aNon-RTRIC 115 configured to support functionality of the SMO Framework 105.

[0054] The Non-RT RIC 115 may be configured to include a logical function that enables non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence (Al) / machine learning (ML) (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updates, or policy-based guidance of applications / features in the Near- RT RIC 125. The Non-RT RIC 115 may be coupled to or communicate with (such as via an Al interface) the Near-RT RIC 125. TheNear-RTRIC 125 may be configured to include a logical function that enables near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via dataset collection and actions over an interface (such as via an E2 interface) connecting one or more CUs 110, one or more DUs 130, or both, as well as an O-eNB, with the Near-RT RIC 125.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 12 / 93

[0055] In some implementations, to generate AI / ML models to be deployed in the Near-RT RIC 125, the Non-RT RIC 115 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from external servers. Such information may be utilized by the Near-RT RIC 125 and may be received at the SMO Framework 105 or the Non-RT RIC 115 from non-network data sources or from network functions. In some examples, the Non-RTRIC 115 or the Near-RT RIC 125 may be configured to tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the Non-RT RIC 115 may monitor long-term trends and patterns for performance and employ AI / ML models to perform corrective actions through the SMO Framework 105 (such as reconfiguration via 01) or via creation of RAN management policies (such as Al policies).

[0056] At least one of the CU 110, the DU 130, and the RU 140 may be referred to as a base station 102. Accordingly, abase station 102 may include one ormore ofthe CU 110, the DU 130, and the RU 140 (each component indicated with dotted lines to signify that each component may or may not be included in the base station 102). The base station 102 provides an access point to the core network 120 for aUE 104. The base station 102 may include macrocells (high power cellular base station) and / or small cells (low power cellular base station). The small cells include femtocells, picocells, and microcells. A network that includes both small cell and macrocells may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include Home Evolved Node Bs (eNBs) (HeNBs), which may provide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG). The communication links between the RUs 140 and the UEs 104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions fromaUE 104 to an RU 140 and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from an RU 140 to aUE 104. The communication links may use multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication links may be through one or more carriers. The base station 102 / UEs 104 may use spectrum up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, etc. MHz) bandwidth per carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to a total of Yx MHz (x component carriers) used for transmission in each direction. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL andUL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL than for UL). The component carriers may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 13 / 93carriers. A primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell(PCell) and a secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

[0057] Certain UEs 104 may communicate with each other using device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use the DL / UL wireless wide area network (WWAN) spectrum. TheD2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). D2D communication may be through a variety of wireless D2D communications systems, such as for example, Bluetooth™ (Bluetooth is a trademark of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG)), Wi-Fi™ (Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance) based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, LTE, or NR.

[0058] The wireless communications system may further include a Wi-Fi AP 150 in communication with UEs 104 (also referred to as Wi-Fi stations (STAs)) via communication link 154, e.g., in a 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum orthe like. When communicating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the UEs 104 / AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communicating in order to determine whether the channel is available.

[0059] The electromagnetic spectrum is often subdivided, based on frequency / wavelength, into various classes, bands, channels, etc. In 5GNR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz - 7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz - 52.6 GHz). Although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “sub-6 GHz” band in various documents and articles. A similar nomenclature issue sometimes occurs with regard to FR2, which is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “millimeter wave” bandin documents and articles, despite being different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz - 300 GHz) which is identified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as a “millimeter wave” band.

[0060] The frequencies between FR1 andFR2 are often referred to as mid-band frequencies.Recent 5G NR studies have identified an operating band for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 GHz - 24.25 GHz). Frequency bands falling within FR3 may inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 14 / 93characteristics, and thus may effectively extend features of FR1 and / or FR2 into midband frequencies. In addition, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5GNR operation beyond 52.6 GHz. For example, three higher op erating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR2-2 (52.6 GHz - 71 GHz), FR4 (71 GHz- 114.25 GHz), andFR5 (114.25 GHz- 300 GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0061] With the above aspects in mind, unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “sub-6GHz” or the like if used herein may broadly represent frequencies that may be less than 6 GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. Further, unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “millimeter wave” or the like if used herein may broadly represent frequencies that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2, FR4, FR2-2, and / or FR5, or may be within the EHF band.

[0062] The base station 102 and the UE 104 may each include a plurality of antennas, such as antenna elements, antenna panels, and / or antenna arrays to facilitate beamforming The base station 102 may transmit a beamformed signal 182 to the UE 104 in one or more transmit directions. The UE 104 may receive the beamformed signal from the base station 102 in one or more receive directions. The UE 104 may also transmit a beamformed signal 184 to the base station 102 in one or more transmit directions. The base station 102 may receive the beamformed signal from the UE 104 in one or more receive directions. The base station 102 / UE 104 may perform beam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions for each of the base station 102 / UE 104. The transmit and receive directions for the base station 102 may or may not be the same. The transmit and receive directions for the UE 104 may or may not be the same.

[0063] The base station 102 may include and / or be referred to as a gNB, Node B, eNB, an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), a TRP, network node, the network entity, network equipment, or some other suitable terminology. The base station 102 can be implemented as an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a relay node, a sidelink node, an aggregated (monolithic) base station with a baseband unit (BBU) (including a CU and a DU) and an RU, or as a disaggregated base station including one or more of a CU, a DU, and / or an RU. The129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 15 / 93set of base stations, which may include disaggregated base stations and / or aggregated base stations, may be referred to as next generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN).

[0064] The core network 120 may include an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 161, a Session Management Function (SMF) 162, a User Plane Function (UPF) 163, a Unified Data Management (UDM) 164, one or more location servers 168, and other functional entities. The AMF 161 is the control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 and the core network 120. The AMF 161 supports registration management, connection management, mobility management, and other functions. The SMF 162 supports session management and other functions. The UPF 163 supports packet routing, packet forwarding, and other functions. The UDM 164 supports the generation of authentication and key agreement (AKA) credentials, user identification handling, access authorization, and sub scription management. The one or more location servers 168 are illustrated as including a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 165 and a Location Management Function (LMF) 166. However, generally, the one or more location servers 168 may include one or more location / positioning servers, which may include one or more of the GMLC 165, the LMF 166, a position determination entity (PDE), a serving mobile location center (SMLC), a mobile positioning center (MPC), or the like. The GMLC 165 and the LMF 166 support UE location services. The GMLC 165 provides an interface for clients / applications (e.g., emergency services) for accessing UE positioning information. The LMF 166 receives measurements and assistance information from the NG-RAN and the UE 104 via the AMF 161 to compute the position of the UE 104. The NG-RAN may utilize one ormore positioningmethods in orderto determine the position of the UE 104. Positioningthe UE 104 may involve signal measurements, a position estimate, and an optional velocity computation based on the measurements. The signal measurements may be made by the UE 104 and / or the base station 102 serving the UE 104. The signals measured may be based on one ormore of a satellite positioning system (SPS) 170 (e.g., one or more of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), global position system (GPS), non-terrestrial network (NTN), or other satellite position / location system), LTE signals, wireless local area network (WLAN) signals, Bluetooth signals, a terrestrial beacon system (TBS), sensor-based information (e.g., barometric pressure sensor, motion sensor), NR enhanced cell ID (NRE-CID) methods, NRsignals(e.g., multi-round trip time (Multi-RTT), DL angle-129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 16 / 93of-departure (DL-AoD), DL time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA), UL time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA), and UL angle-of-arrival (UL-AoA) positioning), and / or other systems / signals / sensors.

[0065] Examples of UEs 104 include a cellular phone, a smartphone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a satellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player), a camera, a game console, a tablet, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, an electric meter, a gas pump, a large or small kitchen appliance, a healthcare device, an implant, a sensor / actuator, a display, or any other similar functioning device. Some of the UEs 104 may be referred to as loT devices (e.g, parking meter, gas pump, toaster, vehicles, heart monitor, etc.). TheUE 104 may also be referred to as a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology. In some scenarios, the term UE may also apply to one or more companion devices such as in a device constellation arrangement. One or more of these devices may collectively access the network and / or individually access the network.

[0066] Referring again to FIG. l, in certain aspects, the UE 104 may have a TA application component 198 that may be configured to receive, from at least one network entity, a TA configuration for transmitting a set of RSs for at least one AI / ML operation; and transmit the set of RSs with TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation. In certain aspects, the base station 102 may have a TA configuration component 199 that may be configured to transmit, to a UE, a TA configuration for transmitting a set of RSs for at least one AI / ML operation; and receive, from the UE based on the TA configuration, the set of RSs with TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation. In certain aspects, the one or more location servers 168 may have a TA configuration component 197 that may be configured to transmit either: (1) a TA configuration to a UE for transmitting a set of RSs for at least AI / ML operation, or (2) a request to a first network entity for generating and transmitting the TA configuration to the UE for transmitting the set of RSs for the at least one AI / ML operation; and receive, from the UE or the first network entity based129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 17 / 93on the TA configuration or the request, at least one of: (1) a set of RS measurements based on the set of RSs, or (2) a TA indicator that includes at least one parameter or value applied by the UEfortransmittingthe setof RSs based on the TA configuration.

[0067] FIG. 2 A is a diagram 200 illustrating an example of a first subframe within a 5G R frame structure. FIG. 2B is a diagram 230 illustrating an example of DL channels within a 5G NR subframe. FIG. 2C is a diagram 250 illustrating an example of a second subframe within a 5G NR frame structure. FIG. 2D is a diagram 280 illustrating an example of UL channels within a 5 G NR subframe. The 5 G NR frame structure may be frequency division duplexed (FDD) in which for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated for either DL or UL, or may be time division duplexed (TDD) in which for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated for both DL andUL. In the examples provided by FIGs. 2A, 2C, the 5G NR frame structure is assumed to be TDD, with subframe 4 being configured with slot format 28 (with mostly DL), where D is DL, U is UL, and F is flexible for use between DL / UL, and subframe 3 being configured with slot format 1 (with all UL). While subframes 3, 4 are shown with slot formats 1, 28, respectively, any particular subframe may be configured with any of the various available slot formats 0-61. Slot formats 0, 1 are all DL, UL, respectively. Other slot formats 2-61 include a mix of DL, UL, and flexible symbols. UEs are configured with the slot format (dynamically through DL control information (DCI), or semi- statically / statically through radio resource control (RRC) signaling) through a received slot format indicator (SFI). Note that the description infra applies also to a 5G NR frame structure that is TDD.

[0068] FIGs. 2 A-2D illustrate a frame structure, and the aspects of the present disclosure may be applicable to other wireless communication technologies, which may have a different frame structure and / or different channels. A frame (10 ms) may be divided into 10 equally sized subframes (1 ms). Each subframe may include one or more time slots. Subframes may also include mini-slots, which may include 7, 4, or 2 symbols. Each slot may include 14 or 12 symbols, depending on whether the cyclic prefix (CP) is normal or extended. For normal CP, each slot may include 14 symbols, and for extended CP, each slot may include 12 symbols. The symbols on DL may be CP orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) (CP-OFDM) symbols. The129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 18 / 93symbols on UL may be CP-OFDM symbols (for high throughput scenarios) or discrete Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols (for power limited scenarios; limited to a single stream transmission). The number of slots within a subframe is based on the CP and the numerology. The numerology defines the subcarrier spacing (SCS) (see Table 1). The symbol length / duration may scale with 1 / SCS.SCSp Cyclic prefixA / = ■ 15 [kHz]0 15 Normal1 30 Normal2 60 Normal,Extended3 120 Normal4 240 Normal5 480 Normal6 960 NormalTable 1: Numerology, SCS, and CP

[0069] For normal CP (14 symbols / slot), different numerologies p 0 to 4 allowfor 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 slots, respectively, per subframe. For extended CP, the numerology 2 allows for 4 slots per subframe. Accordingly, for normal CP and numerology p, there are 14 symbols / slot and 2μslots / subframe. The subcarrier spacing may be equal to 2^ * 15 kHz, where μ is the numerology 0 to 4. As such, the numerology p=0 has a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz and the numerology p=4 has a subcarrier spacing of 240 kHz. The symbol length / duration is inversely related to the subcarrier spacing. FIGs.2A-2D provide an example of normal CP with 14 symbols per slot and numerology p=2 with 4 slots per subframe. The slot duration is 0.25 ms, the subcarrier spacing is 60 kHz, and the symbol duration is approximately 16.67 ps. Within a set of frames, there may be one or more different bandwidth parts (BWPs) (see FIG. 2B) that are frequency division multiplexed. Each BWP may have a particular numerology and CP (normal or extended).

[0070] A resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each time slot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs)) that extends 12129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 19 / 93consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into multiple resource elements (REs). The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0071] As illustrated in FIG. 2A, some of the REs carry reference (pilot) signals (RS) for the UE. The RS may include demodulation RS (DM-RS) (indicated as Rfor one particular configuration, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) and channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) for channel estimation attheUE. The RS may also include beam measurement RS (BRS), beam refinement RS (BRRS), and phase tracking RS (PT-RS).

[0072] FIG. 2B illustrates an example of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame.The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs) (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs), each CCE including six RE groups (REGs), each REG including 12 consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol of an RB. A PDCCH within one BWP may be referred to as a control resource set (CORESET). A UE is configured to monitor PDCCH candidates in a PDCCH search space (e.g., common search space, UE-specific search space) during PDCCH monitoring occasions on the CORESET, where the PDCCH candidates have different DCI formats and different aggregation levels. Additional BWPs may be located at greater and / or lower frequencies across the channel bandwidth. A primary synchronization signal (PSS) may be within symbol 2 of particular subframes of a frame. The PSS is used by a UE 104 to determine subframe / symbol timing and a physical layer identity. A secondary synchronization signal (SSS) may be within symbol 4 of particular subframes of a frame. The SSS is used by a UE to determine a physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine a physical cell identifier (PCI). Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the locations of the DM-RS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH), which carries a master information block (MIB), may be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH block (also referred to as SS block (SSB)). The MIB provides a number of RBs in the system bandwidth and a system frame number (SFN). The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted through the PBCH such as system information blocks (SIBs), and paging messages.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 20 / 93

[0073] As illustrated in FIG. 2C, some of the REs carry DM-RS (indicated as R for one particular configuration, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) for channel estimation at the base station. The UE may transmit DM-RS for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and DM-RS for the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The PUSCH DM-RS may be transmitted in the first one or two symbols of the PUSCH. The PUCCH DM-RS may be transmitted in different configurations depending on whether short or long PUCCHs are transmitted and depending on the particular PUCCH format used. The UE may transmit sounding reference signals (SRS). The SRS may be transmitted in the last symbol of a subframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and a UE may transmit SRS on one of the combs. The SRS may be used by a base station for channel quality estimation to enable frequencydependent scheduling on the UL.

[0074] FIG. 2D illustrates an example of various UL channels within a subframe of a frame.The PUCCH may be located as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, a channel quality indicator (CQI), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a rank indicator (RI), and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) (HARQ-ACK) feedback (i.e., one or more HARQ ACK bits indicating one or more ACK and / or negative ACK (NACK)). The PUSCH carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report (PHR), and / or UCI.

[0075] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a base station 310 in communication with a UE 350 in an access network. In the DL, Internet protocol (IP) packets may be provided to a controller / processor 375. The controller / processor 375 implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality. Layer 3 includes a radio resource control (RRC) layer, and layer 2 includes a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium access control (MAC) layer. The controller / processor 375 provides RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 21 / 93verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer packet data units (PDUs), error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0076] The transmit (TX) processors 16 and the receive (RX) processor 370 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, which includes a physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of the transport channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, andMIMO antenna processing The TX processor 316 handles mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an OFDM subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then combined together using an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carryingatime domain OFDMsymbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially precoded to produce multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator 374 may be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimate may be derived from a reference signal and / or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 350. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a different antenna 320 via a separate transmitter 318Tx. Each transmitter 318Tx may modulate a radio frequency (RF) carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

[0077] At the UE 350, each receiver 354Rx receives a signal through its respective antenna 352. Each receiver 354Rx recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the receive (RX) processor 356. The TX processor 368 and the RX processor 356 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 22 / 93signal processing functions. TheRX processor 356 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 350. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 350, they may be combined by the RX processor 356 into a single OFDM symbol stream. The RX processor 356 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time-domain to the frequency domain using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, and the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted by the base station 310. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by the channel estimator 358. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals that were originally transmitted by the base station 310 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to the controller / processor 359, which implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality.

[0078] The controller / processor 359 can be associated with at least one memory 360 that stores program codes and data. The at least one memory 360 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller / processor 359 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets. The controller / processor 359 is also responsible for error detection using an ACK and / or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

[0079] Similar to the functionality described in connection with the DL transmission by the base station 310, the controller / processor 359 provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs) acquisition, RRC connections, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, and security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto TBs, demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 23 / 93

[0080] Channel estimates derived by a channel estimator 358 from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 310 may be used by the TX processor 368 to select the appropriate coding and modulation schemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the TX processor 368 may be provided to different antenna 352 via separate transmitters 354Tx. Each transmitter 354 Tx may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

[0081] The UL transmission is processed at the base station 310 in a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver function atthe UE 350. Each receiver 318Rx receives a signal through its respective antenna 320. Each receiver 318Rx recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to a RX processor 370.

[0082] The controller / processor 375 can be associated with at least one memory 376 that stores program codes and data. The at least one memory 376 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller / processor 375 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets. The controller / processor 375 is also responsible for error detection using an ACK and / or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

[0083] At least one of the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller / processor 359 may be configured to perform aspects in connection with the TA application component 198 of FIG. 1.

[0084] At least one of the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller / processor 375 may be configured to perform aspects in connection with the TA configuration component 199 of FIG. 1.

