Aerial UE Location Reporting with Height Information
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aerial user equipment (UEs), such as drones and helicopters, face challenges in accurately reporting their location due to differences in coverage regions between aerial and terrestrial cells, leading to potential errors in location reporting, as they may use side-lobe or up-tilted beams of far-away cells, causing ambiguity in cell identification.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating height information into location reporting procedures between core and access network entities to enhance location determination and reporting, allowing for accurate identification of aerial UEs' locations, including the use of height-interval lists and three-dimensional area of interest definitions to prevent errors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If aerial UEs use cell identifiers for location reporting, then location reporting is simplified, but location accuracy deteriorates due to side-lobe or up-tilted beams of far-away cells causing wrong cell ID reporting
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional location reporting (latitude and longitude based on cell ID) to three-dimensional location reporting by incorporating height information. This dimensional extension allows aerial UEs to report their vertical position, which disambiguates their location from ground-based locations that might share the same cell ID, thereby resolving the accuracy issue while maintaining reporting simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent modifies the location reporting parameters by adding height information to the existing cell ID-based reporting mechanism. This parameter enhancement allows the system to distinguish between aerial and terrestrial locations, preventing wrong cell ID reporting by aerial UEs while preserving the simplicity of the original reporting method.
2Adaptability or versatility
If traditional location reporting procedures are used for aerial UEs, then network compatibility is maintained, but location reliability deteriorates due to ambiguity in cell identification
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enhances the existing location reporting mechanism to serve both traditional two-dimensional and new three-dimensional reporting needs. By incorporating height information into the universal location reporting framework, the system maintains compatibility with existing network infrastructure while improving reliability for aerial UEs through the additional vertical dimension data.
3Measurement precision
If height information is incorporated into location reporting, then location accuracy for aerial UEs improves, but message size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a selective approach where height information is included in location reports only when necessary (e.g., when the UE is identified as an aerial UE or when vertical position is relevant). This partial application of the enhancement minimizes the increase in message size while still providing the accuracy benefits where needed, rather than universally adding height data to all location reports.
Data Source
AI summary
Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to methods and apparatus for enhancing location reporting procedures to include height information of a user equipment (UE), such as an aerial UE. The location reporting procedures may be between a core network entity and an access network entity. Due to the differences in coverage regions between areal cells and terrestrial cells, aerial UEs may not fully rely on cell identifiers (IDs) as a primary location indicator due to its ambiguity (e.g., as the aerial UEs may use a side-lobe or up-tilted beam of a far-away cell that provides a cell ID while its conventional geographical location belongs to another, closer cell). Aspects of the present disclosure provides techniques for enhancing the location reporting procedures for the aerial UEs to prevent such potential errors in location reporting.