BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

1. Field of the Disclosure

[0001] Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to wireless communications.

2. Description of the Related Art

[0002] 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.

[0003] A fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, referred to as New Radio (NR), enables 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 higher data rates as compared to previous standards, more accurate positioning (e.g., based on reference signals for positioning (RS-P), such as downlink, uplink, or sidelink positioning reference signals (PRS)) and other technical enhancements.

[0004] Leveraging the increased data rates and decreased latency of 5G, among other things, vehicle-to-every thing (V2X) communication technologies are being implemented to support autonomous driving applications, such as wireless communications between vehicles, between vehicles and the roadside infrastructure, between vehicles and pedestrians, etc. SUMMARY

[0005] 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.

[0006] In an aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) includes engaging in sidelink discovery operations with one or more first sidelink UEs and one or more second sidelink UEs; receiving first sidelink discovery information from the one or more first sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the first sidelink discovery information identifies a serving cell for each of the one or more first sidelink UEs; and receiving second sidelink discovery information from the one or more second sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the second sidelink discovery information indicates that the one or more second sidelink UEs are not associated with a serving cell.

[0007] In an aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a location server includes receiving first sidelink information from a first sidelink UE identifying a serving cell of a first set of one or more sidelink UEs; receiving second sidelink information from the first sidelink UE identifying a second set of one or more sidelink UEs that are not associated with a serving cell; sending a first sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration to the first sidelink UE for use in first positioning operations with the first set of one or more sidelink UEs; and sending positioning resource configuration information to the first sidelink UE for use in second positioning operations with the second set of one or more sidelink UEs.

[0008] In an aspect, a location server 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: receive, via the at least one transceiver, first sidelink information from a first sidelink UE identifying a serving cell of a first set of one or more sidelink UEs; receive, via the at least one transceiver, second sidelink information from the first sidelink UE identifying a second set of one or more sidelink UEs that are not associated with a serving cell: send, via the at least one transceiver, a first sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration to the first sidelink UE for use in first positioning operations with the first set of one or more sidelink UEs; and send, via the at least one transceiver, positioning resource configuration information to the first sidelink UE for use in second positioning operations with the second set of one or more sidelink UEs.

[0009] In an aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes means for engaging in sidelink discovery operations with one or more first sidelink UEs and one or more second sidelink UEs; means for receiving first sidelink discovery information from the one or more first sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the first sidelink discovery information identifies a serving cell for each of the one or more first sidelink UEs; and means for receiving second sidelink discovery information from the one or more second sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the second sidelink discovery information indicates that the one or more second sidelink UEs are not associated with a serving cell.

[0010] In an aspect, a location server includes means for receiving first sidelink information from a first sidelink UE identifying a serving cell of a first set of one or more sidelink UEs; means for receiving second sidelink information from the first sidelink UE identifying a second set of one or more sidelink UEs that are not associated with a serving cell; means for sending a first sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration to the first sidelink UE for use in first positioning operations with the first set of one or more sidelink UEs; and means for sending positioning resource configuration information to the first sidelink UE for use in second positioning operations with the second set of one or more sidelink UEs.

[0011] In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: engage in sidelink discovery operations with one or more first sidelink UEs and one or more second sidelink UEs; receive first sidelink discovery information from the one or more first sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the first sidelink discovery information identifies a serving cell for each of the one or more first sidelink UEs; and receive second sidelink discovery information from the one or more second sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the second sidelink discovery information indicates that the one or more second sidelink UEs are not associated with a serving cell.

[0012] In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a location server, cause the location server to: receive first sidelink information from a first sidelink UE identifying a serving cell of a first set of one or more sidelink UEs; receive second sidelink information from the first sidelink UE identifying a second set of one or more sidelink UEs that are not associated with a serving cell; send a first sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration to the first sidelink UE for use in first positioning operations with the first set of one or more sidelink UEs; and send positioning resource configuration information to the first sidelink UE for use in second positioning operations with the second set of one or more sidelink UEs.

[0013] 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

[0014] 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.

[0015] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communications system, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0016] FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate example wireless network structures, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0017] FIGS. 3 A, 3B, and 3C illustrate several example components that may be incorporated into a user equipment (UE), a base station, and a network entity to support the operations described herein.

[0018] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0019] FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate various scenarios of interest for sidelink-only or joint Uu and sidelink positioning, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0020] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing example timings of round-trip-time (RTT) signals exchanged between a target UE, an assisting UE, and a base station, according to aspects of the disclosure. [0021] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing example timings of round-trip-time (RTT) signals exchanged between a target UE and two assisting UEs, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0022] FIG. 8A illustrates an example call flow for Mode A discovery, and FIG. 8B illustrates an example call flow for Mode B discovery, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0023] FIGS. 9A and 9B are diagrams of example sidelink slot structures with and without feedback resources, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0024] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example resource pool for positioning within a sidelink resource pool, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0025] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating additional aspects of sidelink resource pools and resource pools for positioning, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0026] FIG. 12 illustrates the two resource allocation modes for transmissions on a sidelink, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0027] FIG. 13 depicts an electronic environment that may be used for sidelink UE positioning, in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

[0028] FIG. 14 illustrates a method of wireless communication performed by a UE according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0029] FIG. 15 illustrates a method of wireless communication performed by a location server according to aspects of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] 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.

[0031] 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.

[0032] 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.

[0033] 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.

[0034] As used herein, the terms “user equipment” (UE), “vehicle UE” (V-UE), “pedestrian UE” (P-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., vehicle on-board computer, vehicle navigation device, mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, 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 (loT) 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 a “mobile device,” 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 terminal,” a “mobile station,” or variations thereof.

[0035] A V-UE is a type of UE and may be any in-vehicle wireless communication device, such as a navigation system, a warning system, a heads-up display (HUD), an on-board computer, an in-vehicle infotainment system, an automated driving system (ADS), an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), etc. Alternatively, a V-UE may be a portable wireless communication device (e.g., a cell phone, tablet computer, etc.) that is carried by the driver of the vehicle or a passenger in the vehicle. The term “V-UE” may refer to the in-vehicle wireless communication device or the vehicle itself, depending on the context. A P-UE is a type of UE and may be a portable wireless communication device that is carried by a pedestrian (i.e., a user that is not driving or riding in a vehicle). 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 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, etc.) and so on.

[0036] 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 UL / reverse or DL I forward traffic channel.

[0037] 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.

[0038] 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 RF signals to UEs to be measured by the UEs and/or may receive and measure signals transmitted by the UEs. Such base stations may be referred to as positioning beacons (e.g., when transmitting RF signals to UEs) and/or as location measurement units (e.g., when receiving and measuring RF signals from UEs).

[0039] 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.

[0040] 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 (labelled “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 102 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.

[0041] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or 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. A location server 172 may be integrated with a base station 102. A UE 104 may communicate with a location server 172 directly or indirectly. For example, a UE 104 may communicate with a location server 172 via the base station 102 that is currently serving that UE 104. A UE 104 may also communicate with a location server 172 through another path, such as via an application server (not shown), via another network, such as via a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) (e.g., AP 150 described below), and so on. For signaling purposes, communication between a UE 104 and a location server 172 may be represented as an indirect connection (e.g., through the core network 170, etc.) or a direct connection (e.g., as shown via direct connection 128), with the intervening nodes (if any) omitted from a signaling diagram for clarity.

[0042] 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.

[0043] 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 loT (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 the logical communication entity and the base station that supports it, depending on the context. 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.

[0044] 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' (labelled “SC” for “small cell”) may have a geographic coverage area 1 10' that substantially overlaps with the geographic coverage area 1 10 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).

[0045] The communication links 120 betw een 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).

[0046] 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.

[0047] 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.

[0048] The wireless communications system 100 may further include a mmW base station 180 that may operate in millimeter wave (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.

[0049] 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.

[0050] 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.

[0051] 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.

[0052] 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. F or 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.

[0053] 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.

[0054] The electromagnetic spectrum is often subdivided, based on frequency/wavelength, into various classes, bands, channels, etc. In 5G NR two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz - 7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz - 52.6 GHz). It should be understood that although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “Sub-6 GHz” band in various documents and articles. A similar nomenclature issue sometimes occurs with regard to FR2, which is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “millimeter wave” band in documents and articles, despite being different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz - 300 GHz) which is identified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as a “millimeter wave” band.

[0055] The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR studies have identified an operating band for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 GHz - 24.25 GHz). Frequency bands falling within FR3 may inherit FR1 characteristics and/or FR2 characteristics, and thus may effectively extend features of FR1 and/or FR2 into mid-band frequencies. In addition, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operation beyond 52.6 GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz - 71 GHz), FR4 (52.6 GHz - 114.25 GHz), and FR5 (114.25 GHz - 300 GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0056] With the above aspects in mind, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that the term “sub-6 GHz” or the like if used herein may broadly represent frequencies that may be less than 6 GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. Further, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that the term “millimeter wave” or the like if used herein may broadly represent frequencies that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2, FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1, and/or FR5, or may be within the EHF band.

[0057] 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 ty pically 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.

[0058] 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.

[0059] 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.

[0060] 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 Multifunctional 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. [0061] In an aspect, SVs 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more nonterrestrial networks (NTNs). In anNTN, 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.