[0085] FIG. 4 is a diagram 400 illustrating an example of aUEpositioningbased on reference signal measurements (which may also be referred to as “network -based positioning”) in accordance with variousaspectsofthe present disclosure. The UE404 may transmit UL SRS 412 at time TSRS_TX and receive DL positioning reference signals (PRS) (DL PRS) 410 at time TPRSRX- The TRP 406 may receive the UL SRS 412 at time TSRS_RX and transmit the DL PRS 410 at time TpRSTX- The UE 404 may receive the DL PRS 410 before transmitting the UL SRS 412, or may transmit the UL SRS 412 before receiving the DL PRS 410. In both cases, a positioning server(e.g., location servers) 168) or the UE 404 may determine the RTT 414 based on ||TSRS RX - TpRSTX| - 129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 24 / 93ITSRS _TX - TPRS _RX||. Accordingly, multi-RTT positioning may make use of the UE Rx-Tx time difference measurements (i.e., |TSRS_TX- TPRS RXI) andDLPRS reference signal received power (RSRP) (DL PRS-RSRP) of downlink signals received from multiple TRPs 402, 406 and measured by the UE 404, and the measured TRP Rx-Tx time difference measurements (i.e., |TSRS_RX - TPRSTX|) and UL SRS-RSRP at multiple TRPs 402, 406 of uplink signals transmitted from UE 404. The UE 404 measures the UE Rx-Tx time difference measurements (and / or DL PRS-RSRP of the received signals) using assistance data received from the positioning server, and the TRPs 402, 406 measure the gNB Rx-Tx time difference measurements (and / or UL SRS-RSRP of the received signals) using assistance data received from the positioning server. The measurements may be used atthe positioning server or the UE 404 to determine the RTT, which is used to estimate the location of the UE 404. Other methods are possible for determining the RTT, such as for example using DL-TDOA and / or UL-TDOA measurements.

[0086] PRSs may be defined for network-based positioning (e.g., NR positioning) to enable UEs to detect and measure more neighbor transmission and reception points (TRPs), where multiple configurations are supported to enable a variety of deployments (e.g, indoor, outdoor, sub-6, mmW, etc.). To support PRS beam operation, beam sweeping may also be configured for PRS. The UL positioning reference signal may be based on sounding reference signals (SRSs) with enhancements / adjustments for positioning purposes. In some examples, UL-PRS may be referred to as “SRS for positioning” and a new Information Element (IE) may be configured for SRS for positioning in RRC signaling.

[0087] DL PRS-RSRP may be defined as the linear average over the power contributions (in [W]) of the resource elements of the antenna port(s) that carry DL PRS reference signals configured for RSRP measurements within the considered measurement frequency bandwidth. In some examples, for FR1, the referencepointfortheDL PRS- RSRP may be the antenna connector of the UE. For FR2, DL PRS-RSRP may be measured based on the combined signal from antenna elements corresponding to a given receiver branch. ForFRl and FR2, if receiver diversity is in use by the UE, the reported DL PRS-RSRP value may not be lower than the corresponding DL PRS- RSRP of any of the individual receiver branches. Similarly, UL SRS-RSRP may be defined as linear average of the power contributions (in [W]) of the resource elements129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 25 / 93carrying sounding reference signals (SRS). UL SRS-RSRP may be measured over the configured resource elements within the considered measurement frequency bandwidth in the configured measurement time occasions. In some examples, for FR1, the reference point for the UL SRS-RSRP may be the antenna connector of the base station (e.g., gNB). For FR2, UL SRS-RSRP may be measured based on the combined signal from antenna elements correspondingto a given receiver branch. For FR1 and FR2, if receiver diversity is in use by the base station, the reported UL SRS- RSRP value may not be lower than the corresponding UL SRS-RSRP of any of the individual receiver branches.

[0088] PRS-path RSRP (PRS-RSRPP) may be defined as the power of the linear average of the channel response at the i-th path delay of the resource elements that carry DL PRS signal configured for the measurement, where DL PRS-RSRPP for the 1 st path delay is the power contribution corresponding to the first detected path in time. In some examples, PRS path Phase measurement may refer to the phase associated with an i- th path of the channel derived using a PRS resource.

[0089] DL-AoD positioning may make use of the measured DL PRS-RSRP of downlink signals received from multiple TRPs 402, 406 at the UE 404. The UE 404 measures the DL PRS-RSRP of the received signals using assistance data received from the positioning server, and the resulting measurements are used along with the azimuth angle of departure (A-AoD), the zenith angle of departure (Z-AoD), and other configuration information to locate the UE 404 in relation to the neighboring TRPs 402, 406.

[0090] DL-TDOA positioning may make use of the DL reference signal time difference (RSTD) (and / or DL PRS-RSRP) of downlink signals received from multiple TRPs 402, 406 at the UE 404. The UE 404 measures the DL RSTD (and / or DL PRS-RSRP) of the received signals using assistance data received from the positioning server, and the resulting measurements are used along with other configuration information to locate the UE 404 in relation to the neighboring TRPs 402, 406.

[0091] UL-TDOA positioning may make use of the UL relative time of arrival (RTOA)(and / or UL SRS-RSRP) at multiple TRPs 402, 406 of uplink signals transmitted from UE 404. The TRPs 402, 406 measure the UL-RTOA (and / or UL SRS-RSRP) of the received signals using assistance data received from the positioning server, and the129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 26 / 93resulting measurements are used along with other configuration information to estimate the location of the UE 404.

[0092] UL-AoApositioningmay make use of the measured azimuth angle of arrival (A-AoA) and zenith angle of arrival (Z-AoA) at multiple TRPs 402, 406 of uplink signals transmitted from the UE 404. The TRPs 402, 406 measure the A-AoA and the Z-AoA of the received signals using assistance data received from the positioning server, and the resulting measurements are used along with other configuration information to estimate the location of the UE 404. For purposes of the present disclosure, a positioning operation in which measurements are provided by a UE to a base station / positioningentity / serverto be used in the computation of theUE’s position may be described as “UE-assisted,” “UE-assisted positioning,” and / or “UE-assisted position calculation,” while a positioning operation in which a UE measures and computes its own position maybe described as“UE-based,” “UE-based positioning,” and / or “UE-based position calculation.”

[0093] Additional positioning methods may be used for estimating the location of the UE 404, such as for example, UE-side UL-AoD and / or DL-AoA. Note that data / measurements from various technologies may be combined in various ways to increase accuracy, to determine and / or to enhance certainty, to supplement / complement measurements, and / or to substitute / provide for missing information.

[0094] Note that the terms “positioning reference signal” and “PRS” generally refer to specific reference signals that are used for positioning in NR and LTE systems. However, as used herein, the terms “positioning reference signal” and “PRS” may also refer to any type of reference signal that can be used for positioning, such as but not limited to, PRS as defined in LTE and NR, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSLRS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, SRS, UL-PRS, etc. In addition, the terms “positioning reference signal” and “PRS” may refer to downlink or uplink positioning reference signals, unless otherwise indicated by the context. To further distinguish the type of PRS, a downlink positioning reference signal may be referred to as a “DL PRS,” and an uplink positioning reference signal (e.g., an SRS-for-positioning, PTRS) may be referred to as an “UL-PRS.” In addition, for signals that may be transmitted in both the uplink and downlink (e.g., DMRS, PTRS), the signals may be prepended with “UL” or “DL” to distinguish the direction. For example, “UL-DMRS” may be129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 27 / 93differentiated from “DL-DMRS.” In addition, the term “location” and “position” may be used interchangeably throughout the specification, which may referto a particular geographical or a relative place.

[0095] For purposes of the present disclosure, “UE Rx - Tx time difference” may be defined as TUE. RX - TUE-TX, where: TUE. Rx is the UE received timing of downlink subframe #i from a Transmission Point (TP), defined by the first detected path in time. TUE-TX is the UE transmit timing of uplink subframe #j that is closest in time to the subframe #i received from the TP. Multiple DL PRS or CSI-RS for tracking resources, as instructed by higher layers, can be used to determine the start of one subframe of the first arrival path of the TP. For frequency range 1, the reference point for TUE. Rx measurement may be the Rx antenna connector of the UE and the reference point for TUE-TX measurement may be the Tx antenna connector of the UE. For frequency range 2, the reference point for TUE. Rx measurement may be the Rx antenna of the UE and the reference point for TUE-TX measurement may be the Tx antenna of the UE.

[0096] “DL reference signal time difference (DLRSTD)” is the DL relative timing difference between the Transmission Point (TP) j and the reference TP z, defined as TsubframeRxj - TsubframeRxi, where: TsubframeRxj is the time when the UE receives the start of one subframe from TP j. TSubframeRxi is the time when the UE receives the corresponding start of one subframe from TP z that is closest in time to the subframe received from TP j. Multiple DL PRS resources can be used to determine the start of one subframe from a TP. For frequency range 1, the reference point for the DL RSTD may be the antenna connector of the UE. For frequency range 2, the reference point for the DL RSTD may be the antenna of the UE.

[0097] “DL PRS reference signal received power (DL PRS-RSRP),” is defined as the linear average over the power contributions (in [W]) of the resource elements that carry DL PRS reference signals configured for RSRP measurements within the considered measurement frequency bandwidth. For frequency range 1, the reference point for the DL PRS-RSRP may be the antenna connector of the UE. For frequency range 2, DL PRS-RSRP may be measured based on the combined signal from antenna elements corresponding to a given receiver branch. For frequency range 1 and 2, if receiver diversity is in use by the UE, the reported DL PRS-RSRP value may notbe lower than the corresponding DL PRS-RSRP of any of the individual receiver branches.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 28 / 93

[0098] “DL PRS reference signal received path power (DL PRS-RSRPP),” is defined as the power of the linear average of the channel response at the i-th path delay of the resource elements that carry DL PRS signal configured for the measurement, where DL PRS-RSRPP for the 1 st path delay is the power contribution corresponding to the first detected path in time. For frequency range 1, the reference point for the DL PRS- RSRPP may be the antenna connector of the UE. For frequency range 2, DL PRS- RSRPP may be measured based on the combined signal from antenna elements corresponding to a given receiver branch. For frequency range 1 and 2, if receiver diversity is in use by the UE for DL PRS-RSRPP measurements, the reported DL PRS-RSRPP value included in the higher layer parameter NR-DL-AoD-MeasElement for the first and additional measurements may be provided for the same receiver branch(es) as applied for DL PRS-RSRP measurements

[0099] “DL reference signal carrier phase (RSCP)” is defined as the phase of the channel response at the 1stpath delay derived from the resource elements carrying DL PRS configured for the measurement. DL RSCP is associated with the center frequency of the DL positioning frequency layer (PFL) configured for the measurement for RRC connected, RRC inactive, and RRC idle modes. For frequency range 1, the reference point for the DL RSCP may be the antenna connector of the UE. For frequency range 2, the reference point for the DL RSCP may be the antenna of the UE.

[0100] “DL reference signal carrier phase difference (RSCPD)” is defined as the difference of DL RSCPs measured from DL PRS transmitted in a DL PFL from the transmission point(TP) j and the reference TP i. If UE reports RSCPD measurements together with RSTD measurements in a measurement report element, the reference TP for RSCPD is the same as the reference TP reported for RSTD. For frequency range 1, the reference point for the DL RSCPD may be the antenna connector of the UE. For frequency range 2, the reference point for the DL RSCPD may be the antenna of the UE.

[0101] FIG. 5 is a diagram 500 illustrating an example radio access technology (RAT)- dependent positioning in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. For existing (e.g., classical) RAT-dependent positioning as discussed in connection with FIG. 4, as shown at 502, a positioning device / entity may be configured to input reference signal measurement(s), such as channel frequency response (CFR), channel impulse response (CIR), power delay profile (PDP), delay profile (DP) of PRS / SRS,129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 29 / 93etc., to a path finding algorithm to obtain a set of intermediate positioning measurements (e.g., RSTD, RTOA, LOS indicator, UE / gNB Rx-Tx time difference, etc.). Then, as shown at 504, the set of intermediate positioning measurements may be provided to a positioning engine (PE) to derive the location of a target, such as the coordinates of the target (which may be the positioning device itself). However, the existing RAT-dependent positioning may not be able to provide accurate positioning when the target is under non-line-of-sight (NLO S) conditions, such as when the target is in an urban dense area surrounded by tall buildings.

[0102] In some implementations, at least one artificial intelligence (Al) / machine learning (ML) (AI / ML) model may be configured / implemented at an entity / node (e.g., a UE, a network entity / node such as a base station, a location server, a location management function (LMF), etc.) for assisting the entity / node with the positioning of a UE (e.g., a target). For example, an AI / ML model may be trained to determine the position of a UE based on DL-AoA, DL-TDOA, CIR, radio frequency (RF) fingerprinting, etc. In most scenarios, using an AI / ML model may significantly improve UE positioning latency, accuracy / reliability, and / or efficiency. For example, AI / ML may enhance positioning accuracy inNLOS conditionsbecausethe AI / ML may have the capability to learns channel multipath profile and its mapping to location information.

[0103] For purposes of the present disclosure, at a high-level, an “AI / ML model” may refer to a program / algorithm that is capable of being trained on a set of data (which may be referred to as “training data”) to make certain decisions (without further human intervention), to recognize certain patterns, and / or predict certain outcomes, etc. In some examples and depending on the context, an “AI / ML model” may also refer to an actual physical model with given parameters and weights, and / or may refer to a logical model for which one or more models can be considered but all seen as one logical model from identification stand point. Similarly, depending on the context, an “AI / ML functionality” may refer to employing AI / ML to positioning without referringto an underlying model (physical and / or logical). The AI / ML functionality may still be defined / identified based on measurements of information considered for its inputs and / or outputs. In some examples, the AI / ML functionality may refer to one or more AI / ML model for which model input may refer to a specific measurement type / or and quantities. The one or more model(s) may be logical or physical. The AI / ML functionality may also refer to one or more AI / ML model for which model129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 30 / 93outputmay referto a specific measurementtype / location information and / or quantity. The one or more model(s) can be logical or physical. Depending on the context, sometimes the term “AI / ML model” may be used interchangeably with the term “ AI / ML functionality,” and AI / ML model and AI / ML functionality may collectively be referred to as “AI / ML.”

[0104] In addition, an AI / ML model that is implemented at a UE side may be referred to as a “UE-side model” and / or “UE-side AI / ML model.” On the other hand, an AI / ML model that is implemented at a network side may be referred to as a “network-side model,” “network-side AI / ML model,” and / or (network name)-side AI / ML model (e.g., base station-side AI / ML model, LMF-side AI / ML model, etc.). In addition, positioning that is associated with a UE or a network entity / node using an AI / ML model to determine the position of the UE may be referred to as “direct AI / ML positioning,” whereas positioning that is associated with a UE or a network entity / node performingpositioningrelated measurements using an AI / ML model (and transmitting the positioning related measurements to another entity) to determine the position of the UE may be referred to as “AI / ML assisted positioning” and / or “assisted AI / ML positioning.” Also, UE-based positioning (e.g., UE determines its own position) using at least one UE-side AI / ML model may be referred to as “direct UE AI / ML positioning” and / or “UE direct AI / ML positioning,” whereas UE-assisted positioning (e.g., a UE provides positioning measurements and a network entity, such as anLMF, determines the position for the UEbased on the positioningmeasurements provided by the UE) using at least one UE-side AI / ML model may be referred to as “UE AI / ML assisted positioning,” “UE assisted AI / ML positioning” “AI / ML assisted UE positioning,” and / or “AI / ML UE assisted positioning,” etc. Similarly, networkbased positioning (e.g., a network entity, such as an LMF, determines the position for the UE) using at least one network / LMF-side AI / ML model may be referred to as “direct network / LMF AI / ML positioning” and / or “network / LMF direct AI / ML positioning.”

[0105] FIG. 6A is a diagram 600A illustrating an example of direct AI / ML positioning in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. For direct AI / ML positioning, an entity / node (e.g., a UE, a network entity / node such as a base station, a location server, etc.) may use at least one AI / ML model to determine the position of a UE or a target. For example, as shown at 602, the entity / node may input a set of129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 31 / 93PRS / SRS measurements (e.g., CFR, CIR, PDP, DP, RSTD / difference-RSTD, RTOA / difference-RTOA, RSRP / RSRPP, etc.) to a direct AI / ML positioning model, and the direct AI / ML positioning model may output the location of the UE / target, such as the coordinates of the UE / target.

[0106] FIG. 6B is a diagram 600B illustrating an example of AI / ML assisted positioning in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. For AI / ML assisted positioning, an entity / node (e.g., aUE, a network entity / node such as abase station, etc.) may use at least one AI / ML model to assistthe measurement of reference signals (e.g., positioningreference signals such as PRS, SRS, etc.). Then, the entity / node may transmit the reference signal measurements to a location server, such as an LMF. In response, the location server may determine the position of a UE / target based on a non-AI / ML mechanism / algorithm, or based on using another AI / ML model to determine the position of the UE / target. For example, as shown at 604, the entity / node may input a set of PRS / SRS measurements (e.g., CFR, CIR, PDP, DP, RSTD / difference-RSTD, RTOA / difference-RTOA, RSRP / RSRPP, etc.) related to a UE / target to an AI / ML assisted positioning model, and the AI / ML assisted positioning model may output a set of intermediate positioning measurements (e.g, RSTD, RTOA, LOS indicator, UE / gNB Rx-Tx time difference, etc.). Then, as shown at 606, the set of intermediate positioning measurements may be provided to a positioning engine (PE) (or another AI / ML model) to derive the location of the UE / target, such as the coordinates of the UE / target (which may be the entity / node itself).

[0107] FIG. 7 is a diagram 700 illustrating an example of UE-based positioning with aUE- side AI / ML model, direct AI / ML or AI / ML assisted positioning in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In one implementation, a UE 702 may be associated with at least one AI / ML model 708, and the UE 702 may use the at least one AI / ML model 708 to perform the direct AI / ML positioning and / or the assisted AI / ML positioning based on downlink (DL) reference signals, such as positioning reference signals (PRSs). For example, the UE 702 may receive and measure a set of PRSs transmitted from a base station 706 (this may also be one or more base stations and / or one or more TRPs), such as measuring the reference signal received power (RSRP), channel impulse response (CIR), DL-AoD, reference signal time difference (RSTD), time of arrival (To A), and / or time of flight (ToF) of the set of PRSs, etc.,129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 32 / 93which may be collectively be referred to as “PRS measurement(s)” and / or “PRS- based measurement(s).” In some examples, the UE 702 may use the at least one AI / ML model 708 for measuring the set of PRSs (e.g., for assisted AI / ML positioning). In some examples, based on the PRS measurement(s), the UE 702 may use the at least one AI / ML model 708 for determining its position (e.g., for direct AI / ML positioning). Note in this assisted AI / ML positioning example, the UE 702 may use the at least one AI / ML model 708 for performing PRS measurements, and the UE 702 may determine its position based on the PRS measurements without the assistance of an AI / ML model.

