POSITION ESTIMATION BASED ON TIME BIAS BETWEEN BASE STATION AND REFERENCE USER EQUIPMENT

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE
1. Field of the Disclosure

Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to wireless communications.

2. Description of the Related Art

Wireless communication systems have developed through various generations, including a first-generation analog wireless phone service (1G), a second-generation (2G) digital wireless phone service (including interim 2.5G and 2.75G networks), a third-generation (3G) high speed data, Internet-capable wireless service and a fourth-generation (4G) service (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). There are presently many different types of wireless communication systems in use, including cellular and personal communications service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog advanced mobile phone system (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), etc.

A fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, referred to as New Radio (NR), calls for higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. The 5G standard, according to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, is designed to provide data rates of several tens of megabits per second to each of tens of thousands of users, with 1 gigabit per second to tens of workers on an office floor. Several hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported in order to support large sensor deployments. Consequently, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly enhanced compared to the current 4G standard. Furthermore, signaling efficiencies should be enhanced and latency should be substantially reduced compared to current standards.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary relating to one or more aspects disclosed herein. Thus, the following summary should not be considered an extensive overview relating to all contemplated aspects, nor should the following summary be considered to identify key or critical elements relating to all contemplated aspects or to delineate the scope associated with any particular aspect. Accordingly, the following summary has the sole purpose to present certain concepts relating to one or more aspects relating to the mechanisms disclosed herein in a simplified form to precede the detailed description presented below.

In an aspect, a method of operating a position estimation entity includes obtaining first timing information that is associated with a first time-of-arrival (TOA) measurement of a first reference signal for positioning (RS-P) as communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station with a first time basis; obtaining second timing information that is associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time basis that is different than the first time basis; determining a bias between the first time basis and the second time basis; and determining a position estimate of the target UE via a time differential of arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part upon the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

In some aspects, the method includes obtaining third timing information that is associated with a third TOA measurement of a third RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a first wireless node, and obtaining fourth timing information that is associated with a fourth TOA measurement of a fourth RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a second wireless node, wherein the determination of the position estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information.

In some aspects, the first and second wireless nodes comprise at least one other base station, at least one other reference UE associated with at least one other known location, or a combination thereof.

In some aspects, the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and downlink TDOA (SL+DL-TDOA) positioning technique, wherein the first RS-P corresponds to a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS), and wherein the second RS-P corresponds to a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

In some aspects, the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and uplink TDOA (SL+UL-TDOA) positioning technique, wherein the first RS-P corresponds to an uplink sounding reference for positioning (UL-SRS-P), and wherein the second RS-P corresponds to the UL-SRS-P or a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

In some aspects, the position estimation entity corresponds to the base station, the reference UE, a location management function (LMF), a location server, the target UE, or a combination thereof.

In some aspects, the bias determination is triggered in conjunction with a triggering of the position estimation determination.

In some aspects, the bias determination is triggered independently from and within a threshold period of time from a triggering of the position estimation determination.

In some aspects, the bias is determined based on a first difference between an estimated propagation time between the base station and the reference UE based on respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the base station and the reference UE.

In some aspects, the bias is further determined based on a second difference between an estimated propagation time between another base station and the reference UE based on respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE.

In an aspect, a position estimation entity includes a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to: obtain first timing information that is associated with a first time-of-arrival (TOA) measurement of a first reference signal for positioning (RS-P) as communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station with a first time basis; obtain second timing information that is associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time basis that is different than the first time basis; determine a bias between the first time basis and the second time basis; and determine a position estimate of the target UE via a time differential of arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part upon the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

In some aspects, the at least one processor is further configured to: obtain third timing information that is associated with a third TOA measurement of a third RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a first wireless node, and obtain fourth timing information that is associated with a fourth TOA measurement of a fourth RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a second wireless node, wherein the determination of the position estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information.

In some aspects, the position estimation entity corresponds to the base station, the reference UE, a location management function (LMF), a location server, the target UE, or a combination thereof.

In some aspects, the bias determination is triggered in conjunction with a triggering of the position estimation determination.

In some aspects, the bias determination is triggered independently from and within a threshold period of time from a triggering of the position estimation determination.

In an aspect, a position estimation entity includes means for obtaining first timing information that is associated with a first time-of-arrival (TOA) measurement of a first reference signal for positioning (RS-P) as communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station with a first time basis; means for obtaining second timing information that is associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time basis that is different than the first time basis; means for determining a bias between the first time basis and the second time basis; and means for determining a position estimate of the target UE via a time differential of arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part upon the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

In some aspects, the method includes means for obtaining third timing information that is associated with a third TOA measurement of a third RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a first wireless node, and means for obtaining fourth timing information that is associated with a fourth TOA measurement of a fourth RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a second wireless node, wherein the determination of the position estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information.

In some aspects, the position estimation entity corresponds to the base station, the reference UE, a location management function (LMF), a location server, the target UE, or a combination thereof.

In some aspects, the bias determination is triggered in conjunction with a triggering of the position estimation determination.

In some aspects, the bias determination is triggered independently from and within a threshold period of time from a triggering of the position estimation determination.

In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a position estimation entity, cause the position estimation entity to: obtain first timing information that is associated with a first time-of-arrival (TOA) measurement of a first reference signal for positioning (RS-P) as communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station with a first time basis; obtain second timing information that is associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time basis that is different than the first time basis; determine a bias between the first time basis and the second time basis; and determine a position estimate of the target UE via a time differential of arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part upon the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

In some aspects, the one or more instructions further cause the position estimation entity to: obtain third timing information that is associated with a third TOA measurement of a third RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a first wireless node, and obtain fourth timing information that is associated with a fourth TOA measurement of a fourth RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a second wireless node, wherein the determination of the position estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information.

In some aspects, the position estimation entity corresponds to the base station, the reference UE, a location management function (LMF), a location server, the target UE, or a combination thereof.

In some aspects, the bias determination is triggered in conjunction with a triggering of the position estimation determination.

In some aspects, the bias determination is triggered independently from and within a threshold period of time from a triggering of the position estimation determination.

Other objects and advantages associated with the aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the accompanying drawings and detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in the description of various aspects of the disclosure and are provided solely for illustration of the aspects and not limitation thereof.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communications system, according to aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate example wireless network structures, according to aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C are simplified block diagrams of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a user equipment (UE), a base station, and a network entity, respectively, and configured to support communications as taught herein.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating various components of an example user equipment (UE), according to aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 5A to 5D are diagrams illustrating example frame structures and channels within the frame structures, according to aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates a time difference of arrival (TDOA)-based positioning procedure in an example wireless communications system, according to aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example wireless communication system in which a vehicle user equipment (V-UE) is exchanging ranging signals with a roadside unit (RSU) and another V-UE, according to aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary process 800 of wireless communication, according to aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 9 depicts a communication system 900 in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates a timeline 1000 based on an example implementation of the process of FIG. 8 in accordance with an aspect of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the disclosure are provided in the following description and related drawings directed to various examples provided for illustration purposes. Alternate aspects may be devised without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of the disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the disclosure.

The words “exemplary” and/or “example” are used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” and/or “example” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Likewise, the term “aspects of the disclosure” does not require that all aspects of the disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage or mode of operation.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the information and signals described below may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the description below may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the particular application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, etc.

Further, many aspects are described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It will be recognized that various actions described herein can be performed by specific circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, the sequence(s) of actions described herein can be considered to be embodied entirely within any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a corresponding set of computer instructions that, upon execution, would cause or instruct an associated processor of a device to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the various aspects of the disclosure may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which have been contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the aspects described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspects may be described herein as, for example, “logic configured to” perform the described action.

As used herein, the terms “user equipment” (UE) and “base station” are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT), unless otherwise noted. In general, a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, consumer asset locating device, wearable (e.g., smartwatch, glasses, augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), vehicle (e.g., automobile, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communications network. A UE may be mobile or may (e.g., at certain times) be stationary, and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term “UE” may be referred to interchangeably as an “access terminal” or “AT,” a “client device,” a “wireless device,” a “subscriber device,” a “subscriber terminal,” a “subscriber station,” a “user terminal” or “UT,” a “mobile device,” a “mobile terminal,” a “mobile station,” or variations thereof. Generally, UEs can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network the UEs can be connected with external networks such as the Internet and with other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms of connecting to the core network and/or the Internet are also possible for the UEs, such as over wired access networks, wireless local area network (WLAN) networks (e.g., based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specification, etc.) and so on.

A base station may operate according to one of several RATs in communication with UEs depending on the network in which it is deployed, and may be alternatively referred to as an access point (AP), a network node, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), a New Radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), etc. A base station may be used primarily to support wireless access by UEs, including supporting data, voice, and/or signaling connections for the supported UEs. In some systems a base station may provide purely edge node signaling functions while in other systems it may provide additional control and/or network management functions. A communication link through which UEs can send signals to a base station is called an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). A communication link through which the base station can send signals to UEs is called a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein the term traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an uplink/reverse or downlink/forward traffic channel.

The term “base station” may refer to a single physical transmission-reception point (TRP) or to multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be co-located. For example, where the term “base station” refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station corresponding to a cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. Where the term “base station” refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRPs may be an array of antennas (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where the base station employs beamforming) of the base station. Where the term “base station” refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRPs may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transport medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-located physical TRPs may be the serving base station receiving the measurement report from the UE and a neighbor base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signals the UE is measuring. Because a TRP is the point from which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, as used herein, references to transmission from or reception at a base station are to be understood as referring to a particular TRP of the base station.

In some implementations that support positioning of UEs, a base station may not support wireless access by UEs (e.g., may not support data, voice, and/or signaling connections for UEs), but may instead transmit reference signals to UEs to be measured by the UEs, and/or may receive and measure signals transmitted by the UEs. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., when transmitting signals to UEs) and/or as a location measurement unit (e.g., when receiving and measuring signals from UEs).

An “RF signal” comprises an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transports information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single “RF signal” or multiple “RF signals” to a receiver. However, the receiver may receive multiple “RF signals” corresponding to each transmitted RF signal due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between the transmitter and receiver may be referred to as a “multipath” RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a “wireless signal” or simply a “signal” where it is clear from the context that the term “signal” refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communications system 100, according to aspects of the disclosure. The wireless communications system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 (labeled “BS”) and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macro cell base stations (high power cellular base stations) and/or small cell base stations (low power cellular base stations). In an aspect, the macro cell base stations may include eNBs and/or ng-eNBs where the wireless communications system 100 corresponds to an LTE network, or gNBs where the wireless communications system 100 corresponds to a NR network, or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC)) through backhaul links 122, and through the core network 170 to one or more location servers 172 (e.g., a location management function (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)). The location server(s) 172 may be part of core network 170 or may be external to core network 170. In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 may perform functions that relate to one or more of transferring user data, radio channel ciphering and deciphering, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, distribution for non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment trace, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC/5GC) over backhaul links 134, which may be wired or wireless.