[0062] Leveraging the increased data rates and decreased latency of NR, among other things, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication technologies are being implemented to support intelligent transportation systems (ITS) applications, such as wireless communications between vehicles (vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V)), between vehicles and the roadside infrastructure (vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I)), and between vehicles and pedestrians (vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P)). The goal is for vehicles to be able to sense the environment around them and communicate that information to other vehicles, infrastructure, and personal mobile devices. Such vehicle communication will enable safety, mobility', and environmental advancements that current technologies are unable to provide. Once fully implemented, the technology is expected to reduce unimpaired vehicle crashes by 80%.

[0063] Still referring to FIG. 1, the wireless communications system 100 may include multiple V-UEs 160 that may communicate with base stations 102 over communication links 120 using the Uu interface (i.e., the air interface between a UE and a base station). V-UEs 160 may also communicate directly with each other over a wireless sidelink 162, with a roadside unit (RSU) 164 (a roadside access point) over a wireless sidelink 166, or with sidelink-capable UEs 104 over a wireless sidelink 168 using the PC5 interface (i.e., the air interface between sidelink-capable UEs). A wireless sidelink (or just “sidelink”) is an adaptation of the core cellular (e.g., LTE, NR) standard that allows direct communication between two or more UEs without the communication needing to go through a base station. Sidelink communication may be unicast or multicast, and may be used for device- to-device (D2D) media-sharing, V2V communication, V2X communication (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communication, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communication, etc.), emergency rescue applications, etc. One or more of a group of V-UEs 160 utilizing sidelink communications may be within the geographic coverage area 110 of a base station 102. Other V-UEs 160 in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of a base station 102 or be otherwise unable to receive transmissions from a base station 102. In some cases, groups of V-UEs 160 communicating via sidelink communications may utilize a one-to-many (1 :M) system in which each V-UE 160 transmits to every other V- UE 160 in the group. In some cases, a base station 102 facilitates the scheduling of resources for sidelink communications. In other cases, sidelink communications are carried out between V-UEs 160 without the involvement of a base station 102.

[0064] In an aspect, the sidelinks 162, 166, 168 may operate over a wireless communication medium of interest, which may be shared with other wireless communications between other vehicles and/or infrastructure access points, as well as other RATs. A “medium” may be composed of one or more time, frequency, and/or space communication resources (e.g., encompassing one or more channels across one or more carriers) associated with wireless communication between one or more transmitter / receiver pairs.

[0065] In an aspect, the sidelinks 162, 166, 168 may be cV2X links. A first generation of cV2X has been standardized in LTE, and the next generation is expected to be defined in NR. cV2X is a cellular technology that also enables device-to-device communications. In the U.S. and Europe, cV2X is expected to operate in the licensed ITS band in sub-6GHz. Other bands may be allocated in other countries. Thus, as a particular example, the medium of interest utilized by sidelinks 162, 166, 168 may correspond to at least a portion of the licensed ITS frequency band of sub-6GHz. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this frequency band or cellular technology.

[0066] In an aspect, the sidelinks 162, 166, 168 may be dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) links. DSRC is a one-way or two-way short-range to medium-range wireless communication protocol that uses the wireless access for vehicular environments (WAVE) protocol, also known as IEEE 802. l ip, for V2V, V2I, and V2P communications. IEEE 802.1 Ip is an approved amendment to the IEEE 802.11 standard and operates in the licensed ITS band of 5.9 GHz (5.85-5.925 GHz) in the U.S. In Europe, IEEE 802. 1 Ip operates in the ITS G5A band (5.875 - 5.905 MHz). Other bands may be allocated in other countries. The V2V communications briefly described above occur on the Safety Channel, which in the U.S. is typically a 10 MHz channel that is dedicated to the purpose of safety. The remainder of the DSRC band (the total bandwidth is 75 MHz) is intended for other services of interest to drivers, such as road rules, tolling, parking automation, etc. Thus, as a particular example, the mediums of interest utilized by sidelinks 162, 166, 168 may correspond to at least a portion of the licensed ITS frequency band of 5.9 GHz.

[0067] Alternatively, the medium of interest may correspond to at least a portion of an unlicensed frequency band shared among various RATs. Although different licensed frequency bands have been reserved for certain communication systems (e.g., by a government entity such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States), these systems, in particular those employing small cell access points, have recently extended operation into unlicensed frequency bands such as the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band used by wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies, most notably IEEE 802.1 lx WLAN technologies generally referred to as “Wi-Fi.” Example systems of this type include different variants of CDMA systems, TDMA systems, FDMA systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, and so on.

[0068] Communications between the V-UEs 160 are referred to as V2V communications, communications between the V-UEs 160 and the one or more RSUs 164 are referred to as V2I communications, and communications between the V-UEs 160 and one or more UEs 104 (where the UEs 104 are P-UEs) are referred to as V2P communications. The V2V communications between V-UEs 160 may include, for example, information about the position, speed, acceleration, heading, and other vehicle data of the V-UEs 160. The V2I information received at a V-UE 160 from the one or more RSUs 164 may include, for example, road rules, parking automation information, etc. The V2P communications between a V-UE 160 and a UE 104 may include information about, for example, the position, speed, acceleration, and heading of the V-UE 160 and the position, speed (e.g., where the UE 104 is carried by a user on a bicycle), and heading of the UE 104.

[0069] Note that although FIG. 1 only illustrates two of the UEs as V-UEs (V-UEs 160), any of the illustrated UEs (e.g., UEs 104, 152, 182, 190) may be V-UEs. In addition, while only the V-UEs 160 and a single UE 104 have been illustrated as being connected over a sidelink, any of the UEs illustrated in FIG. 1, whether V-UEs, P-UEs, etc., may be capable of sidelink communication. Further, although only UE 182 was described as being capable of beam forming, any of the illustrated UEs, including V-UEs 160, may be capable of beam forming. Where V-UEs 160 are capable of beam forming, they may beam form towards each other (i.e., towards other V-UEs 160), towards RSUs 164, towards other UEs (e.g., UEs 104, 152, 182, 190), etc. Thus, in some cases, V-UEs 160 may utilize beamforming over sidelinks 162, 166, and 168.

[0070] 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. 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. As another example, the D2D P2P links 192 and 194 may be sidehnks, as described above with reference to sidelinks 162, 166, and 168.

[0071] 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 netw ork. 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).

[0072] 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).

[0073] 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. [0074] 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.

[0075] 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 262 to 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 Ni l interface.

[0076] 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 (e.g., third-party server 274) over a user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and/or data like the transmission control protocol (TCP) and/or IP).

[0077] Yet another optional aspect may include a third-party server 274, which may be in communication with the LMF 270, the SLP 272, the 5GC 260 (e.g., via the AMF 264 and/or the UPF 262), the NG-RAN 220, and/or the UE 204 to obtain location information (e.g., a location estimate) for the UE 204. As such, in some cases, the third-party server 274 may be referred to as a location services (LCS) client or an external client. The third- party server 274 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.

[0078] 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.

[0079] The functionality of a gNB 222 may be divided between a gNB central unit (gNB-CU) 226, one or more gNB distributed units (gNB-DUs) 228, and one or more gNB radio units (gNB-RUs) 229. 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 generally host 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 generally hosts the radio link control (RLC) and medium access control (MAC) layer 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. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and the one or more gNB-DUs 228 is referred to as the “Fl” interface. The physical (PHY) layer functionality of a gNB 222 is generally hosted by one or more standalone gNB-RUs 229 that perform functions such as power amplification and signal transmission/reception. The interface between a gNB-DU 228 and a gNB-RU 229 is referred to as the “Fx” interface. Thus, a UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers, with a gNB-DU 228 via the RLC and MAC layers, and with a gNB-RU 229 via the PHY layer.

[0080] 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 operations described 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.

[0081] 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.

[0082] 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.

[0083] 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), QuasiZenith 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.

[0084] 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.

[0085] 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.

[0086] 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.

[0087] 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.

[0088] 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 positioning component 342, 388, and 398, respectively. The positioning component 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 positioning component 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 positioning component 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 positioning component 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 positioning component 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 positioning component 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.

[0089] 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 signal 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.

[0090] 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.

[0091] 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.

[0092] The transmitter 354 and the receiver 352 may implement Layer-1 (LI) 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.

[0093] 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.

[0094] In the uplink, the one or more processors 332 provides demultiplexing betw een 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. [0095] 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 (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0096] 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.

[0097] 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.

[0098] 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.

[0099] 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 signal 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.

[0100] 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.

[0101] The components of FIGS. 3 A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, the components of FIGS. 3 A, 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 aUE,” “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 positioning component 342, 388, and 398, etc.

[0102] 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).

[0103] Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (e.g., base stations and UEs). FIG. 4 is a diagram 400 illustrating an example frame structure, according to aspects of the disclosure. The frame structure may be a downlink or uplink frame structure. Other wireless communications technologies may have different frame structures and/or different channels.

[0104] 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.