[0108] FIG. 8A is a diagram 800A illustrating an example of UE-assisted / LMF-based positioning with a UE-side AI / ML model, AI / ML assisted positioning in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In another implementation, a UE 702 may be associated with at least one AI / ML model 708, and the UE 702 may use the at least one AI / ML model 708 to perform or assist measurement(s) of DL reference signals. For example, the UE 702 may receive and measure a set of PRSs transmitted from abase station 706 (this may also be one or more base stations and / or one or more TRPs) with the assistance of the atleastone AI / ML model 708, which may be referred to as “PRS-based measurement(s).” Then, the UE 702 may transmit the PRS-based measurement(s) (e.g., the output of the at least one AI / ML model 708 such as the RSTD, the LOS indicator, the UE Rx-Tx time difference, etc.) to a location server 704, such as an LMF. In response, the location server 704 may determine the position of the UE 702 based on the PRS-based measurement(s) (with or without suing an AI / ML model).

[0109] FIG. 8B is a diagram 800B illustrating an example of UE-assisted / LMF-based positioning with an LMF-side AI / ML model, direct AI / ML positioning in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In another implementation, a UE 702 may not include a UE-side AI / ML model, and a location server 704 may use at least one AI / ML model 708 to determine the position of the UE 702. For example, the UE 702 may receive and measure a set of PRSs transmitted from a base station 706, and the UE 702 may transmit the PRS-based measurement(s) (e.g., CIR / PDP / DP, RSTD / difference-RSTD, RSRP / RSRPP, etc.) to the location server 704, such as an LMF. Based on the PRS-based measurement(s) from the UE 702, the location server 704 may use the PRS-based measurement(s) as an input to at least one AI / ML model129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 33 / 93708, and receive the position oftheUE702 as an output from the at least one AI / ML model 708.

[0110] FIG. 9A is a diagram 900A illustrating an example of network (e.g., NG-RAN) node assisted positioning with a base station (gNB)-side AI / ML model, AI / ML assisted positioning in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In another implementation, a network node, such as a base station 706, may be associated with at least one AI / ML model 708, and the base station 706 may use the at least one AI / ML model 708 to assist measurement(s) of uplink (UL) reference signals, such as sounding reference signals (SRSs). For example, the UE 702 may transmit a set of SRSs to the base station 706 (this may also be one or more base stations and / or one or more TRPs), and the base station 706 may receive and measure the set of SRSs (which may be referred to as “SRS-based measurement(s)”) with the assistance of the at least one AI / ML model 708. Then, the base station 706 may transmitthe SRS-based measurement(s) (e.g., the output of the at least one AI / ML model 708 such as the RTOA, LOS indicator, gNB Rx-Tx time difference, etc.) to a location server 704, such as an LMF. In response, the location server 704 may determine the position of the UE 702 based on the SRS-based measurement(s) (with or without suing an AI / ML model).

[0111] FIG. 9B is a diagram 900B illustrating an example of network (e.g., NG-RAN) node assisted positioning with LMF-side AI / ML model, direct AI / ML positioning in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In another implementation, a network node, such as a base station 706 (this may also be one or morebase stations and / or one or more TRPs), may not include an AI / ML model, and a location server 704 may use at least one AI / ML model 708 to determine the position of a UE 702. For example, the UE 702 may transmit a set of SRSs to the base station 706, and the base station 706 may receive and measure the set of SRSs. Then, the base station 706 may transmitthe SRS-based measurement(s) to the location server 704, such as an LMF. Based on the SRS-based measurement(s) fromthe base station 706, the location server 704 may use the SRS-based measurement(s) as an input to at least one AI / ML model 708, and receive the position of the UE 702 as an output from the at least one AI / ML model 708. For purposes of the present disclosure, positioning described in connection with FIGs. 7, 8 A, and 8B may be referred to as AI / ML positioning based129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 34 / 93on DL reference signals, and positioning described in connection with FIGs. 9 A and 9B may be referred to as AI / ML positioning based on UL reference signals.

[0112] In some implementations, for direct AI / ML positioningas described in connection with FIGs. 8B and 9B, type(s) of measurement(s) that may be used as (suitable / potential) inputfor AI / ML model inferenceconsideringperformance impact and associated signaling overhead may include channel impulse response (CIR), power delay profile (PDP), reference signal receive power (RSRP), reference signal received path power (RSRPP), and / or reference signal time difference (RSTD), etc. For AI / ML assisted positioning with UE-assisted and network node-assisted positioning described in connection with FIGs. 8 A and 9 A, respectively, measurement report to carry AI / ML model (suitable / potential) output to a location server such as an LMF may include ToA, path phase, RSTD, line-of-sight(LOS) / non-line-of-sight (NLOS) indicator, RSRPP, and / or soft inf ormation / high resolution of RSTD, etc. In some examples, AI / ML model inference output that may provide performance benefits may include timing estimation (note the report to LMF may be derived based on and maybe different from the model inference output) and / or LOS / NLOS indicator.

[0113] For network node assisted positioning such as described in connection with FIG. 9 A, at least LOS / NLOS indicator and / or timing information may be supported by a base station (e.g., the base station 706) for reporting (e.g., to a location server such as the location server 704). If LOS / NLOS indicator is reported by the base station, the indicator may be reported as a soft indicator or a hard indicator depending on implementations. If timinginformationis reported, the base station maybe configured to report the timing information via UL RTOA or gNB Rx-Tx time difference. Similarly, for UE-assisted positioning such as describedin connection with FIG. 8A, at least LOS / NLOS indicator and / or timing information may be supported by a UE (e.g., the UE 702) for reporting (e.g., to a location server such as the location server 704). If LOS / NLOS indicator is reported by the UE, the indicator may be reported as a soft indicator or a hard indicator depending on implementations. If timing information is reported, the base station may be configured to report the timing information via DL RSTD or UE Rx-Tx time difference.

[0114] For AI / ML based positioning such as described in connection with FIG. 9B, at least (1) timing information, and / or (2) paired timing information and power information129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 35 / 93may be supported by a base station (e.g., the base station 706) for reporting time domain channel measurements. Similarly, for AI / ML based positioning such as described in connection with FIG. 8A, at least (1) timing information, and / or (2) paired timing information and power information may be supported by a UE (e.g., the UE 702) for reporting time domain channel measurements (e.g., to a location server such as the location server 704 or an LMF).

[0115] In addition to various positioning mechanisms discussed in connection with FIG. 4, a wireless device may also detect / locate / track a target based on sensing. For purposes of the present disclosure and in the context of positioning, sensing may refer to a process of detecting, measuring, and interpreting information about an object’s range, cross-range, location, orientation, speed, acceleration, or movement in a space. For example, a wireless device (e.g., a TRP, a base station, a component of the base station, a UE, etc.) may have radar capabilities (which may be referredto asthe “radio frequency (RF) sensing” and / or the “cellular-based RF sensing,” where the wireless device may transmit radar reference signals (RRSs) and measure the RRSs reflected from one or more objects. Based at least in parton the measurement of the reflected RRSs, the wireless device may determine or estimate a distance (and / or a direction) between the wireless device and the one or more objects. In another example, a first wireless device may also receive RRSs transmitted from a second wireless device, where the first wireless device may determine or estimate a distance (and / or a direction) between the first wireless device and the second wireless device based at least in part on the received RRS. As such, in some examples, RF sensing techniques may be used for UE positioning and / or for assisting UE positioning.

[0116] For purposes of the present disclosure, a device that is capable of performing RF sensing (e.g., transmitting and / or receiving RRS for detecting an object or for estimating the distance between the device and the object) may be referred to as a “sensing node” or an “RF sensing node.” For example, a sensing node / RF sensing node may be a UE, a base station, a component of the base station, a TRP, a device capable of transmitting RRS, and / or a device configured to perform radar functions, etc. In some examples, the term “sensing node” and “RF sensing node” may also be used interchangeably with the term “radar.” An RF sensing measurement may refer to any measurements that are associated with RF sensing.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 36 / 93

[0117] Due to an increased amount of bandwidth (BW) being allocated for cellular communications systems (e.g., 5G and beyond) and an increased amount of applications being introduced with cellular communications systems, joint communication and RF sensing, which may also be referred to as integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) and / or joint communication-radar (JCR), have become an important feature for many cellular systems. For example, a wireless device may be configured to transmit communication signals (e.g., PDSCH, PUSCH, PSSCH, etc.) with radar signals (e.g., RRS, frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) signals, etc.) together or close in time (e.g., based on TDM, FDM, SDM, etc.). In addition, OFDM waveform (or its variants) may be used as the waveform for the ISAC / JCR as the OFDM waveform may enable in-band multiplexing with other cellular reference signals and physical channels. As such, the radar signals may be multiplexed with communication signals based on OFDM waveform. For purposes of the present disclosure, a wireless device that perf orms an RF sensing based on OFDM waveform(s) or transmits RRS based on OFDM waveform(s) may be referred to as an “OFDM radar.”

[0118] In the context of ISAC or ISAC channel modelling, the following terms and definitions may be used.(1) Sensing transmitter: awireless device (e.g., aTRP, aUE, etc.) that sends out the sensing signal which the sensing service may use in its operation. A sensing transmitter may be located in the same or different wireless device (e.g., same or different TRP or UE) as the sensing receiver.(2) Sensing receiver: a wireless device (e.g., a TRP, a UE, etc.) that receives the sensing signal which the sensing service may use in its operation. A sensing receiver may be located in the same or different TRP or a UE as the sensing transmitter. (3) Sensing target: target that need to be sensed by deriving characteristics of the objects within the environment from the sensing signal.(4) Background environment: background (clutter and / or environmental objects) that are not the sensing target(s).(5) Mono-static sensing: sensing where a sensing transmitter that transmits a sensing signal and a sensing receiver that receives the sensing signal are co-located in the same wireless device (e.g., in the same TRP or UE).129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 37 / 93(6) Bi-static sensing: sensing where a sensing transmitter that transmits a sensing signal and a sensing receiver that receives the sensing signal are not co-located in the same wireless device (e.g., not co-located in the same TRP or UE).(7) Multi-static sensing: sensing where there are multiple sensing transmitters and / or multiple sensing receivers, for a sensing target.(8) Sensing signal: transmissions on a radio interface (e.g., the 3GPP radio interface) that may be used for sensing purposes.

[0119] Sensing operation may be implemented in a couple of different ways, from radar like sensing where the sensing transmitter and sensing receiver are co-located in the same entity, which may be referred to as the monostatic sensing, to have the sensing receiver and sensing transmitter in different entities, which may be referred to as the bistatic sensing. A more advanced scenario with multiple sensing transmitters and receivers is also possible, which may be referred to as the multi-static sensing. The reflections of the sensing signal sent from the sensing transmitter are received by the sensing receiver and processed to obtain characteristics of the sensed object and its environment (e.g., location).

[0120] FIG. 10A is a diagram 1000 A illustrating an example of sensing with co-located sensing receiver and sensing transmitter (e.g., monostatic sensing) in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Under mono-static sensing, the sensing transmitter (e.g., the Tx antenna panel) and the sensing receiver (e.g., the Rx antenna panel) of the RF sensor are co-located, such as in the same communication system 1002 (e.g., the same TRP orUE). Thus, the transmission and reception of the sensing signals may be performed by one device. An advantage of mono-static sensing is that it may not specify Tx / Rx (transmitter / receiver) pairing / grouping. However, monostatic sensing may specify self-interference mitigation as the same wireless device is used for transmitting both sensing signals and communication signals.

[0121] FIG. 10B is a diagram 1000B illustrating an example of sensing with separated sensing receiver and sensing transmitter (e.g., bistatic / multi-static sensing) in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Under bistatic / multi-static sensing, the sensing transmitter and the sensing receiver may be separated (e.g., on differentwirelessdevicesand / or locations). For example, the sensingtransmitter (e.g, the Tx antenna panel) of the communication system 1002 may transmit sensing signals from a first location, and the sensing signals reflected from one or more objects129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 38 / 93may be received by the sensing receiver (e.g., the Rx antenna panel) of the communication system 1002 at a second location.

[0122] For the purposes of the present disclosure and in the context of ISAC, the following terms and definitions may be used.(1) Sensing data (or 3GPP sensing data): data derived from radio signals (e.g., 3GPP radio signals) impacted (e.g., reflected, refracted, diffracted) by an object or environment of interest for sensing purposes, and optionally processed within a wireless communication system (e.g., the 5G / 6G system).(2) Wireless sensing (e.g., 5G wireless sensing): a feature providing capabilities to get information about characteristics of the environment and / or objects within the environment (e.g., shape, size, orientation, speed, location, distances or relative motion between objects, etc.) using radio frequency signals (e.g., NR radio frequency signals), which, in some cases, maybe extendedby information created via previously specified functionalities in Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and / or Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN).(3) non-3GPP sensing data: data providedby non-3GPP sensors (e.g., video, LiDAR, sonar) about an object or environment of interest for sensing purposes. (4) Sensing assistance information: information that is provided to a wireless communication system (e.g., the 5G system) from a trusted third-party and may be used to support the derivation of a sensing result. This information may not contain 3GPP sensing data. Examples of sensing assistance information may include map information, area information, a UE ID attached to or in the proximity of the sensing target, UE position information, UE velocity information etc.(5) Sensing contextual information: information that is exposed with the sensing results by a wireless communication system (e.g., the 5G system) to a trusted third- party which provides context to the conditions under which the sensing results were derived. This information may not contain 3 GPP sensing data. Example sensing contextual information may include map information, area information, time of capture, UE location and ID. This contextual information can be required in scenarios where the sensing result is to be combined with data from other sources outside the wireless communication system.(6) Sensing group: a set of sensing transmitters and sensing receivers whose location is known and whose sensing data may be collected synchronously.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 39 / 93(7) Sensing receiver: a sensing receiver is an entity that receives the sensing signal which the sensing service will use in its operation. A sensing receiver may be part of a RAN node or aUE. A sensingreceiver may be located in the same or different entity as the sensing transmitter.(8) Sensing result: processed sensing data (e.g., 3GPP sensing data) requested by a service consumer.(9) Sensing signals: transmissions on a radio interface (e.g., the 3GPP radio interface) that may be used for sensing purposes.(10) Sensing transmitter: a sensing transmitter is the entity that sends out the sensing signal which the sensing service will use in its operation. A sensing transmitter may be part of a RAN node or a UE. A sensing transmitter may be located in the same or different entity as the sensing receiver.(11) Target sensing service area: a cartesian location area that is to be sensed by deriving characteristics of the environment and / or objects within the environment with certain sensing service quality from the impacted (e.g., reflected, refracted, diffracted) radio signals (e.g., 3GPP radio signals). This may include both indoor and outdoor environments.

[0123] RF sensing may be used for extending positioning capabilities for various positioning related applications and devices. Factors affecting sensing performance may include radar cross-section (RCS), mobility, and clutter / scattering patterns, etc. Most current network designs may focus primarily on data transmission, and the radio channel model defined to cover frequencies up to 100GHz was developed. Although RAT- based positioning is supported, the systems may not offer the in-built capability to detect objects not connected to the network. The focus of future sensing may include defining channel modelling aspects to support object detection and / or tracking, and aim at a common modelling framework capable of detecting and / or tracking the following example objects and to enable them to be distinguished from unintended objects: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), humans indoors and outdoors, automotive vehicles (at least outdoors), automated guided vehicles (e.g., in indoor factories), and / or objects creating hazards on roads / railways, with a minimum size dependent on frequency, etc. Frequencies from 0.5 to 52.6 GHz may be the primary focus, with the assumption that the modelling approach may scale to 100 GHz.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 40 / 93

[0124] Example sensing applications, devices, or uses cases may include: (1) transportation (e.g., intrusion detection on a highway, sensing assisted automotive maneuvering and navigation, smart parking and assistance, etc.), (2) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (e.g., UAV flight trajectory tracing, sensing for UAV intrusion detection, etc.), (3) smart city (e.g., rainfall monitoring, tourist spot traffic management, flooding awareness, weather forecasting, public safety search and rescue, etc.), (4) smart home (e.g., intruder detection in smart home, gesture recognition, XR streaming, etc.), (5) health monitoring (e.g., monitoring vital signs and health related measures, sleep / health monitoring, etc.), and / or (6) smart factory (e.g., automated guided vehicles (AGV) detection and tracking in factories, etc.).

[0125] Depending on implementations, sensing may offer various key performance indicators (KPIs), such as accuracy of positioning (horizontal / vertical), accuracy of range and cross-range of target, accuracy of AoA of a target (azimuth / elevation), accuracy of velocity (horizontal / vertical), sensing range / cross-range resolutions, sensing velocity resolution, sensing angle resolution, sensing latency, sensing refreshing rate, receiver operating characteristics (ROC) (e.g., misdetection and false alarm probabilities, etc.), confidence interval / level of sensing, and / or target discrimination, etc.

[0126] FIG. 11 is a diagram 1100 illustrating an example sensing data signal processing flow from analog-to-digital converter (ADC) samples to progressively higher-level data representations associated with an integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. From low levels to high levels, the data types may be listed as raw data, range-angle-doppler (RAD) tensor, point cloud, and grid map. Learning-based frameworks may also be adopted which support the encoding and decoding of different representation types, and additional quantization may be adopted to reduced data size.

[0127] For example, as shown at 1102 (data quantization), at the lowest level, sampling and quantization of the sensing signal may be the initial steps. To reduce the volume of data that is to be processed, various techniques may be implemented. Some methods, such as compressed sensing, may exploit the sparsity of the signal to acquire it at a lower sampling rate. Other methods may use low-bit quantization to reduce complexity and power consumption at the TRP. In particular, the power consumption of ADCs in hybrid architectures may grow exponentially to the number of129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 41 / 93quantization levels, thus elevating the importance of ADC quantization. In extreme cases, sampling may be done with just one bit per sample, significantly reducing the data volume to be transmitted by the TRP. Note that data quantization may be combined with other representations, such as range-angle-doppler (RAD) tensors, point clouds and so on. It may also be used as the format of data to be exchanged in the case of signal-level fusion where the sensing data is sent directly to the fusion center without performing further local processing.

[0128] As shown at 1104 (e.g., RAD tensors), range-angle and range-doppler maps may be fundamental data representations in radar signal processing. These maps may provide a structured way to visualize and analyze the spatial and velocity information of detected targets. In the context of ISAC, these maps may be important for tasks like target detection, localization, and tracking.

[0129] As shown at 1106, point clouds may be a versatile and widely used data representation method in various sensing applications, including radar, LiDAR, and computer vision. In the context of ISAC, point clouds may provide a spatial representation of multiple targets by capturing discrete points in a three-dimensional space. Each point in the cloud may contain information about the target’ s range, velocity, azimuth angle, and elevation angle.