The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104. Each of the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110. In an aspect, one or more cells may be supported by a base station 102 in each geographic coverage area 110. A “cell” is a logical communication entity used for communication with a base station (e.g., over some frequency resource, referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, band, or the like), and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), an enhanced cell identifier (ECI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI), etc.) for distinguishing cells operating via the same or a different carrier frequency. In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine-type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access for different types of UEs. Because a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term “cell” may refer to either or both of the logical communication entity and the base station that supports it, depending on the context. In addition, because a TRP is typically the physical transmission point of a cell, the terms “cell” and “TRP” may be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term “cell” may also refer to a geographic coverage area of a base station (e.g., a sector), insofar as a carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within some portion of geographic coverage areas 110.

While neighboring macro cell base station 102 geographic coverage areas 110 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover region), some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may be substantially overlapped by a larger geographic coverage area 110. For example, a small cell base station 102′ (labeled “SC” for “small cell”) may have a geographic coverage area 110′ that substantially overlaps with the geographic coverage area 110 of one or more macro cell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell and macro cell base stations may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include home eNBs (HeNBs), which may provide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG).

The communication links 120 between the base stations 102 and the UEs 104 may include uplink (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from a UE 104 to a base station 102 and/or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from a base station 102 to a UE 104. The communication links 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. The communication links 120 may be through one or more carrier frequencies. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to downlink and uplink (e.g., more or less carriers may be allocated for downlink than for uplink).

The wireless communications system 100 may further include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 in communication with WLAN stations (STAs) 152 via communication links 154 in an unlicensed frequency spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the WLAN STAs 152 and/or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) or listen before talk (LBT) procedure prior to communicating in order to determine whether the channel is available.

The small cell base station 102′ may operate in a licensed and/or an unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell base station 102′ may employ LTE or NR technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum as used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102′, employing LTE/5G in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, may boost coverage to and/or increase capacity of the access network. NR in unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as NR-U. LTE in an unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as LTE-U, licensed assisted access (LAA), or MulteFire.

The wireless communications system 100 may further include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180 that may operate in mmW frequencies and/or near mmW frequencies in communication with a UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as a millimeter wave. Near mmW may extend down to a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, also referred to as centimeter wave. Communications using the mmW/near mmW radio frequency band have high path loss and a relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmit and/or receive) over a mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. Further, it will be appreciated that in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or near mmW and beamforming. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the foregoing illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed to limit the various aspects disclosed herein.

Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omni-directionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing a faster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal for the receiving device(s). To change the directionality of the RF signal when transmitting, a network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters that are broadcasting the RF signal. For example, a network node may use an array of antennas (referred to as a “phased array” or an “antenna array”) that creates a beam of RF waves that can be “steered” to point in different directions, without actually moving the antennas. Specifically, the RF current from the transmitter is fed to the individual antennas with the correct phase relationship so that the radio waves from the separate antennas add together to increase the radiation in a desired direction, while cancelling to suppress radiation in undesired directions.

Transmit beams may be quasi-co-located, meaning that they appear to the receiver (e.g., a UE) as having the same parameters, regardless of whether or not the transmitting antennas of the network node themselves are physically co-located. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relations. Specifically, a QCL relation of a given type means that certain parameters about a second reference RF signal on a second beam can be derived from information about a source reference RF signal on a source beam. Thus, if the source reference RF signal is QCL Type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial receive parameter of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

In receive beamforming, the receiver uses a receive beam to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver can increase the gain setting and/or adjust the phase setting of an array of antennas in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., to increase the gain level of) the RF signals received from that direction. Thus, when a receiver is said to beamform in a certain direction, it means the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain along other directions, or the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gain in that direction of all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), etc.) of the RF signals received from that direction.

Transmit and receive beams may be spatially related. A spatial relation means that parameters for a second beam (e.g., a transmit or receive beam) for a second reference signal can be derived from information about a first beam (e.g., a receive beam or a transmit beam) for a first reference signal. For example, a UE may use a particular receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE can then form a transmit beam for sending an uplink reference signal (e.g., sounding reference signal (SRS)) to that base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

Note that a “downlink” beam may be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a base station is forming the downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to a UE, the downlink beam is a transmit beam. If the UE is forming the downlink beam, however, it is a receive beam to receive the downlink reference signal. Similarly, an “uplink” beam may be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a base station is forming the uplink beam, it is an uplink receive beam, and if a UE is forming the uplink beam, it is an uplink transmit beam.

In 5G, the frequency spectrum in which wireless nodes (e.g., base stations 102/180, UEs 104/182) operate is divided into multiple frequency ranges, FR1 (from 450 to 6000 MHz), FR2 (from 24250 to 52600 MHz), FR3 (above 52600 MHz), and FR4 (between FR1 and FR2). mmW frequency bands generally include the FR2, FR3, and FR4 frequency ranges. As such, the terms “mmW” and “FR2” or “FR3” or “FR4” may generally be used interchangeably.

In a multi-carrier system, such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as the “primary carrier” or “anchor carrier” or “primary serving cell” or “PCell,” and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as “secondary carriers” or “secondary serving cells” or “SCells.” In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is the carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by a UE 104/182 and the cell in which the UE 104/182 either performs the initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and UE-specific control channels, and may be a carrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). A secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that may be configured once the RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier and that may be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier may be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may contain only necessary signaling information and signals, for example, those that are UE-specific may not be present in the secondary carrier, since both primary uplink and downlink carriers are typically UE-specific. This means that different UEs 104/182 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplink primary carriers. The network is able to change the primary carrier of any UE 104/182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers. Because a “serving cell” (whether a PCell or an SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency/component carrier over which some base station is communicating, the term “cell,” “serving cell,” “component carrier,” “carrier frequency,” and the like can be used interchangeably.

For example, still referring to FIG. 1, one of the frequencies utilized by the macro cell base stations 102 may be an anchor carrier (or “PCell”) and other frequencies utilized by the macro cell base stations 102 and/or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers (“SCells”). The simultaneous transmission and/or reception of multiple carriers enables the UE 104/182 to significantly increase its data transmission and/or reception rates. For example, two 20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically lead to a two-fold increase in data rate (i.e., 40 MHz), compared to that attained by a single 20 MHz carrier.

The wireless communications system 100 may further include a UE 164 that may communicate with a macro cell base station 102 over a communication link 120 and/or the mmW base station 180 over a mmW communication link 184. For example, the macro cell base station 102 may support a PCell and one or more SCells for the UE 164 and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCells for the UE 164.

In the example of FIG. 1, any of the illustrated UEs (shown in FIG. 1 as a single UE 104 for simplicity) may receive signals 124 from one or more Earth orbiting space vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites). In an aspect, the SVs 112 may be part of a satellite positioning system that a UE 104 can use as an independent source of location information. A satellite positioning system typically includes a system of transmitters (e.g., SVs 112) positioned to enable receivers (e.g., UEs 104) to determine their location on or above the Earth based, at least in part, on positioning signals (e.g., signals 124) received from the transmitters. Such a transmitter typically transmits a signal marked with a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code of a set number of chips. While typically located in SVs 112, transmitters may sometimes be located on ground-based control stations, base stations 102, and/or other UEs 104. A UE 104 may include one or more dedicated receivers specifically designed to receive signals 124 for deriving geo location information from the SVs 112.

In a satellite positioning system, the use of signals 124 can be augmented by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) that may be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and/or regional navigation satellite systems. For example an SBAS may include an augmentation system(s) that provides integrity information, differential corrections, etc., such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), the Global Positioning System (GPS) Aided Geo Augmented Navigation or GPS and Geo Augmented Navigation system (GAGAN), and/or the like. Thus, as used herein, a satellite positioning system may include any combination of one or more global and/or regional navigation satellites associated with such one or more satellite positioning systems.

In an aspect, SVs 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). In an NTN, an SV 112 is connected to an earth station (also referred to as a ground station, NTN gateway, or gateway), which in turn is connected to an element in a 5G network, such as a modified base station 102 (without a terrestrial antenna) or a network node in a 5GC. This element would in turn provide access to other elements in the 5G network and ultimately to entities external to the 5G network, such as Internet web servers and other user devices. In that way, a UE 104 may receive communication signals (e.g., signals 124) from an SV 112 instead of, or in addition to, communication signals from a terrestrial base station 102.

The wireless communications system 100 may further include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, that connects indirectly to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as “sidelinks”). In the example of FIG. 1, UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of the UEs 104 connected to one of the base stations 102 (e.g., through which UE 190 may indirectly obtain cellular connectivity) and a D2D P2P link 194 with WLAN STA 152 connected to the WLAN AP 150 (through which UE 190 may indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity). In an example, the D2D P2P links 192 and 194 may be supported with any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®, and so on.

FIG. 2A illustrates an example wireless network structure 200. For example, a 5GC 210 (also referred to as a Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be viewed functionally as control plane (C-plane) functions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and user plane (U-plane) functions 212, (e.g., UE gateway function, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.) which operate cooperatively to form the core network. User plane interface (NG-U) 213 and control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5GC 210 and specifically to the user plane functions 212 and control plane functions 214, respectively. In an additional configuration, an ng-eNB 224 may also be connected to the 5GC 210 via NG-C 215 to the control plane functions 214 and NG-U 213 to user plane functions 212. Further, ng-eNB 224 may directly communicate with gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both ng-eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. Either (or both) gNB 222 or ng-eNB 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

Another optional aspect may include a location server 230, which may be in communication with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance for UE(s) 204. The location server 230 can be implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternately may each correspond to a single server. The location server 230 can be configured to support one or more location services for UEs 204 that can connect to the location server 230 via the core network, 5GC 210, and/or via the Internet (not illustrated). Further, the location server 230 may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively may be external to the core network (e.g., a third party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or service server).

FIG. 2B illustrates another example wireless network structure 250. A 5GC 260 (which may correspond to 5GC 210 in FIG. 2A) can be viewed functionally as control plane functions, provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) 264, and user plane functions, provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate cooperatively to form the core network (i.e., 5GC 260). The functions of the AMF 264 include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transport for session management (SM) messages between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein) and a session management function (SMF) 266, transparent proxy services for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transport for short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and the short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204, and receives the intermediate key that was established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case of authentication based on a UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) subscriber identity module (USIM), the AMF 264 retrieves the security material from the AUSF. The functions of the AMF 264 also include security context management (SCM). The SCM receives a key from the SEAF that it uses to derive access-network specific keys. The functionality of the AMF 264 also includes location services management for regulatory services, transport for location services messages between the UE 204 and a location management function (LMF) 270 (which acts as a location server 230), transport for location services messages between the NG-RAN 220 and the LMF 270, evolved packet system (EPS) bearer identifier allocation for interworking with the EPS, and UE 204 mobility event notification. In addition, the AMF 264 also supports functionalities for non-3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

Functions of the UPF 262 include acting as an anchor point for intra-/inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point of interconnect to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, quality of service (QoS) handling for the user plane (e.g., uplink/ downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in the downlink), uplink traffic verification (service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and sending and forwarding of one or more “end markers” to the source RAN node. The UPF 262 may also support transfer of location services messages over a user plane between the UE 204 and a location server, such as an SLP 272.

