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. These enhancements, as well as the use of higher frequency bands, advances in PRS processes and technology, and high-density deployments for 5G, enable highly accurate 5G-based positioning.

SUMMARY

[0004] 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.

[0005] In an aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) includes measuring one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources from one or more network entities during a positioning session while in a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state; and reporting measurement data for the one or more PRS resources to a location server while in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state during one or more small data transmission (SDT) occasions based on a response time requirement for the positioning session, a configuration of the UE to remain in the RRC inactive or the RRC idle state, a number of SDT occasions needed to report the measurement data, or any combination thereof.

[0006] In an aspect, a user equipment (UE) 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: measure one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources from one or more network entities during a positioning session while in a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state; and report, via the at least one transceiver, measurement data for the one or more PRS resources to a location server while in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state during one or more small data transmission (SDT) occasions based on a response time requirement for the positioning session, a configuration of the UE to remain in the RRC inactive or the RRC idle state, a number of SDT occasions needed to report the measurement data, or any combination thereof.

[0007] In an aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes means for measuring one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources from one or more network entities during a positioning session while in a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state; and means for reporting measurement data for the one or more PRS resources to a location server while in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state during one or more small data transmission (SDT) occasions based on a response time requirement for the positioning session, a configuration of the UE to remain in the RRC inactive or the RRC idle state, a number of SDT occasions needed to report the measurement data, or any combination thereof.

[0008] In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: measure one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources from one or more network entities during a positioning session while in a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state; and report measurement data for the one or more PRS resources to a location server while in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state during one or more small data transmission (SDT) occasions based on a response time requirement for the positioning session, a configuration of the UE to remain in the RRC inactive or the RRC idle state, a number of SDT occasions needed to report the measurement data, or any combination thereof.

[0009] Other obj ects 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

[0010] 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.

[0011] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communications system, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0012] FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C illustrate example wireless network structures, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0013] FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C are simplified block diagrams of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a user equipment (UE), a base station, and a network entity, respectively, and configured to support communications as taught herein.

[0014] FIG. 4 illustrates an example Long-Term Evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) call flow between a UE and a location server for performing positioning operations.

[0015] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0016] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating various uplink channels within an example uplink slot, according to aspects of the disclosure. [0017] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example downlink positioning reference signal (DL- PRS) configuration for two transmission-reception points (TRPs) operating in the same positioning frequency layer, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0018] FIG. 8 illustrates the different radio resource control (RRC) states available in New Radio (NR), according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0019] FIG. 9 illustrates an example call flow for transferring an LPP protocol data unit (PDU) between a UE and a location server in UE-triggered cases when the UE is in the RRC INACTIVE state or RRC IDLE state and supports SDT, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0020] FIG. 10 illustrates an example small data transmission (SDT) procedure call in which positioning measurement data is transmitted to a location server by a UE in a single SDT while the UE is in the RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 11 illustrates an example SDT procedure call in which an initial SDT transmission is followed by one or more subsequent SDT transmissions, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0022] FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an example system that may be used to implement certain aspects of the disclosure.

[0023] FIG. 13 shows one example of allocating the positioning measurements for multiple TRPs for transmission in multiple SDTs, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0024] FIG. 14 is an example of a quality of service (QoS) sequence information that may be received by the UE from the location server in LPP calls during a positioning session, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0025] FIG. 15 is an example of a positioning report format, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0026] FIG. 16 illustrates an example method of wireless communication that may be performed by a UE, according to aspects of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] 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.

[0028] 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.

[0029] 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.

[0030] 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.

[0031] As used herein, the terms “user equipment” (UE) and “base station” are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT), unless otherwise noted. In general, a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, consumer asset locating device, wearable (e.g., smartwatch, glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), vehicle (e.g., automobile, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), Internet of Things (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 an “access terminal” or “AT,” a “client device,” a “wireless device,” a “subscriber device,” a “subscriber terminal,” a “subscriber station,” a “user terminal” or “UT,” a “mobile device,” a “mobile terminal,” a “mobile station,” or variations thereof. Generally, UEs can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network the UEs can be connected with external networks such as the Internet and with other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms of connecting to the core network and/or the Internet are also possible for the UEs, such as over wired access networks, wireless local area network (WLAN) networks (e.g., based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specification, etc.) and so on.

[0032] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs in communication with UEs depending on the network in which it is deployed, and may be alternatively referred to as an access point (AP), a network node, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), a New Radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), etc. A base station may be used primarily to support wireless access by UEs, including supporting data, voice, and/or signaling connections for the supported UEs. In some systems a base station may provide purely edge node signaling functions while in other systems it may provide additional control and/or network management functions. A communication link through which UEs can send signals to a base station is called an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). A communication link through which the base station can send signals to UEs is called a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein the term traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an uplink / reverse or downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0033] 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.

[0034] In some implementations that support positioning of UEs, a base station may not support wireless access by UEs (e.g., may not support data, voice, and/or signaling connections for UEs), but may instead transmit reference signals to UEs to be measured by the UEs, and/or may receive and measure signals transmitted by the UEs. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., when transmitting signals to UEs) and/or as a location measurement unit (e.g., when receiving and measuring signals from UEs).

[0035] 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.

[0036] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communications system 100, according to aspects of the disclosure. The wireless communications system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 (labeled “BS”) and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macro cell base stations (high power cellular base stations) and/or small cell base stations (low power cellular base stations). In an aspect, the macro cell base stations may include eNBs and/or ng-eNBs where the wireless communications system 100 corresponds to an LTE network, or gNBs where the wireless communications system 100 corresponds to a NR network, or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0037] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC)) through backhaul links 122, and through the core network 170 to one or more location servers 172 (e.g., a location management function (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)). The location server(s) 172 may be part of core network 170 or may be external to core network 170. 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.

[0038] 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.

[0039] 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 of the logical communication entity and the base station that supports it, depending on the context. In addition, because a TRP is typically the physical transmission point of a cell, the terms “cell” and “TRP” may be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term “cell” may also refer to a geographic coverage area of a base station (e.g., a sector), insofar as a carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within some portion of geographic coverage areas 110.

[0040] While neighboring macro cell base station 102 geographic coverage areas 110 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover region), some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may be substantially overlapped by a larger geographic coverage area 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' (labeled “SC” for “small cell”) may have a geographic coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the geographic coverage area 110 of one or more macro cell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell and macro cell base stations may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include home eNBs (HeNBs), which may provide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0041] The communication links 120 between the base stations 102 and the UEs 104 may include uplink (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from a UE 104 to a base station 102 and/or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from a base station 102 to a UE 104. The communication links 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. The communication links 120 may be through one or more carrier frequencies. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to downlink and uplink (e.g., more or less carriers may be allocated for downlink than for uplink).

[0042] 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.

[0043] 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.

[0044] The wireless communications system 100 may further include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180 that may operate in mmW frequencies and/or near mmW frequencies in communication with a UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as a millimeter wave. Near mmW may extend down to a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, also referred to as centimeter wave. Communications using the mmW/near mmW radio frequency band have high path loss and a relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmit and/or receive) over a mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. Further, it will be appreciated that in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or near mmW and beamforming. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the foregoing illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed to limit the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0045] 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 abeam 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.

[0046] 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.

[0047] 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.

[0048] Transmit and receive beams may be spatially related. A spatial relation means that parameters for a second beam (e.g., a transmit or receive beam) for a second reference signal can be derived from information about a first beam (e.g., a receive beam or a transmit beam) for a first reference signal. For example, a UE may use a particular receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE can then form a transmit beam for sending an uplink reference signal (e.g., sounding reference signal (SRS)) to that base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0049] 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.

[0050] 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.

[0051] The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5GNR 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.

[0052] 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.

[0053] In a multi-carrier system, such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as the “primary carrier” or “anchor carrier” or “primary serving cell” or “PCell,” and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as “secondary carriers” or “secondary serving cells” or “SCells.” In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is the carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by a UE 104/182 and the cell in which the UE 104/182 either performs the initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and UE-specific control channels, and may be a carrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). A secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that may be configured once the RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier and that may be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier may be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may contain only necessary signaling information and signals, for example, those that are UE-specific may not be present in the secondary carrier, since both primary uplink and downlink carriers are typically UE-specific. This means that different UEs 104/182 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplink primary carriers. The network is able to change the primary carrier of any UE 104/182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers. Because a “serving cell” (whether a PCell or an SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency / component carrier over which some base station is communicating, the term “cell,” “serving cell,” “component carrier,” “carrier frequency,” and the like can be used interchangeably.