[0105] LTE supports a single numerology (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR may support multiple numerologies (p), for example, subcarrier spacings of 15 kHz (p=0), 30 kHz (p=l ), 60 kHz (p=2), 120 kHz (p=3), and 240 kHz (p=4) or greater may be available. In each subcarrier spacing, there are 14 symbols per slot. For 15 kHz SCS (p=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 (ps), and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 50. For 30 kHz SCS (p=l), there are two slots per subframe, 20 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.5 ms, the symbol duration is 33.3 ps, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 100. For 60 kHz SCS (p=2), there are four slots per subframe, 40 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.25 ms, the symbol duration is 16.7 ps, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 200. For 120 kHz SCS (p=3), there are eight slots per subframe, 80 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.125 ms, the symbol duration is 8.33 ps, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 400. For 240 kHz SCS (p=4), there are 16 slots per subframe, 160 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.0625 ms, the symbol duration is 4.17 ps, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 800.

[0106] In the example of FIG. 4, 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 FIG. 4, 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.

[0107] 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 FIG. 4, 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.

[0108] Some of the REs may carry reference (pilot) signals (RS). The reference signals 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), sounding reference signals (SRS), etc., depending on whether the illustrated frame structure is used for uplink or downlink communication. FIG. 4 illustrates example locations of REs carrying a reference signal (labeled “R”).

[0109] 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.

[0110] 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. 4 illustrates an example PRS resource configuration for comb-4 (which spans four symbols). That is, the locations of the shaded REs (labeled “R”) indicate a comb-4 PRS resource configuration.

[0111] 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} (as in the example of FIG. 4); 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, H}.

[0112] 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- ResourceRepetitionF actor”) 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 ^A p* {4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, 5120, 10240} slots, with p = 0, 1, 2, 3. The repetition factor may have a length selected from {1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32} slots.

[0113] 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.

[0114] 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.”

[0115] 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 physical downlink shared channel (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.

[0116] 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.

[0117] 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, uplink, or sidelink 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,” an uplink positioning reference signal (e.g., an SRS-for-positioning, PTRS) may be referred to as an “UL-PRS,” and a sidelink positioning reference signal may be referred to as an “SL-PRS.” In addition, for signals that may be transmitted in the downlink, uplink, and/or sidelink (e g , DMRS), the signals may be prepended with “DL,” “UL,” or “SL” to distinguish the direction. For example, “UL-DMRS” is different from “DL-DMRS.”

[0118] 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 (e.g., the UE for UE-based positioning or a location server for UE- assisted positioning) can estimate the UE’s location.

[0119] For DL-AoD positioning, the positioning entity uses a measurement 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).

[0120] 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 to multiple base stations. Specifically, a UE transmits one or more uplink reference signals that are measured by a reference base station and a plurality of non-reference base stations. Each base station then reports the reception time (referred to as the relative time of arrival (RTOA)) of the reference signal(s) to a positioning entity (e.g., a location server) that knows the locations and relative timing of the involved base stations. Based on the reception-to-reception (Rx-Rx) time difference between the reported RTOA of the reference base station and the reported RTOA of each non-reference base station, the known locations of the base stations, and their known timing offsets, the positioning entity can estimate the location of the UE using TDOA.

[0121] 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. [0122] 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” and “multi-RTT”). In an RTT procedure, a first entity (e.g., a base station or a UE) transmits a first RTT-related signal (e.g., a PRS or SRS) to a second entity (e.g., a UE or base station), which transmits a second RTT-related signal (e.g., an SRS or PRS) back to the first entity. Each entity measures the time difference between the time of arrival (ToA) of the received RTT-related signal and the transmission time of the transmitted RTT-related signal. This time difference is referred to as a reception-to-transmission (Rx- Tx) time difference. The Rx-Tx time difference measurement may be made, or may be adjusted, to include only a time difference between nearest slot boundaries for the received and transmitted signals. Both entities may then send their Rx-Tx time difference measurement to a location server (e.g., an LMF 270), which calculates the round tnp propagation time (i.e., RTT) between the two entities from the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements (e.g., as the sum of the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements). Alternatively, one entity may send its Rx-Tx time difference measurement to the other entity, which then calculates the RTT. The distance between the two entities can be determined from the RTT and the known signal speed (e g., the speed of light) For multi- RTT positioning, a first entity (e.g., a UE or base station) performs an RTT positioning procedure with multiple second entities (e.g., multiple base stations or UEs) to enable the location of the first entity to be determined (e.g., using multilateration) based on distances to, and the known locations of, the second entities. RTT and multi-RTT methods can be combined with other positioning techniques, such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD, to improve location accuracy.

[0123] 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).

[0124] 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 slots including PRS, periodicity of the consecutive slots including PRS, 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. [0125] 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 (ps). 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 ps. 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 ps.

[0126] 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).

[0127] NR supports, or enables, various sidelink positioning techniques. FIG. 5A illustrates various scenarios of interest for sidelink-only or joint Uu and sidelink positioning, according to aspects of the disclosure. In scenario 510, at least one peer UE with a known location can improve the Uu-based positioning (e g., multi-cell round-trip-time (RTT), downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA), etc.) of a target UE by providing an additional anchor (e.g., using sidelink RTT (SL-RTT)). In scenario 520, a low-end (e.g., reduced capacity, or “RedCap”) target UE may obtain the assistance of premium UEs to determine its location using, e.g., sidelink positioning and ranging procedures with the premium UEs. Compared to the low-end UE, the premium UEs may have more capabilities, such as more sensors, a faster processor, more memory, more antenna elements, higher transmit power capability, access to additional frequency bands, or any combination thereof. In scenario 530, a relay UE (e.g., with a known location) participates in the positioning estimation of a remote UE without performing uplink positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission over the Uu interface. Scenario 540 illustrates the joint positioning of multiple UEs. Specifically, in scenario 540, two UEs with unknown positions can be jointly located in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions by utilizing constraints from nearby UEs.

[0128] FIG. 5B illustrates additional scenarios of interest for sidelink-only or joint Uu and sidelink positioning, according to aspects of the disclosure. In scenario 550, UEs used for public safety (e.g., by police, firefighters, and/or the like) may perform peer-to-peer (P2P) positioning and ranging for public safety and other uses. For example, in scenario 550, the public safety UEs may be out-of-coverage of a network and determine a location or a relative distance and a relative position among the public safety UEs using sidehnk positioning techniques. Similarly, scenario 560 shows multiple UEs that are out-of- coverage and determine a location or a relative distance and a relative position using sidelink positioning techniques, such as SL-RTT.

[0129] A UE may use RTT positioning techniques with one or more base stations and one or more other UEs or RSUs to determine its location based on positioning signals to/from, and the known locations of, the other involved base stations and UEs/RSUs. FIG. 6 is a diagram 600 showing example timings of RTT signals between a target UE 604 (labeled “UE2”), a base station 602, and an assisting UE 606 (labeled “UE1”), according to aspects of the disclosure. This is an example of a sidelink-assisting-Uu positioning procedure, such as illustrated in scenario 510. The UEs 604 and 606 may correspond to any of the UEs described herein, and in particular, may be V-UEs. In FIG. 6, the target UE 604 is attempting to estimate its location, and the assisting UE 606 (e.g., a relay UE) has a known location (e.g., from GPS).

[0130] In the example of FIG. 6, the target UE 604 receives a positioning signal (e g., DL-PRS) from the base station 602 and responds with its own positioning signal (e.g., SRS). In the example of FIG. 6, the received positioning signal has some propagation time between the base station 602 and the target UE 604, denoted “T prop,BS-UE2.” The length of time between reception of the positioning signal from the base station 602 and the transmission of the responding positioning signal by the target UE 604 is denoted “T_UE2,Rx-Tx.” The response positioning signal may include a measurement report including the value of T_UE2,Rx-Tx, and has some propagation time between the target UE 604 and the base station 602, denoted “T_prop,UE2-BS” (which is assumed to be equal to T_prop,BS-UE2).

[0131] In the example of FIG. 6, the assisting UE 606 provides an additional RTF measurement to assist the Uu positioning procedure between the base station 602 and the target UE 604. In this scenario, the assisting UE 606, also referred to as an anchor UE, is within network coverage (e.g., within the coverage of base station 602), and the base station 602 or a location server may configure the SL-PRS to be exchanged between the UEs and the respective measurement reports. Accordingly, the target UE 604 transmits SL-PRS to the assisting UE 606, which is received by the assisting UE 606 after some propagation time, denoted “T_prop,UE2-UEl.” After some delay at the assisting UE 606, denoted “T_UEl,Rx-Tx,” the assisting UE 606 transmits a response positioning signal to the target UE 604. The response positioning signal may include a measurement report including the value of T_UEl,Rx-Tx, and has some propagation time between the assisting UE 606 and the target UE 604, referred to as T_prop,UEl-UE2 (which is assumed to be equal to T_prop,UE2-UEl).

[0132] Based on the transmission and reception times of the positioning signals and the values of T_UE2,Rx-Tx and T_UEl ,Rx-Tx, a positioning entity (e g., the target UE 604, the base station 602, a location server, etc.) can calculate the times of flight between the target UE 604 and the base station 602 and between the target UE 604 and the assisting UE 606 (e.g., T_prop,BS-UE2 and T_prop,UE2-UEl in the example of FIG. 6). Based on the times of flight and the speed of light, the positioning entity can calculate the distances between the target UE 604 and the base station 602 and between the target UE 604 and the assisting UE 606. Based on these distances and the known locations of the base station 602 and the assisting UE 606, the positioning entity can estimate the relative location of the target UE 604.