[0130] As shown at 1108, additional representations such as voxel grids, deep learning-based representations, and / or parametric object representations may also be used. Voxel grids are another form of data representation where the 3D space is divided into a grid of volumetric pixels (voxels). Each voxel may store information such as occupancy, intensity, or other attributes. Voxel grids may be particularly useful for representing the environment in autonomous driving and robotics applications. They may provide a structured representation that may be easily processed by algorithms but can be memory intensive. For deep learning-based representations, recent advancements in deep learning have led to the development of improved data representations. For instance, radar data may be transformed into images or tensors that are fed into convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for tasks such as object detection and classification. These representations may leverage the power of deep learning to extract high-level features from raw data, improving the accuracy and robustness of sensing systems. Interesting work has also been done using variational auto-encoders (VAE) which project the input data into a distribution over the latent space. In129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 42 / 93particular, the following forms of deep learning representations may be considered: embeddings, feature vectors (outputs of feature extraction layers), and layer weights, etc. For parametric object representations, by performing object segmentation over the obtained point clouds, scene information may be conveyed with much fewer data. This operation may typically involve two steps: (i) employing clustering algorithms to separate the point cloud into groups that correspond to different environment objects; and (ii) unifying the points of each group to a compact representation, therefore unveiling the shape of each object. To describe shapes of 3D objects, multiple approaches may be taken, such as polygon representations (represented as the convex hulls of each point cloud group), wireframes (interconnected sets of edges), or general parametric shapes, where each shape is represented by the set of its geometric parameters (e.g., center and radius for 3D balls). While accurately representing real objects with geometrical shapes may present its own challenges, once such representation is obtained, very few bytes of information may be transmitted to describe the complete scene.

[0131] For purposes of the present disclosure, sensing that is obtained / derived using an AI / ML model or functionality may collectively be referred to as “AI / ML sensing” For example, under the AI / ML sensing, a set of sensing measurements obtained from one or more sensors (e.g., measurements of radar signals by sensor(s) / receiver(s)) may be input into an AI / ML model / functionality to output the location of one or more targets. In another example, an AI / ML model / functionality may be used to receive raw input(s) from sensor(s) and out a set of sensing measurements that may be used for assisting the sensing of one or more targets (e.g., similar to the AI / ML assisted positioning model that provides intermediate positioning measurements as described in connection with FIG. 6B). An AI / ML sensing model / functionality may be configured to output a sensing result or a key performance indicator (KPI). For example, a target’s (passive object) range, cross-range, location, speed, acceleration, presence indicator, angle info (e.g., AoA, AoA-A(azimuth) / -Z(zenith), etc., or information related to target material, shape, radar cross section (RCS), etc.

[0132] A downlink (DL) transmission waveform may refer to orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) using a cyclic prefix (CP). An uplink (UL) transmission waveform may refer to OFDM using a CP with a transform precoding function performing discrete Fourier transform (DFT)-spreading that may be disabled or129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 43 / 93enabled. For operation with shared spectrum channel access in frequency range 1 (FR1), the uplink transmission waveform subcarrier mapping may be mapped to subcarriers in one or more physical resource block (PRB) interlaces.

[0133] FIG. 12A is an example transmitter block diagram 1200A for CP-OFDM with optional DFT-spreading in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The numerology may be based on exponentially scalable sub-carrier spacing Af = 2p x 15 kHz with p={0,1,3,4,5,6} for PSS, SSS and PBCH and p={0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6} for other channels. Normal CP may be supported for all sub-carrier spacings, extended CP may be supported for p=2. 12 consecutive sub-carriers form a PRB. Up to 275 PRBs may be supported on a carrier.

[0134] Table 2 below show an example list of supported transmission numerologies.CP Supported for data Supported for synch 0 15 Normal Yes Yes1 30 Normal Yes Yes2 60 Normal, Yes NoExtended3 120 Normal Yes Yes4 240 Normal No Yes5 480 Normal Yes Yes6 960 Normal Yes YesTable 2: Example of Supported Transmission Numerologies

[0135] A UE may be configured with one or more bandwidth parts (BWPs) on a given component carrier, of which just one BWP may be active at a time (e.g., may be referred to as the active BWP). The active bandwidth part may define the UE’s operating bandwidth within the cell’s operating bandwidth. For initial access, and until the UE’s configuration in a cell is received, initial bandwidth part detected from system information is used.

[0136] Downlink and uplink transmissions may be organized into frames with 10 ms duration, consisting of ten 1 ms subframes. Each frame may be divided into two equally-sized half-frames of five subframes each. The slot duration may be 14 symbols with normal CP and 12 symbols with extended CP, and scales in time as a function of the used sub-carrier spacing so that there is always an integer number of slots in a subframe. Timing advance (TA) may be used to adjust the uplink frame129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 44 / 93timing relative to the downlink frame timing. FIG. 12B is a diagram 1200B illustrating an example uplink-downlink timing relation in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0137] A base station (e.g., a gNB including IAB-DU and lAB-donor-DU) may determine a suitable / desired TA setting and provides that to a UE (or an IAB-MT). The UE / IAB- MT may use the provided TA to determine its uplink transmit timing relative to the UE’s / IAB-MT’s observed downlink receive timing. In some implementations, an lAB-node may support additional modes for uplink timing, such as (1) the IAB-MT uses the provided TA plus a provided additional offset to determine its uplink transmission timing, to facilitate parent node’s IAB-MT Rx / IAB-DU Rx multiplexing, and / or (2) the IAB-MT aligns its uplink transmission timing to that of the collocated IAB-DU downlink transmission timing, to facilitate IAB-MT Tx / IAB- DU Tx multiplexing of this lAB-node. The lAB-node uplink timing mode may be indicated by the parent node via MAC-CE.

[0138] In carrier aggregation (CA), two or more component carriers (CCs) are aggregated. A UE may simultaneously receive or transmit on one or multiple CCs depending on its capabilities. For example, a UE with single timing advance capability for CA may simultaneously receive and / or transmit on multiple CCs corresponding to multiple serving cells sharing the same timing advance (multiple serving cells grouped in one TAG). A UE with multiple timing advance capability for CA may simultaneously receive and / or transmit on multiple CCs corresponding to multiple serving cells with different timing advances (multiple serving cells grouped in multiple timing advance groups (TAGs)). A network (e.g., an NG-RAN) may be configured to ensure that each TAG contains at least one serving cell. A non-CA capable UE may receive on a single CC and transmit on a single CC corresponding to one serving cell (one serving cell in one TAG). CA may be supported for both contiguous and non-contiguous CCs. When CA is deployed frame timing and SFN are aligned across cells that may be aggregated, or an offset in multiples of slots between the PCell / PSCell and an SCell is configured to the UE. The maximum number of configured CCs for a UE may be 16 for DL and 16 for UL.

[0139] In a multiple transmit / receive point (multi-TRP) operation, a serving cell may schedule a UE from two TRPs, providing better coverage, reliability and / or data rates for PDSCH, PDCCH, PUSCH, and PUCCH. There may be two different operation129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 45 / 93modes to schedule multi-TRP PDSCH transmissions: single-DCI and multi-DCI. For both modes, control of uplink and downlink operation may be done by the physical layer and the MAC layer, within the configuration provided by the RRC layer. In single-DCI mode, the UE may be scheduled by the same DCI for both TRPs and in multi-DCI mode, the UE may be scheduled by independent DCIs from each TRP.

[0140] There may be two different operation modes for multi-TRP PDCCH: PDCCH repetition and single frequency network (SFN) based PDCCH transmission. In both modes, the UE may receive two PDCCH transmissions, one from each TRP, carrying the same DCI. In PDCCH repetition mode, the UE may receive the two PDCCH transmissions carrying the same DCI from two linked search spaces each associated with a different CORESET. In SFN based PDCCH transmission mode, the UE may receive the two PDCCH transmissions carrying the same DCI from a single search space / CORESET using different TCI states.

[0141] For multi-TRP PUSCH repetition, according to indications in a single DCI or in a semi-static configured grant provided over RRC, the UE may perform PUSCH transmission of the same contents toward two TRPs with corresponding beam directions associated with different spatial relations.

[0142] For multi-TRP PUCCH repetition, the UE performs PUCCH transmission of the same contents toward two TRPs with corresponding beam directions associated with different spatial relations. For inter-cell multi-TRP operation, for multi-DCI PDSCH transmission, one ormore TCI states may be associated with SSB with aPCI different from the serving cell PCI. The activated TCI states may be associated with at most one PCI different from the serving cell PCI at a time.

[0143] For inter-cell and intra-cell multi-DCI multi-TRP operation, up to two TAGs with associated TAG IDs may be configured per serving cell. Each UL / joint TCI state may be associated with a TAG ID and the UE may apply the timing advance of the TAG ID associated with the UL / joint TCI state utilized for UL transmission.

[0144] For single-DCI multi-TRP simultaneous transmission with multi-panel (STxMP) spatial domain multiplexing (SDM) PUSCH transmission, different layers of one PUSCH may be separately transmitted towards two TRPs. For single-DCI multi-TRP STxMP SFN PUSCH transmission, same layers of one PUSCH are transmitted towards two TRPs. For multi-DCI based multi-TRP STxMP PUSCH+PUSCH transmission, two PUSCHs are transmitted towards two TRPs. For single-DCI multi-129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 46 / 93TRP STxMP SFN PUCCH transmission, one PUCCH is transmitted towards two TRPs.

[0145] When a UE is under an RRC connected mode, a base station (e.g., a gNB) may be responsible for maintaining the timing advance to keep the LI synchronized. Serving cells having UL to which the same timing advance applies and using the same timing reference cell may be grouped in a TAG. Each TAG may contain at least one serving cell with configured uplink, and the mapping of each serving cell to a TAG may be configured by RRC. For the primary TAG, the UE may use the PCell as timing reference, except with shared spectrum channel access where an SCell can also be used in certain cases. In a secondary TAG, the UEmay use any of the activated SCells of this TAG as a timing reference cell, but may not change it unless specified. Timing advance updates may be signaled by the base station to the UE via MAC CE commands. Such commands may restart a TAG-specific timer which indicates whether the LI is to be synchronized or not: when the timer is running, the LI is considered synchronized, otherwise, the LI is considered non-synchronized (in which case uplink transmission may take place through MSG1 / MSGA). When two TAG IDs are configured for the PCell, both TAGs may be regarded as primary TAG.

[0146] A UE may be provided a value / VTA offsetof a timing advance offset for a serving cell by n-TimingAdvanceOffsetio AiQ serving cell. If fora serving cell the UE is provided two coresetPoolIndex values 0 and 1 for first and second CORESETs, or is not provided coresetPoolIndex value for first CORESETs and is provided coresetPoolIndex value of 1 for second CORESETs, the UE may be provided first and second NTAoffset values by n-TimingAdvanceOffset and n-TimingAdvanceOffset2 for transmissions with first and second spatial filters associated with first and second TCI states for the first and second CORESETs, respectively. A UEmay be provided a second / VTA offsetvalue for transmissions with second spatial domain filters corresponding to second TCI states or to second SS / PBCH block receptions associated with physCellld different from physCellId of the serving cell in addition to a first / VTA offsetvalue for transmissions with first spatial domain filters correspondingto first TCI states or to first SS / PBCH block receptions associated with physCellId of the serving cell. The first and second / VTA offsetvalues correspond to first and second TAGs indicated in respective MAC RARs having an association indicated by tag-Id-ptr with first and second joint TCI states provided by dl-129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 47 / 93OrJointTCI-StateList and second UL TCI states provided by ul-TCI-State-List. If the UE is not provided n-TimingAdvanceOffset for a serving cell, the UE may determine a default value / VTA offsetof the timing advance offset for the serving cell.

[0147] If a UE is configured with two UL carriers for a serving cell, a same timing advance offset value / VTA offsetmay apply to both carriers for transmissions on the serving cell that are associated with a same TAG. The UE may be configured not to expect to apply two / VTA offsetvalues for transmissions on the SUL carrier.

[0148] Upon reception of a timing advance command for a TAG, a UE may adjust uplink timing for PUSCH / SRS / PUCCH transmission on all the serving cells in the TAG based on a value JVTAoffset that the UE expects to be same for all the serving cells in the TAG and based on the received timing advance command where the uplink timing for PUSCH / SRS / PUCCH transmissions is the same for all the serving cells in the TAG.

[0149] For a band with synchronous contiguous intra-bandEN-DC in a band combination with non-applicable maximum transmit timing difference requirements, if the UE indicates ul-TimingAlignmentEUTRA-NR as ‘required’ and uplink transmission timing based on timing adjustment indication for a TAG from MCG and a TAG from SCG are determined to be different by the UE, the UE may adjust the transmission timing for PUSCH / SRS / PUCCH transmission on all serving cells part of the band with the synchronous contiguous intra-band EN-DC based on timing adjustment indication for a TAG from a serving cell in MCG in the band. The UE may be configured not to expect to transmit a PUSCH / SRS / PUCCH in one CG when the PUSCH / SRS / PUCCH is overlapping in time, even partially, with random access preamble transmitted in another CG.

[0150] For a SCS of 2^ ■ 15 kHz, the timing advance command for a TAG may indicate the change of the uplink timing relative to the current uplink timing for the TAG in multiples of 16 ■ 64 ■ TC / 2U The start timing of the random access preamble may be pre-defined.

[0151] A timing advance command in case of random access response or in an absolute timing advance command MAC CE or in a cell switch command, TA, for a TAG indicates ATAvalues by index values of TA=0, 1, 2,..., 3846, where an amount of the time alignment for the TAG with SCS of 2^ ■ 15 kHz may be ATA= TA· 16 · 64 / 2μ· TCand is relative to the SCS of the first uplink transmission from the UE after the129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 48 / 93reception of the random access response or absolute timing advance command MAC CE or the cell switch command.

[0152] In other cases, a timing advance command, TA, for a TAG indicates adjustment of a current NTAvalue, NTA old, to the new NTAvalue, NTA new, by index values of TA= 0, 1, 2,..., 63, where fora SCS of 2^ ■ 15 kHz, NTA,new= NTA,old+ (TA− 31) · 16 · 64 / 2μ

[0153] If a UE has multiple active UL BWPs in a same TAG, including UL BWPs in two UL carriers of a serving cell, the timing advance command value may be relative to the largest SCS ofthe multiple active UL BWPs. The applicable ATA newvalue for an UL BWP with lower SCS may be rounded to align with the timing advance granularity for the UL BWP with the lower SCS while satisfying the defined timing advance accuracy specification. Adjustment of an NTAvalue by a positive or a negative amount may indicate advancing or delaying the uplink transmission timing for the TAG by a corresponding amount, respectively.

[0154] For a timing advance command received on uplink slot n and for a transmission other than a PUSCH scheduled by a RAR UL grant or a fallback RAR UL grant, or a PUCCH with HARQ-ACK information in response to a success RAR, the corresponding adjustment of the uplink transmission timing may apply from the beginning of uplink slot n+ k + 1+2^ ■ Aoffsetwhere k = ⌈(N1VT, I + NT2+ NTA max+ 0.5) / Tsf], NT1is a time duration in msec of N symbols corresponding to a PDSCH processing time forUE processing capability 1 when additional PDSCH DM-RS is configured, NT2is a time duration in msec of N2symbols corresponding to a PUSCH preparation time forUE processing capability 1, NTA,max is the maximum timing advance value in millisecond (msec) that may be provided by a TA command field of 12 bits, ^subframe. μ is the number of slots per subframe, Tsfis the subframe duration of 1 msec, and ^offset=^ceit, offset—^UE, offset, where K_cell,offset is provided by cellSpecificKoffset and K_UE,offset is provided by a Differential Koffset MAC CE command; otherwise, if not respectively provided, K_cell,offset = 0 or K_UE,offset = 0 N and N2are determined with respect to the minimum SCS among the SCSs of all configured UL BWPs for all uplink carriers in the TAG and of all configured DL BWPs for the corresponding downlink carriers. For p = 0, the UE assumes N1,0= 14. Slot nandmay be determined129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 49 / 93with respect to the minimum SCS among the SCSs of all configured UL BWPs for all uplink carriers in the TAG. NTA maxmay be determined with respect to the minimum SCS among the SCSs of all configured UL BWPs for all uplink carriers in the TAG and for all configured initial UL BWPs provided by initialUplinkBWP. The uplink slot n is the last slot among uplink slot(s) overlapping with the slot(s) of PDSCH reception assuming TTA= 0, where the PDSCH provides the timing advance command and TTAmay be pre-defined.

[0155] If a UE changes an active UL BWP between a time of a timing advance command reception and a time of applying a corresponding adjustment for the uplink transmission timing, the UE may determine the timing advance command valuebased on the SCS of the new active UL BWP. If the UE changes an active UL BWP after applying an adjustment for the uplink transmission timing, the UE may be configured to assume a same absolute timing advance command value before and after the active UL BWP change.

[0156] If the received downlink timing changes and is not compensated or is just partly compensated by the uplink timing adjustment without timing advance command, the UE may change ATAaccordingly. If a UE operates with two TAGs on an active UL BWP of a serving cell, the UE may be configured to expect that a difference between a first downlink timing associated with a first TAG and a second downlink timing associated with a second TAG is not larger than the CP length for the active UL BWP unless the UE indicates larger-thanCP-capability. If a UE indicates XYZ capability, and transmits SRS based on a configuration by SRS-PosResourceSetm SRS-PosRRC- InactiveConfig-ValidityArea in RRC INACTIVE state, (1 ) if the UE is provided SRS- autonomousTAupdate, the UE may autonomously update ATAat cell reselection, (2) if the UE is not provided SRS-autonomousTAupdate, the UE may maintain the ATAof a last serving cell prior to the release of a dedicated RRC connection.

[0157] For operation with single TAG on a serving cell, if two adjacent slots overlap due to a TA command or due to update of NTA,adjor NTAon, when applicable, the latter slot may be reduced in duration relative to the former slot. The UE may not change NTAduring an actual time domain window for a PUSCH or a PUCCH transmission. If the UE is not provided enableSTx2PortMDCI and operates with two TAGs on a serving cell, the UE may be configured not to expect transmissions associated with different TAGs to overlap unless the UE indicates XYZ, if the UE indicates XYZ, the UE may129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 50 / 93reduce in duration a latter transmission using a first TAG to avoid overlapping with a former transmission using a second TAG.