[0054] 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.

[0055] The wireless communications system 100 may further include a UE 164 that may communicate with a macro cell base station 102 over a communication link 120 and/or the mmW base station 180 over a mmW communication link 184. For example, the macro cell base station 102 may support a PCell and one or more SCells for the UE 164 and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCells for the UE 164.

[0056] In some cases, the UE 164 and the UE 182 may be capable of sidelink communication. Sidelink-capable UEs (SL-UEs) may communicate with base stations 102 over communication links 120 using the Uu interface (i.e., the air interface between a UE and abase station). SL-UEs (e.g., UE 164, UE 182) may also communicate directly with each other over a wireless sidelink 160 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, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-every thing (V2X) communication (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communication, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communication, etc.), emergency rescue applications, etc. One or more of a group of SL- UEs utilizing sidelink communications may be within the geographic coverage area 110 of a base station 102. Other SL-UEs 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 SL-UEs communicating via sidelink communications may utilize a one-to-many (1 :M) system in which each SL-UE transmits to every other SL-UE 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 SL-UEs without the involvement of a base station 102.

[0057] In an aspect, the sidelink 160 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. In an aspect, 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.

[0058] Note that although FIG. 1 only illustrates two of the UEs as SL-UEs (i.e., UEs 164 and 182), any of the illustrated UEs may be SL-UEs. Further, although only UE 182 was described as being capable of beamforming, any of the illustrated UEs, including UE 164, may be capable of beamforming. Where SL-UEs are capable of beamforming, they may beamform toward each other (i.e., toward other SL-UEs), toward other UEs (e.g., UEs 104), toward base stations (e.g., base stations 102, 180, small cell 102’, access point 150), etc. Thus, in some cases, UEs 164 and 182 may utilize beamforming over sidelink 160.

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

[0062] The wireless communications system 100 may further include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, that connects indirectly to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as “sidelinks”). In the example of FIG. 1, UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of the UEs 104 connected to one of the base stations 102 (e.g., through which UE 190 may indirectly obtain cellular connectivity) and a D2D P2P link 194 with WLAN STA 152 connected to the WLAN AP 150 (through which UE 190 may indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity). In an example, the D2D P2P links 192 and 194 may be supported with any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®, and so on.

[0063] 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, Internet protocol (IP) routing, etc.) which operate cooperatively to form the core network. User plane interface (NG-U) 213 and control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5GC 210 and specifically to the user plane functions 212 and control plane functions 214, respectively. In an additional configuration, an ng-eNB 224 may also be connected to the 5GC 210 via NG-C 215 to the control plane functions 214 and NG-U 213 to user plane functions 212. Further, ng- eNB 224 may directly communicate with gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both ng-eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. Either (or both) gNB 222 or ng-eNB 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0064] 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).

[0065] FIG. 2B illustrates another example wireless network structure 240. 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 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.

[0066] 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. [0067] The functions of the SMF 266 include session management, UE 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 N11 interface.

[0068] 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).

[0069] 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.

[0070] 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.

[0071] 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 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.

[0072] Deployment of communication systems, such as 5G NR systems, may be arranged in multiple manners with various components or constituent parts. In a 5G NR system, or network, a network node, a network entity, a mobility element of a network, a RAN node, a core network node, a network element, or a network equipment, such as a base station, or one or more units (or one or more components) performing base station functionality, may be implemented in an aggregated or disaggregated architecture. For example, a base station (such as a Node B (NB), evolved NB (eNB), NR base station, 5G NB, access point (AP), a transmit receive point (TRP), or a cell, etc.) may be implemented as an aggregated base station (also known as a standalone base station or a monolithic base station) or a disaggregated base station.

[0073] An aggregated base station may be configured to utilize a radio protocol stack that is physically or logically integrated within a single RAN node. A disaggregated base station may be configured to utilize a protocol stack that is physically or logically distributed among two or more units (such as one or more central or centralized units (CUs), one or more distributed units (DUs), or one or more radio units (RUs)). In some aspects, a CU may be implemented within a RAN node, and one or more DUs may be co-located with the CU, or alternatively, may be geographically or virtually distributed throughout one or multiple other RAN nodes. The DUs may be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs. Each of the CU, DU and RU also can be implemented as virtual units, i.e., a virtual central unit (VCU), a virtual distributed unit (VDU), or a virtual radio unit (VRU). [0074] Base station-type operation or network design may consider aggregation characteristics of base station functionality. For example, disaggregated base stations may be utilized in an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open radio access network (O-RAN (such as the network configuration sponsored by the O-RAN Alliance)), or a virtualized radio access network (vRAN, also known as a cloud radio access network (C-RAN)). Disaggregation may include distributing functionality across two or more units at various physical locations, as well as distributing functionality for at least one unit virtually, which can enable flexibility in network design. The various units of the disaggregated base station, or disaggregated RAN architecture, can be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit.

[0075] FIG. 2C is a diagram 250 illustrating an example disaggregated base station architecture, according to aspects of the disclosure. The disaggregated base station 250 architecture may include one or more central units (CUs) 280 (e.g., gNB-CU 226) that can communicate directly with a core network 267 (e.g., 5GC 210, 5GC 260) via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 267 through one or more disaggregated base station units (such as a Near-Real Time (Near-RT) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) 259 via an E2 link, or a Non-Real Time (Non-RT) RIC 257 associated with a Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) Framework 255, or both). A CU 280 may communicate with one or more distributed units (DUs) 285 (e.g., gNB-DUs 228) via respective midhaul links, such as an Fl interface. The DUs 285 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 287 (e.g., gNB-RUs 229) via respective fronthaul links. The RUs 287 may communicate with respective UEs 204 via one or more RF access links. In some implementations, the UE 204 may be simultaneously served by multiple RUs 287. [0076] Each of the units, i.e., the CUs 280, the DUs 285, the RUs 287, as well as the Near-RT RICs 259, the Non-RT RICs 257 and the SMO Framework 255, may include one or more interfaces or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or transmit signals, data, or information (collectively, signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of the units, or an associated processor or controller providing instructions to the communication interfaces of the units, can be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via the transmission medium. For example, the units can include a wired interface configured to receive or transmit signals over a wired transmission medium to one or more of the other units. Additionally, the units can include a wireless interface, which may include a receiver, a transmitter or transceiver (such as a RF transceiver), configured to receive or transmit signals, or both, over a wireless transmission medium to one or more of the other units.

[0077] In some aspects, the CU 280 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions can include RRC, PDCP, SDAP, or the like. Each control function can be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by the CU 280. The CU 280 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (i.e., Central Unit - User Plane (CU-UP)), control plane functionality (i.e., Central Unit - Control Plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some implementations, the CU 280 can be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. The CU-UP unit can communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP unit via an interface, such as the El interface when implemented in an O-RAN configuration. The CU 280 can be implemented to communicate with the DU 285, as necessary, for network control and signaling.

[0078] The DU 285 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions to control the operation of one or more RUs 287. In some aspects, the DU 285 may host one or more of a RLC layer, a MAC layer, and one or more high physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, or the like) depending, at least in part, on a functional split, such as those defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). In some aspects, the DU 285 may further host one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (or module) can be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by the DU 285, or with the control functions hosted by the CU 280. [0079] Lower-layer functionality can be implemented by one or more RUs 287. In some deployments, an RU 287, controlled by a DU 285, may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions, or low-PHY layer functions (such as performing fast Fourier transform (FFT), inverse FFT (iFFT), digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, or the like), or both, based at least in part on the functional split, such as a lower layer functional split. In such an architecture, the RU(s) 287 can be implemented to handle over the air (OTA) communication with one or more UEs 204. In some implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control and user plane communication with the RU(s) 287 can be controlled by the corresponding DU 285. In some scenarios, this configuration can enable the DU(s) 285 and the CU 280 to be implemented in a cloud-based RAN architecture, such as a vRAN architecture.