[0133] A UE may also use RTT positioning techniques with multiple other UEs or RSUs to determine its location based on ranging signals to/from, and the known locations of, the other involved UEs/RSUs. FIG. 7 is a diagram 700 showing example timings of RTT signals between a target UE 704 (labeled “UE2”) and two assisting UEs 702 (labeled “UE1”) and 706 (labeled “UE3”), according to aspects of the disclosure. This is an example of a sidelink-based positioning procedure, such as illustrated in scenarios 520, 550, and 560. The UEs 702 to 706 may correspond to any of the UEs described herein, and in particular, may be V-UEs. In FIG. 7, the target UE 704 is attempting to estimate its location, and the assisting UEs 702 and 706 have known locations (e.g., from GPS).

[0134] In the example of FIG. 7, the target UE 704 receives a ranging signal (e.g., SL-PRS) from the assisting UE 702 and responds with its own ranging signal (e g., SL-PRS). The ranging signals may be transmitted on time/frequency resources negotiated among the involved UEs. In the example of FIG. 7, the received ranging signal has some propagation time between the assisting UE 702 and the target UE 704, denoted T prop,UEl-UE2. The length of time between reception of the ranging signal from the assisting UE 702 and the transmission of the responding ranging signal by the target UE 704 is denoted “T_UE2,Rx-Tx.” The response ranging signal may include a measurement report including the value of T_UE2,Rx-Tx, and has some propagation time between the target UE 704 and the assisting UE 702, denoted “T_prop,UE2-UEl” (which is assumed to be equal to T_prop,UEl-UE2).

[0135] The response ranging signal from the target UE 704 may also be received by a second assisting UE 706 after some propagation time, denoted “T_prop,UE2-UE3.” Alternatively, this may be a different ranging signal transmitted by the target UE 704 around the same time (in the example of FIG. 7) as the response ranging signal to assisting UE 702. After some delay at the second assisting UE 706, denoted “T_UE3,Rx-Tx,” the second assisting UE 706 transmits a response ranging signal to the target UE 704. The response ranging signal may include a measurement report including the value of T_UE3,Rx-Tx, and has some propagation time between the assisting UE 706 and the target UE 704, denoted “T_prop,UE3-UE2” (which is assumed to be equal to T_prop,UE2-UE3).

[0136] Based on the transmission and reception times of the ranging signals and the values of T_UE2,Rx-Tx and T_UE3,Rx-Tx, a positioning entity (e.g., the target UE 704) can calculate the times of flight between the target UE 704 and the assisting UEs 702 and 706 (i.e., T_prop,UEl-UE2 and T_prop,UE2-UE3 in the example of FIG. 7). Based on the times of flight and the speed of light, the positioning entity can calculate the distances between the target UE 704 and the assisting UEs 702 and 706. Based on these distances, the positioning entity can estimate the relative location of the target UE 704 with respect to the assisting UEs 702 and 706. If the assisting UEs 702 and 706 have known locations (e.g., GPS coordinates received from the assisting UEs 702 and 706), the positioning entity can estimate the absolute location of the target UE 704 based on the distances between the target UE 704 and the assisting UEs 702 and 706 and the known locations of the assisting UEs 702 and 706. Where the assisting UEs 702 and 706 provide their locations, they may also provide an uncertainty or accuracy level associated with that location.

[0137] A UE that assists a target UE in a positioning procedure may be referred to as a “positioning peer” or “Pos-Peer” UE. Two types of Pos-Peer UE discovery procedures have been introduced for sidelink cooperative positioning (e.g., the sidelink-based positioning procedure in FIG. 7), referred to as Mode A and Mode B. FIG. 8A illustrates an example call flow 800 for Mode A discovery, and FIG. 8B illustrates an example call flow 850 for Mode B discovery, according to aspects of the disclosure. The purpose of these discovery procedures is to discover which Pos-Peer UEs are in the vicinity of a target UE. In Mode A, a Pos-Peer UE may announce its presence by broadcasting a sidelink Pos-Peer discovery message with a positioning flag, as shown in FIG. 8A. In Mode B, a target UE that wants to discover Pos-Peer UEs may initiate by broadcasting a sidelink Pos-Peer solicitation message with field(s) related to positioning, as shown in FIG. 8B.

[0138] As shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, both Pos-Peer discovery and solicitation messages can be split into two parts, labeled “A” and “B,” to enable a more power efficient approach and a handshake between the target UE and the potential Pos-Peer UEs. A target UE can rank the potential Pos-Peer UEs (also referred to as anchor UEs) according to the following criteria: (1) location quality criterion, (2) channel quality criterion, (3) response time criterion, (4) mobility state criterion, or any combination thereof.

[0139] Sidelink communication takes place in transmission or reception resource pools. In the frequency domain, the minimum resource allocation unit is a sub-channel (e.g., a collection of consecutive PRBs in the frequency domain). In the time domain, resource allocation is in one slot intervals. However, some slots are not available for sidelink, and some slots contain feedback resources. In addition, sidelink resources can be (pre)configured to occupy fewer than the 14 symbols of a slot.

[0140] Sidelink resources are configured at the radio resource control (RRC) layer. The RRC configuration can be by pre-configuration (e.g., preloaded on the UE) or configuration (e.g., from a serving base station).

[0141] NR sidelinks support hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmission. FIG. 9A is a diagram 900 of an example slot structure without feedback resources, according to aspects of the disclosure. In the example of FIG. 9A, time is represented horizontally and frequency is represented vertically. In the time domain, the length of each block is one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, and the 14 symbols make up a slot. In the frequency domain, the height of each block is one sub-channel. Currently, the (pre)configured sub-channel size can be selected from the set of {10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75, 100} physical resource blocks (PRBs). Each PRB (or simply RB) is composed of 12 subcarriers in the frequency domain. One symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain is referred to as a resource element.

[0142] For a sidelink slot, the first symbol is a repetition of the preceding symbol and is used for automatic gain control (AGC) setting. This is illustrated in FIG. 9A by the vertical and horizontal hashing. As shown in FIG. 9A, for sidelink, the physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) and the physical sidelmk shared channel (PSSCH) are transmitted in the same slot. Similar to the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the PSCCH carries control information about sidelink resource allocation and descriptions about sidelink data transmitted to the UE. Likewise, similar to the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), the PSSCH carries user date for the UE. In the example of FIG. 9A, the PSCCH occupies half the bandwidth of the sub-channel and only three symbols. Finally, a gap symbol is present after the PSSCH.

[0143] FIG. 9B is a diagram 950 of an example slot structure with feedback resources, according to aspects of the disclosure. In the example of FIG. 9B, time is represented horizontally and frequency is represented vertically. In the time domain, the length of each block is one OFDM symbol, and the 14 symbols make up a slot. In the frequency domain, the height of each block is one sub-channel.

[0144] The slot structure illustrated in FIG. 9B is similar to the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 9A, except that the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 9B includes feedback resources. Specifically, two symbols at the end of the slot have been dedicated to the physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). The first PSFCH symbol is a repetition of the second PSFCH symbol for AGC setting. In addition to the gap symbol after the PSSCH, there is a gap symbol after the two PSFCH symbols. Currently, resources for the PSFCH can be configured with a periodicity selected from the set of {0, 1, 2, 4} slots.

[0145] Another aspect of sidelink positioning is the configuration of sidelink resource pools for positioning (RP-Ps), also referred to as positioning resource pools. The 12 symbols between the first symbol of a sidelink slot (for AGC) and the last symbol (the gap) in the time domain and the allocated subchannel(s) in the frequency domain form a resource pool for sidelink transmission and/or reception. An RP-P can be configured within a resource pool specifically for positioning purposes. Each RP-P includes an offset, periodicity, number of consecutive symbols within a slot (e g., as few as one symbol), and/or the bandwidth within a component carrier (or the bandwidth across multiple component carriers). In addition, each RP-P can be associated with a zone or a distance from a reference location.

[0146] A base station (or a UE) can assign, to another UE, one or more resource configurations from the RP-Ps. Additionally or alternatively, a UE (e.g., a relay or a remote UE) can request one or more RP-P configurations, and it can include in the request one or more of the following: (1) its location information (or zone identifier), (2) periodicity, (3) bandwidth, (4) offset, (5) number of symbols, and (6) whether a configuration with “low interference” is needed (which can be determined through an assigned quality of service (QoS) or priority).

[0147] A base station or a UE can configure/assign rate matching resources or RP-P for rate matching and/or muting to a sidelink UE such that when a collision exists between the assigned resources and another resource pool that contains data (PSSCH) and/or control (PSCCH), the sidelink UE is expected to rate match, mute, and/or puncture the data, DMRS, and/or CSI-RS within the colliding resources. This would enable orthogonalization between positioning and data transmissions for increased coverage of PRS signals.

[0148] FIG. 10 is a diagram 1000 illustrating an example of a resource pool for positioning within a sidelink resource pool, according to aspects of the disclosure. In the example of FIG. 10, time is represented horizontally and frequency is represented vertically. In the time domain, the length of each block is an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, and the 14 symbols make up a slot. In the frequency domain, the height of each block is a sub-channel.