[0158] Using higher-lay er ephemeris parametersfor a serving satellite, if provided, aUEmay pre-compensate the two-way transmission delay on the service link based onNTA adjthat the UE determines using the serving satellite position and its own position. To pre-compensate the two-way transmission delay between the uplink time synchronization reference point and the serving satellite, the may UE determine NTAonbased on one-way propagation delay Delaycommon(t) that the UE determines as:Delay common (t)TAcommon, TAcommonDriftz x(t — tepochj2 2TAcommonDriftVariant( \2(t — tepochj2where TAcommon, TAcommonDrift, and TAcommonDriftVariantare respectively provided by ta-Common, ta-CommonDrift, and ta-CommonDriftVariant and t_epoch is provided by epochTime which is the epoch time of ta-Common, ta-CommonDrift, and ta-CommonDriftVariant. Delaycommon(t) may provide a distance at time t between the serving satellite and the uplink time synchronization reference point divided by the speed of light. The uplink time synchronization reference point is the point where DL and UL are frame aligned with an offset given by / VTA offset.

[0159] For purposes of the present disclosure, timing advance (TADV) may be defined as the time difference TADV= (TgNB-RX- TgNB-TX), where TgNB-RXis the transmission and reception point (TRP) received timing of uplink subframe #i containing PRACH transmitted from UE, defined by the first detected path in time. TgNB-TXis the TRP transmit timing of downlink subframe #j that is closest in time to the subframe #i received from the UE. The detected PRACH may be used to determine the start of one subframe containing that PRACH. The reference point for TgNB-RXmaybe: (1) for type 1-C base station: the Rx antenna connector, (2) for type 1-0 or 2-0 base station: the Rx antenna (e.g., the center location of the radiating region of the Rx antenna), and (3) for type 1-H base station: the Rx transceiver array boundary connector. The reference point for TgNB-TXmaybe: (1) for type 1-C base station: the Tx antenna connector, (2) fortype 1-0 or 2-0 base station: the Tx antenna (e.g., the129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 51 / 93center location of the radiating region of the Tx antenna), and (3) for type 1-H base station: the Tx transceiver array boundary connector.

[0160] In the cell ID (CID) positioning method, the position of an UE may be estimated with the knowledge of its serving base station (e.g., serving ng-eNB, gNB) and cell. The information about the serving base station and cell may be obtained by paging registration, or other methods.

[0161] Enhanced cell ID (E-CID) based on LTE signals positioning may refer to techniques which use additional UE measurements and / or NG-RAN radio resource and other measurements to improve the UE location estimate. In the case of a serving base station (e.g., serving ng-eNB), uplink E-CID may be supported based on NR, GERAN, UTRA or WLAN signals.

[0162] Although E-CID based on LTE signals positioning may utilise some of the same measurements as the measurement control system in the RRC protocol, the UE generally may be configured not to expect to make additional measurements for the sole purpose of positioning, e.g., the positioning procedures may not supply a measurement configuration or measurement control message, and the UE may report the measurements that it has available rather than being specified to take additional measurement actions. In cases with a specification for close time coupling between UE and base station (e.g., ng-eNB) measurements (e.g., TADVtype 1 and UE E-UTRA Rx-Tx time difference), the base station may configure the appropriate RRC measurements and may be responsible for maintaining the coupling between the measurements.

[0163] In the cell ID (CID) positioning method, the UE position may be estimated with the knowledge of the geographical coordinates of its serving base station (e.g., ng-eNB or gNB). Enhanced cell ID (E-CID) based on LTE signals positioning may refer to techniques which use UE and / or NG-RAN radio resource related measurements to improve the UE location estimate. In the case of a serving base station (e.g., serving ng-eNB), uplink E-CID may use inter-RAT NR, GERAN, UTRA or WLAN measurements reported by UE. Note for E-CID positioning methods, the UE may be configured to report just the measurements that it has available rather than being requested to take additional measurement actions. Therefore, the measurement gap request procedure may be inapplicable for E-CID positioning methods.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WD 52 / 93

[0164] In some examples, E-CID measurements for E-UTRA may include: UE measurements (E-UTRA reference signal received power (RSRP), E-UTRA reference signal received quality (RSRQ), UE E-UTRA Rx - Tx time difference, etc.) and E-CID UE measurements for other RAT may include: GERAN RSSI, UTRAN CPICH RSCP, UTRAN CPICH Ec / Io, WLAN RSSI, SS reference signal received power (SS-RSRP), SS reference signal received quality (SS-RSRQ), etc. Note the above GERAN, UTRAN, WLAN and NR measurements by UE may be used just for uplink E-CID positioning. Base station (e.g., ng-eNB) measurements may include: ng-eNB Rx - Tx time difference, timing advance (TADV) (including Typel: TADV= (ng-eNB Rx - Tx time difference) + (UE E-UTRA Rx - Tx time difference) and Type2: TADV= ng-eNB Rx - Tx time difference), and angle of arrival (Ao A). Various techniques may exist to use these measurements to estimate the location of the UE.

[0165] Table 3 below shows example information thatmay be transferredfrom abase station (e.g., an ng-eNB) to a location server (e.g., a location management function (LMF)). Both cell-level and beam-level measurements for SS-RSRP and SS-RSRQ may be supported.InformationTiming Advance (TADV)Angle of Arrival (AoA)E-UTRA Measurement Results List:- Evolved Cell Global Identifier (ECGI) / Physical Cell ID- E-UTRA Reference signal received power (RSRP) - E-UTRA Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ)GERAN Measurement Results List:- Base Station Identity Code (BSIC)- ARFCN of Base Station Control Channel (BCCH) - Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)UTRA Measurement Results List:- UTRAN Physical ID- Common Pilot Channel Received Signal Code Power (RSCP)- Common Pilot Channel Ec / IoWLAN Measurement Results List:129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 53 / 93- WLAN Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)- SSID- BSSID- HESSID- Operating Class- Country Code- WLAN Channel(s)- WLAN BandNR Measurement Results List:- SS Reference Signal Received Power (SS-RSRP)- SS Reference Signal Received Quality (SS-RSRQ) - NR Physical Cell IDTable 3: Example Information from Ng-eNB to LMF

[0166] For uplink E-CID positioning procedures, the procedures described may support E- CID related measurements obtained by the NG-RAN node and provided to the LMF using NRPPa. The term “uplink” may indicate that from the LMF point of view, the involved measurements are provided by the NG-RAN node; this set of procedures may also be considered as “NG-RAN node-assisted E-CID.” An example of this uplink E-CID positioning method for E-UTRA may be AoA + TADV. In some examples, a capability transfer procedure may not be applicable to uplink E-CID positioning not using E-UTRA TADV type 1. For uplink E-CID positioning using E- UTRA TADV type 1, the capability transfer procedure for E-CID positioning may be pre-defined.

[0167] NR enhanced cell ID (NR E-CID) positioning may refer to techniques which use UE and / or NR radio resource related measurements to improve the UE location estimate. In the case of uplink NR E-CID inter-RAT E-UTRA measurements reported by UE may also be used. Note for NR E-CID positioning methods, theUE may report just the measurements that it has available rather than being requested to take additional measurement actions. Therefore, the measurement gap request procedure may not be applicable for NR E-CID positioning methods. NR E-CID measurements may include: UE measurements (e.g., SS reference signal received power (SS-RSRP), SS reference signal received quality (SS-RSRQ), CSI reference signal received power129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 54 / 93(CSI-RSRP), CSI reference signal received quality (CSI-RSRQ), and / or UE Rx-Tx time difference, etc. The UE measurements above may be aggregated at cell level or measured per SSB or CSI-RS resource. NRE-CID UE measurements for other RAT may include: E-UTRA reference signal received power (RSRP) and E-UTRA reference signal received quality (RSRQ). Note the above E-UTRA measurements by UE may just be used for uplink NR E-CID positioning. Base station (e.g., gNB measurements may include: UL angle of arrival (azimuth and elevation) and timing advance (TADV). Similarly, various techniques may exist to use these measurements to estimate the location of the UE.

[0168] For purposes of the present disclosure and in the context of timing advance, measurement reference time (or the information element (IE) MeasurementReferenceTime') may be used to specify the time when the measurements provided in A-GNSS-Providel )cationlnformation are valid. It may also include GNSS-network time association, in which case reported measurements may be valid for the cellular frame boundary defined in the network time association. In addition, fields referenceFN and referenceFNMSB may be configured to specify the frame number in GERAN which the GNSS time time stamps. The time of the reference frame boundary may be as observedby the target device, e.g., withouttiming advance compensation. The referenceFNMSB field may indicate the most significant bits of the frame number of the reference BTS correspondingto the GNSS-MeasurementList. Starting from the complete GSM frame number denoted FN, the target device calculates Reference FN MSB as Reference FN MSB = floor(FN / 42432). The complete GSM frame number FN may then be reconstructed in the location server by combining the fields reference FN vN \ referenceFNMSB in the following way: FN = referenceFNMSB *42432 + referenceFN.

[0169] In timing advance (TA), a UE may be configured to send UL signal early to compensate for propagation delay and ensure UL timing alignment at the serving cell(s). In other words, the UE may be configured to pre-compensate for propagation delays and ensure timingalignmentforULtransmission(s)to one ormore cells / TRPs. There may be TA group (TAG) in which same TA applied to multiple cells / TRPs. In principle, TA may affect positioning / sensing as it adds artificial offset (positive or negative) to actual travel time, affecting the accuracy of timing measurements and positioning / sensing accuracy. In addition, in AI / ML positioning as described in129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 55 / 93connection with FIGs. 6A and 6B, network-side models (e.g., as described in connection with FIGs. 9A and 9B) may be affected by TA settings, especially if TA configurations and settings are different between AI / ML training and inference.

[0170] Aspects presented herein may improve the overall performance of AI / ML positioning and sensing by promoting consistent signalling and alignment on TA configuration and settings between different AI / ML operations, such as between AI / ML training data collection and inference stages (e.g., whether to apply TA or not, whether to apply single TA / TAG or multiple TAs / TAGs towards TRPs considered for AI / ML positioning and sensing, etc.). Aspects presented herein provide signalling to align a location server (e.g., an LMF), a UE, and a base station (gNB) / TRP on TA setting; for network-side AI / ML positioning. For example, aspects presented herein may include: signalling for TA capability support from UE and base station / TRP (from a UE or a base station / TRP to a location server), signalling for UL RS transmission for UE when involving TA configurations for AI / ML (from a base station / TRP and / or a location server to a UE), signalling forUL RS measurement request / response when involving TA configurations for AI / ML (between a location server and a base station / TRP), ensuring consistency on TA between training and inference for AI / ML positioning / sensing (between location server, UE, and base station / TRP), and signalling for reporting TA information used for UL measurements for AI / ML positioning / sensing (From a UE / base station / TRP to a base station / LMF).

[0171] FIG. 13 is a communication flow 1300 illustrating an example signaling for aligning a UE, a base station / TRP, and a location / sensing server on TA settings for AI / ML positioning and / or AI / ML sensing (collectively as “AI / ML positioning / sensing” hereafter) in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The numberings associated with the communication flow 1300 do not specify a particular temporal order and are merely used as references for the communication flow 1300.

[0172] At a high level, aspects presented herein may enable a UE to indicate its support for TA when sending UL RS signal for AI / ML positioning / sensing operation at network side (e.g., gNB AI / ML model, LMF AI / ML model, etc.). The UE may receive configurations to apply TA configurations (based on support) for UL RS sent for AI / ML positioning / sensing operation during data collection and / or inference, whereby TA configurations may help (1) ensuring training and inference consistency, or (2) letting the network apply life cycle management (LCM) for AI / ML129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 56 / 93positioning / sensing, or (3 ) using TA indicator (reported by at least one UE) for AI / ML model / functionality input or selection. The UE may apply TA configurations and / or send the TA indicator to the network.

[0173] Aspects presented herein may also enable a base station (e.g., a gNB) to indicate its support for configuring a UE with TA when the UE sends UL RS signal for AI / ML positioning operation at the network side (e.g., gNB AI / ML model, LMF AI / ML model, etc.). Similarly, the UE may receive configurations to apply TA configurations (based on support) for UL RS sent for AI / ML positioning operation during data collection and / or inference, whereby TA configurations may help (1) ensuring training and inference consistency, (2) letting the network apply LCM for AI / ML positioning / sensing, and / or (3) using TA indicator (reported by at least one UE) for AI / ML model / functionality input or selection. The base station may use or forward (e.g., to LMF) the UL RS measurements obtained with TA configurations and / or the TA indicator reported from UE.

[0174] As an illustration, at 1310, a UE 1302 may receive, from a first network entity 1304(e.g., a base station, a TRP, etc.) and / or from a second network entity 1306 (e.g., a location server, an LMF, a sensing server, a sensing management function, an AI / ML server, an AI / ML management function, a crowd-sourcing entity, a network data analytics function (NWDAF), etc.), a TA configuration for transmitting reference signal (RS) (e.g., UL RS such as the sounding reference signal (SRS)), where the RS may be used for at least one AI / ML operation. Depending on the context, the first network entity 1304 and / or the second network entity 1306 may collectively be referred to as “at least one network entity” hereafter. In some implementations, as shown at 1312, the second network entity 1306 may generate / configure the TA configuration for the UE 1302, and transmit the TA configuration to the first network entity 1304. Then, the first network entity 1304 may transmit / forward the TA configuration to the UE 1302. If the second network entity 1306 is an LMF, the UE 1302 may receive the TA configuration from the second network entity 1306 via LPP assistance data (AD). In some examples, the second network entity 1306 may transmit the TA configuration to the UE 1302 based on a request from the UE 1302 (not shown in the communication flow 1300). If the first network entity 1304 is a serving base station / cell of the UE 1302, the UE 1302 may receive the TA configuration from the first network entity 1304 via RRC signalling, RRC reconfiguration, MAC-CE, and / or129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 57 / 93DCI, etc. Similarly, in some examples, the first network entity 1304 may transmit the TA configuration to the UE 1302 based on a request from the UE 1302 (not shown in the communication flow 1300).

[0175] The at least one AI / ML operation may include AI / ML data collection, AI / ML inference, AI / ML training / retraining / fine-tuning, and / or AI / ML monitoring, etc. In addition, the AI / ML may be used for positioning and / or sensing purposes (e.g., the AI / ML corresponds to AI / ML positioning / sensing). In some examples, the UE 1302 may receive the TA configuration during the at least one AI / ML operation. For example, the first network entity 1304 and / or the second network entity 1306 may transmitthe TA configuration duringthe AI / ML data collection and / or inference, such that the TA configuration may be applied by theUE 1302 in realtime (e.g., while the at least one AI / ML operation is active).

[0176] In some examples, the TA configuration may be specified for AI / ML positioning / sensing, and may be different from TA configuration(s) for nonpositioningcommunications orfornon-AI / MLpositioning / sensing(e.g., as discussed above). In other words, TAusedforAI / MLpositioning / sensingmay be different from the TA applied to normal communications.

[0177] Examples of TA configuration (e.g., for UL RS related to AI / ML positioning / sensing operation) may include: (1) whether to apply TA or not, (2) if TA is applied, the desired / suitable option / criteria for computing TA, (3) if TA is applied, whether to apply a single TA / TAG or multiple TAs / TAGs, (4) if single TA is applied, the range or value of the TA that may be used by theUE 1302, (5) if multiple TAs are applied, the mapping assignment of TAs / TAGs to TRPs to be used by the UE 1302, (6) if multiple TAs are applied, the ranges or values of TAs / TAGs that may be used by the UE 1302, (7) if multiple TAs are applied, the repetition assignment of TAs / TAGs on timing occasions (in this case, the UE 1302 may be configured to repeat UL RS transmission(s) with different TAs / TAGs), and / or (8) if TA is applied, the option / criteria for applying TA, etc. Also, depending on implementations, the TA configuration may be specific to AI / ML data collection phase (e.g., purpose is signalled or indicated or happen during an AI / ML data collection procedure / session), and / or the TA configuration may be specific to AI / ML inference phase (e.g., purpose is signalled or indicated or happen during an inference procedure / session).129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 58 / 93

[0178] At 1314, based on the TA configuration from the first network entity 1304 and / or the second network entity 1306, theUE 1302 may transmit a set of RSs with TA for the at least one AI / ML operation. For example, based on the TA configuration, the UE 1302 may determine a set of parameters related to the TA for transmitting the set of RSs (not shown in the communication flow 1300). In some examples, at least one parameter in the set of parameters may be derived by the UE 1302 and not included in the TA configuration. For example, the TA configuration may just indicate the UE 1302 to apply TA to the set of RSs and / or the time / duration for applying the TA, etc. Then, the UE 1302 may determine the TA related values / parameters for the set of RSs, and transmit the set of RSs using the determined TA related values / parameters. In other words, the TA computation may be left for UE implementation. In this case, theUE 1302 may indicate its support for options / criteria (e.g., TA based on center of mass of CIR / PDP or channel response, earliest arrival / peak, or strongest path / peak in channel response, etc.).

[0179] In some examples, the TA determination options / criteria may be configured to be dynamic, e.g., because of having two FFT windows due to uncertainty. In another example, TA related parameters / values may be determined / selected based on a DL RS (e g., SSB, CSI-RS, TRS, PRS, DMRS, PTRS, etc ).

[0180] In some implementations, the UE 1302 may be configured to apply different TA related values / parameters for different repetition(s) of the RS (e.g., to improve the AI / ML operation diversity). For example, if theUE 1302 is configured to transmitthe set of RSs with one or more repetitions, the UE 1302 may transmit the (original / first) set of RSs using a first set of TA values / parameters, and transmit a first repetition of the set of RSs using a second setof TA values / parameters, and / or transmit a second repetition of the set of RSs using a third set of TA values / parameters, etc. The first set of TA values / parameters, the second set of TA values / parameters, and / or third set of TA values / parameters may be at least partially different. In other words, multiple TAs maybe considered by applying UL RS repetition in which the UE 1302 repeats UL RS with different TAs (the UE 1302 may indicate the TAs assignments to repetitions or perform it based on configurations).

[0181] At 1316, the first network entity 1304 may measure the set of RSs from the UE 1302 to obtain a set of RS measurements. Depending on implementations (e.g., depending on which network entity is configured to perform the at least one AI / ML operation as129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 59 / 93discussed below), the first network entity 1304 may transmit / forward the set of RS measurements to the second network entity 1306 as shown at 1318.