[0080] The SMO Framework 255 may be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of non-virtualized and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 255 may be configured to support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements which may be managed via an operations and maintenance interface (such as an 01 interface). For virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 255 may be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) 269) to perform network element life cycle management (such as to instantiate virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as an 02 interface). Such virtualized network elements can include, but are not limited to, CUs 280, DUs 285, RUs 287 and Near-RT RICs 259. In some implementations, the SMO Framework 255 can communicate with a hardware aspect of a 4G RAN, such as an open eNB (O-eNB) 261, via an 01 interface. Additionally, in some implementations, the SMO Framework 255 can communicate directly with one or more RUs 287 via an 01 interface. The SMO Framework 255 also may include aNon-RT RIC 257 configured to support functionality of the SMO Framework 255.

[0081] The Non-RT RIC 257 may be configured to include a logical function that enables non- real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) workflows including model training and updates, or policy-based guidance of applications/features in the Near-RT RIC 259. The Non-RT RIC 257 may be coupled to or communicate with (such as via an Al interface) the Near-RT RIC 259. The Near-RT RIC 259 may be configured to include a logical function that enables near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions over an interface (such as via an E2 interface) connecting one or more CUs 280, one or more DUs 285, or both, as well as an O-eNB, with the Near-RT RIC 259.

[0082] In some implementations, to generate AI/ML models to be deployed in the Near-RT RIC 259, the Non-RT RIC 257 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from external servers. Such information may be utilized by the Near-RT RIC 259 and may be received at the SMO Framework 255 or the Non-RT RIC 257 from non-network data sources or from network functions. In some examples, the Non-RT RIC 257 or the Near-RT RIC 259 may be configured to tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the Non-RT RIC 257 may monitor long-term trends and patterns for performance and employ AI/ML models to perform corrective actions through the SMO Framework 255 (such as reconfiguration via 01) or via creation of RAN management policies (such as Al policies).

[0083] 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.

[0084] 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.

[0085] 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.

[0086] 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 GPS signals, global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, Beidou signals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. Where the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are 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.

[0087] 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.

[0088] 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.

[0089] 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.

[0090] 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.

[0091] 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.

[0092] 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.

[0093] 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.

[0094] 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 PDCP layer, a RLC layer, and a 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.

[0095] 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, 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.

[0096] 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.

[0097] In the uplink, the one or more processors 332 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. The one or more processors 332 are also responsible for error detection.

[0098] 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.

[0099] 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.

[0100] 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.

[0101] 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.

[0102] 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.

[0103] 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.

[0104] 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 a UE,” “by a base station,” “by a network entity,” etc. However, as will be appreciated, such operations, acts, and/or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of the UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc., such as the processors 332, 384, 394, the transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, the memories 340, 386, and 396, the positioning component 342, 388, and 398, etc.

[0105] 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).

[0106] 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., 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.

[0107] 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).

[0108] 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.

[0109] 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.

[0110] 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 trip 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.

[0111] 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).

[0112] FIG. 4 illustrates an example Long-Term Evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) procedure 400 between a UE 404 and a location server (illustrated as a LMF 470) for performing positioning operations. As illustrated in FIG. 4, positioning of the UE 404 is supported via an exchange of LPP messages between the UE 404 and the LMF 470. The LPP messages may be exchanged between UE 404 and the LMF 470 via the UE’s 404 serving base station (illustrated as a serving gNB 402) and a core network (not shown). The LPP procedure 400 may be used to position the UE 404 in order to support various location-related services, such as navigation for UE 404 (or for the user of UE 404), or for routing, or for provision of an accurate location to a public safety answering point (PSAP) in association with an emergency call from UE 404 to a PSAP, or for some other reason. The LPP procedure 400 may also be referred to as a positioning session, and there may be multiple positioning sessions for different types of positioning methods (e.g., downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA), round-trip-time (RTT), enhanced cell identity (E-CID), etc.).

[0113] Initially, the UE 404 may receive a request for its positioning capabilities from the LMF 470 at stage 410 (e.g., an LPP Request Capabilities message). At stage 420, the UE 404 provides its positioning capabilities to the LMF 470 relative to the LPP protocol by sending an LPP Provide Capabilities message to LMF 470 indicating the position methods and features of these position methods that are supported by the UE 404 using LPP. The capabilities indicated in the LPP Provide Capabilities message may, in some aspects, indicate the type of positioning the UE 404 supports (e.g., DL-TDOA, RTT, E- CID, etc.) and may indicate the capabilities of the UE 404 to support those types of positioning.

[0114] Upon reception of the LPP Provide Capabilities message, at stage 420, the LMF 470 determines to use a particular type of positioning method (e.g., DL-TDOA, RTT, E-CID, etc.) based on the indicated type(s) of positioning the UE 404 supports and determines a set of one or more TRPs from which the UE 404 is to measure downlink positioning reference signals or toward which the UE 404 is to transmit uplink positioning reference signals. At stage 430, the LMF 470 sends an LPP Provide Assistance Data message to the UE 404 identifying the set of TRPs.

[0115] In some implementations, the LPP Provide Assistance Data message at stage 430 may be sent by the LMF 470 to the UE 404 in response to an LPP Request Assistance Data message sent by the UE 404 to the LMF 470 (not shown in FIG. 4). An LPP Request Assistance Data message may include an identifier of the UE’s 404 serving TRP and a request for the positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration of neighboring TRPs.

[0116] At stage 440, the LMF 470 sends a request for location information to the UE 404. The request may be an LPP Request Location Information message. This message usually includes information elements defining the location information type, desired accuracy of the location estimate, and response time (i.e., desired latency). Note that a low latency requirement allows for a longer response time while a high latency requirement requires a shorter response time. However, a long response time is referred to as high latency and a short response time is referred to as low latency.

[0117] Note that in some implementations, the LPP Provide Assistance Data message sent at stage 430 may be sent after the LPP Request Location Information message at 440 if, for example, the UE 404 sends a request for assistance data to LMF 470 (e.g., in an LPP Request Assistance Data message, not shown in FIG. 4) after receiving the request for location information at stage 440.

[0118] At stage 450, the UE 404 utilizes the assistance information received at stage 430 and any additional data (e.g., a desired location accuracy or a maximum response time) received at stage 440 to perform positioning operations (e.g., measurements of DL-PRS, transmission of UL-PRS, etc.) for the selected positioning method.

[0119] At stage 460, the UE 404 may send an LPP Provide Location Information message to the LMF 470 conveying the results of any measurements that were obtained at stage 450 (e.g., time of arrival (ToA), reference signal time difference (RSTD), reception-to-transmission (Rx-Tx), etc.) and before or when any maximum response time has expired (e.g., a maximum response time provided by the LMF 470 at stage 440). The LPP Provide Location Information message at stage 460 may also include the time (or times) at which the positioning measurements were obtained and the identity of the TRP(s) from which the positioning measurements were obtained. Note that the time between the request for location information at 440 and the response at 460 is the “response time” and indicates the latency of the positioning session.

[0120] The LMF 470 computes an estimated location of the UE 404 using the appropriate positioning techniques (e.g., DL-TDOA, RTT, E-CID, etc.) based, at least in part, on measurements received in the LPP Provide Location Information message at stage 460.

[0121] Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (e.g., base stations and UEs). FIG. 5 is a diagram 500 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.

[0122] 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 fast Fourier transform (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.

[0123] 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.

[0124] In the example of FIG. 5, 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. 5, 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. [0125] 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. 5, 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.

[0126] 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. 5 illustrates example locations of REs carrying a reference signal (labeled “R”).

[0127] 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.

[0128] 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. 5 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. [0129] 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. 5); 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 }.

[0130] 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.

[0131] 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.

[0132] 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.”

[0133] 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.

[0134] 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.

[0135] 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.”

[0136] FIG. 6 is a diagram 600 illustrating various uplink channels within an example uplink slot. In FIG. 6, 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. In the example of FIG. 6, a numerology of 15 kHz is used. Thus, in the time domain, the illustrated slot is one millisecond (ms) in length, divided into 14 symbols.

[0137] A random-access channel (RACH), also referred to as a PRACH, may be within one or more slots within a frame based on the PRACH configuration. The PRACH may include six consecutive RB pairs within a slot. The PRACH allows the UE to perform initial system access and achieve uplink synchronization. A physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) may be located on edges of the uplink system bandwidth. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, CSI reports, a channel quality indicator (CQI), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a rank indicator (RI), and HARQ ACK/NACK feedback. The physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report (PHR), and/or UCI.