The functions of the SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, configuration of traffic steering at the UPF βto route traffic to the proper destination, control of part of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface over which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 is referred to as the N11 interface.

Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270, which may be in communication with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance for UEs 204. The LMF 270 can be implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternately may each correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more location services for UEs 204 that can connect to the LMF 270 via the core network, 5GC 260, and/or via the Internet (not illustrated). The SLP 272 may support similar functions to the LMF 270, but whereas the LMF 270 may communicate with the AMF 264, NG-RAN 220, and UEs 204 over a control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to convey signaling messages and not voice or data), the SLP 272 may communicate with UEs 204 and external clients (not shown in FIG. 2B) over a user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and/or data like the transmission control protocol (TCP) and/or IP).

User plane interface 263 and control plane interface 265 connect the 5GC 260, and specifically the UPF 262 and AMF 264, respectively, to one or more gNBs 222 and/or ng-eNBs 224 in the NG-RAN 220. The interface between gNB(s) 222 and/or ng-eNB(s) 224 and the AMF 264 is referred to as the “N2” interface, and the interface between gNB(s) 222 and/or ng-eNB(s) 224 and the UPF 262 is referred to as the “N3” interface. The gNB(s) 222 and/or ng-eNB(s) 224 of the NG-RAN 220 may communicate directly with each other via backhaul connections 223, referred to as the “Xn-C” interface. One or more of gNBs 222 and/or ng-eNBs 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 over a wireless interface, referred to as the “Uu” interface.

The functionality of a gNB 222 is divided between a gNB central unit (gNB-CU) 226 and one or more gNB distributed units (gNB-DUs) 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and the one or more gNB-DUs 228 is referred to as the “F1” interface. A gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes the base station functions of transferring user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, and the like, except for those functions allocated exclusively to the gNB-DU(s) 228. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 hosts the radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) protocols of the gNB 222. A gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that hosts the radio link control (RLC), medium access control (MAC), and physical (PHY) layers of the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 can support one or more cells, and one cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. Thus, a UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers and with a gNB-DU 228 via the RLC, MAC, and PHY layers.

FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C illustrate several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated into a UE 302 (which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein), a base station 304 (which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any of the network functions described herein, including the location server 230 and the LMF 270, or alternatively may be independent from the NG-RAN 220 and/or 5GC 210/260 infrastructure depicted in FIGS. 2A and 2B, such as a private network) to support the file transmission operations as taught herein. It will be appreciated that these components may be implemented in different types of apparatuses in different implementations (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system-on-chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated components may also be incorporated into other apparatuses in a communication system. For example, other apparatuses in a system may include components similar to those described to provide similar functionality. Also, a given apparatus may contain one or more of the components. For example, an apparatus may include multiple transceiver components that enable the apparatus to operate on multiple carriers and/or communicate via different technologies.

The UE 302 and the base station 304 each include one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively, providing means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for refraining from transmitting, etc.) via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown), such as an NR network, an LTE network, a GSM network, and/or the like. The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may each be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356, respectively, for communicating with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., some set of time/frequency resources in a particular frequency spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may be variously configured for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, and so on), respectively, and, conversely, for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, and so on), respectively, in accordance with the designated RAT. Specifically, the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 include one or more transmitters 314 and 354, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358, respectively, and one or more receivers 312 and 352, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358, respectively.

The UE 302 and the base station 304 each also include, at least in some cases, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and provide means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for refraining from transmitting, etc.) with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth®, Zigbee®, Z-Wave®, PC5, dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), wireless access for vehicular environments (WAVE), near-field communication (NFC), etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be variously configured for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, and so on), respectively, and, conversely, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, and so on), respectively, in accordance with the designated RAT. Specifically, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 include one or more transmitters 324 and 364, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368, respectively, and one or more receivers 322 and 362, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368, respectively. As specific examples, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be WiFi transceivers, Bluetooth® transceivers, Zigbee® and/or Z-Wave® transceivers, NFC transceivers, or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and/or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceivers.

The UE 302 and the base station 304 also include, at least in some cases, satellite signal receivers 330 and 370. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and may provide means for receiving and/or measuring satellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. Where the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are satellite positioning system receivers, the satellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378 may be global positioning system (GPS) signals, global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, Beidou signals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. Where the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, the satellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378 may be communication signals (e.g., carrying control and/or user data) originating from a 5G network. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may comprise any suitable hardware and/or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may request information and operations as appropriate from the other systems, and, at least in some cases, perform calculations to determine locations of the UE 302 and the base station 304, respectively, using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithm.

The base station 304 and the network entity 306 each include one or more network transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, providing means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, etc.) with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 304, other network entities 306). For example, the base station 304 may employ the one or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other base stations 304 or network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. As another example, the network entity 306 may employ the one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or more base station 304 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links, or with other network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

A transceiver may be configured to communicate over a wired or wireless link. A transceiver (whether a wired transceiver or a wireless transceiver) includes transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) and receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362). A transceiver may be an integrated device (e.g., embodying transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry in a single device) in some implementations, may comprise separate transmitter circuitry and separate receiver circuitry in some implementations, or may be embodied in other ways in other implementations. The transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry of a wired transceiver (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) may be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. Wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) may include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, that permits the respective apparatus (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform transmit “beamforming,” as described herein. Similarly, wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362) may include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, that permits the respective apparatus (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In an aspect, the transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry may share the same plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such that the respective apparatus can only receive or transmit at a given time, not both at the same time. A wireless transceiver (e.g., WWAN transceivers 310 and 350, short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360) may also include a network listen module (NLM) or the like for performing various measurements.

As used herein, the various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, and network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) and wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) may generally be characterized as “a transceiver,” “at least one transceiver,” or “one or more transceivers.” As such, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wireless transceiver may be inferred from the type of communication performed. For example, backhaul communication between network devices or servers will generally relate to signaling via a wired transceiver, whereas wireless communication between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station (e.g., base station 304) will generally relate to signaling via a wireless transceiver.

The UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 also include other components that may be used in conjunction with the operations as disclosed herein. The UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 include one or more processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, for providing functionality relating to, for example, wireless communication, and for providing other processing functionality. The processors 332, 384, and 394 may therefore provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means for indicating, etc. In an aspect, the processors 332, 384, and 394 may include, for example, one or more general purpose processors, multi-core processors, central processing units (CPUs), ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuitry, or various combinations thereof.

The UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 include memory circuitry implementing memories 340, 386, and 396 (e.g., each including a memory device), respectively, for maintaining information (e.g., information indicative of reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, and so on). The memories 340, 386, and 396 may therefore provide means for storing, means for retrieving, means for maintaining, etc. In some cases, the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 may include Position Estimation Module 342, 388, and 398, respectively. The Position Estimation Module 342, 388, and 398 may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to the processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, that, when executed, cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. In other aspects, the Position Estimation Module 342, 388, and 398 may be external to the processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the Position Estimation Module 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules stored in the memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively, that, when executed by the processors 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.), cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. FIG. 3A illustrates possible locations of the Position Estimation Module 342, which may be, for example, part of the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the memory 340, the one or more processors 332, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. FIG. 3B illustrates possible locations of the Position Estimation Module 388, which may be, for example, part of the one or more WWAN transceivers 350, the memory 386, the one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. FIG. 3C illustrates possible locations of the Position Estimation Module 398, which may be, for example, part of the one or more network transceivers 390, the memory 396, the one or more processors 394, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component.

The UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to the one or more processors 332 to provide means for sensing or detecting movement and/or orientation information that is independent of motion data derived from signals received by the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and/or the satellite receiver 330. By way of example, the sensor(s) 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric pressure altimeter), and/or any other type of movement detection sensor. Moreover, the sensor(s) 344 may include a plurality of different types of devices and combine their outputs in order to provide motion information. For example, the sensor(s) 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and orientation sensors to provide the ability to compute positions in two-dimensional (2D) and/or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate systems.

In addition, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346 providing means for providing indications (e.g., audible and/or visual indications) to a user and/or for receiving user input (e.g., upon user actuation of a sensing device such a keypad, a touch screen, a microphone, and so on). Although not shown, the base station 304 and the network entity 306 may also include user interfaces.

Referring to the one or more processors 384 in more detail, in the downlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to the processor 384. The one or more processors 384 may implement functionality for an RRC layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium access control (MAC) layer. The one or more processors 384 may provide RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., master information block (MIB), system information blocks (SIBs)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression/decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through automatic repeat request (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, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

The transmitter 354 and the receiver 352 may implement Layer-1 (L1) 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, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 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 orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (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 carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially precoded to produce multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator 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 302. Each spatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. The transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

At the UE 302, the receiver 312 receives a signal through its respective antenna(s) 316. The receiver 312 recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the one or more processors 332. The transmitter 314 and the receiver 312 implement Layer-1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The receiver 312 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 302. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 302, they may be combined by the receiver 312 into a single OFDM symbol stream. The receiver 312 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time-domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal comprises 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 304. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and de-interleaved to recover the data and control signals that were originally transmitted by the base station 304 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to the one or more processors 332, which implements Layer-3 (L3) and Layer-2 (L2) functionality.

In the uplink, the one or more processors 332 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. The one or more processors 332 are also responsible for error detection.

Similar to the functionality described in connection with the downlink transmission by the base station 304, the one or more processors 332 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 transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARD), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 304 may be used by the transmitter 314 to select the appropriate coding and modulation schemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the transmitter 314 may be provided to different antenna(s) 316. The transmitter 314 may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

The uplink transmission is processed at the base station 304 in a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver function at the UE 302. The receiver 352 receives a signal through its respective antenna(s) 356. The receiver 352 recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the one or more processors 384.

In the uplink, the one or more processors 384 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 302. IP packets from the one or more processors 384 may be provided to the core network. The one or more processors 384 are also responsible for error detection.