[0182] In one example, as shown at 1320, prior to receiving the TA configuration from the first network entity 1304 and / or the second network entity 1306, the UE 1302 may transmit, to the first network entity 1304 and / or the second network entity 1306, an indication of its capability to support transmitting RS with TA (for AI / ML) (which may be referred to as the “TA capability” hereafter). Then, the first network entity 1304 and / or the second network entity 1306 may configure / generate the TA configuration for the UE 1302 based on the TA capability of the UE 1302, and transmit the TA configuration to the UE 1302 as discussed in connection with 1310 and 1312. In other words, the UE 1302 may indicate its capability support for TA regarding UL RS related to AI / ML positioning / sensing operation. Examples of TA capability may include one or more: (1) support for TA (e.g., whether the UE 1302 is able to apply TA), (2) support for single TA / TAGs towards multiple TRPs, (3) support for multiple TAs / TAGs towards multiple TRPs, (4) support for UL RS repetition with multiple TAs / TAGs, (5) support of maximum value of single TA, (6) support of maximum value of multiple TAs / TAGs, (7) support of maximum number of multiple TAs / TAGs, and / or (8) support of TA computation options / criteria, etc. In addition, the TA capability may be specific to AI / ML data collection phase (e.g., purpose is signalled or indicated), and / or specific to AI / ML inference phase (e.g., purpose is signalled or indicated). The UE 1302 may transmit the TA capability to the first network entity via RRC signalling if the first network entity 1304 is a serving base station / cell of the UE 1302, and / or the UE 1302 may transmit the TA capability to the second network entity 1306 via LTE positioning protocol (LPP) if the second network entity 1306 is an LMF.

[0183] In some implementations, the UE 1302 may provide its TA capability based on a request from the first network entity 1304 and / or the second network entity 1306. For example, as shown at 1322, the first network entity 1304 and / or the second network entity 1306 may transmit, to the UE 1302, a request to provide the TA capability of the UE 1302. Then, at 1320, the UE 1302 may provide its TA capability to the first network entity 1304 and / or the second network entity 1306 based on this request.

[0184] In some implementations, the first network entity 1304 may also provide / indicate, to the second network entity 1306, its capability to configure UE(s) (e.g., the UE 1302)129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 60 / 93with TA (for AI / ML operations). For example, as shown at 1332, the first network entity 1304 may transmit, to the second network entity 1306, an indication of its capability to configure UE(s) or the UE 1302 with TA for transmitting RS associated with AI / ML. The firstnetwork entity 1304 may transmit, to the second network entity 1306, its capability to configure the UE with TA via NR positioning protocol A (NRPPa) TRP information. In some examples, the transmission of the capability to configure the UE with TA may be based on a request from the second network entity 1306 (not shown in the communication flow 1300).

[0185] In other words, the first network entity 1304 may indicate its support for configuring a UE with TA regarding UL RS related to AI / ML positioning / sensing operation. Examples of support that may be indicated by the first network entity 1304 may include: (1) support for configuring TA, (2) support for configuring single TA / TAG towards multiple TRPs, (3) support for configuring multiple TAs / TAGs towards multiple TRPs, (4) support for configuring UL RS repetition with multiple TAs / TAGs, (5) support of configuring maximum value of single TA, (6) support of configuring maximum value of multiple TAs / TAGs, (7) support of configuring maximum number of multiple TAs / TAGs, and / or (8) support of configuring TA computation options / criteria, etc. The support for configuring the UE may be specific to AI / ML data collection phase (e.g., purpose is signaled or indicated) and / or specific to AI / ML inference phase (e.g., purpose is signaled or indicated).

[0186] Based on the capability of the first network entity 1304 to configure UE with TA (for AI / ML), as shown at 1334, the second network entity 1306 may transmit, to the first network entity 1304, a request to configure the UE 1302 with the TA for transmitting the RS associated with the AI / ML. Based on the request, the second network entity 1306 may configure and transmit the TA configuration to the UE 1302 as discussed in connection with 1310.

[0187] In other words, the first network entity 1304 may be requested (e.g., by the second network entity 1306) to configure the UE 1302 with TA regarding UL RS related to AI / ML positioning / sensing operation, where the request / configuration may include: (1) whether to apply TA or not, (2) if TA is applied, whether to apply a single TA / TAG or multiple TAs / TAGs, (3) if single TA is applied, the range or value of TA that may be used by theUE 1302, (4) if multiple TAs are applied, the mapping assignment of TAs / TAGs to TRPs to be used by the UE 1302, (5) if multiple TAs are applied, the129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 61 / 93ranges or values of TAs / TAGs that may be used by the UE 1302, (6) if multiple TAs are applied, the repetition assignment of TAs / TAGs on timing occasions (in this case, the UE 1302 may be configured to repeat UL RS transmission(s) with different TAs / TAGs), and / or (7) if TA is applied, the option / criteria for applying TA, etc.

[0188] Similarly, the request / configuration may be specific to AI / ML data collection phase (e.g., purpose is signaled or indicated or happen during an AI / ML data collection procedure / session), and / or specific to AI / ML inference phase (e.g., purpose is signaled or indicated or happen during an inference procedure / session). The second network entity 1306 may transmit the request / configuration to the first network entity 1304 inNRPPa SRS characteristics or measurement request, and the second network entity 1306 may also transmit the request / configuration to the first network entity 1304 based on a request from the first network entity 1304 (not shown in the communication flow 1300).

[0189] In another example, as shown at 1324, the UE 1302 may also transmit, to the first network entity 1304 and / or the second network entity 1306, a TA indicator that includes TA related param eter(s) and / or value(s) the UE 1302 appliedfortransmitting the set of RSs. For example, the TA indicator may include the timing advance (e.g, NTA) and / or the timing advance offset (e.g., / VTA offset) it applied for transmitting the set of RSs. For example, theUE 1302 may report the TA(s) / TAG(s) being applied to the first network entity 1304 and / or the second network entity 1306 as follows: (1) provide an indicator flag on whether TA / TAG is applied, (2) provide an indicator on TA / TAG values or IDs being applied, (3) provide an indicator on TA / TAG option / criteria being applied, and / or (4) provide an indicator on why TA / TAG was not applied (e.g., DL to UL switching collides with early TA / TAG being configured), etc. Similarly, depending on implementations (e.g., depending on which network entity is configured to perform the at least one AI / ML operation as discussed below), the UE 1302 may transmit the TA indicator to the the first network entity 1304, and then the first network entity 1304 may transmit / forward the TA indicator to the second network entity 1306 as shown at 1326.

[0190] Note while the communication flow 1300 shows the TA indicator is transmitted (from the UE 1302 and / or the first network entity 1304) in a dedicated / separated message, it is merely for illustrative purposes. TheUE 1302 may also provide the TA indicator when transmitting the RSs at 1314, and / or the first network entity 1304 may provide129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 62 / 93the TA indicator when transmittingthe set of RS measurements at 1318. For example, the UE 1302 may be configured to send UL RS(s) with TA / TAGs indicator(s) related to AI / ML positioning / sensing operation (based on the TA configuration(s)) as follows: (1 ) the UE 1302 applies TAs / TAGs as requested / configured, (2) the UE 1302 may skip TAs / TAGs if it exceeds UE capability (e.g., DL to UL switching time collides with early TA / TAGs being configured), and / or (3) the UE 1302 may precompute a different TA / TAGs and use it for early TA, etc.

[0191] Based on the TA configuration (e.g., discussed in connection with 1310), the set of RS measurements (e.g., discussed in connection with 1316 and 1318), and / or the TA indicator (e.g., discussed in connection with 1324), the UE 1302, the first network entity 1304, and / or the second network entity 1306 maybe configured to perform the at least one AI / ML operation (e.g., depending on which entity is configured to perform the at least one AI / ML). For example, as shown at 1326, if the at least one AI / ML operation is performed by or at the UE 1302, theUE 1302 may perform the at least one AI / ML operation based on the TA configuration, the set of RSs, and / or the set of RS measurements if available (e.g., using some of the parameters / values in the TA configuration, the set of RSs, and / or the set of RS measurements as inputto an AI / ML model / functionality). Similarly, as shown at 1328, if the at least one AI / ML operation is performed by or at the first network entity 1304, the first network entity 1304 may perform the at least one AI / ML operation based on the TA configuration, the TA indicator, the set of RSs, and / or the set of RS measurements, etc., and as shown at 1330, if the at least one AI / ML operation is performedby or at the second network entity 1306, the second network entity 1306 may also perform the at least one AI / ML operation based on the TA configuration, the TA indicator, the set of RSs, and / or the set of RS measurements, etc. In other words, the first network entity 1304 may use UL RS(s) measurements and / or TA / TAGs indicator related to AI / ML positioning / sensing operation at the first network entity 1304, and / or the first network entity 1304 may send UL RS(s) measurements and / or TA / TAGs indicator related to AI / ML positioning / sensing operation to the second network entity 1306; and second network entity 1306 may use the measurements and / or TA indicators for AI / ML positioning / sensing operation at second network entity 1306.

[0192] In some examples, performing the at least one AI / ML operation based on the TA configuration, the TA indicator, the set of RSs, and / or the set of RS measurements129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 63 / 93may include at least one of: (1) using the TA configuration, the TA indicator, the set of RSs, and / or the set of RS measurements as an input for an AI / ML positioning / sensing model or functionality, (2) selecting or switching an AI / ML positioning / sensing model or functionality based on the TA configuration, the TA indicator, the set of RSs, and / orthe set of RS measurements, or (3) deciding on falling back to a non-AI / ML positioning / sensing method or measurement based on the TA configuration, the TA indicator, the set of RSs, and / or the set of RS measurements.

[0193] The TA configuration(s) and / orthe reported TA indicator may be used to ensure consistency between AI / / ML training and inference, whereby same / equivalent TA configuration(s) may be requested (e.g., by the first network entity 1304 and / orthe second network entity 1306) during AI / ML training (data collection) and inference, and / or the reported TA indicator (by the UE 1302 to the first network entity 1304 or the first network entity 1304 to the second network entity 1306) may be used to select / switch to an AI / ML positioning model / functionality that is consistent with TA settings at time of inference, etc.

[0194] In some implementations, the first network entity 1304 and / or the second network entity 1306 may also be configured to crowd-sourcing TA calculation options / criteria from a plurality of UEs (not shown in the communication flow 1300), and indicate the crowd-sourced information to other UEs (e.g., via an LMF, i.e., a UE to an LMF then the LMF to another UE, etc.).

[0195] FIG. 14 is a flowchart 1400 of wireless communication. The method may be performed by a UE (e.g., the UE 104, 404, 702, 1302; the apparatus 1504). The method may enable the UE to indicate its support for TA when sending RS signal for AI / ML positioning / sensing operation, thereby promoting consistency for AI / / ML positioning / sensing operation(s) at different entities.

[0196] At 1402, the UE may receive, from at least one network entity, a TA configuration for transmitting a set of RSs for at least one AI / ML operation, such as described in connection with FIG. 13. For example, at 1310, a UE 1302 may receive from a first network entity 1304 (e.g., a base station, a TRP, etc.) and / or from a second network entity 1306 (e.g., a location server, an LMF, a sensing server, a sensing management function, an AI / ML server, an AI / ML management function, a crowd-sourcing entity, a network data analytics function (NWDAF), etc.), a TA configuration for transmitting reference signal (RS), where the RS may be used for at least one AI / ML129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 64 / 93operation. The reception of the TA configuration may be performed by, e.g., the TA application component 198, the transceiver(s) 1522, the cellular baseband processor(s) 1524, and / orthe application processor(s) 1506 ofthe apparatus 1504 in FIG. 15.

[0197] At 1404, the UE may transmit the set of RSs with TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation, such as described in connection with FIG. 13. For example, at 1314, based on the TA configuration from the first network entity 1304 and / orthe second network entity 1306, theUE 1302 may transmit a set of RSs with TA for the at least one AI / ML operation. The transmission of the set of RSs with TA may be performed by, e.g., the TA application component 198, the transceivers) 1522, the cellular baseband processor(s) 1524, and / orthe application processor(s) 1506 of the apparatus 1504 in FIG. 15.

[0198] In one example, the UE may further transmit, to the at least one network entity, an indication of supporting the TA for transmitting RS associated with AI / ML, where reception of the TA configuration is based on the indication. In some implementations, the UE may receive, from the at least one network entity, a request to indicate whether the UE is capable of supporting the TA for transmitting the RS associated with the AI / ML, where transmission of the indication is based on the request.

[0199] In another example, the UE may further transmit, to the first network entity, a TA indicator that includes at least one parameter or value applied by the UE for transmitting the set of RSs based on the TA configuration.

[0200] In another example, to receive the TA configuration, the UE may be configured to receive the TA configuration during the at least one AI / ML operation, where the at least one AI / ML operation includes at least one of an AI / ML data collection or an AI / ML inference.

[0201] In another example, to transmit the set of RSs with the TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation, the UE may be configured to determine, based on the TA configuration, a set of parameters related to the TA for transmitting the set of RSs, where at least one parameter in the set of parameters is not included in the TA configuration, and transmit the set of RSs with the TA using the determined set of parameters.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 65 / 93

[0202] In another example, the TA configuration is specified for AI / ML positioning or sensing and is different from a set of TA configurations for non -positioning communications or for non-AI / ML positioning or for non-AI / ML sensing.

[0203] In another example, to transmit the set of RSs with the TA based on the TA configuration, the UE may be configured to transmit the set of RSs with a first set of TA parameters, and transmit a repetition of the set of RSs with a second set of TA parameters, where the first set of TA parameters and the second set of TA parameters are at least partially different.

[0204] In another example, the UE may further perform the at least one AI / ML operation based on the TA configuration.

[0205] In another example, the at least one AI / ML operation is performed at the at least one network entity.

[0206] In another example, the set of RSs corresponds to a set of uplink RSs or a set of SRSs.

[0207] In another example, the at least one network entity includes at least one of a base station, a TRP, an LMF, an NWD AF, an AI / ML management function, or a sensing management function.

[0208] FIG. 15 is a diagram 1500 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an apparatus 1504. The apparatus 1504 may be a UE, a component of aUE, or may implement UE functionality. In some aspects, the apparatus 1504 may include at least one cellular baseband processor 1524 (also referred to as a modem) coupled to one or more transceivers 1522 (e.g., cellular RF transceiver). The cellular baseband processor(s) 1524 may include at least one on-chip memory 1524'. In some aspects, the apparatus 1504 may further include one or more subscriber identity modules (SIM) cards 1520 and at least one application processor 1506 coupled to a secure digital (SD) card 1508 and a screen 1510. The application processor(s) 1506 may include on-chip memory 1506'. In some aspects, the apparatus 1504 may further include a Bluetooth module 1512, a WLAN module 1514, an ultrawide band (UWB) module 1538 (e.g., a UWB transceiver), an SPS module 1516 (e.g., GNSS module), one or more sensors 1518 (e.g., barometric pressure sensor / altimeter; motion sensor such as inertial measurement unit (IMU), gyroscope, and / or accelerometer(s); light detection and ranging (LIDAR), radio assisted detection and ranging (RADAR), sound navigation and ranging (SONAR), magnetometer, audio and / or other technologies used for positioning), additional memory modules 1526, a power supply129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 66 / 931530, and / or a camera 1532. The Bluetooth module 1512, the UWB module 1538, the WLAN module 1514, and the SPS module 1516 may include an on-chip transceiver (TRX) (or in some cases, just a receiver (RX)). The Bluetooth module 1512, the WLAN module 1514, and the SPS module 1516 may include their own dedicated antennas and / or utilize the antennas 1580 for communication. The cellular baseband processor(s) 1524 communicates through the transceiver(s) 1522 via one or more antennas 1580 with the UE 104 and / or with an RU associated with a network entity 1502. The cellular baseband processor(s) 1524 and the application processor(s) 1506 may each include a computer-readable medium / memory 1524', 1506', respectively. The additional memory modules 1526 may also be considered a computer-readable medium / memory. Each computer-readable medium / memory 1524', 1506', 1526 may be non-transitory. The cellular baseband processor(s) 1524 and the application processor(s) 1506 are each responsible for general processing, includingthe execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium / memory. The software, when executed by the cellular baseband processor(s) 1524 / application processor(s) 1506, causes the cellular baseband processor(s) 1524 / application processor(s) 1506 to perform the various functions described supra. The cellular baseband processor(s) 1524 and the application processor(s) 1506 are configured to perform the various functions described supra based at least in part of the information stored in the memory. That is, the cellular baseband processor(s) 1524 and the application processor(s) 1506 may be configuredto perform a first subset of the various functions described supra without information storedin the memory and may be configured to perform a second subset of the various functions described supra based on the information stored in the memory. The computer-readable medium / memory may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the cellular baseband processor(s) 1524 / application processor(s) 1506 when executing software. The cellular baseband processor(s) 1524 / application processor(s) 1506 may be a component of the UE 350 and may include the at least one memory 360 and / or at least one of the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller / processor 359. In one configuration, the apparatus 1504 may be at least one processor chip (modem and / or application) and include just the cellular baseband processor(s) 1524 and / or the application processor(s) 1506, and in another configuration, the apparatus 1504 may be the entire129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 67 / 93UE (e.g., see UE 350 of FIG. 3) and include the additional modules of the apparatus 1504.

[0209] As discussed supra, the TA application component 198 maybe configured to receive, from at least one network entity, a TA configuration for transmitting a set of RSs for at least one AI / ML operation. The TA application component 198 may also be configured to transmit the set of RSs with TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation. The TA application component 198 may be within the cellular baseband processor(s) 1524, the application processor(s) 1506, or both the cellular baseband processor(s) 1524 and the application processor(s) 1506. The TA application component 198 may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to carry out the stated processes / algorithm, implemented by one or more processors configured to perform the stated processes / algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium for implementation by one or more processors, or some combination thereof. When multiple processors are implemented, the multiple processors may perform the stated processes / algorithm individually or in combination. As shown, the apparatus 1504 may include a variety of components configured for various functions. In one configuration, the apparatus 1504, and in particular the cellular baseband processor(s) 1524 and / or the application processor(s) 1506, may include means for receiving, from at least one network entity, a TA configuration for transmitting a set of RSs for at least one AI / ML operation. The apparatus 1504 may further include means for transmitting the set of RSs with TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation.

[0210] In one configuration, the apparatus 1504 may further include means for transmitting to the at least one network entity, an indication of supporting the TA for transmitting RS associated with AI / ML, where reception of the TA configuration is based on the indication. In some implementations, the apparatus 1504 may further include means for receiving, from the at least one network entity, a request to indicate whether the UE is capable of supporting the TA for transmitting the RS associated with the AI / ML, where transmission of the indication is based on the request.

[0211] In another configuration, the apparatus 1504 may further include means for transmitting, to the first network entity, a TA indicator that includes at least one parameter or value applied by the UE for transmitting the set of RSs based on the TA configuration.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 68 / 93

[0212] In another configuration, the means for receiving the TA configuration may include configuringthe apparatus 1504 to receive the TA configuration duringthe at least one AI / ML operation, where the at least one AI / ML operation includes at least one of an AI / ML data collection or an AI / ML inference.