[0138] FIG. 7 is a diagram 700 illustrating an example PRS configuration for two TRPs (labeled “TRP1” and “TRP2”) operating in the same positioning frequency layer (labeled “Positioning Frequency Layer 1”), according to aspects of the disclosure. For a positioning session, a UE may be provided with assistance data indicating the illustrated PRS configuration. In the example of FIG. 7, the first TRP (“TRP1”) is associated with (e.g., transmits) two PRS resource sets, labeled “PRS Resource Set 1” and “PRS Resource Set 2,” and the second TRP (“TRP2”) is associated with one PRS resource set, labeled “PRS Resource Set 3.” Each PRS resource set comprises at least two PRS resources. Specifically, the first PRS resource set (“PRS Resource Set 1”) includes PRS resources labeled “PRS Resource 1” and “PRS Resource 2,” the second PRS resource set (“PRS Resource Set 2”) includes PRS resources labeled “PRS Resource 3” and “PRS Resource 4,” and the third PRS resource set (“PRS Resource Set 3”) includes PRS resources labeled “PRS Resource 5” and “PRS Resource 6.” [0139] 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.

[0140] 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.

[0141] 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).

[0142] After a random access procedure, the UE is in an RRC CONNECTED state. The RRC protocol is used on the air interface between a UE and a base station. The major functions of the RRC protocol include connection establishment and release functions, broadcast of system information, radio bearer establishment, reconfiguration, and release, RRC connection mobility procedures, paging notification and release, and outer loop power control. In LTE, a UE may be in one of two RRC states (CONNECTED or IDLE), but in NR, a UE may be in one of three RRC states (CONNECTED, IDLE, or INACTIVE). The different RRC states have different radio resources associated with them that the UE can use when it is in a given state. Note that the different RRC states are often capitalized, as above; however, this is not necessary, and these states can also be written in lowercase.

[0143] FIG. 8 is a diagram 800 of the different RRC states (also referred to as RRC modes) available in NR, according to aspects of the disclosure. When a UE is powered up, it is initially in the RRC DISCONNECTED/IDLE state 810. After a random access procedure, it transitions to the RRC CONNECTED state 820. If there is no activity at the UE for a short time, it can suspend its session by moving to the RRC INACTIVE state 830. The UE can resume its session by performing a random access procedure to transition back to the RRC CONNECTED state 820. Thus, the UE needs to perform a random access procedure to transition to the RRC CONNECTED state 820, regardless of whether the UE is in the RRC IDLE state 810 or the RRC INACTIVE state 830.

[0144] The operations performed in the RRC IDLE state 810 include public land mobile network (PLMN) selection, broadcast of system information, cell re-selection mobility, paging for mobile terminated data (initiated and managed by the 5GC), discontinuous reception (DRX) for core network paging (configured by NAS). The operations performed in the RRC CONNECTED state 820 include 5GC (e.g., 5GC 260) and NG-RAN (e.g., NG- RAN 220) connection establishment (both control and user planes), UE context storage at the NG-RAN and the UE, NG-RAN knowledge of the cell to which the UE belongs, transfer of unicast data to/from the UE, and network controlled mobility. The operations performed in the RRC INACTIVE state 830 include the broadcast of system information, cell re-selection for mobility, paging (initiated by the NG-RAN), RAN-based notification area (RNA) management (by the NG-RAN), DRX for RAN paging (configured by the NG-RAN), 5GC and NG-RAN connection establishment for the UE (both control and user planes), storage of the UE context in the NG-RAN and the UE, and NG-RAN knowledge of the RNA to which the UE belongs.

[0145] A UE typically transfers data to a network entity (e.g., a base station, a location server, etc.) while in the RRC CONNECTED state. As noted above, the UE executes several procedures to transition from the RRC IDLE or the RRC INACTIVE state to the RRC CONNECTED state. Once the transitioning procedures are successfully completed, the UE transmits the data in one or more UL transmissions to the network entity while in an RRC CONNECTED state. While in the RRC CONNECTED state, the UE may perform additional procedures (e.g., radio link monitoring (RLM), measurement and measurement reporting, etc.). The UE stays in the RRC CONNECTED state until receiving an RRC release message from the network entity, at which time the UE transitions back to the RRC IDLE state or the RRC INACTIVE state.

[0146] Moving the UE to the RRC CONNECTED state and maintaining the UE in the RRC CONNECTED state can result in the UE consuming a substantial amount of power. Further, since the UE cannot transmit the UL data to the network entity until the UE’s transition to the RRC CONNECTED state is completed, there may be a substantial amount of latency that occurs prior to the time at which the UE is capable of transmitting the UL data to the network entity. When the UE only has limited data for transmission, the power consumption and latency associated with moving and maintaining the UE in the RRC CONNECTED state can be wasteful.

[0147] To address the inefficiencies associated with moving and maintaining the UE in the RRC CONNECTED state when the UE only has a small amount of data to transmit to the network entity, procedures have been introduced that allow the UE to transmit the small amount of data while remaining in a connectionless state, such as the RRC INACTIVE or the RRC IDLE state. Such procedures are referred to as small data transmission procedures and are used to transmit data in small data transmissions (SDTs). Generally stated, an SDT refers to a data transmission in the RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state. An SDT is a transmission by the UE of a short data burst in a state where the UE does not transition into and out of the RRC CONNECTED state when the UE only has small amounts of data for transmission to the network entity.

[0148] Certain aspects of the disclosure are implemented with a recognition that positioning measurements made by the UE while in the RRC INACTIVE and/or the RRC IDLE state may be transmitted by the UE to the network entity either by transitioning to the RRC CONNECTED state or transmitting the measurement as SDTs while remaining in the RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state. Accordingly, based on this recognition, certain aspects of the disclosure are implemented with a recognition that the UE has a choice of transitioning to the RRC CONNECTED state to transmit the positioning measurements, or transmit the positioning measurements as SDTs while remaining in the RRC INACTIVE or the RRC IDLE state. In accordance with certain aspects of the disclosure, the UE measures one or more PRS resources from one or more network entities (e.g., base stations, TRPs, other UEs, etc.) during a positioning session while in an RRC INACTIVE state or an RRC IDLE state. The UE may report the positioning measurement data to a network entity (e.g., a location server) during one or more SDT occasions while remaining in the RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state. The UE transmits the positioning measurement data during the one or more SDT occasions based on one or more decision factors.

[0149] One such factor that may be considered for the decision is the response time requirement imposed on the UE for conducting its positioning operations during the positioning session. For example, the UE may be directed to measure the PRS resources and report the corresponding positioning measurements to the network entity (e.g., location server) within a specified response time. The UE may decide to transmit the positioning measurements as SDTs if the positioning latency requirements for the positioning session are very tight (e.g., positioning sessions requiring a short response time by the UE) thereby eliminating the time that would otherwise be required for the UE to transition to the RRC CONNECTED state. For positioning sessions in which latency is not a significant factor, the UE may opt to transition to the RRC CONNECTED state to transmit the positioning data to the network entity.

[0150] Power policies may be imposed on the UE to reduce the amount of power consumed by the UE during general operations and/or task-specific operations (e.g., positioning operations). The UE may use the power policies (e.g., power consumption restraints) as a factor in determining whether to send the positioning measurements while operating in the RRC CONNECTED state or as SDTs while operating in the RRC INACTIVE or the RRC IDLE state. As an example, the UE may be configured with a discontinuous reception (DRX) policy in which the UE is indicated to remain in the RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state during specified times. When the UE is configured to transmit the positioning measurements during such specified times, the positioning measurements may be transmitted as SDTs while the UE remains in its DRX configured RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state.

[0151] Another decision factor relates to the amount of positioning measurement data that the UE needs to transmit to the network entity. For example, in positioning sessions where the UE measures relatively few PRS resources, the amount of positioning measurement data may be small (e.g., when the UE is only indicated to measure comparatively few PRS resources during the positioning session). Such a small amount of measurement data may be transmitted in a single SDT (if the amount of data is less than or equal to the amount of data that may be transmitted during a single SDT occasion) or divided between multiple SDTs (if the amount of data is greater than the amount of data that may be transmitted during a single SDT occasion).