For convenience, the UE 302, the base station 304, and/or the network entity 306 are shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C as including various components that may be configured according to the various examples described herein. It will be appreciated, however, that the illustrated components may have different functionality in different designs. In particular, various components in FIGS. 3A to 3C are optional in alternative configurations and the various aspects include configurations that may vary due to design choice, costs, use of the device, or other considerations. For example, in case of FIG. 3A, a particular implementation of UE 302 may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) 310 (e.g., a wearable device or tablet computer or PC or laptop may have Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth capability without cellular capability), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver(s) 320 (e.g., cellular-only, etc.), or may omit the satellite receiver 330, or may omit the sensor(s) 344, and so on. In another example, in case of FIG. 3B, a particular implementation of the base station 304 may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) 350 (e.g., a Wi-Fi “hotspot” access point without cellular capability), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver(s) 360 (e.g., cellular-only, etc.), or may omit the satellite receiver 370, and so on. For brevity, illustration of the various alternative configurations is not provided herein, but would be readily understandable to one skilled in the art.

The various components of the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to each other over data buses 334, 382, and 392, respectively. In an aspect, the data buses 334, 382, and 392 may form, or be part of, a communication interface of the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306, respectively. For example, where different logical entities are embodied in the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functionality incorporated into the same base station 304), the data buses 334, 382, and 392 may provide communication between them.

The components of FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, the components of FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in one or more circuits such as, for example, one or more processors and/or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and/or incorporate at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide this functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310 to 346 may be implemented by processor and memory component(s) of the UE 302 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and/or by appropriate configuration of processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350 to 388 may be implemented by processor and memory component(s) of the base station 304 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and/or by appropriate configuration of processor components). Also, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390 to 398 may be implemented by processor and memory component(s) of the network entity 306 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and/or by appropriate configuration of processor components). For simplicity, various operations, acts, and/or functions are described herein as being performed “by a UE,” “by a base station,” “by a network entity,” etc. However, as will be appreciated, such operations, acts, and/or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of the UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc., such as the processors 332, 384, 394, the transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, the memories 340, 386, and 396, the Position Estimation Module 342, 388, and 398, etc.

In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may be distinct from a network operator or operation of the cellular network infrastructure (e.g., NG RAN 220 and/or 5GC 210/260). For example, the network entity 306 may be a component of a private network that may be configured to communicate with the UE 302 via the base station 304 or independently from the base station 304 (e.g., over a non-cellular communication link, such as WiFi).

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating various components of an example UE 400, according to aspects of the disclosure. In an aspect, the UE 400 may correspond to any of the UEs described herein. As a specific example, the UE 400 may be a V-UE, such as V-UE 160 in FIG. 1. For the sake of simplicity, the various features and functions illustrated in the block diagram of FIG. 4 are connected together using a common data bus that is meant to represent that these various features and functions are operatively coupled together. Those skilled in the art will recognize that other connections, mechanisms, features, functions, or the like, may be provided and adapted as necessary to operatively couple and configure an actual UE. Further, it is also recognized that one or more of the features or functions illustrated in the example of FIG. 4 may be further subdivided, or two or more of the features or functions illustrated in FIG. 4 may be combined.

The UE 400 may include at least one transceiver 404 connected to one or more antennas 402 and providing means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for refraining from transmitting, etc.) with other network nodes, such as V-UEs (e.g., V-UEs 160), infrastructure access points (e.g., roadside access point 164), P-UEs (e.g., UEs 104), base stations (e.g., base stations 102), etc., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., cV2X or IEEE 802.11p) over one or more communication links (e.g., communication links 120, sidelinks 162, 166, 168, mmW communication link 184). The at least one transceiver 404 may be variously configured for transmitting and encoding signals (e.g., messages, indications, information, and so on), and, conversely, for receiving and decoding signals (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, and so on) in accordance with the designated RAT. In an aspect, the at least one transceiver 404 and the antenna(s) 402 may form a (wireless) communication interface of the UE 400.

As used herein, a “transceiver” may include at least one transmitter and at least one receiver in an integrated device (e.g., embodied as a transmitter circuit and a receiver circuit of a single communication device) in some implementations, may comprise a separate transmitter device and a separate receiver device in some implementations, or may be embodied in other ways in other implementations. In an aspect, a transmitter may include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g., antenna(s) 402), such as an antenna array, that permits the UE 400 to perform transmit “beamforming,” as described herein. Similarly, a receiver may include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g., antenna(s) 402), such as an antenna array, that permits the UE 400 to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In an aspect, the transmitter(s) and receiver(s) may share the same plurality of antennas (e.g., antenna(s) 402), such that the UE 400 can only receive or transmit at a given time, not both at the same time. In some cases, a transceiver may not provide both transmit and receive functionalities. For example, a low functionality receiver circuit may be employed in some designs to reduce costs when providing full communication is not necessary (e.g., a receiver chip or similar circuitry simply providing low-level sniffing).

The UE 400 may also include a satellite positioning service (SPS) receiver 406. The SPS receiver 406 may be connected to the one or more antennas 402 and may provide means for receiving and/or measuring satellite signals. The SPS receiver 406 may comprise any suitable hardware and/or software for receiving and processing SPS signals, such as global positioning system (GPS) signals. The SPS receiver 406 requests information and operations as appropriate from the other systems, and performs the calculations necessary to determine the UE's 400 position using measurements obtained by any suitable SPS algorithm.

One or more sensors 408 may be coupled to at least one processor 410 and may provide means for sensing or detecting information related to the state and/or environment of the UE 400, such as speed, heading (e.g., compass heading), headlight status, gas mileage, etc. By way of example, the one or more sensors 408 may include a speedometer, a tachometer, an accelerometer (e.g., a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric pressure altimeter), etc.

The at least one processor 410 may include one or more central processing units (CPUs), microprocessors, microcontrollers, ASICs, processing cores, digital signal processors (DSPs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or the like that provide processing functions, as well as other calculation and control functionality. The at least one processor 410 may therefore provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means for indicating, etc. The at least one processor 410 may include any form of logic suitable for performing, or causing the components of the UE 400 to perform, at least the techniques described herein.

The at least one processor 410 may also be coupled to a memory 414 providing means for storing (including means for retrieving, means for maintaining, etc.) data and software instructions for executing programmed functionality within the UE 400. The memory 414 may be on-board the at least one processor 410 (e.g., within the same integrated circuit (IC) package), and/or the memory 414 may be external to the at least one processor 410 and functionally coupled over a data bus.

The UE 400 may include a user interface 450 that provides any suitable interface systems, such as a microphone/speaker 452, keypad 454, and display 456 that allow user interaction with the UE 400. The microphone/speaker 452 may provide for voice communication services with the UE 400. The keypad 454 may comprise any suitable buttons for user input to the UE 400. The display 456 may comprise any suitable display, such as, for example, a backlit liquid crystal display (LCD), and may further include a touch screen display for additional user input modes. The user interface 450 may therefore be a means for providing indications (e.g., audible and/or visual indications) to a user and/or for receiving user input (e.g., via user actuation of a sensing device such a keypad, a touch screen, a microphone, and so on).

In an aspect, the UE 400 may include a sidelink manager 470 coupled to the at least one processor 410. The sidelink manager 470 may be a hardware, software, or firmware component that, when executed, causes the UE 400 to perform the operations described herein. For example, the sidelink manager 470 may be a software module stored in memory 414 and executable by the at least one processor 410. As another example, the sidelink manager 470 may be a hardware circuit (e.g., an ASIC, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), etc.) within the UE 400.

Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (e.g., base stations and UEs). FIG. 5A is a diagram 500 illustrating an example of a downlink frame structure, according to aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 5B is a diagram 530 illustrating an example of channels within the downlink frame structure, according to aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 5C is a diagram 550 illustrating an example of an uplink frame structure, according to aspects of the disclosure. FIG. 5D is a diagram 580 illustrating an example of channels within an uplink frame structure, according to aspects of the disclosure. Other wireless communications technologies may have different frame structures and/or different channels.

LTE, and in some cases NR, utilizes OFDM on the downlink and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. Unlike LTE, however, NR has an option to use OFDM on the uplink as well. OFDM and SC-FDM partition the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) may be dependent on the system bandwidth. For example, the spacing of the subcarriers may be 15 kilohertz (kHz) and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) may be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Consequently, the nominal FFT size may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048 for system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 megahertz (MHz), respectively. The system bandwidth may also be partitioned into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz, respectively.

LTE supports a single numerology (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR may support multiple numerologies (μ), for example, subcarrier spacings of 15 kHz (μ=0), 30 kHz (μ=1), 60 kHz (μ=2), 120 kHz (μ=3), and 240 kHz (μ=4) or greater may be available. In each subcarrier spacing, there are 14 symbols per slot. For 15 kHz SCS (μ=0), there is one slot per subframe, 10 slots per frame, the slot duration is 1 millisecond (ms), the symbol duration is 66.7 microseconds (μs), and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 50. For 30 kHz SCS (μ=1), there are two slots per subframe, 20 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.5 ms, the symbol duration is 33.3 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 100. For 60 kHz SCS (v2), there are four slots per subframe, 40 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.25 ms, the symbol duration is 16.7 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 200. For 120 kHz SCS (μ=3), there are eight slots per subframe, 80 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.125 ms, the symbol duration is 8.33 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 400. For 240 kHz SCS (μ=4), there are 16 slots per subframe, 160 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.0625 ms, the symbol duration is 4.17 λs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 800.

In the example of FIGS. 5A to 5D, a numerology of 15 kHz is used. Thus, in the time domain, a 10 ms frame is divided into 10 equally sized subframes of 1 ms each, and each subframe includes one time slot. In FIGS. 5A to 5D, time is represented horizontally (on the X axis) with time increasing from left to right, while frequency is represented vertically (on the Y axis) with frequency increasing (or decreasing) from bottom to top.

A resource grid may be used to represent time slots, each time slot including one or more time-concurrent resource blocks (RBs) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into multiple resource elements (REs). An RE may correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. In the numerology of FIGS. 5A to 5D, for a normal cyclic prefix, an RB may contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and seven consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 84 REs. For an extended cyclic prefix, an RB may contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and six consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

Some of the REs carry downlink reference (pilot) signals (DL-RS). The DL-RS may include positioning reference signals (PRS), tracking reference signals (TRS), phase tracking reference signals (PTRS), cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), demodulation reference signals (DMRS), primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), etc. FIG. 5A illustrates example locations of REs carrying PRS (labeled “R”).

A collection of resource elements (REs) that are used for transmission of PRS is referred to as a “PRS resource.” The collection of resource elements can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and ‘N’ (such as 1 or more) consecutive symbol(s) within a slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol in the time domain, a PRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs in the frequency domain.

The transmission of a PRS resource within a given PRB has a particular comb size (also referred to as the “comb density”). A comb size ‘N’ represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency/tone spacing) within each symbol of a PRS resource configuration. Specifically, for a comb size ‘N,’ PRS are transmitted in every Nth subcarrier of a symbol of a PRB. For example, for comb-4, for each symbol of the PRS resource configuration, REs corresponding to every fourth subcarrier (such as subcarriers 0, 4, 8) are used to transmit PRS of the PRS resource. Currently, comb sizes of comb-2, comb-4, comb-6, and comb-12 are supported for DL-PRS. FIG. 5A illustrates an example PRS resource configuration for comb-6 (which spans six symbols). That is, the locations of the shaded REs (labeled “R”) indicate a comb-6 PRS resource configuration.