[0149] In the example of FIG. 10, the entire slot (except for the first and last symbols) can be a resource pool for sidelink transmission and/or reception. That is, any of the symbols other than the first and last can be allocated for transmission and/or reception. However, an RP-P for sidelink transmission/reception is allocated in the last four pre-gap symbols of the slot. As such, non-sidelink positioning data, such as user data, CSI-RS, and control information, can only be transmitted in the first eight post-AGC symbols and not in the last four pre-gap symbols to prevent a collision with the configured RP-P. The nonsidelink positioning data that would otherwise be transmitted in the last four pre-gap symbols can be punctured or muted, or the non-sidelink data that would normally span more than the eight post-AGC symbols can be rate matched to fit into the eight post-AGC symbols.

[0150] Sidelink positioning reference signals (SL-PRS) have been defined to enable sidelink positioning procedures among UEs. Like a downlink PRS (DL-PRS), an SL-PRS resource is composed of one or more resource elements (i.e. , one OFDM symbol in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain). SL-PRS resources have been designed with a comb-based pattern to enable fast Fourier transform (FFT)-based processing at the receiver. SL-PRS resources are composed of unstaggered, or only partially staggered, resource elements in the frequency domain to provide small time of arrival (TOA) uncertainty and reduced overhead of each SL-PRS resource. SL-PRS may also be associated with specific RP-Ps (e.g., certain SL-PRS may be allocated in certain RP-Ps). SL-PRS have also been defined with intra-slot repetition (not shown in FIG. 10) to allow for combining gains (if needed). There may also be inter-UE coordination of RP-Ps to provide for dynamic SL-PRS and data multiplexing while minimizing SL-PRS collisions.

[0151] FIG. 11 is a diagram 1100 illustrating additional aspects of sidelink resource pools and resource pools for positioning, according to aspects of the disclosure. Specifically, diagram 1100 illustrates a hierarchy of configuration parameters for sidelink communication resources that may be utilized by two or more sidelink UEs. As shown in FIG. 11, there are two resource pool configurations, a resource pool configuration for communication and a resource pool configuration for positioning (i.e., an RP-P configuration). Note that in FIG. 11, “SCS” stands for “subcarrier spacing,” “CP” stands for “cyclic prefix,” “CBR” stands for “channel busy ratio,” “BWP” stands for “bandwidth part,” “BW” stands for “bandwidth” and “MCS” stands for “modulation and coding scheme.”

[0152] FIG. 12 illustrates the two resource allocation modes for transmissions on NR sidelinks, according to aspects of the disclosure. In the first mode 1210 (labeled “Mode 1”), the base station 1202 (e.g., any of the base stations described herein) allocates time and/or frequency resources for sidelink communication between the involved V-UEs 1204 and 1206 (e.g., any of the V-UEs or sidelink-capable UEs described herein) via DCI 3_0. Each V-UE uses the allocated resources to transmit ranging signals (e.g., SL-PRS) to the other V-UE(s).

[0153] In the second mode 1220 (labeled “Mode 2”), the involved UEs 1204 and 1206 autonomously select sidelink resources to use for transmission of ranging signals. A V- UE can only use the first mode if it has cellular coverage, and can use the second mode regardless of whether or not it has cellular coverage. Note that although FIG. 12 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. In addition, there may be more than the two V-UEs 1204 and 1206 illustrated.

[0154] Signaling over the sidelink is the same between the two resource allocation modes. From the point of view of the receiver (e.g., V-UE 1206), there is no difference between the modes. That is, it does not matter to the receiver whether the resources for the ranging signals were allocated by the base station 1202 or the transmitter.

[0155] Mode 1 supports dynamic grant (DG), configured grant (CG) Type 1, and CG Type 2. In some cases, CG Type 1 is activated via RRC signaling from the base station 1202. In some cases, the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for sidelink transmissions is determined by the involved V-UEs 1204 and 1206 within limits set by the base station 1202. In Mode 2, the transmitting V-UE (e.g., V-UE 1204) performs channel sensing by blindly decodes all physical sidelink control channels (PSCCHs) to determine the resources reserved for other sidelink transmissions. The transmitting V-UE 1204 reports available resources to its upper layer and the upper layer determines resource usage.

[0156] In Mode 1, the base station 1202 provides a dynamic grant for HARQ feedback or activates a configured sidelink grant. The sidelink feedback can be reported back to the base station by the transmitting UE (e.g., V-UE 1204).

[0157] In sidelink positioning operations, the accuracy of determining the position of a target UE may be increased by using a larger number of sidelink UEs in the positioning operations. The availability of such sidelink UEs for positioning, however, may be limited based on whether the sidelink UEs are 1) in-coverage of the same serving cell (e.g., base station, gNB, etc.) as the target UE, 2) in-coverage of a different serving cell, or 3) out-of- coverage of any serving cell. Certain aspects of the disclosure are implemented with a recognition that there are scenarios in which the number of sidelink UEs for positioning of the target UE may be increased by including UEs in the same serving cell, UEs in different serving cells, and/or UEs that are out-of-coverage of a serving cell in the positioning operations.

[0158] FIG. 13 depicts a wireless environment 1300 that may be used for sidelink UE positioning, in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. In this example, UE2 is the target UE that is to determine its position during the positioning session and is served by a serving cell 1302 associated with Base Station 1 1306. A further sidelink UE, UE4, is also served by the serving cell 1302 associated with Base Station 1 1306. As such, in this example, both sidelink UE2 and sidelink UE4 are shown as having the same serving cell (e.g., serving cell 1302).

[0159] As also shown in FIG. 13, UE1 and UE3 are sidelink UEs that are both served by a serving cell 1308 associated with a further base station, Base Station 2 1312. As such, in this example, both UE1 and UE3 are served by the same serving cell 1308. However, the serving cell 1308 serving sidelink UE1 and sidelink UE3 is different than the serving cell 1302 that serves sidelink UE2 and sidelink UE4. Notwithstanding being served by different serving cells, sidelink UE2 is in the sidelink communication range of both sidelink UE1 and sidelink UE3.

[0160] Sidelink UE2 is also within the sidelink communication range of the remaining sidelink UEs shown in FIG. 13 (e.g., sidelink UE5 and sidelink UE6). However, in the wireless environment 1300, neither sidelink UE5 nor sidelink UE6 are in-coverage of serving cell 1302, serving cell 1308, or any other serving cell.

[0161] There are numerous problems restricting the ability of sidelink UE 2 to make optimal use of all the sidelink UEs in wireless environment 1300 for positioning operations. For example, Base Station 2 1312 can define the SL-PRS configuration for use by sidelink UE1 and sidelink UE3 for positioning operations, but cannot define an SL-PRS configuration for use by sidelink UE2, sidelink UE4, sidelink UE5, or sidelink UE6. Similarly, Base Station 1 1306 can define the SL-PRS configuration for use by sidelink UE2 and sidelink UE4, but cannot define an SL- PRS configuration for use by sidelink UE1, sidelink UE3, sidelink UE5, or sidelink UE6. Further, SL-PRS configurations for any positioning operations conducted between sidelink UE2, sidelink UE5, and sidelink UE6 may use Mode 2 resource allocations.

[0162] Certain aspects of the disclosure are directed to configuring and implementing sidelink positioning operations in mixed mode configuration environments such as wireless environment 1300 of FIG. 13 in which some sidelink UEs may be configured with SL- PRS resources via Mode 1 and some sidelink UEs may be configured with SL-PRS resources via Mode 2. In accordance with certain aspects of the disclosure, the target sidelink UE (e.g., si delink UE2) may engage in sidelink discovery operations with one or more first sidelink UEs (e.g., sidelink UE1, sidelink UE3, and sidelink UE4). The target sidelink UE may also engage in sidelink discovery operations with one or more second sidelink UEs (e.g., sidelink UE5 and sidelink UE6). During the sidelink discovery operations, the target sidelink UE may receive first sidelink discovery information from the one or more first sidelink UEs and second sidelink discovery information from the one or more second sidelink UEs. In certain aspects, the first sidelink discovery information may identify a serving cell for each of the one or more first sidelink UEs. In the example shown in FIG. 13, sidelink UE1 and sidelink UE3, may each transmit sidelink discovery information indicating that they are served by serving cell 1308 (e.g., the serving cell associated with Base Station 2 1312), while sidelink UE4 transmits sidelink discovery information indicating that it is served by serving cell 1302 (e.g., the serving cell associated with Base Station 1 1306). Also, during the sidelink discovery operations, the target UE may receive second sidelink discovery information from the one or more second sidelink UEs. However, the second sidelink discovery information may indicate that the one or more second sidelink UEs are not associated with a serving cell (e.g., out- of-coverage). With respect to the example shown in FIG. 13, sidelink UE5 and sidelink UE6 may each transmit second sidelink discovery information to the sidelink UE2 indicating that they are out-of-coverage of any serving cells (e.g., neither sidelink UE has any association with a serving cell). In accordance with certain aspects of the disclosure, the discovery' information received from each of the in-coverage UEs may include an identification of neighboring cells associated with the UE.

[0163] Both Base Station 2 1312 and Base Station 1 1306 may be in communication with a location server 1314 (e g., LMF). In accordance with aspects of the disclosure, the target UE may transmit the first sidelink discovery' information and the second sidelink discovery infomiation to the location server 1314. As such, the location server 1314 may have knowledge of the serving cells associated with each sidelink UE with which the target sidelink UE has engaged in discovery operations. In this example, the location server 1314 is aware that 1) sidelink UE1 and sidelink UE3 are served by the serving cell 1308 associated with Base Station 2 1312, 2), sidelink UE2 and sidelink UE4 are served by the serving cell 1302 associated with Base Station 1 1306, and 3) sidelink UE5 and sidelink UE6 are out-of-coverage of any serving cell (e.g., are not associated with any serving cell).