[0213] In another configuration, the means for transmitting the set of RSs with the TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation may include configuring the apparatus 1504 to determine, based on the TA configuration, a set of parameters related to the TA for transmitting the set of RSs, where at least one parameter in the set of parameters is not included in the TA configuration, and transmit the set of RSs with the TA using the determined set of parameters.

[0214] In another configuration, the TA configuration is specified for AI / ML positioning or sensing and is different from a set of TA configurations for non-positioning communications or for non-AI / ML positioning or for non-AI / ML sensing.

[0215] In another configuration, the means for transmitting the set of RSs with the TA based on the TA configuration may include configuringthe apparatus 1504 to transmit the set of RSs with a first set of TA parameters, and transmit a repetition of the set of RSs with a second set of TA parameters, where the first set of TA parameters and the second set of TA parameters are at least partially different.

[0216] In another configuration, the apparatus 1504 may further include means for performing the at least one AI / ML operation based on the TA configuration.

[0217] In another configuration, the at least one AI / ML operation is performed at the at least one network entity.

[0218] In another configuration, the set of RSs corresponds to a set of uplink RSs or a set of SRSs.

[0219] In another configuration, the at least one network entity includes at least one of a base station, a TRP, an LMF, an NWD AF, an AI / ML management function, or a sensing management function.

[0220] The means may be the TA application component 198 of the apparatus 1504 configured to perform the functions recited by the means. As described supra, the apparatus 1504 may include the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller / processor 359. As such, in one configuration, the means may be the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and / or the controller / processor 359 configured to perform the functions recited by the means.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 69 / 93

[0221] FIG. 16 is a flowchart 1600 of wireless communication. The method may be performed by a first network entity (e.g., the base station 102, 706; the first network entity 1304; the network entity 1702). The method may enable the firstnetwork entity (e.g., abase station, TRP, etc.) to configure aUEwith TA for sending RS signal for AI / ML positioning / sensing operation, thereby promoting consistency for AI / / ML positioning / sensing operation(s) at different entities.

[0222] At 1602, the first network entity may transmit, to a UE, a TA configuration for transmitting a set of RSs for at least one AI / ML operation, such as described in connection with FIG. 13. For example, at 1310, a first network entity 1304 (e.g., a base station, a TRP, etc.) may transmit, to a UE 1302, a TA configuration for transmitting RS, where the RS may be used for at least one AI / ML operation. The transmission of the TA configuration maybe performedby, e.g., the TA configuration component 199, the transceiver(s) 1746, the RU processor(s) 1742, the DU processor(s) 1732, and / or the CU processor(s) 1712, of the network entity 1702 in FIG. 17.

[0223] At 1604, the first network entity may receive, from the UE based on the TA configuration, the set of RSs with TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation, such as described in connection with FIG. 13. For example, at 1314, based on the TA configuration, the first network entity 1304 may receive, from the UE 1302, a set of RSs with TA for the at least one AI / ML operation. The reception of the set of RSs with TA may be performedby, e.g., the TA configuration component 199, the transceiver(s) 1746, the RU processor(s) 1742, the DU processor(s) 1732, and / or the CU processor(s) 1712, of the network entity 1702 in FIG. 17.

[0224] In one example, the first network entity may further transmit, to a second network entity, an indication of capability to configure the UE with the TA for transmitting RS associated with AI / ML, and receive, from the second network entity based on the indication, a request to configure the UE with the TA for transmitting the RS associated with the AI / ML, where transmission of the TA configuration is based on the request. In some implementations, the first network entity corresponds to a base station or a TRP, and the second network entity corresponds to an LMF, an NWDAF, an AI / ML management function, or a sensing management function.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 70 / 93

[0225] In another example, the first network entity may further measure the set of RSs to obtain a set of RS measurements, and transmit, to the second network entity, the set of RS measurements as an input for the at least one AI / ML operation.

[0226] In another example, the first network entity may further receive, from the UE, an indication of supporting the TA for transmitting RS associated with AI / ML, where transmission of the TA configuration is based on the indication.

[0227] In another example, to transmit the TA configuration, the first network entity may be configured to transmit the TA configuration during the at least one AI / ML operation, where the at least one AI / ML operation includes at least one of an AI / ML data collection or an AI / ML inference.

[0228] In another example, the first network entity may further receive, from the UE based on the TA configuration, a TA indicator that includes at least one parameter or value applied by the UE for transmitting the set of RSs based on the TA configuration. In some implementations, the first network entity may perform the at least one AI / ML operation based on the TA indicator. In some implementations, to perform the at least one AI / ML operation based on the TA indicator, the first network entity may be configured to use the TA indicator as an input for an AI / ML positioning model or functionality or an AI / ML sensing model or functionality, select or switching an AI / ML positioning model or functionality based on the TA indicator, and / or decide on falling back to a non-AI / ML positioning method or measurement based on the TA indicator. In some implementations, the first network entity may transmit, to a second network entity, the TA indicator as an input for the at least one AI / ML operation.

[0229] In another example, the TA configuration is specified for AI / ML positioning or sensing and is different from a set of TA configurations for non-positioning communications or for non-AI / ML positioning or for non-AI / ML sensing.

[0230] In another example, the set of RSs corresponds to a set of uplink RSs or a set of SRSs.

[0231] FIG. 17 is a diagram 1700 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a network entity 1702. The network entity 1702 may be a BS, a component of aBS, or may implement B S functionality. The network entity 1702 may include at least one of a CU 1710, a DU 1730, or an RU 1740. For example, depending on the layer functionality handled by the TA configuration component 199, the network entity 1702 may include the CU 1710; both the CU 1710 and the DU 1730; each of the CU 1710, the DU 1730, and the RU 1740; the DU 1730; both the DU 1730 and the RU129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 71 / 931740; or the RU 1740. The CU 1710 may include at least one CU processor 1712. The CU processor(s) 1712 may include on-chip memory 1712'. In some aspects, the CU 1710 may further include additional memory modules 1714 and a communications interface 1718. The CU 1710 communicates with the DU 1730 through a midhaul link, such as an Fl interface. The DU 1730 may include at least one DU processor 1732. The DU processor(s) 1732 may include on-chip memory 1732'. In some aspects, the DU 1730 may further include additional memory modules 1734 and a communications interface 1738. The DU 1730 communicates with the RU 1740 through a fronthaul link. The RU 1740 may include at least one RU processor 1742. The RU processor(s) 1742 may include on-chip memory 1742'. In some aspects, the RU 1740 may further include additional memory modules 1744, one or more transceivers 1746, antennas 1780, and a communications interface 1748. The RU 1740 communicates with the UE 104. The on-chip memory 1712', 1732', 1742' and the additional memory modules 1714, 1734, 1744 may each be considered a computer-readable medium / memory. Each computer-readable medium / memory may be non-transitory. Each of the processors 1712, 1732, 1742 is responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer- readable medium / memory. The software, when executed by the corresponding processor(s) causes the processor(s) to perform the various functions described supra. The computer-readable medium / memory may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the processor(s) when executing software.

[0232] As discussed supra, the TA configuration component 199 may be configured to transmit, to a UE, a TA configuration for transmitting a set of RSs for at least one AI / ML operation. The TA configuration component 199 may also be configured to receive, from the UE based on the TA configuration, the set of RSs with TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation. The TA configuration component 199 may be within one or more processors of one or more of the CU 1710, DU 1730, and the RU 1740. The TA configuration component 199 may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to carry out the stated processes / algorithm, implemented by one or more processors configured to perform the stated processes / algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium for implementation by one or more processors, or some combination thereof. When multiple processors are implemented, the multiple processors may perform the stated129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 72 / 93processes / algorithm individually or in combination. The network entity 1702 may include a variety of components configured for various functions. In one configuration, the network entity 1702 may include means for transmitting, to a UE, a TA configuration for transmitting a set of RSs for at least one AI / ML operation. The network entity 1702 may further include means for receiving, from the UE based on the TA configuration, the set of RSs with TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation.

[0233] In one configuration, the network entity 1702 may further include means for transmitting, to a second network entity, an indication of capability to configure the UE with the TA for transmitting RS associated with AI / ML, and means for receiving from the second network entity based on the indication, a request to configure the UE with the TA for transmitting the RS associated with the AI / ML, where transmission of the TA configuration is based on the request. In some implementations, the first network entity corresponds to a base station or a TRP, and the second network entity corresponds to an LMF, an NWDAF, an AI / ML management function, ora sensing management function.

[0234] In another configuration, the network entity 1702 may further include means for measuring the set of RSs to obtain a set of RS measurements, and means for transmitting, to the second network entity, the set of RS measurements as an input for the at least one AI / ML operation.

[0235] In another configuration, the network entity 1702 may further include means for receiving, from the UE, an indication of supporting the TA for transmitting RS associated with AI / ML, where transmission of the TA configuration is based on the indication.

[0236] In another configuration, the means for transmittingthe TA configuration may include configuring the network entity 1702 to transmit the TA configuration during the at least one AI / ML operation, where the at least one AI / ML operation includes at least one of an AI / ML data collection or an AI / ML inference.

[0237] In another configuration, the network entity 1702 may further include means for receiving, from the UE based on the TA configuration, a TA indicator that includes at least one parameter or value applied by theUEfor transmitting the set of RSs based on the TA configuration. In some implementations, the network entity 1702 may further include means for performing the at least one AI / ML operation based on the129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 73 / 93TA indicator. In some implementations, the means for performing the at least one AI / ML operation based on the TA indicator may include configuring the network entity 1702 to use the TA indicator as an input for an AI / ML positioning model or functionality or an AI / ML sensing model or functionality, select or switching an AI / ML positioning model or functionality based on the TA indicator, and / or decide on falling back to a non-AI / ML positioning method or measurement based on the TA indicator. In some implementations, the first network entity may transmit, to a second network entity, the TA indicator as an input for the at least one AI / ML operation.

[0238] In another configuration, the TA configuration is specified for AI / ML positioning or sensing and is different from a set of TA configurations for non -positioning communications or for non-AI / ML positioning or for non-AI / ML sensing.

[0239] In another configuration, the set of RSs corresponds to a set of uplink RSs or a set of SRSs.

[0240] The means may be the TA configuration component 199 of the network entity 1702 configured to perform the functions recited by the means. As described supra, the network entity 1702 may include the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller / processor 375. As such, in one configuration, the means may be the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and / or the controller / processor 375 configured to perform the functions recited by the means.

[0241] FIG. 18 is a flowchart 1800 of wireless communication. The method may be performed by a second network entity (e.g., the one or more location servers 168; the location server 704; the second network entity 1306; the network entity 1960). The method may enable the second network entity (e.g., an LMF, an NWDAF, an AI / ML management function, or a sensing management function, etc.) to configure a UE with TA for sending RS signal for AI / ML positioning / sensing operation, thereby promoting consistency for AI / / ML positioning / sensing operation(s) at different entities.

[0242] At 1802, the second network entity may transmit either: (1) a TA configuration to a UE for transmitting a set of RSs for atleast AI / ML operation, or (2) a requestto a first network entity for generating and transmitting the TA configuration to the UE for transmitting the set of RSs for the atleast one AI / ML operation, such as described in connection with FIG. 13. For example, at 1310, a second network entity 1306 (e.g, a location server, an LMF, a sensing server, a sensing management function, an AI / ML129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 74 / 93server, an AI / ML management function, a crowd-sourcing entity, an NWDAF, etc.) may transmit, to a UE 1302, a TA configuration for transmitting RS, where the RS may be used for at least one AI / ML operation. At 1334, the second network entity 1306 may transmit, to the first network entity 1304, a request to configure the UE 1302 with the TA for transmitting the RS associated with the AI / ML. The transmission of the TA configuration may be performedby, e.g., the TA configuration component 197, the network processor(s) 1912, and / or the network interface 1980 of the network entity 1960 in FIG. 19.

[0243] At 1804, the second network entity may receive, from the UE or the first network entity based on the TA configuration or the request, at least one of: (1) a set of RS measurements based on the set of RSs, or (2) a TA indicator that includes at least one parameter or value applied by the UE for transmitting the set of RSs based on the TA configuration, such as described in connection with FIG. 13. For example, at 1318, the second network entity 1306 may receive, from the first network entity 1304, the set of RS measurements. As shown at 1324 and 1326, the second network entity 1306 may receive, from the UE 1302 or the first network entity 1304, a TA indicator that includes TA related parameter(s) and / or value(s) the UE 1302 applied for transmitting the set of RSs. The reception of the set of RS measurements and / or the TA indicator may be performed by, e.g., the TA configuration component 197, the network processor(s) 1912, and / or the network interface 1980 of the network entity 1960 in FIG. 19.

[0244] In one example, the second network entity may further receive, from the UE, an indication of supporting the TA for transmitting RS associated with AI / ML, where transmission of the TA configuration or the request is based on reception of the indication. In some implementations, the second network entity may transmit, to the UE, a second request to indicate whether the UE is capable of supporting the TA for transmitting the RS associated with the AI / ML, where reception of the indication is based on the second request.

[0245] In another example, to transmit the TA configuration or the request, the second network entity may be configured to transmit the TA configuration or the request during the at least one AI / ML operation, where the at least one AI / ML operation includes at least one of an AI / ML data collection or an AI / ML inference.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 75 / 93

[0246] In another example, the second network entity may further perform the at least one AI / ML operation based on at least one of the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator. In some implementations, to perform the at least one AI / ML operation based on at least one of the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator, the second network entity may be configured to at least one of: use the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator as an input for an AI / ML positioning model or functionality, select or switching an AI / ML positioning model or functionality based on the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator, or decide on falling back to a non- AI / ML positioning method or measurement based on the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator.

[0247] In another example, the TA configuration is specified for AI / ML positioning or sensing and is different from a set of TA configurations for non -positioning communications or for non-AI / ML positioning or for non-AI / ML sensing.

[0248] In another example, the set of RSs corresponds to a set of uplink RSs or a set of SRS.

[0249] In another example, the second network entity corresponds to an LMF, an NWDAF, an AI / ML management function, or a sensing management function, and where the first network entity corresponds to a base station or a TRP.

[0250] FIG. 19 is a diagram 1900 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a network entity 1960. In one example, the network entity 1960 may be within the core network 120. The network entity 1960 may include at least one network processor 1912. The network processor(s) 1912 may include on-chip memory 1912'. In some aspects, the network entity 1960 may further include additional memory modules 1914. The network entity 1960 communicates via the network interface 1980 directly (e.g., backhaul link) or indirectly (e.g., through a RIC) with the CU 1902. The on-chip memory 1912' and the additional memory modules 1914 may each be considered a computer-readable medium / memory. Each computer-readable medium / memory may be non-transitory. The network processor(s) 1912 is responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer- readable medium / memory. The software, when executed by the corresponding processor(s) causes the processor(s) to perform the various functions described supra. The computer-readable medium / memory may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the processor(s) when executing software.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 76 / 93

[0251] As discussed supra, the TA configuration component 197 may be configured to transmit either: (1) a TA configuration to a UE for transmitting a set of RSs for at least AI / ML operation, or (2) a request to a first network entity for generating and transmitting the TA configuration to the UE for transmitting the set of RSs for the at least one AI / ML operation. The TA configuration component 197 may also be configured to receive, from the UE or the first network entity based on the TA configuration or the request, at least one of: (1) a set of RS measurements based on the set of RSs, or (2) a TA indicator that includes at least one parameter or value applied by the UE for transmitting the set of RSs based on the TA configuration. The TA configuration component 197 may be within the network processor(s) 1912. The TA configuration component 197 may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to carry out the stated processes / algorithm, implemented by one or more processors configured to perform the stated processes / algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium for implementation by one or more processors, or some combination thereof. When multiple processors are implemented, the multiple processors may perform the stated processes / algorithm individually or in combination. The network entity 1960 may include a variety of components configured for various functions. In one configuration, the network entity 1960 may include means for transmitting either: (1) a TA configuration to a UE for transmitting a set of RSs for at least AI / ML operation, or (2) a request to a first network entity for generating and transmitting the TA configuration to the UE for transmitting the set of RSs for the at least one AI / ML operation. The network entity 1960 may further include means for receiving, from the UE or the first network entity based on the TA configuration or the request, at least one of: (1) a set of RS measurements based on the set of RSs, or (2) a TA indicator that includes at least one parameter or value applied by the UE for transmitting the set of RSs based on the TA configuration.

[0252] In one configuration, the network entity 1960 may further include means for receiving, from the UE, an indication of supporting the TA for transmitting RS associated with AI / ML, where transmission of the TA configuration or the request is based on reception of the indication. In some implementations, the network entity 1960 may further include means for transmitting, to the UE, a second request to indicate whether the UE is capable of supporting the TA for transmitting the RS129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 77 / 93associated with the AI / ML, where reception of the indication is based on the second request.

[0253] In another configuration, the means for transmitting the TA configuration or the request may include configuring the network entity 1960 to transmit the TA configuration or the request during the at least one AI / ML operation, where the at least one AI / ML operation includes at least one of an AI / ML data collection or an AI / ML inference.

[0254] In another configuration, the network entity 1960 may further include means for performing the at least one AI / ML operation based on at least one of the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator. In some implementations, the means for performing the at least one AI / ML operation based on at least one of the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator may include configuring the network entity 1960 to at least one of: use the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator as an input for an AI / ML positioning model or functionality, select or switching an AI / ML positioning model or functionality based on the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator, or decide on falling back to a non-AI / ML positioning method or measurement based on the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator.

[0255] In another configuration, the TA configuration is specified for AI / ML positioning or sensing and is different from a set of TA configurations for non-positioning communications or for non-AI / ML positioning or for non-AI / ML sensing.

[0256] In another configuration, the set of RSs corresponds to a set of uplink RSs or a set of SRS.

[0257] In another configuration, the second network entity corresponds to an LMF, an NWDAF, an AI / ML management function, or a sensing management function, and where the first network entity corresponds to a base station or a TRP.

[0258] The means may be the TA configuration component 197 of the network entity 1960 configured to perform the functions recited by the means.