[0152] Even when the amount of positioning measurement data can be divided between multiple SDTs, the efficiencies obtained by transmitting the positioning measurement data while in the RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state may be unwarranted when the number of SDT occasions needed to transmit the multiple SDTs exceeds an SDT occasion threshold. Accordingly, in certain aspects, an SDT occasion threshold may be used by the UE to determine whether the UE transmits the positioning measurement data as SDTs or transitions to the RRC CONNECTED state to transmit the positioning measurement data. The SDT occasion threshold may be based on efficiency considerations in certain instances. Additionally, or in the alternative, the threshold may be based on the maximum number of SDT occasions available to the UE as limited by the network entity receiving the positioning measurement data. Other factors may also be considered in determining the SDT occasion threshold. When the amount of positioning measurement data can be divided for transmission during a number of SDT occasions that is less than or equal to the SDT occasion threshold, the UE remains in the RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state and transmits the positioning measurement data in multiple SDTs. However, when the amount of positioning measurement data exceeds the amount of data that can be transmitted during the number of SDT occasions specified in the SDT occasion threshold, the UE may transition to the RRC CONNECTED state to transmit the positioning measurement data to the network entity.

[0153] In certain aspects, the UE may use only one of the foregoing factors to determine whether to transmit the positioning measurement data as SDTs while in the RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state. In other aspects, the UE may make such a determination based on any combination of the foregoing factors. Additionally, or in the alternative, the UE may use one or more of the foregoing factors in combination with additional factors in making the determination.

[0154] FIG. 9 illustrates an example call flow 900 for transferring an LPP protocol data unit (PDU) between a UE 902 and a location server 912 (labeled “LS”) in the UE-triggered cases when the UE 902 is in the RRC INACTIVE state or RRC IDLE state and supports SDT, according to aspects of the disclosure. In this example, UE 902 initiates the exchange by sending an initial transmission 904 to a base station 906 (e.g., gNB). The initial transmission 904 includes an RRC resume request and an LPP PDU. The base station 906 forwards LPP PDU to the Access and Mobility Management Function 908 (labeled “AMF”) at operation 910. The base station 906 may send the LPP PDU to the AMF 908 using an NG Application Protocol (NGAP) in an NGAP Uplink Non-Access Stratum (NAS) transport communication at operation 910. In an aspect, the NGAP protocol provides the control plane signaling between the base station 906 and the AMF 908. The AMF 908 also provides the network access and mobility function services (NAMF) used as a communication interface between the base station 906 and the LS 912. In this example, the LPP PDU is transferred by the AMF 908 to the LS 912 in a NAMF_Communication_NlMessageNotify communication at operation 914.

[0155] In this example, the LS 912 responds to the receipt of the LPP PDU by generating another LPP PDU that is sent to the AMF 908 in an NAMF_Communication_NlN2MessageTransfer communication at operation 916. The AMF 908 communicates the LPP PDU from the LS 912 to the base station 906 in an NGAP Downlink NAS Transport communication at operation 918. SDT communications are terminated by the base station 906 when the base station 906 sends an RRC release message to the UE 902 at operation 920.

[0156] FIG. 10 illustrates an example SDT procedure call flow 1000 in which positioning measurement data is transmitted to the LS 912 by a UE 902 in a single SDT while the UE 902 is in the RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state, according to aspects of the disclosure. Single SDT transmissions may also be referred to as single-shot SDTs. In this example, UE 902 initiates the exchange by sending an initial transmission 1004 to the base station 906 (e.g., gNB). The initial transmission 1004 includes an RRC resume request, a BSR, and positioning measurement data in an SDT (shown here as SDT(l)). SDT(l) may be formatted as an LCS message in accordance with the LPP protocol to send the positioning measurement data to the LS 912. The BSR is a MAC layer procedure used by the UE 902 to provide information about the amount of data available for transmission to the serving base station 906 in the UL buffers of the UE 902. That is, the BSR indicates how much uplink data the UE has to send. Some part of the BSR data can be sent in an SDT.

[0157] The base station 906 forwards SDT(l) to the AMF 908 at operation 1010. The base station 906 may send SDT(l) to the AMF 908 using the NGAP. The AMF 908 forwards SDT(l) to the LS 912 using NAMF transport services at operation 1014. [0158] SDT communications are terminated by the base station 906 when the base station 906 sends an RRC release message to the UE 902 at operation 1016. In accordance with certain aspects of the disclosure, the LS 912 may send an optional LCS message to the UE 902 as shown at operations 1018 and 1020. The optional LCS message may be transmitted by the base station 906 with the RRC release 916.

[0159] The SDT procedures also allow multiple SDT transmissions subsequent to the initial SDT transmission. Such multiple SDT transmissions may also be referred to as multi-shot SDTs and may be used when the UL grant for Msg3/MsgA or the preconfigured PUSCH resource are not large enough to accommodate all the UL payload available for transmission and/or when there may be new data arriving in the UL buffer. FIG. 11 illustrates an example SDT procedure call flow 1100 in which an initial SDT transmission is followed by one or more subsequent SDT transmissions, according to aspects of the disclosure. In this example, the UE 902 initiates the SDT procedure by sending an initial transmission 1104 to the base station 906. Like the initial transmission 904 shown in FIG. 9, the initial transmission 1104 includes an RRC resume request, a BSR, and positioning measurement data in a first SDT (shown here as SDT(l)). Additionally, the UE 902 may transmit assistance information to the base station 906 indicating the parameters that will be used for the transmission of subsequent SDTs.

[0160] Upon correct reception of the initial transmission 1104, the base station 906 may send an acknowledgment of receipt to the UE 902 to initiate transmission of subsequent SDTs (e.g., SDT(2...N), where N corresponds to the total number of SDTs transmitted by the UE 902). In certain aspects, the UE 902 autonomously transitions to the RRC CONNECTED state to transmit the position data when the UE 902 determines that the number of SDT transmissions N needed to transmit the positioning measurement data is greater than an SDT occasion threshold.

[0161] SDT(l) and all subsequent SDTs may be formatted as LCS messages in accordance with the LPP protocol and communicated to the LS 912 using the protocols and services described in connection with FIG. 9 and shown here at operations 1106 and 1112. The base station 906 may respond to receipt of each SDT with an ACK/NACK feedback message indicating whether the SDT was received correctly by the base station 906. Based on the ACK/NACK feedback message, the UE 902 either transmits the subsequent SDT or retransmits the prior SDT. [0162] In the example shown in FIG. 11, the SDTs are transmitted by the UE 902 to the base station 906 during one or more operations 1108. The SDT session comprising the initial transmission and the one or more subsequent SDTs ends when the UE 902 receives an RRC release message at operation 1110.

[0163] As noted, the BSR is a MAC layer procedure used by the UE 902 to provide information about the amount of data available for transmission to the serving base station 906 in the UL buffers of the UE 902. In accordance with certain aspects of the disclosure, the base station 906 may use the amount of data reported in the BSR (e.g., the total amount of positioning measurement data available for upload) to determine whether to allow the UE 902 to transmit the data using the SDT protocol. If the amount of data reported in the BSR exceeds a data size threshold, the base station 906 may direct the UE 902 to transition to the RRC CONNECTED state to transmit the data.

[0164] To avoid being transitioned to the RRC CONNECTED state by the base station 906, the UE 902 may report an amount of data in the BSR that is less than the data size threshold used by the base station. When the actual amount of positioning measurement data is greater than the data size threshold, the UE 902 may report an amount of data in the BSR that is less than the actual amount of positioning measurement data that is to be uploaded. In such instances, the UE 902 can under-report the actual amount of positioning measurement data that is to be transmitted to the base station 906. As such, the UE 902 may transmit all of the positioning measurement data in multiple SDT sessions while remaining in the RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state.

[0165] FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an example system 1200 that may be used to implement certain aspects of the disclosure. In this example, system 1200 includes location software 1202 that communicates with multiple protocol layers, shown here as the RRC layer 1204, the NR physical layer 1206 (labeled NR ML1), and the MAC layer 1208. In certain aspects, the location software 1202 communicates with the RRC layer 1204 for NAS messages exchange, including the receipt of positioning assistance data (AD) 1210 from the location server. Location software 1202 communicates with the NR physical layer 1206 for positioning measurement scheduling. The interface between the location software 1202 and the MAC layer 1208 is an extension to traditional location software. Here, that extension allows the location software 1202 to provide the positioning measurement data to the MAC layer 1208. In turn, the MAC layer 1208 receives the positioning measurement data from the location software 1202, generates the corresponding BSR, and transmits the BSR and the SDTs containing the positioning measurement data to the base station. In certain aspects, the location software may control the amount of data reported by the MAC layer in the BSR by controlling the flow of positioning measurement data that it communicates to the MAC layer 1208. For example, the location software 1202 may provide the positioning measurements to the MAC layer 1208 in block sizes that cause the reported amount of data in the BSR to stay below the transition threshold, thereby allowing the UE to remain in the RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state even though the actual amount of positioning measurement data exceeds the transition threshold. In an aspect, the UE may receive an indication of the transition threshold from the base station (e.g., at the MAC layer 1208) and report this transition threshold to the location software 1202. Additionally, or in the alternative, the location software 1202 can determine the transition threshold heuristically based on the base station’s response to one or more previous BSR reports (e.g., whether a past BSR report caused the base station to transition the UE to the RRC connected state or allowed the UE to remain in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state). For example, the transmission threshold could be based on the maximum BSR report that the UE sent while in the RRC inactive state or RRC idle state that did not trigger the base station to transition the UE out of the RRC inactive state or RRC idle state.