[0164] In certain aspects, the location server may communicate with the base station(s) associated with one or more serving cells respectively associated with each of the first set of one or more sidelink UEs to determine an SL-PRS configuration that may be used in positioning operations by the first set of one or more sidelink UEs. In the example shown in FIG. 13, the location server 1314 may communicate with Base Station 2 1312 and Base Station 1 1306 to determine an SL-PRS configuration that may be used in positioning operations between sidelink UE2 and the other in-coverage sidelink UEs (e.g., sidelink UE1, sidelink UE3, and sidelink UE4). To this end, the location server 1314 may obtain information about the resources used by Base Station 2 1312 and Base Station 1 1306 to select a PRS configuration with the correct slot-offsets and/or synchronization that may be used by all the in-coverage sidelink UEs for positioning operations. The location server 1314 may determine the PRS configuration since the different base stations (e.g., Base Station 2 1312 and Base Station 1 1306) may have different slot-offsets and are not ty pically in direct communication with one another to coordinate their resources.

[0165] The location server 1314 may send the SL-PRS configuration that is to be used by the incoverage sidelink UEs (hereinafter “the first SL-PRS configuration”) to the target sidelink UE (e.g., sidelink UE2) via the base station associated with its serving cell (e.g., Base Station 1 1306). In turn, the target UE may transmit the first SL-PRS configuration to the remaining in-coverage sidelink UEs (e.g., sidelink UE1, sidelink UE3, and sidelink UE4) via a PC5 link. Additionally, or in the alternative, the location server 1314 may send the first SL-PRS configuration to all the in-coverage sidelink UEs. During one or more subsequent positioning operations undertaken to determine the location of the target sidelink UE, all the in-coverage sidelink UEs may operate in Mode 1 using the first SL- PRS configuration (hereinafter, the positioning operations with the in-coverage sidelink UEs are referenced as “first positioning operations”).

[0166] In certain aspects, the location server 1314 may also facilitate the assignment of positioning resources used by the target sidelink UE (e.g., sidelink UE2) and the out-of- coverage sidelink UEs (e.g., sidelink UE5 and sidelink UE6) for positioning. In accordance with an aspect, the location server 1314 may provide a sidelink resource pool for positioning configuration and/or options for an SL-PRS configuration to the target UE (e.g., sidelink UE2) via the associated base station (e.g., Base Station 1 1306). The target UE may use the sidelink resource pool and/or the SL-PRS configuration options to negotiate an SL-PRS configuration with other out-of-coverage UEs (hereinafter “the second SL-PRS configuration”) for positioning operations. Once the second SL-PRS configuration is determined, the target UE may use the second SL-PRS configuration in positioning operations with the out-of-coverage sidelink UEs. In another aspect, the location server 1314 may determine the second SL-PRS configuration that is to be used and sends the second SL-PRS configuration to the target UE via the associated base station. In turn, the target UE may configure the out-of-coverage sidelink UEs with the second SL-PRS configuration via a PC5 link. During one or more subsequent positioning operations undertaken to determine the location of the target sidelink UE, all the out-of- coverage sidelink UEs may operate in Mode 2 using the second SL-PRS configuration (hereinafter, positioning operations with the out-of-coverage sidehnk UEs are referenced as “second positioning operations”).

[0167] In certain aspects, the first SL-PRS configuration and the second SL-PRS configuration may have one or more common configuration parameters to enable the first positioning operations to occur concurrently with the second positioning operations. The one or more common configuration parameters may include 1) common SCS parameters, 2) common BWP parameters, 3) common comb configuration parameters, or 4) any combination thereof.

[0168] The activation of the first and second sidelink positioning operations may be undertaken in various manners. For example, a time division approach may be used in which the Mode 1 configuration is activated first to execute the first sidehnk positioning operations, while the Mode 2 configuration is activated after the completion of Mode 1 activation to execute the second sidelink positioning operations. Note that the order of activation can be changed. Further, the time-division approach may be based on a timed activation and deactivation of the configurations.

[0169] In another example, a mixed-mode approach may be used in which the target UE may concurrently operate in both Mode 1 and Mode 2 so that the first and second sidelink positioning operations may occur at substantially the same time. Such a mixed-mode approach may be subject to the maximum number of SL-PRS that the target UE may process in a given slot.

[0170] In accordance with certain aspects of the disclosure, location server 1314 may determine a positioning schedule that indicates a schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations. The location server 1314 may send the positioning schedule to the target UE, which uses the positioning schedule to determine the timing of the first and second positioning operations and/or the order in which the first and second positioning operations occur. To this end, the positioning schedule may indicate 1) a time-based schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations, 2) a sequence for sequentially activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations, 3) a mixed-mode schedule for concurrently activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations, or 4) any combination thereof.

[0171] FIG. 14 illustrates a method 1400 of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) according to aspects of the disclosure. At operation 1402, the UE engages in sidehnk discovery operations with one or more first sidehnk UEs and one or more second sidelink UEs. In an aspect, operation 1402 may be performed by the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the one or more processors 332, memory 340, and/or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered means for performing this operation.

[0172] At operation 1404, the UE receives first sidelink discovery information from the one or more first sidehnk UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the first sidelink discovery information identifies a serving cell for each of the one or more first sidelink UEs. In an aspect, operation 1404 may be performed by the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the one or more processors 332, memory 340, and/or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered means for performing this operation.

[0173] At operation 1406, the UE receives second sidehnk discovery information from the one or more second sidehnk UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the second sidehnk discovery information indicates that the one or more second sidelink UEs are not associated with a serving cell. In an aspect, operation 1406 may be performed by the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the one or more processors 332, memory 340, and/or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered means for performing this operation.

[0174] As will be appreciated, a technical advantage of the method 1400 is that the method enables the UE to make the network aware of the serving cell associations and out-of- coverage status of UEs that are within a range of communication of the UE. The information may be communicated to the network to configure the UEs within the range of communication of the UE with sidelink PRS configurations that may be used for positioning operations in a mixed-mode positioning environment in which m-coverage UEs operate in Mode 1 and out-of-coverage UEs operate in Mode 2 during positioning operations to determine the position of the UE. Additionally, certain technical advantages may be realized by including neighboring cell identifications in the discovery information [0175] FIG. 15 illustrates a method, 1500 of wireless communication performed by a location server (e.g., LMF) according to aspects of the disclosure. At operation 1502, the location server receives first sidelink information from a first sidelink UE identifying a first set of one or more sidelink UEs and a serving cell of the first set of one or more sidelink UEs. In an aspect, operation 1502 may be performed by the one or more network transceivers 390, the one or more processors 394, memory 396, and/or positioning component 398, any or all of which may be considered means for performing this operation.

[0176] At operation 1504, the location server receives second sidelink information from the first sidelink UE identifying a second set of one or more sidelink UEs that are not associated with a serving cell. In an aspect, operation 1504 may be performed by the one or more network transceivers 390, the one or more processors 394, memory 396, and/or positioning component 398, any or all of which may be considered means for performing this operation.

[0177] At operation 1506, the location server sends a first sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration to the first sidelink UE for use in first positioning operations with the first set of one or more sidelink UEs. In an aspect, operation 1506 may be performed by the one or more network transceivers 390, the one or more processors 394, memory 396, and/or positioning component 398, any or all of which may be considered means for performing this operation.

[0178] At operation 1508, the location server sends positioning resource configuration information to the first sidelink UE for use in second positioning operations with the second set of one or more sidelink UEs. In an aspect, operation 1508 may be performed by the one or more network transceivers 390, the one or more processors 394, memory 396, and/or positioning component 398, any or all of which may be considered means for performing this operation.

[0179] As will be appreciated, a technical advantage of the method 1500 is that the location server is aware of the serving cell associations and out-of-cov erage status of UEs that are within a range of communication of a target UE that is to be positioned. The information may be used by the location server to configure the UEs within the range of communication of the target UE with sidelink PRS configurations that may be used for positioning operations in a mixed-mode positioning environment in which in-coverage UEs operate in Mode 1 and out-of-coverage UEs operate in Mode 2 during positioning operations to determine the position of the target UE. Additionally, certain technical advantages may be realized by including neighboring cell identifications in the discovery information.

[0180] 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.

[0181] Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0182] Clause 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: engaging in sidelink discovery operations with one or more first sidelink UEs and one or more second sidelink UEs; receiving first sidelink discovery information from the one or more first sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the first sidelink discovery information identifies a serving cell for each of the one or more first sidelink UEs; and receiving second sidelink discovery information from the one or more second sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the second sidelink discovery information indicates that the one or more second si delink UEs are not associated with a serving cell.

[0183] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, further comprising: receiving third sidelink discovery information from the one or more first sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the third sidelink discovery information identifies neighboring cells associated with the one or more first sidelink UEs.

[0184] Clause 3. The method of any of clauses 1 to 2, further comprising: transmitting the first sidelink discovery information and the second sidelink discovery' information to a location server.

[0185] Clause 4. The method of clause 3, further comprising: receiving, from the location server, a first sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration for use in first positioning operations with the one or more first sidelink UEs: and receiving, from the location server, a second sidelink PRS configuration for use in second positioning operations with the one or more second sidelink UEs.