Currently, a DL-PRS resource may span 2, 4, 6, or 12 consecutive symbols within a slot with a fully frequency-domain staggered pattern. A DL-PRS resource can be configured in any higher layer configured downlink or flexible (FL) symbol of a slot. There may be a constant energy per resource element (EPRE) for all REs of a given DL-PRS resource. The following are the frequency offsets from symbol to symbol for comb sizes 2, 4, 6, and 12 over 2, 4, 6, and 12 symbols. 2-symbol comb-2: {0, 1}; 4-symbol comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1}; 6-symbol comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1}; 12-symbol comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1}; 4-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3}; 12-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3}; 6-symbol comb-6: {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}; 12-symbol comb-6: {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5, 0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}; and 12-symbol comb-12: {0, 6, 3, 9, 1, 7, 4, 10, 2, 8, 5, 11}.

A “PRS resource set” is a set of PRS resources used for the transmission of PRS signals, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. In addition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and is associated with a particular TRP (identified by a TRP ID). In addition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set have the same periodicity, a common muting pattern configuration, and the same repetition factor (such as “PRS-ResourceRepetitionFactor”) across slots. The periodicity is the time from the first repetition of the first PRS resource of a first PRS instance to the same first repetition of the same first PRS resource of the next PRS instance. The periodicity may have a length selected from 2{circumflex over ( )}μ*{4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, 5120, 10240} slots, with μ=0, 1, 2, 3. The repetition factor may have a length selected from {1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32} slots.

A PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set is associated with a single beam (or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (where a TRP may transmit one or more beams). That is, each PRS resource of a PRS resource set may be transmitted on a different beam, and as such, a “PRS resource,” or simply “resource,” also can be referred to as a “beam.” Note that this does not have any implications on whether the TRPs and the beams on which PRS are transmitted are known to the UE.

A “PRS instance” or “PRS occasion” is one instance of a periodically repeated time window (such as a group of one or more consecutive slots) where PRS are expected to be transmitted. A PRS occasion also may be referred to as a “PRS positioning occasion,” a “PRS positioning instance, a “positioning occasion,” “a positioning instance,” a “positioning repetition,” or simply an “occasion,” an “instance,” or a “repetition.”

A “positioning frequency layer” (also referred to simply as a “frequency layer”) is a collection of one or more PRS resource sets across one or more TRPs that have the same values for certain parameters. Specifically, the collection of PRS resource sets has the same subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix (CP) type (meaning all numerologies supported for the PDSCH are also supported for PRS), the same Point A, the same value of the downlink PRS bandwidth, the same start PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb- size. The Point A parameter takes the value of the parameter “ARFCN-ValueNR” (where “ARFCN” stands for “absolute radio-frequency channel number”) and is an identifier/code that specifies a pair of physical radio channel used for transmission and reception. The downlink PRS bandwidth may have a granularity of four PRBs, with a minimum of 24 PRBs and a maximum of 272 PRBs. Currently, up to four frequency layers have been defined, and up to two PRS resource sets may be configured per TRP per frequency layer.

The concept of a frequency layer is somewhat like the concept of component carriers and bandwidth parts (BWPs), but different in that component carriers and BWPs are used by one base station (or a macro cell base station and a small cell base station) to transmit data channels, while frequency layers are used by several (usually three or more) base stations to transmit PRS. A UE may indicate the number of frequency layers it can support when it sends the network its positioning capabilities, such as during an LTE positioning protocol (LPP) session. For example, a UE may indicate whether it can support one or four positioning frequency layers.

FIG. 5B illustrates an example of various channels within a downlink slot of a radio frame. In NR, the channel bandwidth, or system bandwidth, is divided into multiple BWPs. A BWP is a contiguous set of PRBs selected from a contiguous subset of the common RBs for a given numerology on a given carrier. Generally, a maximum of four BWPs can be specified in the downlink and uplink. That is, a UE can be configured with up to four BWPs on the downlink, and up to four BWPs on the uplink. Only one BWP (uplink or downlink) may be active at a given time, meaning the UE may only receive or transmit over one BWP at a time. On the downlink, the bandwidth of each BWP should be equal to or greater than the bandwidth of the SSB, but it may or may not contain the SSB.

Referring to FIG. 5B, a primary synchronization signal (PSS) is used by a UE to determine subframe/symbol timing and a physical layer identity. A secondary synchronization signal (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 PCI. Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the locations of the aforementioned DL-RS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH), which carries an MIB, may be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form an SSB (also referred to as an SS/PBCH). The MIB provides a number of RBs in the downlink 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.

The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries downlink control information (DCI) within one or more control channel elements (CCEs), each CCE including one or more RE group (REG) bundles (which may span multiple symbols in the time domain), each REG bundle including one or more REGs, each REG corresponding to 12 resource elements (one resource block) in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain. The set of physical resources used to carry the PDCCH/DCI is referred to in NR as the control resource set (CORESET). In NR, a PDCCH is confined to a single CORESET and is transmitted with its own DMRS. This enables UE-specific beamforming for the PDCCH.

In the example of FIG. 5B, there is one CORESET per BWP, and the CORESET spans three symbols (although it may be only one or two symbols) in the time domain. Unlike LTE control channels, which occupy the entire system bandwidth, in NR, PDCCH channels are localized to a specific region in the frequency domain (i.e., a CORESET). Thus, the frequency component of the PDCCH shown in FIG. 5B is illustrated as less than a single BWP in the frequency domain. Note that although the illustrated CORESET is contiguous in the frequency domain, it need not be. In addition, the CORESET may span less than three symbols in the time domain.

The DCI within the PDCCH carries information about uplink resource allocation (persistent and non-persistent) and descriptions about downlink data transmitted to the UE, referred to as uplink and downlink grants, respectively. More specifically, the DCI indicates the resources scheduled for the downlink data channel (e.g., PDSCH) and the uplink data channel (e.g., PUSCH). Multiple (e.g., up to eight) DCIs can be configured in the PDCCH, and these DCIs can have one of multiple formats. For example, there are different DCI formats for uplink scheduling, for downlink scheduling, for uplink transmit power control (TPC), etc. A PDCCH may be transported by 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs in order to accommodate different DCI payload sizes or coding rates.

As illustrated in FIG. 5C, some of the REs (labeled “R”) carry DMRS for channel estimation at the receiver (e.g., a base station, another UE, etc.). A UE may additionally transmit SRS in, for example, the last symbol of a slot. The SRS may have a comb structure, and a UE may transmit SRS on one of the combs. In the example of FIG. 5C, the illustrated SRS is comb-2 over one symbol. The SRS may be used by a base station to obtain the channel state information (CSI) for each UE. CSI describes how an RF signal propagates from the UE to the base station and represents the combined effect of scattering, fading, and power decay with distance. The system uses the SRS for resource scheduling, link adaptation, massive MIMO, beam management, etc.

Currently, an SRS resource may span 1, 2, 4, 8, or 12 consecutive symbols within a slot with a comb size of comb-2, comb-4, or comb-8. The following are the frequency offsets from symbol to symbol for the SRS comb patterns that are currently supported. 1-symbol comb-2: {0}; 2-symbol comb-2: {0, 1}; 4-symbol comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1}; 4-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3}; 8-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3}; 12-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3}; 4-symbol comb-8: {0, 4, 2, 6}; 8-symbol comb-8: {0, 4, 2, 6, 1, 5, 3, 7}; and 12-symbol comb-8: {0, 4, 2, 6, 1, 5, 3, 7, 0, 4, 2, 6}.

A collection of resource elements that are used for transmission of SRS is referred to as an “SRS resource,” and may be identified by the parameter “SRS-ResourceId.”” The collection of resource elements can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and N (e.g., one or more) consecutive symbol(s) within a slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol, an SRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs. An “SRS resource set” is a set of SRS resources used for the transmission of SRS signals, and is identified by an SRS resource set ID (“SRS-ResourceSetId”).

Generally, a UE transmits SRS to enable the receiving base station (either the serving base station or a neighboring base station) to measure the channel quality between the UE and the base station. However, SRS can also be specifically configured as uplink positioning reference signals for uplink-based positioning procedures, such as uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA), round-trip-time (RTT), uplink angle-of-arrival (UL-AoA), etc. As used herein, the term “SRS” may refer to SRS configured for channel quality measurements or SRS configured for positioning purposes. The former may be referred to herein as “SRS-for-communication” and/or the latter may be referred to as “SRS-for-positioning” when needed to distinguish the two types of SRS.

Several enhancements over the previous definition of SRS have been proposed for SRS-for-positioning (also referred to as “UL-PRS”), such as a new staggered pattern within an SRS resource (except for single-symbol/comb-2), a new comb type for SRS, new sequences for SRS, a higher number of SRS resource sets per component carrier, and a higher number of SRS resources per component carrier. In addition, the parameters “SpatialRelationlnfo” and “PathLossReference” are to be configured based on a downlink reference signal or SSB from a neighboring TRP. Further still, one SRS resource may be transmitted outside the active BWP, and one SRS resource may span across multiple component carriers. Also, SRS may be configured in RRC connected state and only transmitted within an active BWP. Further, there may be no frequency hopping, no repetition factor, a single antenna port, and new lengths for SRS (e.g., 8 and 12 symbols). There also may be open-loop power control and not closed-loop power control, and comb-8 (i.e., an SRS transmitted every eighth subcarrier in the same symbol) may be used. Lastly, the UE may transmit through the same transmit beam from multiple SRS resources for UL-AoA. All of these are features that are additional to the current SRS framework, which is configured through RRC higher layer signaling (and potentially triggered or activated through MAC control element (CE) or DCI).

FIG. 5D illustrates an example of various channels within an uplink slot of a frame, according to aspects of the disclosure. A random-access channel (RACH), also referred to as a physical random-access channel (PRACH), may be within one or more slots within a frame based on the PRACH configuration. The PRACH may include six consecutive RB pairs within a slot. The PRACH allows the UE to perform initial system access and achieve uplink synchronization. A physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) may be located on edges of the uplink system bandwidth. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, CSI reports, a channel quality indicator (CQI), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a rank indicator (RI), and HARQ ACK/NACK feedback. The physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report (PHR), and/or UCI.

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, CSI-RS, 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. If needed 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 be differentiated from “DL-DMRS.”