[0259] It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes / flowcharts disclosed is an illustration of example approaches. Based upon design preferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes / flowcharts maybe rearranged. Further, some blocks may be combined or omitted. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various blocks in a sample order, and are not limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 78 / 93

[0260] The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not limited to the aspects described herein, but are to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language claims. Reference to an element in the singular does not mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more.” Terms such as “if,” “when,” and “while” do not imply an immediate temporal relationship or reaction. That is, these phrases, e.g., “when,” do not imply an immediate action in response to or during the occurrence of an action, but simply imply that if a condition is met then an action will occur, but without requiring a specific or immediate time constraint for the action to occur. The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. Combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C,” “one or more of A, B, or C,” “at least one of A, B, and C,” “one or more of A, B, and C,” and “A, B, C, or any combination thereof’ include any combination of A, B, and / or C, and may include multiples of A, multiples of B, or multiples of C. Specifically, combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C,” “one or more of A, B, or C,” “at least one of A, B, and C,” “one or more of A, B, and C,” and “A, B, C, or any combination thereof’ may be A only, B only, C only, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, where any such combinations may contain one or more member or members of A, B, orC. Sets should be interpreted as a set of elements where the elements number one or more. Accordingly, for a set of X, X would include one or more elements. When at least one processor (i.e., a set of one or more processors P) is configured to perform a set of functions F, each processor of P may be configured to perform a subset S of F, where S £ F. Accordingly, each processor of the at least one processor may be configured to perform a particular subset of the set of functions, where the subset is the full set, a proper subset of the set, or an empty subset of the set. A processor may be referred to as processor circuitry. A memory / memory module may be referred to as memory circuitry. If a first apparatus receives datafrom ortransmits data to a second apparatus, the data may be received / transmitted directly between the first and second129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 79 / 93apparatuses, or indirectly between the first and second apparatuses through a set of apparatuses. A device configured to “output” data or “provide” data, such as a transmission, signal, or message, may transmit the data, for example with a transceiver, or may send the data to a device that transmits the data. A device configured to “obtain” data, such as a transmission, signal, or message, may receive, for example with a transceiver, or may obtain the data from a device that receives the data. Information stored in a memory includes instructions and / or data. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. The words “module,” “mechanism,” “element,” “device,” and the like may not be a substitute for the word “means.” As such, no claim element is to be construed as a means plus function unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for.”

[0261] As used herein, the phrase “based on” shall not be construed as a reference to a closed set of information, one or more conditions, one or more factors, or the like. In other words, the phrase “based on A” (where “A” may be information, a condition, a factor, or the like) shall be construed as “based at least on A” unless specifically recited differently.

[0262] The following aspects are illustrative only and may be combined with other aspects or teachings described herein, without limitation.

[0263] Aspect 1 is a method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving, from at least one network entity, a timing advance (TA) configuration for transmitting a set of reference signals (RSs) for at least one artificial intelligence (Al) or machine learning (ML) (AI / ML) operation; and transmitting the set of RSs with TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation.

[0264] Aspect 2 is the method of aspect 1, further comprising: transmitting, to the at least one network entity, an indication of supporting the TA for transmitting RS associated with AI / ML, wherein reception of the TA configuration is based on the indication.

[0265] Aspect 3 is the method of aspect 1 or aspect 2, further comprising: receiving, from the at least one network entity, a request to indicate whether the UE is capable of129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 80 / 93supporting the TA for transmitting the RS associated with the AI / ML, wherein transmission of the indication is based on the request.

[0266] Aspect 4 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 3, further comprising: transmitting, to the at least one network entity, a TA indicator that includes at least one parameter or value applied by the UEfortransmittingthe set of RSs based on the TA configuration.

[0267] Aspect 5 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 4, wherein receiving the TA configuration comprises: receiving the TA configuration during the at least one AI / ML operation, wherein the at least one AI / ML operation includes at least one of an AI / ML data collection or an AI / ML inference.

[0268] Aspect 6 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 5, wherein transmitting the set of RSs with the TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation comprises: determining, based on the TA configuration, a set of parameters related to the TA for transmitting the set of RSs, wherein at least one parameter in the set of parameters is not included in the TA configuration; and transmitting the set of RSs with the TA using the determined set of parameters.

[0269] Aspect 7 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 6, wherein the TA configuration is specified for AI / ML positioning or sensing and is different from a set of TA configurations for non-positioning communications or for non-AI / ML positioning or for non-AI / ML sensing.

[0270] Aspect 8 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 7, wherein transmitting the set of RSs with the TA based on the TA configuration comprises: transmitting the set of RSs with a first set of TA parameters; and transmitting a repetition of the set of RSs with a second set of TA parameters, wherein the first set of TA parameters and the second set of TA parameters are at least partially different.

[0271] Aspect 9 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 8, further comprising: performing the at least one AI / ML operation based on the TA configuration.

[0272] Aspect 10 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 9, wherein the at least one AI / ML operation is performed at the first network entity or the second network entity.

[0273] Aspect 11 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 10, wherein the set of RSs corresponds to a set of uplink RSs or a set of sounding reference signals (SRSs).

[0274] Aspect 12 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 11, wherein the at least one network entity includes at least one of a base station, a transmission reception point (TRP), a129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 81 / 93location management function (LMF), a network data analytics function (NWDAF), an AI / ML management function, or a sensing management function.

[0275] Aspect 13 is an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), including: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and, based at least in part on stored information that is stored in the at least one memory, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to implement any of aspects 1 to 12.

[0276] Aspect 14 is the apparatus of aspect 13, further including at least one transceiver or at least one network interface coupled to the at least one processor.

[0277] Aspect 15 is an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) including means for implementing any of aspects 1 to 12.

[0278] Aspect 16 is a computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable medium) storing computer executable code, where the code when executed by a processor causes the processor to implement any of aspects 1 to 12.

[0279] Aspect 17 is a method of wireless communication at a first network entity, comprising: transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a timing advance (TA) configuration for transmitting a set of reference signals (RSs) for at least one artificial intelligence (Al) or machine learning (ML) (AI / ML) operation; and receiving, from the UE based on the TA configuration, the set of RSs with TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation.

[0280] Aspect 18 is the method of aspect 17, further comprising: transmitting, to a second network entity, an indication of capability to configure the UE with the TA for transmitting RS associated with AI / ML; and receiving, from the second network entity based on the indication, a request to configure the UE with the TA for transmitting the RS associated with the AI / ML, wherein transmission of the TA configuration is based on the request.

[0281] Aspect 19 is the method of aspect 17 or aspect 18, wherein the first network entity corresponds to a base station or a transmission reception point (TRP), and wherein the second network entity corresponds to a location management function (LMF), a network data analytics function (NWDAF), an AI / ML management function, or a sensing management function.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 82 / 93

[0282] Aspect 20 is the method of any of aspects 17 to 19, further comprising: measuring the set of RSs to obtain a set of RS measurements; and transmitting, to the second network entity, the set of RS measurements as an input for the at least one AI / ML operation.

[0283] Aspect 21 is the method of any of aspects 17 to 20, further comprising: receiving from the UE, an indication of supporting the TA for transmitting RS associated with AI / ML, wherein transmission of the TA configuration is based on the indication.

[0284] Aspect 22 is the method of any of aspects 17 to 21, wherein transmitting the TA configuration comprises: transmitting the TA configuration during the at least one AI / ML operation, wherein the at least one AI / ML operation includes at least one of an AI / ML data collection or an AI / ML inference.

[0285] Aspect 23 is the method of any of aspects 17 to 22, further comprising: receiving from the UE based on the TA configuration, a TA indicator that includes at least one parameter or value applied by the UE for transmitting the set of RSs based on the TA configuration.

[0286] Aspect 24 is the method of any of aspects 17 to 23, further comprising: performing the at least one AI / ML operation based on the TA indicator.

[0287] Aspect 25 is the method of any of aspects 17 to 24, wherein performing the at least one AI / ML operation based on the TA indicator includes at least one of: using the TA indicator as an input for an AI / ML positioning model or functionality or an AI / ML sensing model or functionality, selecting or switching an AI / ML positioning model or functionality based on the TA indicator, or deciding on falling back to a non- AI / ML positioning method or measurement based on the TA indicator.

[0288] Aspect 26 is the method of any of aspects 17 to 25, further comprising: transmitting to a second network entity, the TA indicator as an input for the at least one AI / ML operation.

[0289] Aspect 27 is the method of any of aspects 17 to 26, wherein the TA configuration is specified for AI / ML positioning or sensing and is different from a set of TA configurations for non-positioning communications or for non- AI / ML positioning or for non-AI / ML sensing.

[0290] Aspect 28 is the method of any of aspects 17 to 27, wherein the set of RSs corresponds to a set of uplink RSs or a set of sounding reference signals (SRSs).

[0291] Aspect 29 is an apparatus for wireless communication at a first network entity, including: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 83 / 93memory and, based at least in part on stored information that is stored in the at least one memory, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to implement any of aspects 17 to 28.

[0292] Aspect 30 is the apparatus of aspect 29, further including at least one network interface coupled to the at least one processor.

[0293] Aspect 31 is an apparatus for wireless communication at a first network entity including means for implementing any of aspects 17 to 28.

[0294] Aspect 32 is a computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable medium) storing computer executable code, where the code when executed by a processor causes the processor to implement any of aspects 17 to 28.

[0295] Aspect 33 is a method of wireless communication at a second network entity, comprising: transmitting either: (1) a timing advance (TA) configuration to a user equipment (UE) for transmitting a set of reference signals (RSs) for at least one artificial intelligence (Al) or machine learning (ML) (AI / ML) operation, or (2) a request to a first network entity for generating and transmitting the TA configuration to the UE for transmitting the set of RSs for the at least one AI / ML operation; and receiving, from the UE or the first network entity based on the TA configuration or the request, at least one of: (1) a set of RS measurements based on the set of RSs, or (2) a TA indicator that includes at least one parameter or value applied by the UE for transmitting the set of RSs based on the TA configuration.

[0296] Aspect 34 is the method of aspect 33, further comprising: receiving, from the UE, an indication of supporting the TA for transmitting RS associated with AI / ML, wherein transmission of the TA configuration or the request is based on reception of the indication.

[0297] Aspect 35 is the method of aspect 33 or aspect 34, further comprising: transmitting to the UE, a second request to indicate whether the UE is capable of supporting the TA for transmitting the RS associated with the AI / ML, wherein reception of the indication is based on the second request.

[0298] Aspect 36 is the method of any of aspects 33 to 35, wherein transmitting the TA configuration or the request comprises: transmitting the TA configuration or the request during the at least one AI / ML operation, wherein the at least one AI / ML operation includes at least one of an AI / ML data collection or an AI / ML inference.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 84 / 93

[0299] Aspect 37 is the method of any of aspects 33 to 36, further comprising: performing the at least one AI / ML operation based on at least one of the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator.

[0300] Aspect 38 is the method of any of aspects 33 to 37, wherein performing the at least one AI / ML operation based on at least one of the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator includes at least one of: using the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator as an input for an AI / ML positioning model or functionality, selecting or switching an AI / ML positioning model or functionality based on the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator, or deciding on falling back to a non- AI / ML positioning method or measurement based on the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator.

[0301] Aspect 39 is the method of any of aspects 33 to 38, wherein the TA configuration is specified for AI / ML positioning or sensing and is different from a set of TA configurations for non-positioning communications or for non-AI / ML positioning or for non-AI / ML sensing.

[0302] Aspect 40 is the method of any of aspects 33 to 39, wherein the set of RSs corresponds to a set of uplink RSs or a set of sounding reference signals (SRS).

[0303] Aspect 41 is the method of any of aspects 33 to 40, wherein the second network entity corresponds to a location management function (LMF), a network data analytics function (NWDAF), an AI / ML management function, or a sensing management function, and wherein the first network entity corresponds to a base station or a transmission reception point (TRP).

[0304] Aspect 42 is an apparatus for wireless communication at a first network entity, including: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and, based at least in part on stored information that is stored in the at least one memory, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to implement any of aspects 33 to 41.

[0305] Aspect 43 is the apparatus of aspect 42, further including at least one network interface coupled to the at least one processor.

[0306] Aspect 44 is an apparatus for wireless communication at a first network entity including means for implementing any of aspects 33 to 41.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 85 / 93

[0307] Aspect 45 is a computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable medium) storing computer executable code, where the code when executed by a processor causes the processor to implement any of aspects 33 to 41.129025-2549WO01

Claims

Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 86 / 93CLAIMS WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:at least one memory; andat least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:receive, from at least one network entity, a timing advance (TA) configuration for transmitting a set of reference signals (RSs) for at least one artificial intelligence (Al) or machine learning (ML) (AI / ML) operation; and transmit the set of RSs with TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:transmit, to the at least one network entity, an indication of supporting the TA for transmitting RS associated with AI / ML, wherein reception of the TA configuration is based on the indication.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:receive, from the at least one network entity, a request to indicate whether the UE is capable of supporting the TA for transmitting the RS associated with the AI / ML, wherein transmission of the indication is based on the request.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:transmit, to the at least one network entity, a TA indicator that includes at least one parameter or value applied by the UE for transmitting the set of RSs based on the TA configuration.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein to receive the TA configuration, the at least one processor is configured to:129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 87 / 93receive the TA configuration during the at least one AI / ML operation, wherein the at least one AI / ML operation includes at least one of an AI / ML data collection or an AI / ML inference.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein to transmit the set of RSs with the TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation, the at least one processor is configured to:determine, based on the TA configuration, a set of parameters related to the TA for transmitting the set of RSs, wherein at least one parameter in the set of parameters is not included in the TA configuration; andtransmit the set of RSs with the TA using the determined set of parameters.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the TA configuration is specified for AI / ML positioning or sensing and is different from a set of TA configurations for non-positioning communications or for non-AI / ML positioning or for non-AI / ML sensing.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein to transmit the set of RSs with the TA based on the TA configuration, the at least one processor is configured to:transmit the set of RSs with a first set of TA parameters; andtransmit a repetition of the set of RSs with a second set of TA parameters, wherein the first set of TA parameters and the second set of TA parameters are at least partially different.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:perform the at least one AI / ML operation based on the TA configuration.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one network entity includes at least one of a base station, a transmission reception point (TRP), a location management function (LMF), a network data analytics function (NWDAF), an AI / ML management function, or a sensing management function.

11. A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 88 / 93receiving, from at least one network entity, a timing advance (TA) configuration for transmitting a set of reference signals (RSs) for at least one artificial intelligence (Al) or machine learning (ML) (AI / ML) operation; andtransmitting the set of RSs with TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation.

12. An apparatus for wireless communication at a first network entity, comprising:at least one memory; andat least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a timing advance (TA) configuration for transmitting a set of reference signals (RSs) for at least one artificial intelligence (Al) or machine learning (ML) (AI / ML) operation; and receive, from the UE based on the TA configuration, the set of RSs with TA based on the TA configuration for the at least one AI / ML operation.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:transmit, to a second network entity, an indication of capability to configure the UE with the TA for transmitting RS associated with AI / ML; andreceive, from the second network entity based on the indication, a request to configure the UE with the TA for transmitting the RS associated with the AI / ML, wherein transmission of the TA configuration is based on the request.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first network entity corresponds to a base station or a transmission reception point (TRP), and wherein the second network entity corresponds to a location management function (LMF), a network data analytics function (NWDAF), an AI / ML management function, or a sensing management function.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:measure the set of RSs to obtain a set of RS measurements; and129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 89 / 93transmit, to a second network entity, the set of RS measurements as an input for the at least one AI / ML operation.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:receive, from the UE, an indication of supporting the TA for transmitting RS associated with AI / ML, wherein transmission of the TA configuration is based on the indication.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein to transmit the TA configuration, the at least one processor is configured to:transmit the TA configuration during the at least one AI / ML operation, wherein the at least one AI / ML operation includes at least one of an AI / ML data collection or an AI / ML inference.

18. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:receive, from the UE based on the TA configuration, a TA indicator that includes at least one parameter or value applied by the UE for transmitting the set of RSs based on the TA configuration.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:perform the at least one AI / ML operation based on the TA indicator.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein to perform the atleast one AI / ML operation based on the TA indicator, the at least one processor is configured to at least one of:use the TA indicator as an input for an AI / ML positioning model or functionality or an AI / ML sensing model or functionality,select or switching an AI / ML positioning model or functionality based on the TA indicator, ordecide on falling back to a non-AI / ML positioning apparatus or measurement based on the TA indicator.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 90 / 9321. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:transmit, to a second network entity, the TA indicator as an input for the at least one AI / ML operation.

22. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the TA configuration is specified for AI / ML positioningor sensing and is different from a set of TA configurations for non-positioning communications or for non-AI / ML positioning or for non-AI / ML sensing.

23. An apparatus for wireless communication at a second network entity, comprising:at least one memory; andat least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:transmit either: (1) a timing advance (TA) configuration to a user equipment (UE) for transmitting a set of reference signals (RSs) for at least one artificial intelligence (Al) or machine learning (ML) (AI / ML) operation, or (2) a request to a first network entity for generating and transmitting the TA configuration to the UE for transmitting the set of RSs for the at least one AI / ML operation; andreceive, from the UE or the first network entity based on the TA configuration or the request, at least one of: (1) a set of RS measurements based on the set of RSs, or (2) a TA indicator that includes at least one parameter or value applied by the UE for transmitting the set of RSs based on the TA configuration.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:receive, from the UE, an indication of supporting the TA for transmitting RS associated with AI / ML, wherein transmission of the TA configuration or the request is based on reception of the indication.129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 91 / 9325. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:transmit, to the UE, a second request to indicate whether the UE is capable of supporting the TA for transmitting the RS associated with the AI / ML, wherein reception of the indication is based on the second request.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein transmitting the TA configuration or the request, the at least one processor is configured to:transmit the TA configuration or the request during the at least one AI / ML operation, wherein the at least one AI / ML operation includes at least one of an AI / ML data collection or an AI / ML inference.

27. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:perform the at least one AI / ML operation based on at least one of the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein to perform the at least one AI / ML operation based on at least one of the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator, the at least one processor is configured to at least one of:use the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator as an input for an AI / ML positioning model or functionality,select or switching an AI / ML positioning model or functionality based on the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator, ordecide on falling back to a non-AI / ML positioning apparatus or measurement based on the set of RS measurements or the TA indicator.

29. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the TA configuration is specified for AI / ML positioning or sensing and is different from a set of TA configurations for non-positioning communications or for non-AI / ML positioning or for non-AI / ML sensing.

30. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the second network entity corresponds to a location management function (LMF), a network data analytics function (NWDAF), an129025-2549WO01Qualcomm Ref. No. 2500460WO 92 / 93AI / ML management function, or a sensing management function, and wherein the first network entity corresponds to a base station or a transmission reception point (TRP).129025-2549WO01

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