[0186] Clause 5. The method of clause 4, further comprising: receiving, from the location server, a positioning schedule indicating a schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations.

[0187] Clause 6. The method of clause 5, wherein the positioning schedule indicates: a timebased schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; a sequence for sequentially activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; a mixed-mode schedule for concurrently activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; or any combination thereof.

[0188] Clause 7. The method of any of clauses 4 to 6, further comprising: transmitting the first sidelink PRS configuration to the one or more first sidelink UEs; and transmitting the second sidelink PRS configuration to the one or more second sidelink UEs.

[0189] Clause 8. The method of clause 7, further comprising: measuring PRS associated with the one or more first sidelink UEs based on the first sidelink PRS configuration; and measuring PRS associated with the one or more second sidelink UEs based on the second sidelink PRS configuration.

[0190] Clause 9. The method of any of clauses 4 to 8, wherein: the first sidelink PRS configuration and the second sidelink PRS configuration have one or more common configuration parameters to enable the first positioning operations to occur concurrently with the second positioning operations.

[0191] Clause 10. The method of clause 9, wherein the one or more common configuration parameters comprise: common subcarrier spacing (SCS) parameters; common bandwidth part (BWP) parameters; common comb configuration parameters; or any combination thereof.

[0192] Clause 11. The method of any of clauses 3 to 10, further comprising: receiving, from the location server, a first sidelink PRS configuration for use in first positioning operations with the one or more first set of sidelink UEs: receiving, from the location server, a sidelink resource pool for positioning configuration for use in second positioning operations; and transmitting a second sidelink PRS configuration to the one or more second sidelink UEs for use in the second positioning operations, wherein the second sidelink PRS configuration is based on the sidelink resource pool for positioning configuration.

[0193] Clause 12. A method of wireless communication performed by a location server, comprising: receiving first sidelink information from a first sidelink UE identifying a serving cell of a first set of one or more sidelink UEs; receiving second sidelink information from the first sidelink UE identifying a second set of one or more sidelink UEs that are not associated with a serving cell; sending a first sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration to the first sidelink UE for use in first positioning operations with the first set of one or more sidelink UEs; and sending positioning resource configuration information to the first sidelink UE for use in second positioning operations with the second set of one or more sidelink UEs.

[0194] Clause 13. The method of clause 12, further comprising: receiving third sidelink discovery information from the first sidelink UEs identifying neighboring cells associated with the first set of one or more sidelink UEs.

[0195] Clause 14. The method of any of clauses 12 to 13, wherein: the first sidelink information identifies one or more serving cells respectively associated with each of the first set of one or more sidelink UEs.

[0196] Clause 15. The method of any of clauses 12 to 14, further comprising: communicating with the one or more serving cells respectively associated with each of the first set of one or more sidelink UEs to determine the first sidelink PRS configuration. [0197] Clause 16. The method of any of clauses 12 to 15, wherein the positioning resource configuration information comprises: a second sidelink PRS configuration for use in the second positioning operations; a sidelink resource pool for positioning configuration for use in the second positioning operations; or a combination thereof

[0198] Clause 17. The method of clause 1 , wherein: the first sidelink PRS configuration and the second sidelink PRS configuration have one or more common configuration parameters to enable the first positioning operations to occur concurrently with the second positioning operations.

[0199] Clause 18. The method of clause 17, wherein the one or more common configuration parameters comprise: common subcarrier spacing (SCS) parameters; common bandwidth part (BWP) parameters; common comb configuration parameters; or any combination thereof.

[0200] Clause 19. The method of any of clauses 12 to 18, further comprising: sending, to the first sidelink UE, a positioning schedule indicating a schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations.

[0201] Clause 20. The method of clause 19, wherein the positioning schedule indicates: a timebased schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; a sequence for sequentially activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; a mixed-mode schedule for concurrently activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; or any combination thereof.

[0202] Clause 21. A user equipment (UE), 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: engage in sidelink discovery operations with one or more first sidelink UEs and one or more second sidelink UEs; receive, via the at least one transceiver, first sidelink discovery information from the one or more first sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the first sidelink discovery information identifies a serving cell for each of the one or more first sidelink UEs; and receive, via the at least one transceiver, second sidelink discovery information from the one or more second sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the second sidelink discovery information indicates that the one or more second sidelink UEs are not associated with a serving cell. [0203] Clause 22. The UE of clause 21, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, third sidelink discovery information from the one or more first sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the third sidelink discovery information identifies neighboring cells associated with the one or more first sidelink UEs.

[0204] Clause 23. The UE of any of clauses 21 to 22, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: transmit, via the at least one transceiver, the first sidelink discovery information and the second sidelink discovery information to a location server.

[0205] Clause 24. The UE of clause 23, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver,, from the location server, a first sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration for use in first positioning operations with the one or more first sidelink UEs: and receive, via the at least one transceiver,, from the location server, a second sidelink PRS configuration for use in second positioning operations with the one or more second sidelink UEs.

[0206] Clause 25. The UE of clause 24, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, from the location server, a positioning schedule indicating a schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations.

[0207] Clause 26. The UE of clause 25, wherein the positioning schedule indicates: a time-based schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; a sequence for sequentially activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; a mixed-mode schedule for concurrently activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; or any combination thereof.

[0208] Clause 27. The UE of any of clauses 24 to 26, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: transmit, via the at least one transceiver, the first sidelink PRS configuration to the one or more first sidelink UEs; and transmit, via the at least one transceiver, the second sidelink PRS configuration to the one or more second sidelink UEs.

[0209] Clause 28. The UE of clause 27, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: measure PRS associated with the one or more first sidelink UEs based on the first sidelink PRS configuration; and measure PRS associated with the one or more second sidelink UEs based on the second sidelink PRS configuration. [0210] Clause 29. The UE of any of clauses 24 to 28, wherein: the first sidelink PRS configuration and the second sidelink PRS configuration have one or more common configuration parameters to enable the first positioning operations to occur concurrently with the second positioning operations.

[0211] Clause 30. The UE of clause 29, wherein the one or more common configuration parameters comprise: common subcarrier spacing (SCS) parameters; common bandwidth part (BWP) parameters; common comb configuration parameters; or any combination thereof.

[0212] Clause 31. The UE of any of clauses 23 to 30, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, from the location server, a first sidelink PRS configuration for use in first positioning operations with the one or more first set of sidehnk UEs: receive, via the at least one transceiver, from the location server, a sidelink resource pool for positioning configuration for use in second positioning operations; and transmit, via the at least one transceiver, a second sidelink PRS configuration to the one or more second sidelink UEs for use in the second positioning operations, wherein the second sidelink PRS configuration is based on the sidelink resource pool for positioning configuration.

[0213] Clause 32. A location server, 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: receive, via the at least one transceiver, first sidelink information from a first sidelink UE identifying a serving cell of a first set of one or more sidehnk UEs; receive, via the at least one transceiver, second sidehnk information from the first sidelink UE identifying a second set of one or more sidelink UEs that are not associated with a serving cell; send, via the at least one transceiver, a first sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration to the first sidelink UE for use in first positioning operations with the first set of one or more sidelink UEs; and send, via the at least one transceiver, positioning resource configuration information to the first sidelink UE for use in second positioning operations with the second set of one or more sidelink UEs.

[0214] Clause 33. The location server of clause 32, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, third sidelink discovery information from the first sidelink UEs identifying neighboring cells associated with the first set of one or more sidelink UEs. [0215] Clause 34. The location server of any of clauses 32 to 33, wherein: the first sidelink information identifies one or more serving cells respectively associated with each of the first set of one or more sidelink UEs.

[0216] Clause 35. The location server of any of clauses 32 to 34, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: communicate, via the at least one transceiver, with the one or more serving cells respectively associated with each of the first set of one or more sidelink UEs to determine the first sidelink PRS configuration.

[0217] Clause 36. The location server of any of clauses 32 to 35, wherein the positioning resource configuration information comprises: a second sidelink PRS configuration for use in the second positioning operations; a sidelink resource pool for positioning configuration for use in the second positioning operations; or a combination thereof.

[0218] Clause 37. The location server of clause 36, wherein: the first sidelink PRS configuration and the second sidelink PRS configuration have one or more common configuration parameters to enable the first positioning operations to occur concurrently with the second positioning operations.

[0219] Clause 38. The location server of clause 37, wherein the one or more common configuration parameters comprise: common subcarrier spacing (SCS) parameters; common bandwidth part (BWP) parameters; common comb configuration parameters; or any combination thereof.

[0220] Clause 39. The location server of any of clauses 32 to 38, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: send, via the at least one transceiver, to the first sidelink UE, a positioning schedule indicating a schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations.

[0221] Clause 40. The location server of clause 39, wherein the positioning schedule indicates: a time-based schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; a sequence for sequentially activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; a mixed-mode schedule for concurrently activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; or any combination thereof.

[0222] Clause 41. A user equipment (UE), comprising: means for engaging in sidelink discovery operations with one or more first sidelink UEs and one or more second sidelink UEs; means for receiving first sidelink discovery information from the one or more first sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the first sidelink discovery information identifies a serving cell for each of the one or more first sidelink UEs; and means for receiving second sidelink discovery information from the one or more second sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the second sidelink discovery information indicates that the one or more second sidelink UEs are not associated with a serving cell.