NR supports a number of cellular network-based positioning technologies, including downlink-based, uplink-based, and downlink-and-uplink-based positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) in LTE, downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) in NR, and downlink angle-of-departure (DL-AoD) in NR. In an OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedure, a UE measures the differences between the times of arrival (ToAs) of reference signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) received from pairs of base stations, referred to as reference signal time difference (RSTD) or time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements, and reports them to a positioning entity. More specifically, the UE receives the identifiers (IDs) of a reference base station (e.g., a serving base station) and multiple non-reference base stations in assistance data. The UE then measures the RSTD between the reference base station and each of the non-reference base stations. Based on the known locations of the involved base stations and the RSTD measurements, the positioning entity can estimate the UE's location.

For DL-AoD positioning, the positioning entity uses a beam report from the UE of received signal strength measurements of multiple downlink transmit beams to determine the angle(s) between the UE and the transmitting base station(s). The positioning entity can then estimate the location of the UE based on the determined angle(s) and the known location(s) of the transmitting base station(s).

Uplink-based positioning methods include uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) and uplink angle-of-arrival (UL-AoA). UL-TDOA is similar to DL-TDOA, but is based on uplink reference signals (e.g., sounding reference signals (SRS)) transmitted by the UE. For UL-AoA positioning, one or more base stations measure the received signal strength of one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS) received from a UE on one or more uplink receive beams. The positioning entity uses the signal strength measurements and the angle(s) of the receive beam(s) to determine the angle(s) between the UE and the base station(s). Based on the determined angle(s) and the known location(s) of the base station(s), the positioning entity can then estimate the location of the UE.

Downlink-and-uplink-based positioning methods include enhanced cell-ID (E-CID) positioning and multi-round-trip-time (RTT) positioning (also referred to as “multi-cell RTT”). In an RTT procedure, an initiator (a base station or a UE) transmits an RTT measurement signal (e.g., a PRS or SRS) to a responder (a UE or base station), which transmits an RTT response signal (e.g., an SRS or PRS) back to the initiator. The RTT response signal includes the difference between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal and the transmission time of the RTT response signal, referred to as the reception-to-transmission (Rx-Tx) time difference. The initiator calculates the difference between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal and the ToA of the RTT response signal, referred to as the transmission-to-reception (Tx-Rx) time difference. The propagation time (also referred to as the “time of flight”) between the initiator and the responder can be calculated from the Tx-Rx and Rx-Tx time differences. Based on the propagation time and the known speed of light, the distance between the initiator and the responder can be determined. For multi-RTT positioning, a UE performs an RTT procedure with multiple base stations to enable its location to be determined (e.g., using multilateration) based on the known locations of the base stations. RTT and multi-RTT methods can be combined with other positioning techniques, such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD, to improve location accuracy.

The E-CID positioning method is based on radio resource management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, the timing advance (TA), and the identifiers, estimated timing, and signal strength of detected neighbor base stations. The location of the UE is then estimated based on this information and the known locations of the base station(s).

To assist positioning operations, a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide assistance data to the UE. For example, the assistance data may include identifiers of the base stations (or the cells/TRPs of the base stations) from which to measure reference signals, the reference signal configuration parameters (e.g., the number of consecutive positioning subframes, periodicity of positioning subframes, muting sequence, frequency hopping sequence, reference signal identifier, reference signal bandwidth, etc.), and/or other parameters applicable to the particular positioning method. Alternatively, the assistance data may originate directly from the base stations themselves (e.g., in periodically broadcasted overhead messages, etc.). in some cases, the UE may be able to detect neighbor network nodes itself without the use of assistance data.

In the case of an OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedure, the assistance data may further include an expected RSTD value and an associated uncertainty, or search window, around the expected RSTD. In some cases, the value range of the expected RSTD may be +/−500 microseconds (μs). In some cases, when any of the resources used for the positioning measurement are in FR1, the value range for the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be +/−32 μs. In other cases, when all of the resources used for the positioning measurement(s) are in FR2, the value range for the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be +/−8 μs.

A location estimate may be referred to by other names, such as a position estimate, location, position, position fix, fix, or the like. A location estimate may be geodetic and comprise coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude) or may be civic and comprise a street address, postal address, or some other verbal description of a location. A location estimate may further be defined relative to some other known location or defined in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). A location estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume within which the location is expected to be included with some specified or default level of confidence).

FIG. 6 illustrates a time difference of arrival (TDOA)-based positioning procedure in an example wireless communications system 600, according to aspects of the disclosure. The TDOA-based positioning procedure may be an observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) positioning procedure, as in LTE, or a downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) positioning procedure, as in 6G NR. In the example of FIG. 6, a UE 604 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein) is attempting to calculate an estimate of its location (referred to as “UE-based” positioning), or assist another entity (e.g., a base station or core network component, another UE, a location server, a third party application, etc.) to calculate an estimate of its location (referred to as “UE-assisted” positioning). The UE 604 may communicate with (e.g., send information to and receive information from) one or more of a plurality of base stations 602 (e.g., any combination of base stations described herein), labeled “BS1” 602-1, “BS2” 602-2, and “BS3” 602-3.

To support location estimates, the base stations 602 may be configured to broadcast positioning reference signals (e.g., PRS, TRS, CRS, CSI-RS, etc.) to a UE 604 in their coverage areas to enable the UE 604 to measure characteristics of such reference signals. In a TDOA-based positioning procedure, the UE 604 measures the time difference, known as the reference signal time difference (RSTD) or TDOA, between specific downlink reference signals (e.g., PRS, TRS, CRS, CSI-RS, etc.) transmitted by different pairs of base stations 602, and either reports these RSTD measurements to a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) or computes a location estimate itself from the RSTD measurements.

Generally, RSTDs are measured between a reference cell (e.g., a cell supported by base station 602-1 in the example of FIG. 6) and one or more neighbor cells (e.g., cells supported by base stations 602-2 and 602-3 in the example of FIG. 6). The reference cell remains the same for all RSTDs measured by the UE 604 for any single positioning use of TDOA and would typically correspond to the serving cell for the UE 604 or another nearby cell with good signal strength at the UE 604. In an aspect, the neighbor cells would normally be cells supported by base stations different from the base station for the reference cell, and may have good or poor signal strength at the UE 604. The location computation can be based on the measured RSTDs and knowledge of the involved base stations' 602 locations and relative transmission timing (e.g., regarding whether base stations 602 are accurately synchronized or whether each base station 602 transmits with some known time offset relative to other base stations 602).

To assist TDOA-based positioning operations, the location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide assistance data to the UE 604 for the reference cell and the neighbor cells relative to the reference cell. For example, the assistance data may include identifiers (e.g., PCI, VCI, CGI, etc.) for each cell of a set of cells that the UE 604 is expected to measure (here, cells supported by the base stations 602). The assistance data may also provide the center channel frequency of each cell, various reference signal configuration parameters (e.g., the number of consecutive positioning slots, periodicity of positioning slots, muting sequence, frequency hopping sequence, reference signal identifier, reference signal bandwidth), and/or other cell related parameters applicable to TDOA-based positioning procedures. The assistance data may also indicate the serving cell for the UE 604 as the reference cell.

In some cases, the assistance data may also include “expected RSTD” parameters, which provide the UE 604 with information about the RSTD values the UE 604 is expected to measure between the reference cell and each neighbor cell at its current location, together with an uncertainty of the expected RSTD parameter. The expected RSTD, together with the associated uncertainty, may define a search window for the UE 604 within which the UE 604 is expected to measure the RSTD value. In some cases, the value range of the expected RSTD may be +/−600 microseconds (μs). In some cases, when any of the resources used for the positioning measurement are in FR1, the value range for the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be +/−32 μs. In other cases, when all of the resources used for the positioning measurement(s) are in FR2, the value range for the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be +/−8 μs.

TDOA assistance information may also include positioning reference signal configuration information parameters, which allow the UE 604 to determine when a positioning reference signal occasion will occur on signals received from various neighbor cells relative to positioning reference signal occasions for the reference cell, and to determine the reference signal sequence transmitted from the various cells in order to measure a reference signal time of arrival (ToA) or RSTD.

In an aspect, while the location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may send the assistance data to the UE 604, alternatively, the assistance data can originate directly from the base stations 602 themselves (e.g., in periodically broadcasted overhead messages, etc.). Alternatively, the UE 604 can detect neighbor base stations itself without the use of assistance data.

The UE 604 (e.g., based in part on the assistance data, if provided) can measure and (optionally) report the RSTDs between reference signals received from pairs of base stations 602. Using the RSTD measurements, the known absolute or relative transmission timing of each base station 602, and the known location(s) of the reference and neighbor base stations 602, the network (e.g., location server 230/LMF 270/SLP 272, a base station 602) or the UE 604 can estimate the location of the UE 604. More particularly, the RSTD for a neighbor cell “k” relative to a reference cell “Ref” may be given as (ToA_k-ToA_Ref). In the example of FIG. 6, the measured RSTDs between the reference cell of base station 602-1 and the cells of neighbor base stations 602-2 and 602-3 may be represented as T2-T1 and T3-T1, where T1, T2, and T3 represent the ToA of a reference signal from the base station 602-1, 602-2, and 602-3, respectively. The UE 604 (if it is not the positioning entity) may then send the RSTD measurements to the location server or other positioning entity. Using (i) the RSTD measurements, (ii) the known absolute or relative transmission timing of each base station 602, (iii) the known location(s) of the base stations 602, and/or (iv) directional reference signal characteristics, such as the direction of transmission, the UE's 604 location may be determined (either by the UE 604 or the location server).

In an aspect, the location estimate may specify the location of the UE 604 in a two-dimensional (2D) coordinate system; however, the aspects disclosed herein are not so limited, and may also be applicable to determining location estimates using a three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system, if the extra dimension is desired. Additionally, while FIG. 6 illustrates one UE 604 and three base stations 602, as will be appreciated, there may be more UEs 604 and more base stations 602.

Still referring to FIG. 6, when the UE 604 obtains a location estimate using RSTDs, the necessary additional data (e.g., the base stations' 602 locations and relative transmission timing) may be provided to the UE 604 by the location server. In some implementations, a location estimate for the UE 604 may be obtained (e.g., by the UE 604 itself or by the location server) from RSTDs and from other measurements made by the UE 604 (e.g., measurements of signal timing from global positioning system (GPS) or other global navigation satellite system (GNSS) satellites). In these implementations, known as hybrid positioning, the RSTD measurements may contribute towards obtaining the UE's 604 location estimate but may not wholly determine the location estimate.