[0166] In certain aspects, the location software 1202 is responsible for storing the positioning measurements and applying the various operations used to maintain the UE in the RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state to transmit the positioning measurements as SDTs. Accordingly, the location software 1202 may include 1) positioning measurement storage, 2) information relating to the power policy implemented by the UE, 3) information relating to the transition threshold implemented by the base station, 4) the maximum SDT occasions allowed for transmitting the positioning data while in the RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state, 5) response time requirements for the positioning session, and 6) data reduction criteria used to reduce the amount of positioning measurements to be sent to the location server through the base station.

[0167] FIG. 13 shows one example 1300 of allocating the positioning measurements for transmission of measurements of multiple TRPs in multiple SDTs, according to aspects of the disclosure. In this example, location software executed at the UE has obtained positioning measurements of PRS resources from multiple TRPs (e.g., TRPs 1-9). The total amount of positioning measurement data is represented in X bytes of data 1302. It is assumed that X bytes is greater than the amount of data that can be transmitted during a single SDT occasion. Accordingly, the X bytes are divided into multiple byte instances for the SDTs. Here, the X bytes have been divided into three equal instances of Y bytes (although the X bytes may optionally be divided into multiple instances of different byte sizes). In this example, the first instance of Y bytes 1304 includes the positioning measurement data for TRPs 1-3, which is transmitted at SDT occasion 1 in SDT-1 1310. The second instance of Y bytes 1306 includes the positioning measurement data for TRPs 4-6, which is transmitted at SDT occasion 2 in SDT-2 1312. The third instance of Y bytes 1308 includes the positioning measurement data for TRPs 7-9, which is transmitted at SDT occasion 3 in SDT-3 1314. In this example, all the positioning measurement data measured by the location software is transmitted to the location server in three SDTs to the base station while the UE remains in the RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state.

[0168] In certain aspects, the UE may obtain the response time requirements for the positioning session by accessing the QoS requirements for positioning sent to the UE by the location server. FIG. 14 is an example of the QoS IE 1400 that may be received by the UE from the location server in LPP calls during a positioning session, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0169] As shown in the example of FIG. 14, the QoS IE 1400 includes aresponseTime field 1402 that indicates the response time requirement of the positioning session. When a response time is indicated by the responseTime field 1402, the UE may access the response time information indicated in a ResponseTime IE 1404 and use the information in the UE’s determination of whether the UE remains in the RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state to transmit the positioning measurements. To this end, the time field indicates the maximum response time as measured between receipt of the RequestLocationlnformation IE and transmission of aProvideLocationlnformation IE. If the unit field is absent, this is given as an integer number of seconds between 1 and 128. If the unit field is present, the maximum response time is given in units of 10-seconds, between 10 and 1280 seconds. If the periodicalReporting IE is included in the CommonlEsRequestLocationlnformation IE, this field should not be included by the location server and should be ignored by the target device (if included).

[0170] The responseTimeEarlyFix field indicates the maximum response time as measured between receipt of the RequestLocationlnformation IE and transmission of a ProvideLocationlnformation IE containing early location measurements or an early location estimate. If the unit field is absent, this is given as an integer number of seconds between 1 and 128. If the unit field is present, the maximum response time is given in units of 10-seconds, between 10 and 1280 seconds. When this IE is included, a target should send a ProvideLocationlnformation IE (or more than one ProvideLocationlnformation IE if location information will not fit into a single message) containing early location information according to the responseTimeEarlyFix IE and a subsequent ProvideLocationlnformation IE (or more than one ProvideLocationlnformation IE if location information will not fit into a single message) containing final location information according to the time IE. A target shall omit sending a ProvideLocationlnformation if the early location information is not available at the expiration of the time value in the responseTimeEarlyFix IE. A server should set the responseTimeEarlyFix IE to a value less than that for the time IE. A target should ignore the responseTimeEarlyFix IE if its value is not less than that for the time IE. The unit field indicates the unit of the time and responseTimeEarlyFix fields. Enumerated value 'ten- seconds' corresponds to a resolution of 10 seconds. If this field is absent, the unit/resolution is 1 second. Based on the foregoing information, the response time indicated in the QoS requirements may span arrange between 1 to 128 seconds.

[0171] When the UE uses QoS information in determining the response time requirement determination, any of the foregoing information may be used singly or in combination. In certain aspects, the response time requirements may be compared against one or more response time threshold values to determine whether the UE transmits the positioning measurements as SDTs or transitions to the RRC CONNECTED state to transmit the positioning measurements.

[0172] In certain aspects, the UE obtains a first amount of measurement data by measuring one or more PRS resources of one or more network entities during the positioning session. The first amount of measurement data obtained by the UE may depend on the assistance data received from the location server and UE measurement results. For example, the first amount of measurement data may depend on how many PRS resources the UE is configured to measure during the positioning session and/or the UE’s ability to actually measure the PRS resources. When the UE is configured to measure a relatively small number of PRS resources or cannot obtain reliable measurements of all of the PRS resources, the first amount of measurement data may be relatively small and may be sent by the UE to the location server as SDTs. However, when the UE is configured to obtain measurements from a larger number of PRS resources and successfully obtains such measurements, the first amount of measurement data may be larger than can be optimally sent as SDTs.

[0173] Regardless of the amount of data in the first amount of measurement data, the UE may execute operations to reduce the first amount of measurement data to a second amount of measurement data. In such instances, the second amount of measurement data is reported to the location server in one or more SDTs while in the RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state. The data reduction operations achieve various goals. For example, while the first amount of measurement data may exceed the amount of data that can be transmitted in the threshold number of SDT occasions, the UE may reduce the first amount of measurement data to an amount that can be transmitted within the threshold number of SDT occasions. As another example, when the first amount of measurement data exceeds the transition threshold, the UE may reduce the first amount of measurement data to an amount that is below the transition threshold to keep the UE in the RRC INACTIVE state or the RRC IDLE state for transmission of the second amount of measurement data as SDTs. As a still further example, when the first amount of measurement data exceeds the amount of measurement data that may be optimally transmitted as SDTs, the UE may reduce the first amount of measurement data to the second amount of measurement data to optimize the transmission of the SDTs. Still further, the UE may reduce the first amount of measurement data to the second amount of measurement data during the regular course of transmitting measurements operation without a specific goal as to a target value for the second amount of measurement data.

[0174] The first amount of measurement data may be reduced to the second amount of measurement data by the UE in accordance with a single criterion or a combination of multiple criteria. In certain aspects, the UE may remove measurement data for one or more TRPs based on the prioritization of the one or more TRPs as indicated in positioning assistance data received by the UE for the positioning session. Additionally, or in the alternative, the UE may remove measurement data from the first amount of measurement data corresponding to PRS resources, TRPs, or PFLs that are received with signal characteristics below one or more signal characteristic thresholds.

[0175] Additionally, or in the alternative, the UE may remove measurement data corresponding to one or more optional IES of a measurement report format used to report the measurement data to the location server. One such positioning report IE 1500 is shown in FIG. 15, where the optional IES are indicated in bold text. As shown in the positioning report IE 1500, the optional IEs include 1) one or more physical cell identifiers respectively associated with one or more TRPs associated with one or more reported measurements of the measurement data 1502, 2) one or more global unique identifiers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data 1504, 3) one or more absolute radiofrequency channel numbers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data 1506, 4) one or more downlink PRS resource identifiers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data 1508, 5) one or more downlink PRS resource set identifiers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data 1510, 6) one or more additional detected path timing values respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data 1512, or 7) any combinations thereof .

[0176] FIG. 16 illustrates an example method 1600 of wireless communication that may be performed by a UE, according to aspects of the disclosure. At operation 1602, the UE measures one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources from one or more network entities during a positioning session while in a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state. In an aspect, operation 1602 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.