[0223] Clause 42. The UE of clause 41, further comprising: means for receiving third sidelink discovery information from the one or more first sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the third sidelink discovery information identifies neighboring cells associated with the one or more first sidelink UEs.

[0224] Clause 43. The UE of any of clauses 41 to 42, further comprising: means for transmitting the first sidelink discovery information and the second sidelink discovery information to a location server.

[0225] Clause 44. The UE of clause 43, further comprising: means for receiving, from the location server, a first sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration for use in first positioning operations with the one or more first sidelink UEs: and means for receiving, from the location server, a second sidelink PRS configuration for use in second positioning operations with the one or more second sidelink UEs.

[0226] Clause 45. The UE of clause 44, further comprising: means for receiving, from the location server, a positioning schedule indicating a schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations.

[0227] Clause 46. The UE of clause 45, wherein the positioning schedule indicates: a time-based schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; a sequence for sequentially activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; a mixed-mode schedule for concurrently activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; or any combination thereof.

[0228] Clause 47. The UE of any of clauses 44 to 46, further comprising: means for transmitting the first sidelink PRS configuration to the one or more first sidelink UEs; and means for transmitting the second sidelink PRS configuration to the one or more second sidelink UEs.

[0229] Clause 48. The UE of clause 47, further comprising: means for measuring PRS associated with the one or more first sidelink UEs based on the first sidelink PRS configuration; and means for measuring PRS associated with the one or more second sidelink UEs based on the second sidelink PRS configuration.

[0230] Clause 49. The UE of any of clauses 44 to 48, wherein: the first sidelink PRS configuration and the second sidelink PRS configuration have one or more common configuration parameters to enable the first positioning operations to occur concurrently with the second positioning operations.

[0231] Clause 50. The UE of clause 49, wherein the one or more common configuration parameters comprise: common subcarrier spacing (SCS) parameters; common bandwidth part (BWP) parameters; common comb configuration parameters; or any combination thereof.

[0232] Clause 51. The UE of any of clauses 43 to 50, further comprising: means for receiving, from the location server, a first sidelink PRS configuration for use in first positioning operations with the one or more first set of sidelink UEs: means for receiving, from the location server, a sidelink resource pool for positioning configuration for use in second positioning operations; and means for transmitting a second sidelink PRS configuration to the one or more second sidelink UEs for use in the second positioning operations, wherein the second sidelink PRS configuration is based on the sidelink resource pool for positioning configuration.

[0233] Clause 52. A location server, comprising: means for receiving first sidelink information from a first sidelink UE identifying a serving cell of a first set of one or more sidelink UEs; means for receiving second sidelink information from the first sidelink UE identifying a second set of one or more sidelink UEs that are not associated with a serving cell; means for sending a first sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration to the first sidelink UE for use in first positioning operations with the first set of one or more sidelink UEs; and means for sending positioning resource configuration information to the first sidelink UE for use in second positioning operations with the second set of one or more sidelink UEs.

[0234] Clause 53. The location server of clause 52, further comprising: means for receiving third sidelink discovery information from the first sidelink UEs identifying neighboring cells associated with the first set of one or more sidelink UEs.

[0235] Clause 54. The location server of any of clauses 52 to 53, wherein: the first sidelink information identifies one or more serving cells respectively associated with each of the first set of one or more sidelink UEs. [0236] Clause 55. The location server of any of clauses 52 to 54, further comprising: means for communicating with the one or more serving cells respectively associated with each of the first set of one or more sidelink UEs to determine the first sidelink PRS configuration.

[0237] Clause 56. The location server of any of clauses 52 to 55, wherein the positioning resource configuration information comprises: a second sidelink PRS configuration for use in the second positioning operations; a sidelink resource pool for positioning configuration for use in the second positioning operations; or a combination thereof.

[0238] Clause 57. The location server of clause 56, wherein: the first sidelink PRS configuration and the second sidelink PRS configuration have one or more common configuration parameters to enable the first positioning operations to occur concurrently with the second positioning operations.

[0239] Clause 58. The location server of clause 57, wherein the one or more common configuration parameters comprise: common subcarrier spacing (SCS) parameters; common bandwidth part (BWP) parameters; common comb configuration parameters; or any combination thereof.

[0240] Clause 59. The location server of any of clauses 52 to 58, further comprising: means for sending, to the first sidelink UE, a positioning schedule indicating a schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations.

[0241] Clause 60. The location server of clause 59, wherein the positioning schedule indicates: a time-based schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; a sequence for sequentially activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; a mixed-mode schedule for concurrently activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; or any combination thereof.

[0242] Clause 61. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: engage in sidelink discovery operations with one or more first sidelink UEs and one or more second sidelink UEs; receive first sidelink discovery information from the one or more first sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the first sidelink discovery information identifies a serving cell for each of the one or more first sidelink UEs; and receive second sidelink discovery information from the one or more second sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the second sidelink discovery information indicates that the one or more second sidelink UEs are not associated with a serving cell.

[0243] Clause 62. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 61, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: receive third sidelink discovery information from the one or more first sidelink UEs during the sidelink discovery operations, wherein the third sidelink discovery information identifies neighboring cells associated with the one or more first sidelink UEs.

[0244] Clause 63. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 61 to 62, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: transmit the first sidelink discovery information and the second sidelink discovery information to a location server.

[0245] Clause 64. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 63, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: receive, from the location server, a first sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration for use in first positioning operations with the one or more first sidelink UEs: and receive, from the location server, a second sidelink PRS configuration for use in second positioning operations with the one or more second sidelink UEs.

[0246] Clause 65. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 64, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: receive, from the location server, a positioning schedule indicating a schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations.

[0247] Clause 66. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 65, wherein the positioning schedule indicates: a time-based schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; a sequence for sequentially activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; a mixed-mode schedule for concurrently activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; or any combination thereof.

[0248] Clause 67. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 64 to 66, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: transmit the first sidelink PRS configuration to the one or more first sidelink UEs; and transmit the second sidelink PRS configuration to the one or more second sidelink UEs. [0249] Clause 68. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 67, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: measure PRS associated with the one or more first sidelink UEs based on the first sidelink PRS configuration; and measure PRS associated with the one or more second sidelink UEs based on the second sidelink PRS configuration.

[0250] Clause 69. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 64 to 68, wherein: the first sidelink PRS configuration and the second sidelink PRS configuration have one or more common configuration parameters to enable the first positioning operations to occur concurrently with the second positioning operations.

[0251] Clause 70. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 69, wherein the one or more common configuration parameters comprise: common subcarrier spacing (SCS) parameters; common bandwidth part (BWP) parameters; common comb configuration parameters; or any combination thereof.

[0252] Clause 71. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 63 to 70, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: receive, from the location server, a first sidelink PRS configuration for use in first positioning operations with the one or more first set of sidelink UEs; receive, from the location server, a sidelink resource pool for positioning configuration for use in second positioning operations; and transmit a second sidelink PRS configuration to the one or more second sidelink UEs for use in the second positioning operations, wherein the second sidelink PRS configuration is based on the sidelink resource pool for positioning configuration.

[0253] Clause 72. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a location server, cause the location server to: receive first sidelink information from a first sidelink UE identifying a serving cell of a first set of one or more sidelink UEs; receive second sidelink information from the first sidelink UE identifying a second set of one or more sidelink UEs that are not associated with a serving cell; send a first sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration to the first sidelink UE for use in first positioning operations with the first set of one or more sidelink UEs; and send positioning resource configuration information to the first sidelink UE for use in second positioning operations with the second set of one or more sidelink UEs. [0254] Clause 73. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 72, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the location server, cause the location server to: receive third sidelink discovery information from the first sidelink UEs identifying neighboring cells associated with the first set of one or more sidelink UEs.

[0255] Clause 74. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 72 to 73, wherein: the first sidelink information identifies one or more serving cells respectively associated with each of the first set of one or more sidelink UEs.

[0256] Clause 75. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 72 to 74, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the location server, cause the location server to: communicate with the one or more serving cells respectively associated with each of the first set of one or more sidehnk UEs to determine the first sidelink PRS configuration.

[0257] Clause 76. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 72 to 75, wherein the positioning resource configuration information comprises: a second sidelink PRS configuration for use in the second positioning operations; a sidelink resource pool for positioning configuration for use in the second positioning operations; or a combination thereof.

[0258] Clause 77. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 76, wherein: the first sidelink PRS configuration and the second sidelink PRS configuration have one or more common configuration parameters to enable the first positioning operations to occur concurrently with the second positioning operations.

[0259] Clause 78. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 77, wherein the one or more common configuration parameters comprise: common subcarrier spacing (SCS) parameters; common bandwidth part (BWP) parameters; common comb configuration parameters; or any combination thereof.

[0260] Clause 79. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 72 to 78, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the location server, cause the location server to: send, to the first sidelink UE, a positioning schedule indicating a schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations.

[0261] Clause 80. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 79, wherein the positioning schedule indicates: a time-based schedule for activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; a sequence for sequentially activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; a mixed-mode schedule for concurrently activating the first positioning operations and the second positioning operations; or any combination thereof

[0262] 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.

[0263] 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.

[0264] 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. [0265] 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.

[0266] 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. [0267] 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.