In addition to the downlink-based, uplink-based, and downlink-and-uplink-based positioning methods, NR supports various sidelink positioning techniques. For example, link-level ranging signals can be used to estimate the distance between pairs of V-UEs or between a V-UE and a roadside unit (RSU), similar to a round-trip-time (RTT) positioning procedure.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example wireless communication system 700 in which a V-UE 704 is exchanging ranging signals with an RSU 710 and another V-UE 706, according to aspects of the disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 7, a wideband (e.g., FR1) ranging signal (e.g., a Zadoff Chu sequence) is transmitted by both end points (e.g., V-UE 704 and RSU 710 and V-UE 704 and V-UE 706). In an aspect, the ranging signals may be sidelink positioning reference signals (SL-PRS) transmitted by the involved V-UEs 704 and 706 on uplink resources. On receiving a ranging signal from a transmitter (e.g., V-UE 704), the receiver (e.g., RSU 710 and/or V-UE 706) responds by sending a ranging signal that includes a measurement of the difference between the reception time of the ranging signal and the transmission time of the response ranging signal, referred to as the reception-to-transmission (Rx-Tx) time difference measurement of the receiver.

Upon receiving the response ranging signal, the transmitter (or other positioning entity) can calculate the RTT between the transmitter and the receiver based on the receiver's Rx-Tx time difference measurement and a measurement of the difference between the transmission time of the first ranging signal and the reception time of the response ranging signal (referred to as the transmission-to-reception (Tx-Rx) time difference measurement of the transmitter). The transmitter (or other positioning entity) uses the RTT and the speed of light to estimate the distance between the transmitter and the receiver. If one or both of the transmitter and receiver are capable of beamforming, the angle between the V-UEs 704 and 706 may also be able to be determined. In addition, if the receiver provides its global positioning system (GPS) location in the response ranging signal, the transmitter (or other positioning entity) may be able to determine an absolute location of the transmitter, as opposed to a relative location of the transmitter with respect to the receiver.

As will be appreciated, ranging accuracy improves with the bandwidth of the ranging signals. Specifically, a higher bandwidth can better separate the different multipaths of the ranging signals.

Note that this positioning procedure assumes that the involved V-UEs are time-synchronized (i.e., their system frame time is the same as, or has a known offset relative to, the other V-UE(s)). In addition, although FIG. 7 illustrates two V-UEs, as will be appreciated, they need not be V-UEs, and may instead be any other type of UE capable of sidelink communication.

Traditionally SL ranging (RTT) between UEs has been used to provide extra constraints for positioning. As noted above, this requires a UE to accurately estimate the Rx-Tx turnaround time. If a UE cannot be calibrated so as to determine sidelink ranging (RTT), then RTT measurements will be inaccurate. Many SL UEs do not support the Rx-Tx time measurement feature.

In some designs, reference UEs associated with a known position (e.g., from a recent positioning fix with a threshold level of accuracy) can be used in place of fixed devices (e.g., gNBs) to aid in various positioning procedures. However, gNBs are typically highly synchronized, whereas a timing drift between gNB time basis and reference UE time basis may be unknown. This unknown timing drift may make it difficult to use reference UEs in TDOA-based positioning schemes.

Aspects of the disclosure are thereby directed to hybrid SL-based TDOA techniques (e.g., a combination of SL and DL TDOA, or a combination of SL and UL TDOA), whereby position estimation is based on a time bias between a base station and a reference UE. In some designs, factoring the time bias into the position estimation may facilitate the inclusion of the reference UE in the TDOA positioning procedure, which may increase positioning accuracy of target UEs and/or facilitate positioning of target UEs where other positioning schemes (e.g., RTT-based positioning schemes) are unavailable (e.g., due to lack of support by one or more of the UEs involved in the TDOA positioning procedure, or an insufficient number of gNBs, etc.).

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary process 800 of wireless communication, according to aspects of the disclosure. In an aspect, the process 800 may be performed by a position estimation entity, such as UE 302 (e.g., for UE-based positioning), or an LMF integrated with BS 304 or network entity 306 (e.g., location server, core network component, etc.).

Referring to FIG. 8, at 810, the position estimation entity (e.g., receiver 312 or 322 or 352 or 362, network interface(s) 380 or 390, data bus 382, etc.) obtains first timing information that is associated with a first time-of-arrival (TOA) measurement of a first reference signal for positioning (RS-P) as communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station with a first time basis.

Referring to FIG. 8, at 820, the position estimation entity (e.g., receiver 312 or 322 or 352 or 362, network interface(s) 380 or 390, data bus 382, etc.) obtains second timing information that is associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time basis that is different than the first time basis.

Referring to FIG. 8, at 830, the position estimation entity (e.g., processor(s) 332 or 384 or 394, Position Estimation Module 342 or 388 or 398, etc.) determines a bias between the first time basis and the second time basis.

Referring to FIG. 8, at 840, the position estimation entity (e.g., processor(s) 332 or 384 or 394, Position Estimation Module 342 or 388 or 398, etc.) determines a position estimate of the target UE via a TDOA positioning technique based at least in part upon the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

Referring to FIG. 8, in some designs, the position estimation entity may further obtain third timing information that is associated with a third TOA measurement of a third RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a first wireless node, and obtain fourth timing information that is associated with a fourth TOA measurement of a fourth RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a second wireless node. In this case, the determination of the position estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information. In some designs, the first and second wireless nodes comprise at least one other base station, at least one other reference UE associated with at least one other known location, or a combination thereof. In other words, the TDOA positioning procedure of FIG. 8 may involve 1 gNB and multiple reference UEs (1:N), or multiple gNBs and 1 reference UE (N:1), or multiple gNBs and multiple reference UEs (N:N).

Referring to FIG. 8, in some designs, the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and downlink TDOA (SL+DL-TDOA) positioning technique, whereby the first RS-P corresponds to a DL-PRS, and the second RS-P corresponds to a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS). In other designs, the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and uplink TDOA (SL+UL-TDOA) positioning technique, whereby the first RS-P corresponds to an uplink sounding reference for positioning (UL-SRS-P), and the second RS-P corresponds to the UL-SRS-P or a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

Referring to FIG. 8, in some designs, the bias determination at 830 is triggered in conjunction with a triggering of the position estimation determination at 840. In other words, when a position estimation procedure involving reference UE(s) is triggered, a time bias calibration procedure is also triggered. In other designs, the bias determination at 830 is triggered independently from and within a threshold period of time from a triggering of the position estimation determination at 840. In other words, so long as a fairly recent bias calibration has been performed, a bias calibration procedure need not be triggered with a triggering of a position estimation procedure involving reference UE(s).

Referring to FIG. 8, in some designs, the bias is determined based on a first difference between an estimated propagation time between the base station and the reference UE based on respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the base station and the reference UE. In some designs, the bias is further determined based on a second difference between an estimated propagation time between another base station and the reference UE based on respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE.

A detailed example implementation of the process 800 of FIG. 8 is described below in detail with respect to FIGS. 9-10.

FIG. 9 depicts a communication system 900 in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. In FIG. 9, the communication system 900 includes gNB1, gNB2, a reference UE a associated with a first known location, a reference UE b associated with a second known location, and target UEs 0 and 1 for which locations are not known. In FIG. 9, it is assumed that gNB timing between gNB1 and gNB2 is highly calibrated (e.g., timing basis differential below threshold), and that the distance from each gNB to each reference UE is known.

With respect to FIG. 9, a ranging measurement (r) based on an RS-P from a source device to a target device may be denoted as (r, source device ID, target device ID). So, a ranging measurement based on a DL-PRS from gNB1 to UEa is denoted as “rla”, as an example. These ranging measurements are based on the actual propagation delay between the source device and the target device, as well as a respective bias, which may be denoted as b, e.g.:

- r1a=T_gNB1-UEa+b_gNB-UEa
- r2a=T_gNB2-UEa+b_gNB-UEa
- r1b=T_gNB1-UEb+b_gNB-UEb
- r2b=T_gNB2-UEb+b_gNB-UEb
- r10=T_gNB1-UE0+b_gNB-UE0
- r20=T_gNB2-UE0+b_gNB-UE0
- r11=T_gNB1-UE1+b_gNB-UE1
- r21=T_gNB2-UE1+b_gNB-UE1whereby r1a is based on a propagation delay from gNB1 to UEa (T_gNB1-UEa) plus a bias (b_gNB-UEa), and so on.

The respective biases may be calculated as follows:

$b_{gNB - UEa} = \frac{((r 1 a - T_{{gNB}_{1} - UEa}) + (r 2 a - T_{{gNB}_{2} - UEa}))}{2} b_{gNB - UEb} = \frac{((r 1 b - T_{{gNB}_{1} - UEb}) + (r 2 b - T_{{gNB}_{2} - UEb}))}{2}$

FIG. 10 illustrates a timeline 1000 based on an example implementation of the process of FIG. 8 in accordance with an aspect of the disclosure. In FIG. 10, gNB (e.g., which may correspond to gNB1 or gNB2 from FIG. 9) transmits DL-PRS 1010, which is measured by UE0. A propagation time from the gNB to UE0 is denoted as T_(gNB-UE0). Reference UEa transmits UL-SRS-P or SL-PRS at 1020, which is also measured by UE0. A propagation time from the reference UEA to UE0 is denoted as T_(UEa-UE0). The bias between gNB and reference UEa is denoted as b_(gNB-UEa), and the TDOA between the TOAs of DL-PRS 1010 and the UL-SRS or SL-PRS 1020 as measured at UE0 is denoted as Δ(gNB_UEa-UE0). While not depicted expressly in FIG. 10, TOAs of DL-PRS 1010 and the UL-SRS or SL-PRS 1020 may also be measured at UE1, and TOAs or UL-SRS or SL-PRS from UEb (not expressly shown in FIG. 10) may also be measured at both UE0 and UE1. In this case:

- T_gNB1-UE0+Δ_gNB1-UEa-UE0=b_gNB1-UEa+T_UEa-UE0
- T_gNB1-UE1+Δ_gNB1-UEa-UE1=b_gNB1-UEa+T_UEa-UE1
- T_gNB1-UE0+Δ_gNB1-UEb-UE0=b_gNB1-UEb+T_UEb-UE0
- T_gNB1-UE1+Δ_gNB1-UEb-UE1=b_gNB1-UEb+T_{UEb-UE1 whereby each delta (Δ) relates to the observation at UE}0 and UE1 from gNB1, and each (b) variable denotes an estimated bias between UEa or UEb and gNB1. A similar process may be performed with respect to gNB2 as well.

For each UE with unknown location (either UE0 or UE1), the following set of observations from nodes with known positions (gNB1, gNB2, UEa and UEb) may thereby be derived, e.g.:

- T_gNB1-UE0−T_gNB2-UE0
- T_gNB1-UE0−T_UEa-UE0
- T_gNB2-UE0−T_UEa-UE0
- T_gNB1-UE0−T_UEb-UE0
- T_gNB2-UE0−T_UEb-UE0

In some designs, if only one reference UE (e.g., UEa) is available, then we have only the first 3 equations involving UEa only. Because the equations are not linearly independent, this may result in 2 usable equations. The addition of a second reference UE (UEb) may thereby provide additional equation (3 usable equations, out of the 5 depicted above). In some TDOA techniques, 3 equations are needed to resolve the location of UEO. So, with 4 reference nodes, 3 equations can be obtained to solve for UE0's position. As noted above, these 4 reference nodes can be used in any combination so long as at least one of the 4 reference nodes is a gNB associated with a known timing.