[0177] At operation 1604, the UE reports measurement data for the one or more PRS resources to a location server while in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state during one or more small data transmission (SDT) occasions based on a response time requirement for the positioning session, a configuration of the UE to remain in the RRC inactive or the RRC idle state, a number of SDT occasions needed to report the measurement data, or any combination thereof. In an aspect, operation 1604 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. [0178] As will be appreciated, technical advantages of the method 1600 include increasing the ability of the UE to meet the response time requirements imposed in a positioning session and/or the ability of the UE to reduce power consumption associated with reporting the positioning measurement results during the positioning session. Technical advantages may also be realized since the amount of data transmitted by the UE to the base station is reduced.

[0179] 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 electrical insulator and an electrical 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.

[0180] Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0181] Clause 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: measuring one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources from one or more network entities during a positioning session while in a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state; and reporting measurement data for the one or more PRS resources to a location server while in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state during one or more small data transmission (SDT) occasions based on a response time requirement for the positioning session, a configuration of the UE to remain in the RRC inactive or the RRC idle state, a number of SDT occasions needed to report the measurement data, or any combination thereof. [0182] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein: the measurement data is reported by the UE in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state during the one or more SDT occasions based on a response time indicated in a quality of service (QoS) requirement being less than or equal to a response time threshold.

[0183] Clause 3. The method of any of clauses 1 to 2, wherein: the measurement data is reported by the UE in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state during the one or more SDT occasions based on the number of SDT occasions needed to report the measurement data being less than or equal to an SDT occasion threshold.

[0184] Clause 4. The method of any of clauses 1 to 3, further comprising: reporting the measurement data during multiple SDT occasions based on an amount of the measurement data being greater than an amount of data that may be transmitted during a single SDT occasion.

[0185] Clause 5. The method of any of clauses 1 to 4, further comprising: reporting the measurement data to the location server in an RRC connected state based on the response time requirement for reporting the measurement data being greater than response time threshold, an amount of data of the measurement data exceeding a maximum threshold for transmitting data during the one or more SDT occasions, or any combination thereof.

[0186] Clause 6. The method of any of clauses 1 to 5, wherein a first amount of measurement data is obtained by measuring the one or more PRS resources of the one or more network entities, the method further comprising: reducing the first amount of measurement data to a second amount of measurement data, and reporting the second amount of measurement data to the location server while in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state.

[0187] Clause 7. The method of clause 6, wherein reducing the first amount of measurement data comprises: removing measurement data corresponding to one or more optional information elements of a measurement report format used to report the measurement data to the location server.

[0188] Clause 8. The method of clause 7, wherein the one or more optional information elements comprise: one or more physical cell identifiers respectively associated with one or more transmission reception points (TRPs) associated with one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more global unique identifiers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more absolute radio-frequency channel numbers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more downlink PRS resource identifiers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more downlink PRS resource set identifiers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more additional detected path timing values respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; or any combinations thereof.

[0189] Clause 9. The method of any of clauses 6 to 8, wherein reducing the first amount of measurement data comprises: removing measurement data for one or more transmission reception points (TRPs) based on prioritization of the one or more TRPs as indicated in positioning assistance data received by the UE for the positioning session.

[0190] Clause 10. The method of any of clauses 6 to 9, wherein reducing the first amount of measurement data comprises: removing measurement data from the first amount of measurement data corresponding to PRS resources, transmission reception points (TRPs), positioning frequency layers (PFLs), or any combination thereof that are received with signal characteristics below one or more signal characteristic thresholds.

[0191] Clause 11. The method of any of clauses 1 to 10, further comprising: transmitting a buffer status report (BSR) indicating a reported amount of data for uplink transmission, wherein the reported amount is less than an actual amount of measurement data to be reported by the UE.

[0192] Clause 12. The method of clause 11 , wherein: the reported amount is less than a transition threshold to allow the UE to remain in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state to report the measurement data during the one or more SDT occasions, and the transition threshold corresponds to an amount of data above which the UE is transitioned to an RRC connected state to transmit uplink data.

[0193] Clause 13. The method of clause 12, further comprising: sending, by location software running on the UE, a limited amount of measurement data to a medium access control (MAC) layer of the UE, wherein the limited amount of measurement data sent by the location software to the MAC layer for transmission during the one or more SDT occasions results in the reported amount being less than the transition threshold.

[0194] Clause 14. The method of claim 12, further comprising: receiving an indication of the transition threshold from a base station. [0195] Clause 15. The method of any of clauses 12 to 13, further comprising: determining the transition threshold based on a maximum amount of data reported in one or more past BSRs that did not trigger the UE to transition out of the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state.

[0196] Clause 16. 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: measure one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources from one or more network entities during a positioning session while in a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state; and report, via the at least one transceiver, measurement data for the one or more PRS resources to a location server while in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state during one or more small data transmission (SDT) occasions based on a response time requirement for the positioning session, a configuration of the UE to remain in the RRC inactive or the RRC idle state, a number of SDT occasions needed to report the measurement data, or any combination thereof.

[0197] Clause 17. The UE of clause 16, wherein: the measurement data is reported by the UE in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state during the one or more SDT occasions based on a response time indicated in a quality of service (QoS) requirement being less than or equal to a response time threshold.

[0198] Clause 18. The UE of any of clauses 16 to 17, wherein: the measurement data is reported by the UE in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state during the one or more SDT occasions based on the number of SDT occasions needed to report the measurement data being less than or equal to an SDT occasion threshold.

[0199] Clause 19. The UE of any of clauses 16 to 18, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: report, via the at least one transceiver, the measurement data during multiple SDT occasions based on an amount of the measurement data being greater than an amount of data that may be transmitted during a single SDT occasion.

[0200] Clause 20. The UE of any of clauses 16 to 19, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: report, via the at least one transceiver, the measurement data to the location server in an RRC connected state based on the response time requirement for reporting the measurement data being greater than response time threshold, an amount of data of the measurement data exceeding a maximum threshold for transmitting data during the one or more SDT occasions, or any combination thereof. [0201] Clause 21. The UE of any of clauses 16 to 20, wherein a first amount of measurement data is obtained by measuring the one or more PRS resources of the one or more network entities, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: reduce the first amount of measurement data to a second amount of measurement data, and report, via the at least one transceiver, the second amount of measurement data to the location server while in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state.

[0202] Clause 22. The UE of clause 21, wherein the at least one processor configured to reduce the first amount of measurement data comprises the at least one processor configured to: remove measurement data corresponding to one or more optional information elements of a measurement report format used to report the measurement data to the location server. [0203] Clause 23. The UE of clause 22, wherein the one or more optional information elements comprise: one or more physical cell identifiers respectively associated with one or more transmission reception points (TRPs) associated with one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more global unique identifiers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more absolute radio-frequency channel numbers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more downlink PRS resource identifiers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more downlink PRS resource set identifiers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more additional detected path timing values respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; or any combinations thereof.

[0204] Clause 24. The UE of any of clauses 21 to 23, wherein the at least one processor configured to reduce the first amount of measurement data comprises the at least one processor configured to: remove measurement data for one or more transmission reception points (TRPs) based on prioritization of the one or more TRPs as indicated in positioning assistance data received by the UE for the positioning session.

[0205] Clause 25. The UE of any of clauses 21 to 24, wherein the at least one processor configured to reduce the first amount of measurement data comprises the at least one processor configured to: remove measurement data from the first amount of measurement data corresponding to PRS resources, transmission reception points (TRPs), positioning frequency layers (PFLs), or any combination thereof that are received with signal characteristics below one or more signal characteristic thresholds.

[0206] Clause 26. The UE of any of clauses 16 to 25, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: transmit, via the at least one transceiver, a buffer status report (BSR) indicating a reported amount of data for uplink transmission, wherein the reported amount is less than an actual amount of measurement data to be reported by the UE.

[0207] Clause 27. The UE of clause 26, wherein: the reported amount is less than a transition threshold to allow the UE to remain in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state to report the measurement data during the one or more SDT occasions, and the transition threshold corresponds to an amount of data above which the UE is transitioned to an RRC connected state to transmit uplink data.

[0208] Clause 28. The UE of clause 27, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: send, via the at least one transceiver, by location software running on the UE, a limited amount of measurement data to a medium access control (MAC) layer of the UE, wherein the limited amount of measurement data sent by the location software to the MAC layer for transmission during the one or more SDT occasions results in the reported amount being less than the transition threshold.