While FIGS. 9-10 relate specifically to a hybrid SL+DL-TDOA technique, other aspects may be directed to a SL+UL-TDOA technique. In this case, UEO may transmit UL-SRS-P in lieu of the DL-PRS 1010 depicted in FIG. 10, T_(gNB-UE0) is instead T_(UE0-gNB), and so on.

In the detailed description above it can be seen that different features are grouped together in examples. This manner of disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the example clauses have more features than are explicitly mentioned in each clause. Rather, the various aspects of the disclosure may include fewer than all features of an individual example clause disclosed. Therefore, the following clauses should hereby be deemed to be incorporated in the description, wherein each clause by itself can stand as a separate example. Although each dependent clause can refer in the clauses to a specific combination with one of the other clauses, the aspect(s) of that dependent clause are not limited to the specific combination. It will be appreciated that other example clauses can also include a combination of the dependent clause aspect(s) with the subject matter of any other dependent clause or independent clause or a combination of any feature with other dependent and independent clauses. The various aspects disclosed herein expressly include these combinations, unless it is explicitly expressed or can be readily inferred that a specific combination is not intended (e.g., contradictory aspects, such as defining an element as both an insulator and a conductor). Furthermore, it is also intended that aspects of a clause can be included in any other independent clause, even if the clause is not directly dependent on the independent clause.

Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

Clause 1. A method of operating a position estimation entity, comprising: obtaining first timing information that is associated with a first time-of-arrival (TOA) measurement of a first reference signal for positioning (RS-P) as communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station with a first time basis; obtaining second timing information that is associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time basis that is different than the first time basis; determining a bias between the first time basis and the second time basis; and determining a position estimate of the target UE via a time differential of arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part upon the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

Clause 2. The method of clause 1, further comprising: obtaining third timing information that is associated with a third TOA measurement of a third RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a first wireless node, and obtaining fourth timing information that is associated with a fourth TOA measurement of a fourth RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a second wireless node, wherein the determination of the position estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information.

Clause 3. The method of clause 2, wherein the first and second wireless nodes comprise at least one other base station, at least one other reference UE associated with at least one other known location, or a combination thereof.

Clause 4. The method of any of clauses 1 to 3, wherein the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and downlink TDOA (SL+DL-TDOA) positioning technique, wherein the first RS-P corresponds to a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS), and wherein the second RS-P corresponds to a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

Clause 5. The method of any of clauses 1 to 4, wherein the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and uplink TDOA (SL+UL-TDOA) positioning technique, wherein the first RS-P corresponds to an uplink sounding reference for positioning (UL-SRS-P), and wherein the second RS-P corresponds to the UL-SRS-P or a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

Clause 6. The method of any of clauses 1 to 5, wherein the position estimation entity corresponds to the base station, the reference UE, a location management function (LMF), a location server, the target UE, or a combination thereof.

Clause 7. The method of any of clauses 1 to 6, wherein the bias determination is triggered in conjunction with a triggering of the position estimation determination.

Clause 8. The method of any of clauses 1 to 7, wherein the bias determination is triggered independently from and within a threshold period of time from a triggering of the position estimation determination.

Clause 9. The method of any of clauses 1 to 8, wherein the bias is determined based on a first difference between an estimated propagation time between the base station and the reference UE based on respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the base station and the reference UE.

Clause 10. The method of any of clauses 1 to 9, wherein the bias is further determined based on a second difference between an estimated propagation time between another base station and the reference UE based on respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE.

Clause 11. A position estimation entity, comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to: obtain first timing information that is associated with a first time-of-arrival (TOA) measurement of a first reference signal for positioning (RS-P) as communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station with a first time basis; obtain second timing information that is associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time basis that is different than the first time basis; determine a bias between the first time basis and the second time basis; and determine a position estimate of the target UE via a time differential of arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part upon the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

Clause 12. The position estimation entity of clause 11, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: obtain third timing information that is associated with a third TOA measurement of a third RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a first wireless node, and obtain fourth timing information that is associated with a fourth TOA measurement of a fourth RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a second wireless node, wherein the determination of the position estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information.

Clause 13. The position estimation entity of clause 12, wherein the first and second wireless nodes comprise at least one other base station, at least one other reference UE associated with at least one other known location, or a combination thereof.

Clause 14. The position estimation entity of any of clauses 11 to 13, wherein the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and downlink TDOA (SL+DL-TDOA) positioning technique, wherein the first RS-P corresponds to a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS), and wherein the second RS-P corresponds to a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

Clause 15. The position estimation entity of any of clauses 11 to 14, wherein the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and uplink TDOA (SL+UL-TDOA) positioning technique, wherein the first RS-P corresponds to an uplink sounding reference for positioning (UL-SRS-P), and wherein the second RS-P corresponds to the UL-SRS-P or a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

Clause 16. The position estimation entity of any of clauses 11 to 15, wherein the position estimation entity corresponds to the base station, the reference UE, a location management function (LMF), a location server, the target UE, or a combination thereof.

Clause 17. The position estimation entity of any of clauses 11 to 16, wherein the bias determination is triggered in conjunction with a triggering of the position estimation determination.

Clause 18. The position estimation entity of any of clauses 11 to 17, wherein the bias determination is triggered independently from and within a threshold period of time from a triggering of the position estimation determination.

Clause 19. The position estimation entity of any of clauses 11 to 18, wherein the bias is determined based on a first difference between an estimated propagation time between the base station and the reference UE based on respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the base station and the reference UE.

Clause 20. The position estimation entity of any of clauses 11 to 19, wherein the bias is further determined based on a second difference between an estimated propagation time between another base station and the reference UE based on respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE.

Clause 21. A position estimation entity, comprising: means for obtaining first timing information that is associated with a first time-of-arrival (TOA) measurement of a first reference signal for positioning (RS-P) as communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station with a first time basis; means for obtaining second timing information that is associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time basis that is different than the first time basis; means for determining a bias between the first time basis and the second time basis; and means for determining a position estimate of the target UE via a time differential of arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part upon the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

Clause 22. The position estimation entity of clause 21, further comprising: means for obtaining third timing information that is associated with a third TOA measurement of a third RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a first wireless node, and means for obtaining fourth timing information that is associated with a fourth TOA measurement of a fourth RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a second wireless node, wherein the determination of the position estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information.

Clause 23. The position estimation entity of clause 22, wherein the first and second wireless nodes comprise at least one other base station, at least one other reference UE associated with at least one other known location, or a combination thereof.

Clause 24. The position estimation entity of any of clauses 21 to 23, wherein the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and downlink TDOA (SL+DL-TDOA) positioning technique, wherein the first RS-P corresponds to a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS), and wherein the second RS-P corresponds to a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

Clause 25. The position estimation entity of any of clauses 21 to 24, wherein the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and uplink TDOA (SL+UL-TDOA) positioning technique, wherein the first RS-P corresponds to an uplink sounding reference for positioning (UL-SRS-P), and wherein the second RS-P corresponds to the UL-SRS-P or a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

Clause 26. The position estimation entity of any of clauses 21 to 25, wherein the position estimation entity corresponds to the base station, the reference UE, a location management function (LMF), a location server, the target UE, or a combination thereof.

Clause 27. The position estimation entity of any of clauses 21 to 26, wherein the bias determination is triggered in conjunction with a triggering of the position estimation determination.

Clause 28. The position estimation entity of any of clauses 21 to 27, wherein the bias determination is triggered independently from and within a threshold period of time from a triggering of the position estimation determination.

Clause 29. The position estimation entity of any of clauses 21 to 28, wherein the bias is determined based on a first difference between an estimated propagation time between the base station and the reference UE based on respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the base station and the reference UE.

Clause 30. The position estimation entity of any of clauses 21 to 29, wherein the bias is further determined based on a second difference between an estimated propagation time between another base station and the reference UE based on respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE.

Clause 31. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a position estimation entity, cause the position estimation entity to: obtain first timing information that is associated with a first time-of-arrival (TOA) measurement of a first reference signal for positioning (RS-P) as communicated between a target user equipment (UE) and a base station with a first time basis; obtain second timing information that is associated with a second TOA measurement of a second RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a reference UE associated with a known location and having a second time basis that is different than the first time basis; determine a bias between the first time basis and the second time basis; and determine a position estimate of the target UE via a time differential of arrival (TDOA) positioning technique based at least in part upon the first timing information, the second timing information, and the bias.

Clause 32. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 31, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the position estimation entity to: obtain third timing information that is associated with a third TOA measurement of a third RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a first wireless node, and obtain fourth timing information that is associated with a fourth TOA measurement of a fourth RS-P as communicated between the target UE and a second wireless node, wherein the determination of the position estimate is further based on the third timing information and the fourth timing information.

Clause 33. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 32, wherein the first and second wireless nodes comprise at least one other base station, at least one other reference UE associated with at least one other known location, or a combination thereof.

Clause 34. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 31 to 33, wherein the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and downlink TDOA (SL+DL-TDOA) positioning technique, wherein the first RS-P corresponds to a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS), and wherein the second RS-P corresponds to a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

Clause 35. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 31 to 34, wherein the TDOA positioning technique is a hybrid sidelink and uplink TDOA (SL+UL-TDOA) positioning technique, wherein the first RS-P corresponds to an uplink sounding reference for positioning (UL-SRS-P), and wherein the second RS-P corresponds to the UL-SRS-P or a sidelink PRS (SL-PRS).

Clause 36. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 31 to 35, wherein the position estimation entity corresponds to the base station, the reference UE, a location management function (LMF), a location server, the target UE, or a combination thereof.

Clause 37. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 31 to 36, wherein the bias determination is triggered in conjunction with a triggering of the position estimation determination.

Clause 38. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 31 to 37, wherein the bias determination is triggered independently from and within a threshold period of time from a triggering of the position estimation determination.

Clause 39. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 31 to 38, wherein the bias is determined based on a first difference between an estimated propagation time between the base station and the reference UE based on respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the base station and the reference UE.

Clause 40. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 31 to 39, wherein the bias is further determined based on a second difference between an estimated propagation time between another base station and the reference UE based on respective known locations and a measured propagation time between the another base station and the reference UE.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

Further, those of skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field-programable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The methods, sequences and/or algorithms described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An example storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

In one or more example aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

While the foregoing disclosure shows illustrative aspects of the disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications could be made herein without departing from the scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps and/or actions of the method claims in accordance with the aspects of the disclosure described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, although elements of the disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated.

POSITION ESTIMATION BASED ON TIME BIAS BETWEEN BASE STATION AND REFERENCE USER EQUIPMENT

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