[0209] Clause 29. The UE of any of clauses 27 to 28, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, an indication of the transition threshold from a base station.

[0210] Clause 30. The UE of any of clauses 27 to 28, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine the transition threshold based on a maximum amount of data reported in one or more past BSRs that did not trigger the UE to transition out of the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state.

[0211] Clause 31. A user equipment (UE), comprising: means for measuring one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources from one or more network entities during a positioning session while in a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state; and means for reporting measurement data for the one or more PRS resources to a location server while in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state during one or more small data transmission (SDT) occasions based on a response time requirement for the positioning session, a configuration of the UE to remain in the RRC inactive or the RRC idle state, a number of SDT occasions needed to report the measurement data, or any combination thereof.

[0212] Clause 32. The UE of clause 31, wherein: the measurement data is reported by the UE in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state during the one or more SDT occasions based on a response time indicated in a quality of service (QoS) requirement being less than or equal to a response time threshold.

[0213] Clause 33. The UE of any of clauses 31 to 32, wherein: the measurement data is reported by the UE in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state during the one or more SDT occasions based on the number of SDT occasions needed to report the measurement data being less than or equal to an SDT occasion threshold.

[0214] Clause 34. The UE of any of clauses 31 to 33, further comprising: means for reporting the measurement data during multiple SDT occasions based on an amount of the measurement data being greater than an amount of data that may be transmitted during a single SDT occasion.

[0215] Clause 35. The UE of any of clauses 31 to 34, further comprising: means for reporting the measurement data to the location server in an RRC connected state based on the response time requirement for reporting the measurement data being greater than response time threshold, an amount of data of the measurement data exceeding a maximum threshold for transmitting data during the one or more SDT occasions, or any combination thereof.

[0216] Clause 36. The UE of any of clauses 31 to 35, wherein a first amount of measurement data is obtained by measuring the one or more PRS resources of the one or more network entities, the UE further comprising: means for reducing the first amount of measurement data to a second amount of measurement data, and means for reporting the second amount of measurement data to the location server while in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state.

[0217] Clause 37. The UE of clause 36, wherein the means for reducing the first amount of measurement data comprises: means for removing measurement data corresponding to one or more optional information elements of a measurement report format used to report the measurement data to the location server.

[0218] Clause 38. The UE of clause 37, wherein the one or more optional information elements comprise: one or more physical cell identifiers respectively associated with one or more transmission reception points (TRPs) associated with one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more global unique identifiers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more absolute radio-frequency channel numbers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more downlink PRS resource identifiers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more downlink PRS resource set identifiers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more additional detected path timing values respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; or any combinations thereof.

[0219] Clause 39. The UE of any of clauses 36 to 38, wherein the means for reducing the first amount of measurement data comprises: means for removing measurement data for one or more transmission reception points (TRPs) based on prioritization of the one or more TRPs as indicated in positioning assistance data received by the UE for the positioning session.

[0220] Clause 40. The UE of any of clauses 36 to 39, wherein the means for reducing the first amount of measurement data comprises: means for removing measurement data from the first amount of measurement data corresponding to PRS resources, transmission reception points (TRPs), positioning frequency layers (PFLs), or any combination thereof that are received with signal characteristics below one or more signal characteristic thresholds.

[0221] Clause 41. The UE of any of clauses 31 to 40, further comprising: means for transmitting a buffer status report (BSR) indicating a reported amount of data for uplink transmission, wherein the reported amount is less than an actual amount of measurement data to be reported by the UE.

[0222] Clause 42. The UE of clause 41, wherein: the reported amount is less than a transition threshold to allow the UE to remain in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state to report the measurement data during the one or more SDT occasions, and the transition threshold corresponds to an amount of data above which the UE is transitioned to an RRC connected state to transmit uplink data.

[0223] Clause 43. The UE of clause 42, further comprising: means for sending, by location software running on the UE, a limited amount of measurement data to a medium access control (MAC) layer of the UE, wherein the limited amount of measurement data sent by the location software to the MAC layer for transmission during the one or more SDT occasions results in the reported amount being less than the transition threshold.

[0224] Clause 44. The UE of any of clauses 42 to 43, further comprising: means for receiving an indication of the transition threshold from a base station.

[0225] Clause 45. The UE of any of clauses 42 to 43, further comprising: means for determining the transition threshold based on a maximum amount of data reported in one or more past BSRs that did not trigger the UE to transition out of the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state.

[0226] Clause 46. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: measure one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources from one or more network entities during a positioning session while in a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state or an RRC idle state; and report measurement data for the one or more PRS resources to a location server while in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state during one or more small data transmission (SDT) occasions based on a response time requirement for the positioning session, a configuration of the UE to remain in the RRC inactive or the RRC idle state, a number of SDT occasions needed to report the measurement data, or any combination thereof.

[0227] Clause 47. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 46, wherein: the measurement data is reported by the UE in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state during the one or more SDT occasions based on a response time indicated in a quality of service (QoS) requirement being less than or equal to a response time threshold.

[0228] Clause 48. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 46 to 47, wherein: the measurement data is reported by the UE in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state during the one or more SDT occasions based on the number of SDT occasions needed to report the measurement data being less than or equal to an SDT occasion threshold.

[0229] Clause 49. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 46 to 48, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: report the measurement data during multiple SDT occasions based on an amount of the measurement data being greater than an amount of data that may be transmitted during a single SDT occasion. [0230] Clause 50. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 46 to 49, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: report the measurement data to the location server in an RRC connected state based on the response time requirement for reporting the measurement data being greater than response time threshold, an amount of data of the measurement data exceeding a maximum threshold for transmitting data during the one or more SDT occasions, or any combination thereof.

[0231] Clause 51. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 46 to 50, wherein a first amount of measurement data is obtained by measuring the one or more PRS resources of the one or more network entities, wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: reduce the first amount of measurement data to a second amount of measurement data, and report the second amount of measurement data to the location server while in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state.

[0232] Clause 52. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 51, wherein the computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to reduce the first amount of measurement data comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: remove measurement data corresponding to one or more optional information elements of a measurement report format used to report the measurement data to the location server.

[0233] Clause 53. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 52, wherein the one or more optional information elements comprise: one or more physical cell identifiers respectively associated with one or more transmission reception points (TRPs) associated with one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more global unique identifiers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more absolute radiofrequency channel numbers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more downlink PRS resource identifiers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more downlink PRS resource set identifiers respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; one or more additional detected path timing values respectively associated with the one or more TRPs associated with the one or more reported measurements of the measurement data; or any combinations thereof.

[0234] Clause 54. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 51 to 53, wherein the computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to reduce the first amount of measurement data comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: remove measurement data for one or more transmission reception points (TRPs) based on prioritization of the one or more TRPs as indicated in positioning assistance data received by the UE for the positioning session.

[0235] Clause 55. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 51 to 54, wherein the computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to reduce the first amount of measurement data comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: remove measurement data from the first amount of measurement data corresponding to PRS resources, transmission reception points (TRPs), positioning frequency layers (PFLs), or any combination thereof that are received with signal characteristics below one or more signal characteristic thresholds.

[0236] Clause 56. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 46 to 55, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: transmit a buffer status report (BSR) indicating a reported amount of data for uplink transmission, wherein the reported amount is less than an actual amount of measurement data to be reported by the UE.

[0237] Clause 57. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 56, wherein: the reported amount is less than a transition threshold to allow the UE to remain in the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state to report the measurement data during the one or more SDT occasions, and the transition threshold corresponds to an amount of data above which the UE is transitioned to an RRC connected state to transmit uplink data.

[0238] Clause 58. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 57, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: send, by location software running on the UE, a limited amount of measurement data to a medium access control (MAC) layer of the UE, wherein the limited amount of measurement data sent by the location software to the MAC layer for transmission during the one or more SDT occasions results in the reported amount being less than the transition threshold.

[0239] Clause 59. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 57 to 58, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: receive an indication of the transition threshold from a base station.

[0240] Clause 60. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 57 to 58, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: determine the transition threshold based on a maximum amount of data reported in one or more past BSRs that did not trigger the UE to transition out of the RRC inactive state or the RRC idle state.

[0241] 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.

[0242] 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.

[0243] 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.

[0244] 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.

[0245] 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 disks reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0246] 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.